WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1871
Find out what all happened January to December 1871

Four major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan including the Great Chicago Fire, and the much deadlier Peshtigo Fire. (8. October 1871)

The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris. (28. March 1871)

The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people. (30. July 1871)

The Paris Commune falls. (28. May 1871)

Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day. (19. January 1871)

Amadeus I becomes King of Spain. (2. January 1871)

Brazilian Parliament passes the Law of the Free Womb, granting freedom to all new children born to slaves, the first major step in the eradication of slavery in Brazil. (28. September 1871)

Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, famously greeting him with the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?". (10. November 1871)

The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana. (4. May 1871)

Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi. (21. May 1871)

The University Tests Act allows students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests (except for those intending to study theology). (16. June 1871)

Bishop John Coleridge Patteson is martyred on the island of Nukapu, a Polynesian outlier island now in the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. He is the first bishop of Melanesia. (20. September 1871)

In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment. (22. March 1871)

Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone. (21. March 1871)

The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria. (29. March 1871)

The first stage of the Brill Tramway opens. (1. April 1871)

The U.S. Army issues an order for abandonment of Fort Kearny in Nebraska. (22. May 1871)

The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place. (27. March 1871)

Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice. (28. January 1871)

Aida opens in Cairo, Egypt. (24. December 1871)