Directory

1839 CE

The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson. Prussia imposes the Child Labor Law of 1839, becoming the first nation in the world to place restrictions on child labor. Destruction of opium at Humen begins, casus belli for Britain to open the 3-year First Opium War against Qing dynasty China. A rapid rise in the sale of opium in China to over 40,000 chests (~56,000 kg per annum) has caused the Chinese government to dispatch scholar-official Lin Zexu to Guangzhou to deal with the growing problem of opium addiction.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 19 – The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom, with its independence and neutrality guaranteed by the great powers of Europe. Half of the Limburg province of Belgium is added to the Netherlands, giving rise to a Belgian Limburg and Dutch Limburg (the latter being joined (from September 5) to the German Confederation).source
  • May 7–11 – The Bedchamber Crisis in the United Kingdom: Following the announcement by Prime Minister Lord Melbourne that he intends to resign, Robert Peel asks (for political reasons) that Queen Victoria dismiss some of her personal attendants, Ladies of the Bedchamber, as a condition for his forming a government. Victoria refuses to accept the condition and Melbourne is persuaded to stay on as Prime Minister.source
  • December 6 – The Whig Party (United States), at its first ever national convention, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, nominates former U.S. Army General William Henry Harrison to be its candidate for President of the United States in the 1840 election. Although Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky has received 103 of the 128 necessary votes on the first ballot, he obtains only 90 on the final vote, while Harrison gets 148. Former U.S. Senator John Tyler is unanimously nominated for vice president.source
  • December 26 – Heinola in the Grand Duchy of Finland is granted town rights by Czar Nicholas I.source
  • The United Kingdom, backed by the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire, compels July Monarchy France to abandon Muhammad Ali of Egypt, and forces him to return Syria and Arabia to the Ottoman Empire.source
  • Emperor Minh Mạng renames Việt Nam to Đại Nam.source
  • Khorshid Pasha vows to attack Bahrain to exert Egyptian rule over Bahrain, but his attack is prevented after Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed of Bahrain pays tribute.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 20 – Battle of Yungay: Chile defeats the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, leading to the restoration of an independent Peru.source
  • March 9 – The Pastry War between France and Mexico ends.source
  • May 12 – Socialist activist Louis Auguste Blanqui and the Société des Saisons begin an uprising against the government of France. The insurrection is suppressed, but not before 50 people are killed and 190 wounded. Blanqui is imprisoned until 1848.source
  • 13 May – First Rebecca Riots targeted against turnpikes in Wales, at Efailwen in Carmarthenshire.source
  • May 23 – Turkish troops cross the Euphrates River and invade Syria, but are defeated in battle in June.source
  • July 1 – Slaves aboard the Amistad rebel, and capture the ship.source
  • July 23 – First Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Ghazni – British forces capture the fortress city of Ghazni in Afghanistan.source
  • August 31 – The First Carlist War (Spain) ends with the Convenio de Vergara, also known as the Abrazo de Vergara ("the embrace in Vergara"; Bergara in Basque), between liberal general Baldomero Espartero, Count of Luchana and Carlist General Rafael Maroto.source
  • September 4 – Battle of Kowloon: British vessels open fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community in China in the first armed conflict of the First Opium War.source
  • October 15 – Emir Abdelkader declares a jihad against the French.source
  • November 4 – Newport Rising: Between 5,000 and 10,000 Chartist sympathisers march on Newport, Monmouthshire, to liberate Chartist prisoners; around 22 are killed when troops fire on the crowd. This is the last large-scale armed civil rebellion against authority in mainland Britain and sees the most deaths.source
  • Tanzimat starts in the Ottoman Empire.source
  • Khalid bin Saud Al Suad usurps the throne from Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, who assumed power of Nejd in 1834, and is sent to Cairo as prisoner. Omar bin Ofaysan, the Amir Faisal's governor in the Eastern Province seeks asylum in Bahrain, but Khalid the pretender demands his surrender and the surrender of the fort at Dammam; then under the control of the Al Khalifa of Bahrain.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 19 – The British Aden Expedition captures Aden.source
  • May 22 – Former British statesman Lord Durham, as President of the New Zealand Company, formally asks the British government for permission to colonize New Zealand, and to establish a colonial government under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.source
  • Archaeological excavation at the Mayan site of Copán begins.source
  • A quarrel breaks out between the Chief of Abu Dhabi of the Beniyas tribe, Shaikh Khalifa bin Shakboot, and the fugitives who settled there after their departure from Bahrain, the Al Binali tribe. Under the command of their leader, Isa bin Tureef Al Binali, they relocate to Kenn Island where they exercise depredations over the Bahraini and other Gulf vessels. Their motive is to restore their belongings which they abandoned upon leaving Bahrain.source

Religion & Belief

  • July 1 – Abdülmecid I (1839–1861) succeeds Mahmud II (1808–1839) as Ottoman Emperor.source
  • Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia) is founded in Alexandria, Virginia, as the first high school in Virginia.source

Economy & Finance

  • Galveston, Texas, is incorporated.source
  • Valley Falls Company, a predecessor of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate and holdings company in the United States, is founded in Rhode Island.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 24 – William Otis receives a U.S. patent for the steam shovel.source
  • March 9 – Prussia imposes the Child Labor Law of 1839, becoming the first nation in the world to place restrictions on child labor.source
  • March 23 – The Boston Morning Post first records the use of "O.K." (oll korrect).source
  • April 9 – The world's first commercial electric telegraph line comes into operation, alongside the Great Western Railway line in England, from London Paddington station to West Drayton.source
  • June 22 – Louis Daguerre receives a patent for his camera (commercially available by September at the price of 400 francs).source
  • October 3 – A railway between Naples and Portici (7.4 km mi) in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is inaugurated by King Ferdinand II of Bourbon as the first line in the Italian Peninsula.source
  • In the United States, the first state law permitting women to own property is passed in Jackson, Mississippi.source
  • Chattanooga, Tennessee, is incorporated as a town.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 2 – The first photograph of the Moon is taken, by French photographer Louis Daguerre.source
  • January 9 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the daguerreotype photography process.source
  • August 19 – The French government gives the daguerreotype "for the whole world".source
  • Michael Faraday publishes Experimental Researches in Electricity, clarifying the true nature of electricity.source

Health & Medicine

  • June 3 – Destruction of opium at Humen begins, casus belli for Britain to open the 3-year First Opium War against Qing dynasty China. A rapid rise in the sale of opium in China to over 40,000 chests (~56,000 kg per annum) has caused the Chinese government to dispatch scholar-official Lin Zexu to Guangzhou to deal with the growing problem of opium addiction.source

Crime & Justice

  • Charles Goodyear vulcanizes rubber.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 6 – Night of the Big Wind: Ireland is struck by the most damaging cyclone in 300 years.source
  • March 23 – An earthquake in the Kingdom of Burma kills more than 400 people and destroys three cities, as well as heavily damaging the capital at Ava.source
  • November 25 – A disastrous cyclone hits India with terrible winds and a giant 40-foot storm surge, wiping out the port city of Coringa; 300,000 people die.source

Culture & Society

  • January – The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.source
  • February 11 – The University of Missouri is established, becoming the first public university west of the Mississippi River.source
  • March 5 – Longwood University is founded in Farmville, Virginia.source
  • March 7 – Baltimore City College, the third public high school in the United States, is established in Baltimore, Maryland.source
  • March 9 – The Anti-Corn Law League is founded in Manchester, England.source
  • March 26 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held on the River Thames in England.source
  • April 24 – Boston University is established as the Newbury Biblical Institute in Vermont.source
  • August 8 – The Fraternity of Beta Theta Pi is founded by John Reily Knox at Miami University.source
  • November 11 – The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.source
  • November 17 – Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, opens in Milan.source
  • November 27 – The American Statistical Association is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.source

Births

  • January 8 – William A. Clark, American politician, entrepreneur (d. 1925)source
  • January 19 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)source
  • February 11 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist, chemist (d. 1903)source
  • April 16 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, 12th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1908)source
  • May 21 – Mary of the Passion, French Roman Catholic religious sister, missionary, and blessed (d. 1904)source
  • June 17 – Arthur Tooth, Anglican clergyman prosecuted for Ritualist practices in the 1870s (d. 1931)source
  • July 17 – Ephraim Shay, American inventor of the Shay locomotive (d. 1916)source
  • August 4 – Walter Pater, English essayist, critic (d. 1894)source
  • September 2 – Henry George, American writer, politician, and political economist (d. 1897)source
  • September 8 – Gregorio Luperón, Dominican soldier, activist and general (d. 1897)source
  • September 10 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist (d. 1914)source
  • October 30 – Alfred Sisley, French Impressionist landscape painter (d. 1899)source
  • November 12 – Frank Furness, American architect, soldier (d. 1912)source
  • December 7 – Sir Redvers Buller, British general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1908)source

Deaths

  • February 26 – Sybil Ludington, alleged heroine during the American Revolutionary War (b. 1761)source
  • March 19 – Rachel Plummer, American writer, daughter of James W. Parker, and the cousin of Quanah Parker (b. 1819)source
  • March 28 – Giuseppe Siboni, Italian operatic tenor, opera director, choir conductor, and voice teacher (b. 1780)source
  • April 22 – Pär Aron Borg, Swedish educator and a pioneer in the education for the blind and deaf (b. 1776)source
  • May 3 – Pehr Henrik Ling, pioneer of physical education in Sweden (b. 1776)source
  • May 6 – John Batman, Australian grazier, entrepreneur, and explorer (b. 1801)source
  • June 27 – The emperor of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, dies at 58.source
  • June 27 – Allan Cunningham, English botanist and explorer (b. 1791)source
  • July 26 – Mervyn Archdall, Irish officer in the British Army and Member of Parliament for County Fermanagh (b. 1763)source
  • September 22 – Paul Chong Hasang, Korean Roman Catholic saint and martyr (b. 1794/1795)source
  • October 6 – William Light, British Army colonel, first Surveyor-General of South Australia (b. 1786)source
  • October 8 – Ee-mat-la, Seminole chief during the Second Seminole War (b. 1739)source
  • October 9 – James Oatley, British-born colonial Australian watch and clock maker (b. 1769)source
  • October 28 – Makea Pori Ariki, sovereign of the Cook Islands and one of three High Chiefs of Te Au O Tongasource