Directory

1844 CE

In the Philippines, 1844 had only 365 days instead of 366, when Tuesday, December 31 was skipped as Monday, December 30 was immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845, the next day after. The change also applied to Caroline Islands, Guam, Marianas Islands, Marshall Islands and Palau as part of the Captaincy General of the Philippines; these became the first places on Earth to redraw the International Date Line.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 27 – The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.source
  • March 8 – The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is reopened after 45 years of closure.source
  • March 13 – The dictator Carlos Antonio López becomes first President of Paraguay.source
  • March 23 – The Edict of Toleration is passed in the Ottoman Empire.source
  • July 3 – The United States signs the Treaty of Wanghia with the Qing Empire. The treaty establishes five U.S. treaty ports in China with extraterritoriality and is the first unequal treaty that the United States imposes on the dynasty.source
  • August 28 – Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx meet in Paris, France.source
  • November 6 – The Dominican Republic drafts its first Constitution.source
  • December 4 – 1844 United States presidential election: James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay.source
  • December 13 – Hungarian becomes the official language of Hungary.source
  • Flags of the Ottoman Empire: a national flag is adopted for the Empire.source

Conflict & Security

  • June 4 – Start of the Silesian weavers' uprising. It is crushed by Prussian military on June 6, with 11 weavers killed and numerous arrested.source
  • August 14 – Abdelkader El Djezairi is defeated at the Battle of Isly in Morocco; sultan Abd al-Rahman of Morocco soon repudiates his ally.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • December 21 – The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England.source
  • December 31 – This date is omitted from the calendar in the Philippines in order to align it with the calendar elsewhere in East Asia, essentially moving the International Date Line to the east of the archipelago.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 21 – The Baháʼí calendar begins.source
  • May 23 – Persian prophet The Báb privately announces his revelation to Mullá Husayn, just after sunset, founding the Bábí faith (later evolving into the Baháʼí Faith as the Báb intended) in Shiraz, Persia (modern-day Iran). Contemporaneously, on this day in nearby Tehran, is the birth of `Abdu'l-Bahá; the eldest Son of Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb's mission is to proclaim He whom God shall make manifest. `Abdu'l-Bahá Himself is later proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh to be His own successor, thus being the third "central figure" of the Baháʼí Faith.source
  • August 8 – During a meeting held in Nauvoo, Illinois, the Quorum of the Twelve, headed by Brigham Young, is chosen as the leading body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.source
  • August 16 – Narciso Claveria, Governor-General of the Philippines, makes a decree announcing that Monday, December 30, 1844, will be immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845. (Tuesday, December 31, 1844, is removed from the Philippine calendar because since 1521 the country has been one day behind its Asian neighbors.)source
  • October 23 – The Báb is publicly proclaimed to be the promised one of Islam (the Qá'im, or Mahdi). He is also considered to be simultaneously the return of Elijah, John the Baptist and the "Ushídar-Máh" referred to in the Zoroastrian scriptures. He announces to the world the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest". He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh – the founder of the Baháʼí Faith – whose claims include being the return of Jesus.source
  • The Free Church Institution is established by Reverend Alexander Duff in Calcutta, India. This is later merged with the General Assembly's Institution to form the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushers in the Bengali Renaissance.source

Economy & Finance

  • July 19 – The Bank Charter Act 1844 is approved, which restricts the powers of British banks, limiting note-issuing powers outside the central Bank of England.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 12 – The Columbus and Xenia Railroad, the first railroad planned to be built in Ohio, is chartered.source
  • May 1 – The Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second and Asia's first modern, police force is established.source
  • May 24 – The first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, saying "What hath God wrought".source
  • June 15 – Charles Goodyear receives a United States patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.source

Science & Discovery

  • August 10 – German astronomer Friedrich Bessel deduces from the motion of the bright stars Sirius and Procyon that they have dark companions.source
  • Swedish chemistry professor Gustaf Erik Pasch is granted a privilege for his invention of a safety match.source

Crime & Justice

  • June 27 – Killing of Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum, are murdered in Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois by an armed mob, leading to a succession crisis in the movement. John Taylor, future president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is severely injured but survives, while the fourth man inside the upper room, then-apostle Willard Richards, escapes with only a graze to his upper ear.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 28 – A gun on the USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing U.S. Secretary of State Abel Upshur, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer and four other people. President John Tyler is below decks and is uninjured.source
  • In Tibet, the Temple of Guardians burns down.source

Climate & Environment

  • June 3 – The last definitely recorded pair of great auks are killed on the Icelandic island of Eldey.source
  • June 12 –In the United States, after nine days of heavy rains, the Missouri River and the Mississippi River overflow their banks as the Great Flood of 1844 begins. The water begins to recede by June 28 and the rivers return to their normal level by mid-July.source
  • October 18 – 1844 Salta earthquake. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Argentina's Salta Province.source

Culture & Society

  • January 4 – The first issue of the Swedish-languaged Saima newspaper founded by J. V. Snellman is published in Kuopio, Finland.source
  • January 15 – The University of Notre Dame, based in the city of the same name, receives its charter from Indiana.source
  • March 9 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Ernani debuts at Teatro La Fenice, Venice.source
  • June 6 – George Williams sets up (in London) what is often cited as the first youth organisation in the world – "The Young Men's Christian Association", commonly known as YMCA. It will grow to a worldwide organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 57 million beneficiaries from 125 national associations. George Williams aims to put Christian principles into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit." These three angles are reflected by the different sides of the (red) triangle – part of all YMCA logos.source
  • June 17 – Søren Kierkegaard's The Concept of Anxiety is published in Denmark (as Begrebet Angest by 'Vigilius Haufniensis').source
  • June 22 – The Delta Kappa Epsilon student fraternity is founded at Yale College in the United States. ΔΚΕ will be home to many well known figures, such as U.S. Presidents George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford and Theodore Roosevelt.source
  • September 25–27 – The first ever international cricket match is played in New York City, United States v Canadian Provinces.source
  • November 3 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I due Foscari debuts at Teatro Argentina, Rome.source
  • In Munich, the Feldherrnhalle is completed.source
  • Robert Chambers' anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, which paves the way for acceptance of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, is published in Britain.source

Births

  • January 7 – Bernadette Soubirous, French visionary from Lourdes (d. 1879)source
  • February 20 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian-born American seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)source
  • February 26 – Horace Harmon Lurton, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1914)source
  • March 18 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (d. 1908)source
  • April 13 – John Surratt, suspect in the Abraham Lincoln assassination, son of Mary Surratt (d. 1916)source
  • April 16 – Anatole France, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)source
  • April 22 – Lewis Powell, attempted assassin of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, conspirator with John Wilkes Booth (d. 1865)source
  • October 5 – Francis William Reitz, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (d. 1934)source
  • October 15 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (d. 1900)source
  • October 16 – Ismail Kemal, Albanian politician and statesman, 1st Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1919)source
  • October 22 – Louis Riel, Canadian-American leader (d. 1885)source
  • October 23 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d. 1923)source
  • October 24 – Karl Lueger, Austrian politician, Mayor of Vienna (d. 1910)source
  • December 1 – Alexandra of Denmark, Queen of Edward VII of the United Kingdom (d. 1925)source

Deaths

  • January 25 – Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon, French marshal (b. 1765)source
  • January 27 – Charles Nodier, French writer (b. 1780)source
  • January 27 – Wiliam Gadsby, English Strict Baptist leader (b. 1773)source
  • January 28 – Johannes van den Bosch, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1780)source
  • February 15 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1757)source
  • February 27 – Nicholas Biddle, president of the Second Bank of the United States (b. 1786)source
  • March 6 – Gabriel Duvall, American politician and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1752)source
  • March 8 – King Charles XIV John of Sweden-Norway, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, French Napoleonic general (b. 1763)source
  • March – Carlota, Cuban slave rebel leadersource
  • June 13 – Thomas Charles Hope, Scottish chemist, discoverer of strontium (b. 1766)source
  • June 27 – Hyrum Smith, American Latter Day Saint leader (b. 1800)source
  • July 27 – John Dalton, English chemist, physicist (b. 1766)source
  • September ? – Robert Taylor, English-born Radical writer, freethought advocate (b. 1784)source
  • December 14 – Melchor Múzquiz, 5th President of Mexico (b. 1790)source