Editing 1880 (section)

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January]] – The [[Gokstad ship]] is found in Norway, the first [[Viking ship]] burial to be excavated.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vinner|first=Max|year=2002|title=Boats of the Viking Ship Museum|publisher=Viking Ship Museum|location=Oslo|isbn=978-8785180636}}</ref>
*[[January 27]] – [[Thomas Edison]] is granted a patent for the [[incandescent light bulb]]. Edison filed for a US patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires."<ref name=Patent898>{{US patent|0223898}} granted 27 January 1880</ref> Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament ,including using "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways,"<ref name="Patent898"/> Edison and his team later discovered that a carbonized [[bamboo]] filament could last more than 1200 hours.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Joel |title=Really useful: the origins of everyday things |year=2002 |publisher=Firefly Books |location=New York |isbn=9781552976227 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reallyusefulorig00levy/page/124 124] |url=https://archive.org/details/reallyusefulorig00levy|url-access=registration |quote=bamboo filament edison patent 1200. }}</ref>
* [[January]] – The international [[White slave trade affair]] scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy.
* [[February 2]]
** The first electric [[streetlight]] is installed in [[Wabash, Indiana]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.electricmuseum.com/exhibits/arclamps/brush.shtml |title=Brush Arc Lighting |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724073937/http://www.electricmuseum.com/exhibits/arclamps/brush.shtml |archive-date = 24 July 2008 |url-status = dead}}</ref>
** The first successful shipment of frozen [[mutton]] from Australia arrives in London, aboard the SS ''Strathleven''.
* [[February 4]] – The [[Black Donnellys|Black Donnelly Massacre]] takes the lives of five members of one family in [[Middlesex County, Ontario|Biddulph Township]], [[Middlesex County, Ontario]], Canada.
* [[February 24]] – The [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS ''Columbia'']], which will be the first outside usage of [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[incandescent light bulb]], is launched at the [[Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works]] of [[John Roach & Sons]] in [[Chester, Pennsylvania]].

=== April–June ===
* [[April]] – The government of [[Cape Colony]] sets a deadline for the Basuto people to surrender their weapons; non-compliance leads to the [[Basuto Gun War]].
* [[April 18]] – [[1880 United Kingdom general election]]: [[William Ewart Gladstone]] defeats [[Benjamin Disraeli]], to become [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] for the second time.<ref>{{cite web|first=Ben|last=Johnson|title=Prime Ministers of Britain|url=http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/PrimeMinisters.htm|access-date=2013-08-14}}</ref>
* [[April 19]] – The [[Prime Minister of Sweden]], [[Louis Gerhard De Geer|Louis De Geer]], resigns over the defeat of a defense reform bill in the country's [[Riksdag]]; he is succeeded by Count [[Arvid Posse]] (1880–1883).
* [[April 27]] – The [[Royal University of Ireland]] is founded by charter, allowing the [[Catholic University of Ireland]] to re-form as [[University College Dublin]].
* [[May 2]] – After having her lights installed by Edison's personnel, the [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS ''Columbia'']] is lit up for the first time at the foot of [[Wall Street]], in New York City.
* [[May 13]] – In [[Menlo Park, New Jersey]], [[Thomas Edison]] performs the first test of his [[electric railway]].
* [[June]] – The [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS ''Columbia'']] sets off on her maiden voyage around [[Cape Horn]] to [[Portland, Oregon]], carrying 13 locomotives and 200 railcars.
* [[June 1]]  – [[Tinius Olsen]] is awarded a United States Patent, for the Little Giant Testing Machine.
* [[June 28]] – [[Australia]]n police capture bank robber [[Ned Kelly]], after a gun battle at [[Glenrowan, Victoria]].
* [[June 29]] – France annexes [[Tahiti]].

=== July–September ===
* July – [[John Venn]] popularises [[Venn diagram]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Venn|first=J.|title=I. On the Diagrammatic and Mechanical Representation of Propositions and Reasonings|journal=[[The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science]]|volume=10|issue=59|date=July 1880|series=5|doi=10.1080/14786448008626877|pages=1–18|url=https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bhusnur4/cit592_fall2014/venn%20diagrams.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516204620/https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bhusnur4/cit592_fall2014/venn%20diagrams.pdf|archive-date=2017-05-16}} [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786448008626877] [https://books.google.com/books?id=k68vAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1]</ref>
* [[July 14]] – [[Dorchester Penitentiary]] opens in Canada.
* [[July 22]] – [[Abdur Rahman Khan]] becomes [[Emir of Afghanistan]].
* [[July 27]] – [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]] – [[Battle of Maiwand]]: Afghan troops under Ayub Khan defeat British and Indian forces, under [[George Burrows (Indian Army officer)|Brigadier General George Burrows]]. 
* [[August 14]] – [[Cologne Cathedral]] is completed, after construction began in [[1248]], 632 years earlier.
* [[August 24]] – The [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS ''Columbia'']] completes her maiden voyage, arriving without incident in [[Portland, Oregon]], after a stopover in [[San Francisco]].
* [[August 26]] – Competing circus owners [[P. T. Barnum]] and [[James Anthony Bailey|James A. Bailey]] sign a contract in [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]], to create the [[Barnum & Bailey Circus]].  In 1907, the circus will merge forces with another competitor, the [[Ringling Brothers Circus]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Neil|last=Harris|title=Humbug: The Art of P. T. Barnum|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1981|page=250}}</ref> 
* [[September 1]] – [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]] – [[Battle of Kandahar (1880)|Battle of Kandahar]]: [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|General Frederick Roberts]], commanding British forces, defeats the Afghan troops of [[Mohammad Ayub Khan (Emir of Afghanistan)|Mohammad Ayub Khan]], bringing an end to the war.<ref>{{cite book|first=Howard|last=Hensman|title=The Afghan War of 1879–80|publisher=Lancer Publishers|year=2008|page=532}}</ref>

=== October–December ===
* [[October 1]]  – [[German Empire|German]] company ''[[Munich Re]]'' is founded in [[Munich]].
* [[October 6]] – The [[University of Southern California]] opens its doors to 53 students and 10 faculty.
* [[October 15]]
** A [[blizzard]] marks the start of the [[Hard Winter of 1880-81|Hard Winter]] in North America.
** Mexican soldiers kill [[Victorio]], one of the greatest [[Apache Tribe|Apache]] military strategists.
* [[October 28]] – The first stone is laid for the [[Clarkson Memorial]] in [[Wisbech]], [[England]].
* [[November 2]] – [[1880 United States presidential election]]: [[James Garfield]] defeats [[Winfield S. Hancock]].
* [[November 4]] – The first [[cash register]] is patented by [[James Ritty|James]] and John Ritty of [[Dayton, Ohio]].
* [[November 9]] – A [[1880 Zagreb earthquake|major earthquake]] strikes [[Zagreb]] and destroys many buildings, including [[Zagreb Cathedral]].
* [[November 11]] – Australian bushranger and bank robber [[Ned Kelly]] is hanged in [[Melbourne]].
* [[November 22]] – [[Vaudeville]] actress [[Lillian Russell]] makes her debut at [[Tony Pastor]]'s Theatre, in New York City.
*[[December 1]] – [[Manuel González Flores]] becomes the 31st [[President of Mexico]].<ref>{{citation|title=El único presidente de México juzgado por corrupción|url=https://www.milenio.com/cultura/el-unico-presidente-de-mexico-juzgado-por-corrupcion|newspaper=Milenio |location=Mexico City|date=March 22, 2018|access-date=June 8, 2019|language=es|trans-title=The only president of Mexico tried for corruption}}</ref>
* [[December 20]] – [[First Boer War]]: The [[Battle of Bronkhorstspruit]] results in a Boer victory over the British.
* [[December 30]] – The [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] becomes a republic, and [[Paul Kruger]] becomes its first president.

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza]] signs a treaty of protection with the chief of the large [[Teke people|Teke]] tribe, and begins to establish a French [[protectorate]] on the north bank of the [[Congo River]].
* [[Piezoelectricity]] is discovered by [[Pierre Curie]] and [[Jacques Curie]].
* The [[Capuchin catacombs of Palermo]] are officially closed (there will be some burials afterwards).
* [[The Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction]], of the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]], is established in the United States.