istoryworld
All Events
Edgar Allan Poe publishes a characteristically gothic tale, The Fall of the House of Usher
Mutiny by slaves on a Spanish vessel leads two years later to a significant abolitionist victory in the Amistad case
A British army invades Afghanistan and instals a puppet ruler, Shuja Shah, as the Afghan amir
Abd-el-Kader proclaims a holy war against the French in Algeria and begins a military campaign that will last for eight years
Joseph Smith and the Mormons create the thriving town of Nauvoo in Illinois on the Mississippi
Andries Pretorius sets up the Boer republic of Natalia, with its capital at Pietermaritzburg
Lord Durham produces his Report on the Affairs of British North America, proposing reforms in the administration of Canada
British troops invade China after the Chinese authorities seize and destroy the opium stocks of British merchants in Canton
Polish composer Frédéric Chopin completes his Preludes under difficult conditions in Majorca
In the Bedchamber Crisis, Queen Victoria shows steely determination in refusing to dismiss politically committed ladies of her bedchamber
British forces capture Hong Kong, which is subsequently ceded to Britain by China at the end of the first Opium War in 1842
The French painter Gustave Courbet moves from his native town of Ornans to Paris
St Peter’s, in Petersham, is almost doubled in size, with new galleries and a much enlarged south transept
Four new boathouses are built by Richmond Bridge, to be occupied chiefly by the watermen families of the Chittys, the Peasleys and the Wheelers, for boat-hiring and boatbuilding.
With Boer help, Mpande removes his brother Dingaan from the Zulu throne and takes his place
Strawberry Hill passes through the Waldegrave family to John, who marries Frances Braham in 1839, and on his early death to his brother George, the seventh Earl, who marries his brother's widow.
Swiss scientist Louis Agassiz argues, in his Study on Glaciers, that much of Europe was recently in the grip of an ice age
Napoleon's remains are brought to Paris for burial in Les Invalides, as the Napoleonic legend grows
Robert Schumann composes the song cycle Frauenliebe und -Leben ('Woman's Love and Life')
Queen Victoria gives Kew Gardens to the nation, as a botanic garden of scientific importance
Muhammad Ali, officially viceroy for the Turkish sultan, establishes his own ruling dynasty on the throne of Egypt
Rowland Hill introduces in Britain the world's first postage stamps - the Penny Black and Two Pence Blue
Victoria marries Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and soon, with nine children, they provide the very image of the ideal Victorian family
The first issue of the quarterly magazine The Dial is issued by the Transcendentalists meeting at Ralph Waldo Emerson's home
Robert Schumann marries the pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his first teacher
