What Happened in 1867 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Kingstree jail fire kills 22 freedmen in Reconstruction-era South Carolina.

Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.

Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes Canada on July 1.

Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents/acre ($4.19/km2), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.

Albert Günther publishes the first study to recognise that the New Zealand tuatara is not a lizard.

Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich).

Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro.

Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university.

The United States takes possession of the (at this point unoccupied) Midway Atoll.

Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijō, thereafter known as Empress Shōken.

United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

An earthquake strikes the Virgin Islands, triggering the largest tsunami witnessed in the Caribbean and killing dozens.

A magnitude 7.0 earthquakes strikes off the coast of Taiwan, triggering a tsunami and killing at least 580 people.