- — South America:
Boundary treaty with Argentina
Chile and Argentina fix their common border along the Cordillera of the Andes, running 'along the highest peaks of said Cordillera dividing the waters'; disputes over how to trace the line were settled by British arbitration in 1902.
Era: The Nitrate Age and the Twentieth Century
Sources: The Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case (Argentina, Chile), Award of 20 November 1902, with the Treaty of 23 July 1881 · United Nations, Reports of International Arbitral Awards, vol. IX
- — Europe:
Suppression of the League
After resisting territorial transfers to Montenegro and Greece, the League of Prizren was suppressed by the Ottoman authorities, but it had laid the foundation of the Albanian national movement.
Era: Ottoman Rule and the Albanian National Awakening
Sources: Albanian League (League of Prizren, 1878) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Treaty of peace, friendship and commerce with the United States
Following a commercial convention in 1867, Washington concludes a full treaty with the Kingdom of Madagascar — a sovereign state in the diplomatic record fifteen years before annexation.
Era: French Conquest & Colony
Sources: A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Madagascar · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- — Europe:
- — Oceania:
Capital moves to Suva
The colonial capital is relocated from Levuka on Ovalau to Suva on Viti Levu, the larger harbour that remains Fiji's capital.
Era: Cession, Colony & the Girmitiyas
Sources: Levuka Historical Port Town (World Heritage List) · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- — South America:
Treaty of Ancon
Peru cedes Tarapaca to Chile and loses control of Tacna and Arica, a humiliating settlement whose final terms were not fixed until 1929.
Era: The Young Republic and the War of the Pacific
Sources: War of the Pacific · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Europe:
Parliamentarism and the consular dispute
The introduction of parliamentary government strengthened the Storting, while the conflict with Sweden over Norway's right to its own consular service drove the two countries apart.
Era: Eidsvoll, the Union with Sweden and National Awakening
Sources: Norway: The union conflict, 1859–1905 · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
- — South America:
The Constitution of 1886
A Conservative-led charter creates a centralised Republic of Colombia with a strong presidency and a renewed alliance with the Catholic Church.
Era: Partisan Wars and the Loss of Panama
Sources: History of Colombia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Europe:
The Home Rule bills
Under Parnell's pressure the Liberal government introduced Home Rule bills in 1886 and 1893 to give Ireland self-government within the UK; both were defeated, but Home Rule became the central Irish demand.
Era: Union, Famine and the National Movement
Sources: Charles Stewart Parnell and the Home Rule Movement · University of Delaware Library (Easter Rising exhibition)
- — Africa:
Treaties with France
Samori signs agreements with France, including the Treaty of Bissandougou in 1887, as he manoeuvres between negotiation and war against colonial expansion.
Era: Samori Touré and the Resistance to France
Sources: Samori Ture · Wikipedia
- — South America:
- — South America:
Proclamation of the Republic
A military coup led by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca deposes Pedro II and proclaims the Republic, ending the monarchy.
Era: Independence and the Empire of Brazil
Sources: Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Brazil · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Treaty of Wuchale signed
Menelik, under his imperial seal, and the Italian envoy Count Pietro Antonelli sign a treaty whose Article 19 declares its Amharic and Italian texts in perfect agreement. They are not: in Article 17 the Italian text says the emperor 'consente'—binds himself—to conduct his dealings with other powers through Italy, while the Amharic text leaves this as an option. Italy's premier Francesco Crispi notifies the powers that Ethiopia is an Italian protectorate, a claim Ethiopia rejects—setting the stage for war.
Era: Menelik II, Adwa and the Defeat of Colonisation
Sources: Trattato d'Uccialli, 2 May 1889 (full Italian text, Arts. XVII and XIX), in B. Melli, La Colonia Eritrea (1899) · Wikisource (proofread transcription of the 1899 edition), Article 17 of the Treaty of Uccialli (Carlo Giglio, vol. 6, no. 2, 1965) · The Journal of African History, Cambridge University Press, Battle of Adwa (research starter) · EBSCO Research, Remembering the Battle of Adwa · South African History Online, Battle of Adwa · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
Meiji Constitution promulgated
Japan adopts a Western-influenced constitution establishing a constitutional monarchy with an imperial parliament, the Diet.
Era: Meiji and Empire: Revolution from Above
Sources: Meiji Restoration · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Japan · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Politics & Power in the 1880s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged politics and power — dynasties, constitutions, revolutions and changes of regime, narrowed to the 1880s — 15 of them, drawn from 14 nations, running from 1881 to 1889. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 15
- Nations
- 14
- Earliest
- 1881
- Latest
- 1889
- South America
- 5
- Europe
- 4
- Africa
- 3
- Asia
- 2
- Oceania
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.