1841 CE

St. John's College, later Fordham University, is founded in The Bronx by Jesuits. Queen's University is founded in Kingston, Ontario, by Rev. Thomas Liddell, who carries a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria, and becomes the school's first principal. The first multilateral treaty for the suppression of the African slave trade, the Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, signed in London by the representatives of Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 20 – Charles Elliot of the United Kingdom and Qishan of the Qing dynasty agree to the Convention of Chuenpi.source
January 30 – El Salvador proclaims itself an independent republic, bringing an end to the Federal Republic of Central America.source
February 10 – The Act of Union (British North America Act, 1840) is proclaimed in Canada.source
February 11 – Upper Canada and Lower Canada are merged to create the United Province of Canada.source
May 3 – New Zealand becomes a separate British colony, having previously been administered as part of the Colony of New South Wales.source
August 11 – Frederick Douglass speaks in front of the Anti-Slavery Convention in Nantucket, Massachusetts.source
September 24 – Sarawak is broken away from Brunei, and James Brooke is appointed Rajah.source
December 20 – The first multilateral treaty for the suppression of the African slave trade, the Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, signed in London by the representatives of Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia.source

Conflict & Security

May 22 – The Georgian province of Guria revolts against the Russian Empire.source
May – The Sino-Sikh War begins.source
August 16 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House, in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.source
October 10 – First Opium War: Battle of Chinhai – British capture a Chinese garrison.source
October 13 – First Opium War: British occupy Ningbo.source
December 23 – First Anglo-Afghan War: At a meeting with the Afghan general Akbar Khan, British diplomat Sir William Hay Macnaghten is shot dead at close quarters.source
First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42)source

Exploration & Expansion

January 28 – Ross discovers the "Victoria Barrier", later known as the Ross Ice Shelf. On the same voyage, he discovers the Ross Sea, Victoria Land and Mount Terror.source
July 20 – The Mercantile Agency (ancestor of Dun & Bradstreet) is founded in New York City by Lewis Tappan.source
July 31 – Scottish missionary David Livingstone arrives at Kuruman in the Northern Cape, his first posting in Africa.source
August 20–October 16 – The Niger expedition of 1841 begins sailing up the Niger River by paddle steamers, under the auspices of the British Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and the Civilisation of Africa; it is largely abortive, due to the high incidence of disease among the crews.source
November – The settlement of Dallas, Texas, is founded by John Neely Bryan.source

Religion & Belief

The sixth bishop of Calcutta, Daniel Wilson, and Dr. James Taylor, Civil Surgeon at Dhaka, establish the first modern educational institution on the Indian subcontinent, Dhaka College.source

Technology & Infrastructure

July 5 – Thomas Cook arranges his first railway excursion in England.source

Health & Medicine

January 26 – Britain occupies Hong Kong. Later in the year, the first census of the island records a population of about 7,500.source
November 13 – Scottish surgeon James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism by Charles Lafontaine in Manchester, which leads to his study of the phenomenon that he (Braid) eventually calls hypnotism.source

Crime & Justice

February 18 – The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins, and lasts until March 11.source
March 9 – United States v. The Amistad: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the case, that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into slavery illegally.source
John Augustus develops the concept of probation in Boston, Massachusetts.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 30 – A fire destroys two-thirds of the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.source
March 12 – All 136 passengers and crew on steamship , commanded by legendary captain Richard Roberts (known for saying "I'd go to sea in a bathtub"), are killed when the ship founders in rough seas.source
October 30 – A fire at the Tower of London destroys its Grand Armoury and causes a quarter of a million pounds' worth of damage.source

Climate & Environment

January 27 – The active volcano Mount Erebus in Antarctica is discovered, and named by James Clark Ross.source
February 4 – The first known reference is made to Groundhog Day, celebrated in North America, in the diary of a James Morris.source

Culture & Society

June 6 – The United Kingdom Census is held, the first to record names and approximate ages of every household member, and to be administered nationally.source
June 21 – St. John's College, later Fordham University, is founded in The Bronx by Jesuits.source
June 28 – The ballet Giselle is first presented by the Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique, at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris, France, with music by Adolphe Adam and Italian ballerina Carlotta Grisi in the title role.source
July 17 – The first edition of the humorous magazine Punch is published in London.source
October 16 – Queen's University is founded in Kingston, Ontario, by Rev. Thomas Liddell, who carries a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria, and becomes the school's first principal.source
December 27 – Franz Liszt gives a piano recital at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin to an enthusiastic audience, retrospectively marked as the beginning of Lisztomania, which will accompany his tours across Europe during the decade.source
Emperor Pedro II of Brazil is crowned in Rio de Janeiro.source

Births

January 8 – Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, Muslim scholar, 1st Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam (d. 1914)source
January 15 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English-Canadian politician, soldier (d. 1908)source
March 1 – Luigi Luzzatti, Italian financier, economist, philosopher, and jurist, 20th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1927)source
March 8 – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1935)source
April 11 – John Stillwell Stark, American publisher of Ragtime (d. 1927)source
July 5 – Mary Arthur McElroy, de facto First Lady of the United States (d. 1917)source
August 25 – Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1917)source
August 28 – Louis Le Prince, French inventor, Father of Cinematography (d. 1890)source
September 8 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (d. 1904)source
September 8 – Charles J. Guiteau, American lawyer, assassin of James A. Garfield (d. 1882)source
September 28 – Georges Clemenceau, French statesman (d. 1929)source
October 16 – Prince Itō Hirobumi, 4-time prime minister of Japan (d. 1909)source
November 13 – Edward Burd Grubb Jr., American Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General (d.1913)source
December 20 – Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)source

Deaths

January 15 – Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot, Baltic-German naturalist, traveller (b. 1792)source
February 12 – Sir Astley Cooper, British surgeon and anatomist (b. 1768)source
March 1 – Claude-Victor Perrin, Duc de Belluno, French marshal (b. 1764)source
April 4 – President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, aged 68, becoming the first president of the United States to die in office, and at one month, the American president with the shortest term served. He is succeeded by Vice President John Tyler.source
April 28 – Peter Chanel, French Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and saint (martyred) (b. 1803)source
May 16 – Marie Boivin, French midwife, inventor, and obstetrics writer (b. 1773)source
May 23 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher, theologian (b. 1765)source
June 1 – Nicolas Appert, French inventor (b. 1749)source
June 1 – David Wilkie, Scottish artist (b. 1785)source
July – Mary Rogers ("Beautiful Cigar Girl"), American murder victim (b. c. 1820)source
August 16 – Fernando Errázuriz Aldunate, Chilean politician, President of Chile (b.c 1777)source
September 25 – John Chandler, American politician (b. 1762)source
October 9 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German architect (b. 1781)source
November 18 – Agustín Gamarra, Peruvian general and politician, 10th and 14th President of Peru (b. 1785)source