1840
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| Centuries: | 18th century - 19th century - 20th century |
| Decades: | 1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s |
| Years: | 1837 1838 1839 - 1840 - 1841 1842 1843 |
| 1840 in topic: |
| Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - |
| Art - Literature (Poetry) - Music - Science |
| Sports - Rail Transport |
| Countries: Australia - Canada - France - Germany - Ireland - Mexico - New Zealand - Norway - South Africa - UK - USA |
| Leaders: State leaders - Colonial governors |
| Category: Establishments - Disestablishments |
| Births - Deaths - Works |
Year 1840 (MDCCCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).
Contents |
[edit] Events of 1840
- January 3 - One of the predecessor papers of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, The Port Phillip Herald, is founded.
- January 10 - Uniform penny postage is introduced in the UK.
- January 13 - The steamship Lexington burns and sinks in icy waters, 4 miles off the coast of Long Island; 139 die, only 4 survive.
- January 19 - Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what becomes known as Wilkes Land for the United States.
- January 20
- Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
- The first public school is established in Rockingham County.
- January 22 - British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding Wellington.
- February - The Rhodes blood libel is made against the Jews of Rhodes.
- February 5 - The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to the Damascus affair, a highly publicized case of blood libel against the Jews of Damascus.
- February 6 - The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.
- February 10 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha.
- February 11 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Regiment premieres in Paris.
- March 1
- William Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand, suffers a stroke.
- Adolphe Thiers becomes prime minister of France.
- April 15 - King's College Hospital opens in Portugal Street, London.
- May 1 - Britain issues the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp.
- May 6 - The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, becomes valid for the pre-payment of postage.
- May 7 - The Great Natchez Tornado: A massive tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi during the early afternoon hours. Before it iss over, 317 people are killed and 109 injured. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
- May 21 - New Zealand is declared a British colony.
[edit] July - December
- July 4 - The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic passenger cruise.
- July 15 - Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia sign the London Treaty with the Sublime Porte, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
- July 23 - The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
- August 10 - Fortsas hoax: A number of book collectors gather in Binche, Belgium to attend a non-existent book auction of the late "Count of Fortsas".
- September 10 - Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut and land troops on the coast to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.
- September 16 - Joseph Strutt hands over the deeds and papers concerning the Arboretum, which later becomes England's first public park.
- September 30 - The frigate Belle-Poule arrives in Cherbourg, bringing back the remains of Napoléon from Saint Helena to France. He is buried in the Invalides.
- October 7 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1840: William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren.
- December 7 - David Livingstone leaves Britain for Africa.
- December 7 - The Stockport Viaduct (located in Greater Manchester, England) is completed. It is the largest brick structure in Western Europe.
[edit] Undated
- Louis Agassiz publishes 2-volume work entitled Etudes sur les glaciers ("Study on Glaciers"), the first major work to scientifically propose that the Earth has been subject to a past ice age.
- Pedro II is declared "of age" prematurely and begins to reassert central control in Brazil.
- Mount Allison University is founded in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
- The Washingtonian Temperance Society is founded.
- The first English translation of Goethe's Theory of Colours by Charles Eastlake is published.
- Frederick William IV starts to rule in Prussia.
[edit] Ongoing events
[edit] Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1840 MDCCCXL |
| Ab urbe condita | 2593 |
| Armenian calendar | 1289 ԹՎ ՌՄՁԹ |
| Bahá'í calendar | -4 – -3 |
| Berber calendar | 2790 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2384 |
| Burmese calendar | 1202 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7348 – 7349 |
| Chinese calendar | 己亥年十一月廿七日 (4476/4536-11-27) — to —
庚子年十二月初八日(4477/4537-12-8) |
| Coptic calendar | 1556 – 1557 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1832 – 1833 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5600 – 5601 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1895 – 1896 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1762 – 1763 |
| - Kali Yuga | 4941 – 4942 |
| Holocene calendar | 11840 |
| Iranian calendar | 1218 – 1219 |
| Islamic calendar | 1255 – 1256 |
| Japanese calendar | Tenpō 11 (天保11年) |
| Korean calendar | 4173 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2383 |
[edit] January - June
- January 3 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary priest (d. 1889)
- January 22 - Ernest Roland Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
- January 23 - Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)
- January 26 - John Clayton Adams, British landscape artist (d. 1906)
- February 4 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American firearms inventor (d. 1916)
- February 5 - John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (d. 1921)
- February 21 - Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1904)
- February 22 - August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
- February 23 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (d. 1921)
- February 29 - John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
- March 28 - Emin Pasha, German doctor and African administrator (d. 1892)
- April 2 - Emile Zola, French writer (d. 1902)
- April 22 - Odilon Redon, French painter (d. 1916)
- April 27 - Edward Whymper, English mountaineer (d. 1911)
- May 7 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
- May 13 - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (d. 1897)
- June 2 - Thomas Hardy, English writer (d. 1928)
- June 10 - Theodor Philipsen Danish painter (d. 1920)
[edit] July - December
- August 4 - Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German sexologist (d. 1902)
- October 9 - Simeon Solomon, British artist (d. 1905)
- October 16 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1900)
- November 12 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
- November 14 - Claude Monet, French painter (d. 1926)
- November 21 - Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom and Empress of Germany (d. 1901)
- November 29 - Rhoda Broughton, Welsh writer (d. 1920)
[edit] Deaths
[edit] January - June
- January 6 - Fanny Burney, English novelist (b. 1752)
- January 22 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (b. 1752)
- February 13 - Nicolas Joseph Maison, French marshal and Minister of War (b. 1770)
- April 25 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician, geometer, and physicist (b. 1781)
- May 1 - Joseph Williamson, philanthropist and builder of Williamson's tunnels (b. 1769)
- May 6 - Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, Russian aristocrat and priest (b. 1770)
- May 7 - Caspar David Friedrich, German artist (b. 1774)
- May 11 - Thomas Cooper, American political philosopher (b. 1759)
- May 26 - Sidney Smith, British admiral (b. 1764)
- May 27 - Nicolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)
- June 7 - King Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
[edit] July - December
- July 7 - Nikolai Stankevich, philosopher and poet (b. 1813)
- August 25 - Karl Leberecht Immermann, novelist and dramatist (b. 1796)
- September 11 - Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, Catholic missionary and martyr in China
- September 14 - Joseph Smith, Sr., father of Joseph Smith, Jr.
- September 18 - Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, polymath (b. 1783)
- September 20 - José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, the first leader of independent Paraguay (b. 1766)
- November 2 - Józef Kossakowski (colonel), Polish-Lithuanian statesman (b. 1771)
