| 1845–1958 | Germany [earth sciences] | German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion. |
| 7 December 1872 - 26 May 1876 | UK [earth sciences] | The British ship Challenger undertakes the world's first major oceanographic survey. Under the command of the Scottish naturalist Wyville Thomson, the crew collect marine animals and water samples, dredge and core samples of the ocean bottom, and make hundreds of temperature and depth measurements. |
| 12 November 1874 - 12 August 1877 | Africa [exploration] | Welsh-born US journalist and explorer Henry Stanley explores the shores of Lake Victoria and circumnavigates Lake Tanganyika before travelling down the Congo River (now the Zaïre) to Africa's west coast, establishing beyond argument that Lake Victoria is the principal source of the Nile. |
| 1875 | Russia [fiction] | The Russian writer Leo Tolstoy publishes the first part of his novel Anna Karenina. The second part appears in 1875. |
| 1875 | USA [food and drink] | The first canned baked beans are produced, for fishermen in Portland, Maine. |
| 1875 | UK [food and drink] | The British confectionery company Fry's introduces chocolate Easter eggs. |
| 1875 | Switzerland [food and drink] | The Swiss food company Nestlé develops the first milk chocolate. |
| 1875 | Germany [biology] | The German cytologist Eduard Adolf Strasburger publishes Über Zellbildung und Zellteilung/On Cell Formation and Cell Division, in which he describes the process of mitosis. |
| 1875 | France, UK, USA [opera] | The opera Carmen by the French composer Georges Bizet is first performed, in Paris, France. It is based on a story by the French writer Prosper Mérimée, published in 1840. It is first performed in both Britain and the USA in 1878 (in London, England, and New York City). |
| 1875 | Russian Empire, Germany, France, UK [political events] | Russia has a standing army of 3,360,000 soldiers; Germany 2,800,000; France 412,000; Britain 113,649. |
| 1875 | UK [social legislation] | Definitive legislation is passed outlawing the use of children as chimney sweeps in Britain. |
| 1875 | France [civic and commercial buildings] | The Opéra (the Opera House), designed by the French architect (Jean-Louis-) Charles Garnier, is completed in Paris, France. It is one of the outstanding examples of the ornate and flamboyant Beaux Arts style. |
| 1875 | USA [companies and organizations] | Henry John Heinz, his brother John, and cousin Frederick form their company in the USA. Heinz ketchup is one of the first products launched. |
| 22 January 1875 | USA [births and deaths] | D(avid Lewelyn) W(ark) Griffith, US pioneer of film-making, born in Flodysfork, Kentucky (–1948). |
| 20 May 1875 | France [weights and measures] | The International Bureau of Weights and Measures is established in France by a treaty signed in Paris. Located at Sèvres, its purpose is to unify systems of measurement, and to establish standards by providing a prototype metre and kilogram as the basis for all scientific and other measures. |
| 26 July 1875 | Switzerland [births and deaths] | Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist who founds analytic psychology, born in Kesswil, Switzerland (–1961). |
| 4 August 1875 | Denmark [births and deaths] | Hans Christian Andersen, Danish storyteller, dies in Copenhagen, Denmark (70). |
| 8 August 1875 | UK [legislation] | The Public Health Act is passed by the British Parliament, providing a complete sanitary code for both the public and industry. It lays the foundation of modern sanitary legislation in Britain. |
| 24 August - 25 August 1875 | UK, France [swimming and diving] | The English swimmer Matthew Webb, a captain in the British Merchant Navy, becomes the first person to swim the English Channel. He takes 21 hours and 45 minutes to cross from Dover, England, to Calais, France. |
| 25 November 1875 | UK, Egypt [canals] | Britain buys 176,602 shares in the Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea from Khedive Ismail of Egypt, the canal being a vital part of the route to India. |
