King Kalākaua's world tour
Hawaii's king becomes the first monarch to circle the globe
In 1881 Hawaii's King Kalākaua travelled around the world in 281 days, the first monarch ever to do so. He visited Japan, China, Siam, India, Egypt and Europe seeking plantation workers, and on the way home called on Edison to see electric light.
Wikipedia (English) · 19th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1861 Unification of Italy — 20 years earlier
- 1878 Congress of Berlin — 3 years earlier
- 1886 Benz's first automobile — 5 years later
- 1889 Eiffel Tower — 8 years later
- 1905 Einstein's miracle year and relativity — 24 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1864 End of the Caucasian War and the Circassian expulsion — 17 years earlier
- 1867 Alaska Purchase — 14 years earlier
- 1869 Tolstoy's War and Peace — 12 years earlier
- 1877 Premiere of Swan Lake — 4 years earlier
- 1895 Popov's radio receiver — 14 years later
Middle East
- 1876–1878 The first Ottoman constitution — 5 years earlier
- 1905–1911 Persian Constitutional Revolution — 24 years later
Africa
- 1869 Opening of the Suez Canal — 12 years earlier
- 1879 Battle of Isandlwana — 2 years earlier
- 1885 The Mahdists take Khartoum — 4 years later
- 1885–1908 The Congo Free State — 4 years later
- 1886 The Witwatersrand Gold Rush — 5 years later
Asia
- 1868 Meiji Restoration — 13 years earlier
- 1876–1878 Great Famine in India — 5 years earlier
- 1883 Eruption of Krakatoa — 2 years later
- 1885 Founding of the Indian National Congress — 4 years later
- 1891 Discovery of Java Man — 10 years later
Americas
- 1867 Canadian Confederation — 14 years earlier
- 1869 First transcontinental railroad — 12 years earlier
- 1876 Invention of the telephone — 5 years earlier
- 1879 Edison's incandescent lamp — 2 years earlier
- 1888 Golden Law abolishes slavery in Brazil — 7 years later
Alive at the time
- Charles Darwin (aged 72)
- Karl Marx (aged 63)
- Queen Victoria (aged 62)
- Fyodor Dostoevsky (aged 60)
- Leo Tolstoy (aged 53)
- Dmitri Mendeleev (aged 47)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (aged 41)
- Thomas Edison (aged 34)
- Vincent van Gogh (aged 28)
- Nikola Tesla (aged 25)