1880s

The period was characterized in general by economic growth and prosperity in many parts of the world, especially Europe and the Americas, with the emergence of modern cities signified by the foundation of many long-lived corporations, franchises, and brands and the introduction of the skyscraper.

The decade was a part of the Gilded Age (1874–1907) in the United States, the Victorian Era in the British Empire and the Belle Époque in France.

It also occurred at the height of the Second Industrial Revolution and saw numerous developments in science and a sudden proliferation of electrical technologies, particularly in mass transit and telecommunications.

Many of the artists involved in the Romantic music movement were disappointed with the effects of the Industrial Revolution and urbanisation, and drew influence from nature, the countryside, commoners, and old myths and legends.

Romantic orchestral pieces tended to be quite long and required more players than before, with symphonies regularly taking a whole hour to perform completely.

From top left, clockwise: A famous gunfight erupts at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881; a long-distance passenger train called the Orient Express begins running between Paris and Constantinople in 1883; U.S. Congress bans Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. for ten years, starting in 1882; South Fork Dam fails after heavy rainfall and floods the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania , killing over two thousand people; George Eastman introduces the Kodak No 1 and the camera becomes an enormous success; Chicago's Haymarket Square is the scene of a bombing that kills at least seven police officers and four civilians during a massive protest from a labor rally and is generally considered the origin of modern May Day protests; settlers try to claim land during the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889; combined groups of British and Sudanese forces on opposing sides fight during a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha .
Benz Patent Motorwagen which is widely regarded as the first automobile was first introduced in 1885.
Home Insurance Building
The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated on March 31, 1889, thus becoming the tallest structure in the world
Coca-Cola was invented in May 1886