1877

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.
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.
1877	England [fiction]	The English writer Anna Sewell publishes her novel Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, which becomes a classic of children's literature.
1877	Germany [orchestral music]	The German composer Johannes Brahms completes his Symphony No. 2.
1877	France [painting]	The French artist Claude Monet paints Gare St Lazare.
1877	England, USA [photography]	The English-born US photographer Eadweard Muybridge develops a camera with a shutter speed of ¹⁄_1,000 of a second. He uses 12 of them to take still photographs of a horse galloping down a racetrack, demonstrating that at one point in the horse's gallop all four hooves leave the ground. The horse broke strings stretched across the track which tripped each shutter in turn, exposing a different phase of its stride.
1877	France [biology]	The French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur discovers that certain bacteria die when cultured with another type of bacteria, suggesting that the latter gives off a toxic substance – an antibiotic.
1877	Ottoman Empire [charities]	The Red Crescent society is founded in the Ottoman Empire, a humanitarian organization active in Islamic nations, formed on the same principles as the Red Cross.
1877	USA [churches and temples]	The Trinity Church in Boston, Massachusetts, designed by the US architect Henry Hobson Richardson, is completed. The interior is decorated by the US artist John La Farge.
1877	Germany [aircraft]	German aeronautical engineer Otto Lilienthal begins to build successful gliders with arched wings like a bird and which he steers by moving his legs. The Wright brothers draw heavily on his experiements.
1 January 1877	UK, India [political events]	Queen Victoria of Britain is proclaimed empress of India.
28 February 1877	Ottoman Empire, Serbia [political events]	A peace is signed between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia ending the Serbian revolt against Ottoman rule, without significant concessions.
2 March 1877	USA [elections]	On the basis of its committee's recommendation, the US Congress rewards all 20 disputed electoral votes in the previous December's presidential election to Republican Rutherford B Hayes. The decision furnishes Hayes with a 185–184 majority over Democrat Samuel J Tilden.
15 March - 19 March 1877	Australia, UK [cricket]	Australia defeats England by 45 runs in the first ever Test cricket match, played in Melbourne, Australia. Approximately 20,000 spectators attend the match over the four days of play.
12 April 1877	UK, Transvaal [colonization]	The British colonial administrator Theophilus Shepstone annexes the southern African Republic of Transvaal for Britain on grounds of bankruptcy and danger from Basutos and Zulus, though this annexation violates the Sand River Convention of 1852.
24 April 1877	Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Romania [Russian–Ottoman Wars (1768–1878)]	Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire and invades Romania in support of the Balkan revolts against Ottoman rule.
2 May 1877	Mexico [political events]	The dictator Porfirio Díaz becomes president of Mexico after overthrowing the government of President Sebastián Ierdo de Tejada the previous year.
July 1877	UK [sex and sexuality]	Social reformers Annie Bassant and Charles Bradlaugh are put on trial in Britain for reissuing The Fruits of Philosophy: a Private Companion of Young Married People, a guide to contraception.
9 July - 19 July 1877	UK [tennis]	The first All England Lawn Tennis Championships are played at Wimbledon, London. A crowd of 200 people watches Spencer Gore defeat William Marshall in the final of the Gentlemen's Singles, the only event at the meeting.
29 August 1877	USA [births and deaths]	Brigham Young, US religious leader of the Mormon Church who led converts to colonize the US West and established a base at Salt Lake City, dies in Salt Lake City, Utah (76).
9 September 1877	Japan [political events]	The antidemocratic and anti-Western Satsuma Rebellion in Japan ends in defeat for the samurai at Kumamoto.
26 October 1877	UK [surgery]	English surgeon Joseph Lister performs the first operation to repair a fractured kneecap. Conducted under antiseptic conditions, its success convinces other surgeons of the value of antisepsis.
6 December 1877	USA [communications]	US inventor Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph. Recording involves the transmission of sound vibrations through a large horn and a diaphragm to a stylus, which inscribes a groove on a rotating wax cylinder. Reproduction of the sound is achieved by reversing the process. The first reproduction of a human voice occurs on the 29 November when Edison utters the words ‘Mary had a little lamb’.
14 December 1877	Serbia, Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire [wars]	Serbia, siding with Russia, declares war on the Ottoman Empire.