Directory

1851 CE

The flip of a coin, subsequently named the Portland Penny, determines whether a new city in the Oregon Territory will be named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning. The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria. The first protected submarine telegraph cable is laid, across the English Channel.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 23 – The flip of a coin, subsequently named the Portland Penny, determines whether a new city in the Oregon Territory will be named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.source
  • March 1 – Victor Hugo uses the phrase United States of Europe, in a speech to the French National Assembly.source
  • July 1 – Port Phillip District separates from New South Wales to become the Colony of Victoria (Australia).source
  • August 1 – Virginia closes its Reform Constitutional Convention, deciding that all white men have the right to vote.source
  • December 2 – In what amounts to a coup d'etat, President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte of France dissolves the French National Assembly, and declares a new constitution to extend his term. A year later he declares himself as Emperor Napoleon III, ending the Second Republic.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion in China, one of the bloodiest revolts that would lead to 20 million deaths.source
  • July 1 – Battle of Ras Tanoura, a collision occurs between the Bahrain blockading force off Kateef and the Arab fugitives at Kenn Island, who surprised and attacked the Bahrain fleet. Mubarak bin Abdulla bin Ahmed, along with his brother Rashid and Busher bin Rahma Al Jalahma were all killed in the battle.source
  • October 17 – The first Parsi-Muslim riot begins in Bombay, India.source
  • November 21 – Mutineers take control of the Chilean penal colony of Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan.source
  • November 26–27 – Morocco: French naval forces bombard the Moroccan city of Salé, in retaliation for looting of a French cargo ship.source
  • December 26–27 – A British Royal Navy warship bombards Lagos Island; Oba Kosoko is wounded, and flees to Epe.source
  • December 31 – 1851 Chilean Revolution: At the Battle of Loncomilla, Chilean rebels are defeated, ending the revolution.source
  • Nian Rebellion in China, 1851–68.source
  • Naga raids on the East India Company, 1851–65.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 27 – The first European men reportedly see Yosemite Valley.source
  • April 9 – San Luis, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Colorado, is founded by settlers from Taos, New Mexico.source
  • August 3 – The filibustering Lopez Expedition sails from New Orleans, Louisiana heading to seize Spanish-ruled Cuba.source
  • August 22 – The yacht America wins the first America's Cup race, off the coast of England.source
  • September 1 – Narciso López is executed in Havana following the failure of his expedition in Cuba.source
  • September 30 – HSwMS Eugenie leaves from Karlskrona, Sweden to begin its voyage as the first Swedish Royal Navy vessel to circumnavigate the world.source
  • November 13 – The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, the first settlers of what later becomes Seattle.source

Religion & Belief

  • April 20 – Ramón Castilla loses power in Peru.source

Economy & Finance

  • June 2 – Castle & Cooke, the predecessor of Dole Food Company, is founded in Hawaii.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 8 – Western Union is founded, as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company.source
  • May 1 – The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria.source
  • August 12 – Isaac Singer is granted a United States patent for his improved sewing machine.source
  • November 1 – Saint Petersburg–Moscow Railway officially opens in Russia.source
  • November 13 – The first protected submarine telegraph cable is laid, across the English Channel.source
  • December 22 – The first railway begins operation in India, hauling canal construction material in Roorkee.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 12 – Edward Hargraves claims to have found gold in Australia.source
  • July 28 – Total solar eclipse visible in Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Northern Europe, the first solar eclipse to be photographed.source
  • July 29 – Annibale de Gasparis, in Naples, Italy discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.source
  • October 24 – Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, are discovered by William Lassell.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 25 – Placer County, California, is formed from parts of Sutter and Yuba Counties with Auburn as the county seat.source
  • June 2 – Maine passes the Maine Liquor Law, the first state-wide prohibition in the United States.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 15 – In Boston, Massachusetts, members of the anti-slavery Boston Vigilance Committee rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from a courtroom, following his arrest by U.S. marshals.source
  • July 1 – Serial poisoner Hélène Jégado is arrested in Rennes, France. Her trial opens on December 6; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed by guillotine.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 1 – Brandtaucher, the oldest surviving submersible craft, sinks during acceptance trials in the German port of Kiel, but the designer, Wilhelm Bauer, and the two crew escape successfully.source
  • February 6 – Black Thursday occurs in Australia as bushfires sweep across the state of Victoria, burning about a quarter of its area.source
  • December 24 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns.source

Climate & Environment

  • March 30 – A United Kingdom Census is taken. The population has reached 21 million. 6.3 million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, and cities of 20,000 or more account for 35% of the total English population. It also shows that a legacy of the Great Irish Famine is that the population of Ireland has fallen to 6,575,000 – a drop of 1,600,000 in ten years, many having emigrated.source
  • Mid-May to mid-July – Great Flood of 1851: Extensive flooding sweeps across the Midwestern United States. The town of Des Moines is virtually washed away, and many rainfall records hold for 160 years.source
  • 1851–1855 Yellow River floods in China.source
  • Great Famine (Ireland), 1845–52.source

Culture & Society

  • January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College, receives its charter from the Missouri General Assembly.source
  • January 28 – Northwestern University is founded in Illinois.source
  • March 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto is first performed at La Fenice in Venice.source
  • April 28 – Santa Clara College is chartered in Santa Clara, California.source
  • May 15 – Mongkut is crowned as King (Rama IV) of Siam, at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.source
  • May 15 – Alpha Delta Pi sorority, the first secret society for women, is founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia (U.S.)source
  • May 15 – The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.source
  • June 21 – The Immortal Game, a famous chess match, is played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky, during a break in the first international tournament, held in London.source
  • July 10 – The University of the Pacific is chartered as California Wesleyan College, in Santa Clara, California.source
  • September 15 – Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia.source
  • September 18 – The New York Times is founded in New York City.source
  • October 15 – The city of Winona, Minnesota is founded.source
  • October – The Reuters news service is founded in Londonsource
  • November 14 – Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick; or The Whale is published in the U.S. by Harper & Brothers, New York, after being first published on October 18 in London, by Richard Bentley, in three volumes as The Whale.source
  • December 9 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal.source
  • December 29 – The first YMCA in the United States opens in Boston, Massachusetts.source

Births

  • January 11 – Soeria Atmadja, Sundanese noble and politician, Regent of Sumedang (1881 - 1919) (d. 1921)source
  • January 19 – David Starr Jordan, American ichthyologist, educator, eugenicist, and peace activist (d. 1931)source
  • May 21 – Léon Bourgeois, French statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1925)source
  • June 12 – Sir Oliver Lodge, British physicist (d. 1940)source
  • July 8 – Arthur Evans, British archaeologist (d. 1941)source
  • August 14 – Doc Holliday, American gambler, gunfighter (d. 1887)source
  • September 13 – Walter Reed, American army physician, bacteriologist (d. 1902)source
  • September 16 – Evgeny Aleksandrovich Radkevich, Russian general (d. 1930)source
  • September 29 – Hardwicke Rawnsley, English clergyman, poet, writer of hymns and conservationist (d. 1920)source
  • November 10 – José Maria de Yermo y Parres, Mexican Roman Catholic priest and saint (d. 1904)source
  • November 13 – Klemens Bachleda, Polish Tatra guide and mountain rescuer (d. 1910)source
  • December 10 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification (d. 1931)source
  • December 24 – Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau, French general (d. 1944)source
  • December 30 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman, politician (d. 1929)source

Deaths

  • January 10 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (b. 1775)source
  • January 27 – John James Audubon, French-American naturalist, illustrator (b. 1785)source
  • February 18 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician (b. 1804)source
  • February 28 – Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie, Marshal of France (b. 1775)source
  • April 2 – Nangklao (Rama III), King of Siam (Thailand) (b. 1788)source
  • April 15 – Andrés Quintana Roo, Mexican politician and lawyer, husband of Leona Vicario (b. 1787)source
  • May 14 – Manuel Gómez Pedraza, 6th President of Mexico, 1832-1833 (b. 1789)source
  • June 9 – John Brown Russwurm, Americo-Liberian journalist and governor of the African Republic of Maryland (b. 1799)source
  • June 10 – Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, British politician (b. 1771)source
  • September 11 – Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist, inventor (b. 1794)source
  • September 14 – James Fenimore Cooper, American writer (b. 1789)source
  • October 19 – Madame Royale Marie Thérèse of France (b. 1778)source
  • October 31 – Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Montenegrin statesman, religious leader and poet (b. 1813)source
  • December 19 – J. M. W. Turner, English painter (b. 1775)source