) was a common year starting on Wednesday
(link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar
(or a common year starting on Monday
of the 12-day slower Julian calendar
Events of 1879
January - March
- January 1 - The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The Greenback is valued the same as gold for the first time since the Civil War.
- January - The current constitution of The State of California, USA is ratified.
- January 2 - Fred Spofforth claims the first Hat-trick in test cricket.
- January 11 - The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
- January 22 - Anglo-Zulu War - Battle of Isandlwana: Zulu troops massacre British troops. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting.
- February 12 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden, the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
- February 14 - At Antofagasta, Chile, Chilean troops disembark in this port, then Bolivian. This is the beginning of the War of the Pacific between Chile and the joint forces of Peru and Bolivia.
- February 15 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
- February 22 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
- February 27 - The discovery of saccharin is announced.
- March 3 - The United States Geological Survey is created.
- March 12 - Anglo-Zulu War - Battle of Intombe: A British force over one-hundred strong is ambushed and destroyed by Zulu forces.
- March 13 - The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria, marries Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia.
- March 28 - Anglo-Zulu War - Battle of Hlobane: British forces suffer a defeat.
- March 29 - Anglo-Zulu War - Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
April - June
July - September
October - December
The following are references to 1879 in literature:
January - June
- January 1 - E. M. Forster, English writer (d. 1970)
- January 3 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957)
- January 10 - Bobby Walker, Scotish footballer (d. 1930)
- January 12 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (d. 1968)
- January 13 - Melvin Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (d. 1961)
- January 20 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
- January 28 - Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (d. 1953)
- February 22 - J. N. Brønsted, Danish chemist (d. 1947)
- February 26 - Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- March 8 - Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- March 14 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- March 26 - Othmar Ammann, Swiss-born engineer (d. 1965)
- March 27 - Edward Steichen, Luxembourgeois-born painter/photographer (d. 1973)
- March 30 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
- April 16 - Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (d. 1961)
- April 20 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
- April 26 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- April 29 - Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961)
- May 6 - Bedřich Hrozny´, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
- May 17 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926)
- May 19
- May 22 - Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born stage and film actress (d. 1945)
- May 23 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966)
- May 25 - Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Canadian-born statesman and newspaper publisher (d. 1964)
- June 3 - Raymond Pearl, American biologist (d. 1940)
- June 7 - Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (d. 1963)
- June 10 - Rafael Erich, Prime minister of Finland (d. 1946)
July - December
- July 1 - Léon Jouhaux, French labour leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1954)
- July 5 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist and musicologist (d. 1959)
- July 9 - Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer, musicologist and conductor (d. 1936)
- July 22 - Janusz Korczak (pen-name of Henryk Goldszmit), Polish-Jewish children's author, pediatrician, and child pedagogist (born 1878 or 1879#Births)) (d. 1942)
- August 8 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1919)
- August 13 - John Ireland, English composer and organist (d. 1962)
- August 15 - Ethel Barrymore, American stage & film actress (d. 1959)
- August 21 - Claude Grahame White, British aviation pioneer (d. 1959)
- August 31 - Emperor Taishō, 123rd Emperor of Japan (d. 1926)
- September 2 - An Jung-geun, assassin of the Japanese politician, Ito Hirobumi (d. 1910)
- September 6
- September 14 - Margaret Sanger, American birth control advocate (d. 1966)
- September 15 - Joseph Lyons, Premier of Tasmania and Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
- September 20 - Victor Sjöström, Swedish film actor and director (d. 1960)
- September 25 - Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer, father of Philippine national language and grammar (d. 1963)
- September 27 - Hans Hahn, Austrian mathematician (d. 1934)
- October 2 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)
- October 3 - Warner Oland, Swedish-born actor (d. 1938)
- October 5 - Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1970)
- October 9 - Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
- October 21 - Joseph Canteloube, French composer and singer (d. 1957)
- October 29 - Franz von Papen, German Chancellor and diplomat (d. 1969)
- November 4 - Will Rogers, American humorist (d. 1935)
- November 7 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (d. 1940)
- November 10
- December 12 - Laura Hope Crews, stage & film actress (Aunt PittyPat) (d. 1942)
- November 26 - Charles W. Goddard, playwright and screenwriter (d. 1951)
- December 4 - Nagai Kafu, Japanese writer (d. 1959)
- December 10 - Jouett Shouse, American politician (d. 1968)
- December 18 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist (d. 1940)
- December 28 - Billy Mitchell, U.S. general and military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)
- December 29 - Florence Mary Taylor, Australia's first female architect (d. 1969)
- date unknown
January - June
- January 8 - Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara (b. 1793)
- February 11 - Honoré Daumier, French caricaturist and painter (b. 1808)
- February 23 - Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
- February 25 - Charles Peace, British criminal (executed) (b. 1832)
- March 1 - Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (b. 1825)
- March 2 - John Eberhard Faber, pencil manufacturer (b. 1822)
- March 27
- March 30 - Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher (b. 1815)
- April 30 - Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (b. 1788)
- June 1 - Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, son of French Emperor Napoleon III (b. 1856)
July - December