- Jan 2 Wagner's opera "Der Fliegende Holländer" premieres, Dresden
- Jan 4 Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Don Pasquale" premieres in Paris
- Jan 4 Royal Academy (Technical Hague court) Delft opens
- Feb 2 US & British settlers in Oregon Country choose government committee
- Feb 6 The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
- Feb 11 Opera "I Lombardi" premieres in Milan
- Mar 1 5th Grand National: Tom Olliver aboard Vanguard wins
- Mar 3 Congress appropriates $30,000 "to test the practicability of establishing a system of electro-magnetic telegraphs" by the US
- Mar 7 1st Catholic governor in US, Edward Kavanagh of Maine, takes office
Event of Interest
Apr 6 William Wordsworth is appointed British Poet Laureate by Queen Victoria
William Wordsworth
Victoria
Event of Interest
Jun 1 Sojourner Truth leaves NY to begin her career as antislavery activist
Sojourner Truth
The Day an Alligator Fell from the Sky
Jul 2 An alligator falls from sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina
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- Jul 5 Committee of 9 appointed to establish civil government in Oregon Country
Event of Interest
Jul 12 Mormon leader Joseph Smith says God allows polygamy
Joseph Smith Jr
Event of Interest
Jul 19 The steamship SS Great Britain is launched, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and the largest vessel afloat in the world
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
- Aug 8 Natal (in South Africa) is made a British colony
- Aug 15 National black convention meets (Buffalo NY)
- Aug 15 Tivoli Gardens amusement park opens in Copenhagen, world's 2nd oldest
- Aug 26 Charles Thurber patents a typewriter
- Aug 30 1st time African-Americans participate in a national political convention (Liberty Party)
- Aug 31 Liberty Party nominates James Birneyas presidential candidate
- Oct 1 News of the World begins publication in London
- Oct 13 B'nai B'rith founded (NY)
- Oct 14 British arrest Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell for conspiracy
- Oct 16 Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers.
- Oct 20 1st Chinese immigrant arrives in Suriname
- Nov 13 Mt Rainier in Washington State erupts
- Nov 27 Opera "Bohemian Girl" is produced (London)
- Nov 28 Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day - The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.
- Dec 1 1st chartered mutual life insurance company opens
- Dec 4 Manila paper (made from sails, canvas and rope) patented in Massachusetts
- Dec 4 Robert Schumann's "Das Paradies und die Peri" premieres in Leipzig
- Dec 6 Amsterdam-Utrecht railway opens
Historic Publication
Dec 19 "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is published, 6,000 copies sold
Charles Dickens
- Dec 25 1st theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, NYC)