In Japan, 1872 ended on the 2nd of December.

1872 · 1873 · apart: 1 year

Switching to the Gregorian calendar, the Meiji government declared that the next day would be 1 January 1873.

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The event

• Meiji Restoration1868 · Kyoto. In 1868 the Tokugawa shogunate was abolished and power formally returned to Emperor Meiji. Japan, until recently closed to the outside world, carried out Western-style reforms and within decades became an industrial and military power.

19th century

More amazing facts

• 1871 · 1914 Kimberley's Big Hole is held to be the deepest hole ever dug by hand: from 1871 to 1914 up to 50,000 miners with picks and shovels went 240 metres down and took out 2,720 kg of diamonds.
• 1871 On Yap, money takes the form of stone discs up to 3.6 m across.
• 1871 · 1901 The Irish captain David O’Keefe got rich as a money carrier, for stone money.
• 1872 The first official international football match ended 0–0: Scotland and England played it in Glasgow on 30 November 1872 before 4,000 spectators.
• 1873 Jeans were patented in 1873, or rather the copper rivets on work trousers.
• 1873 Persia's Naser al-Din Shah was one of Iran's first photographers.

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