Directory

1840 CE

British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding the settlement of Wellington. The Washingtonian movement for teetotalism is founded by a group of alcoholics in Baltimore, Maryland. Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut, and land troops on the coast, to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 6 – The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.source
  • March 1 – Adolphe Thiers becomes prime minister of France.source
  • May 21 – New Zealand is declared a British colony.source
  • July 15 – The Austrian Empire, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire sign the Convention of London with the Sublime Porte, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • July 23 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union, but not proclaimed until 10 February 1841.source
  • July 23 – Pedro II is declared "of age" prematurely, and begins to reassert central control in Brazil.source
  • August 1 – Remaining former slaves in the British Empire are released from apprenticeships under terms of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.source
  • October 7 – William II becomes King of the Netherlands.source

Conflict & Security

  • February – The Rhodes blood libel is made against the Jews of Rhodes.source
  • June 18 – Maria massacre: British brigantine Maria is wrecked off South Australia. All 26 passengers and crew make it to the shore but none survive the trek to safety over the following two weeks, most being massacred by Aboriginal Australians.source
  • August 19 – The Battle of the Barrier.source
  • September 10 – Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut, and land troops on the coast, to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.source
  • September 30 – The French frigate Belle Poule arrives in Cherbourg, bringing back the remains of Napoleon from Saint Helena to France.source
  • October 8 – A firman (imperial decree) of Sultan Abdulmejid I replaces Bashir Shihab II as Emir of Mount Lebanon with Prince Bashir Chehab III (Bashir Qasim al-Chehab).source
  • October 11 – Maronite leader Bashir Shihab II surrenders to the Ottomans, and on October 14 goes into exile, initially in Malta.source
  • December 15 – The body of Napoleon is laid to rest in Les Invalides in Paris.source
  • Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)source
  • First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842)source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 19 – Captain Charles Wilkes' United States Exploring Expedition sights what becomes known as Wilkes Land in the southeast quadrant of Antarctica, claiming it for the United States, and providing evidence that Antarctica is a complete continent.source
  • January 21 – Jules Dumont d'Urville discovers Adélie Land in Antarctica, claiming it for France.source
  • January 22 – British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding the settlement of Wellington.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 10 – Uniform Penny Post is introduced in the United Kingdom.source
  • March 9 – The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is completed, from Wilmington, North Carolina to Weldon, North Carolina. At 161.5 mi km, it is the world's longest railroad.source
  • April – The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is completed from Raleigh to near Weldon, North Carolina.source
  • May 1 – Britain issues the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp; it becomes valid for the pre-payment of postage from May 6.source
  • July 4 – The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer departs from Liverpool, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service.source
  • July 21 – August Borsig's steam locomotive, the first built in Germany, competes against a Stephenson-built locomotive on the Berlin–Jüterbog railroad; the Borsig locomotive wins by 10 minutes.source
  • December 21 – Stockport Viaduct is completed in North West England. It is one of the largest brick structures in Europe.source
  • Kajima, a construction company based in Japan, is founded in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).source

Science & Discovery

  • March 12 – Paweł Strzelecki reaches Australia's highest summit, Mount Kosciuszko.source
  • December 7 – David Livingstone leaves Britain for Africa.source
  • The first known photograph of Niagara Falls, a daguerreotype, is taken by English chemist Hugh Lee Pattinson.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 15 – King's College Hospital opens in London.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 5 – Damascus Affair: The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to a highly publicized case of blood libel, against the Jews of Damascus.source
  • August 10 – Fortsas hoax: A number of book collectors gather in Binche, Belgium, to attend a non-existent book auction of the late "Count of Fortsas".source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 13 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks in icy waters, four miles off the coast of Long Island; 139 die, only four survive.source

Climate & Environment

  • May 7 – Great Natchez Tornado: A massive tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi during the early afternoon. Before it is over, 317 people are killed and 109 injured (the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history).source
  • November 4 – 1840 United States presidential election: William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren in a landslide.source
  • Approximate date – Volcanic eruption of Tinakula in the Solomon Islands causes the island to be depopulated.source

Culture & Society

  • January 3 – One of the predecessor papers of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, The Port Phillip Herald, is founded.source
  • February 10 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.source
  • February 11 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment premieres in Paris.source
  • March 4 – Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson open the world's first commercial photography portrait studio, their Daguerreian Parlor, on Broadway in Manhattan.source
  • April 2 – The Washingtonian movement for teetotalism is founded by a group of alcoholics in Baltimore, Maryland.source
  • April 3 – Johnny Appleseed meets Abraham Lincoln, and plants apple trees in New York City.source
  • June 12–23 – The World Anti-Slavery Convention is organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, at Exeter Hall in London, England. Arguments over the exclusion of women from the convention have important ramifications for the movement for women's suffrage in the United States.source
  • September 16 – Joseph Strutt hands over the deeds and papers concerning the Derby Arboretum, which is to become England's first public park.source
  • The first English translation of Goethe's Theory of Colours by Charles Eastlake is published.source

Births

  • January 3 – Father Damien, Belgian missionary priest (d. 1889)source
  • January 9 – Samuel Baldwin Marks Young, American general, first Chief of Staff of the United States Army (d. 1924)source
  • January 18 – Alfred Percy Sinnett, English writer and theosophist (d. 1921)source
  • January 23 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)source
  • February 5 – Hiram Maxim, American-born British firearms inventor (d. 1916)source
  • February 15 – Titu Maiorescu, 23rd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1917)source
  • April 2 – Émile Zola, French writer (d. 1902)source
  • June 2 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (d. 1928)source
  • June 7 – Carlota of Mexico, Empress of Mexico (d. 1927)source
  • September 12 – Mary Jane Patterson, the first African-American woman to receive a B.A. degree in 1862. (d. 1894)source
  • September 27 – Alfred Thayer Mahan, United States Navy admiral, American geostrategist and historian (d. 1914)source
  • October 12 – Helena Modjeska, Polish stage actress (d. 1909)source
  • November 12 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)source
  • November 21 – Victoria, Princess Royal (d. 1901)source

Deaths

  • January 6 – Fanny Burney, English novelist (b. 1752)source
  • January 22 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (b. 1752)source
  • March 19 - The Council House Fight results in the deaths of 35 Comanche and seven Texas Rangers/militia, ending any hopes for peace in the Texas–Indian wars.source
  • April 25 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician, geometer, and physicist (b. 1781)source
  • May 1 – Joseph Williamson, builder of the Williamson Tunnels (b. 1769)source
  • May 6 – Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, Russian aristocrat, priest (b. 1770)source
  • May 6 – Francisco de Paula Santander, President of Colombia (b. 1792)source
  • May 7 – Caspar David Friedrich, German artist (b. 1774)source
  • May 26 – Sidney Smith, British admiral (b. 1764)source
  • May 27 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist, composer (b. 1782)source
  • June 7 – On the death of Frederick William III of Prussia, he is succeeded on the throne of the Kingdom of Prussia (which he has ruled for more than 40 years) by his eldest son Frederick William IV.source
  • September 14 – Joseph Smith, Sr., American father of Joseph Smith, Jr. (b. 1771)source
  • September 18 – Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, Constantinople-born French polymath (b. 1783)source
  • September 22 – Anne Lister, English landowner, diarist, mountaineer and traveller, "the first modern lesbian" (b. 1791)source