WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO DECEMBER 1888
Find out what all happened May to December 1888

With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Brazil abolishes slavery. (13. May 1888)

George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music. (29. June 1888)

The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace. (29. October 1888)

Mary Jane Kelly is murdered in London, widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper. (9. November 1888)

The Rio de la Plata Earthquake takes place. (5. June 1888)

Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie). (17. October 1888)

The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs. (21. August 1888)

The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators. (15. October 1888)

The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published. (22. September 1888)

Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances. (16. May 1888)

Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde. (18. December 1888)

The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner. (3. June 1888)

An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London, England. (14. August 1888)

Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors. (15. June 1888)

Louis Le Prince films first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene. (14. October 1888)

Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. (30. September 1888)

In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found. (8. September 1888)

The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public. (9. October 1888)

The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts killing approximately 500 people, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (15. July 1888)

Rudd Concession granted by King Lobengula of Matabeleland to agents of Cecil Rhodes led by Charles Rudd. (30. October 1888)