- Feb 1 US Assay Office in St Louis, Missouri authorized
- Feb 5 Phoenix, Arizona incorporates
- Feb 7 Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: Boers beat superior British forces
- Feb 10 Jacques Offenbach's opera "Les Contes d'Hoffman" premieres in Paris
- Feb 13 The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by activist Hubertine Auclert
- Feb 19 Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages
- Feb 22 "Cleopatra's Needle", a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York
- Feb 24 De Lesseps' Company begins work on Panama Canal
- Feb 24 China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
- Feb 26 -27] Natal: British troops under Major General Colley occupy Majuba Hill
- Feb 26 P&O's SS Ceylon begins world's 1st round-the-world pleasure cruise from Liverpool
- Feb 27 Battle at Amajuba: South African Boers vs British army under General Colley