1840: Difference between revisions

{{Year nav|1840}}

{{C19 year in topic}}

[[File:Awful conflagration of the steam boat Lexington.jpg|thumb|right| [[January 13]]: Steamship ''Lexington'' sinks.]]

{{Year article header|1840}}

 

== Events ==

* [[January 19]] – Captain [[Charles Wilkes]]' [[United States Exploring Expedition]] sights what becomes known as [[Wilkes Land]] in the southeast quadrant of Antarctica, claiming it for the United States, and providing evidence that Antarctica is a complete continent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/exploration.shtml|title=Antarctic Exploration — Chronology|access-date=2006-10-20|publisher=Quark Expeditions|year=2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908120017/http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/exploration.shtml |archive-date=2006-09-08}}</ref>

* [[January 21]] – [[Jules Dumont d'Urville]] discovers [[Adélie Land]] in Antarctica, claiming it for [[July Monarchy|France]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Guillon|first=Jacques|title=Dumont d'Urville|publisher=France-Empire|year=1986|location=Paris|isbn=2-7048-0472-9}}</ref>

* [[February]] – The [[Rhodes blood libel]] is made against the Jews of [[Rhodes]].

* [[February 5]] – [[Damascus Affair]]: The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to a highly publicized case of [[blood libel]], against the Jews of [[Damascus]].

* [[February 11]] – [[Gaetano Donizetti]]'s opera ''[[La fille du régiment]]'' premieres in Paris.

* [[March 1]] – [[Adolphe Thiers]] becomes prime minister of [[July Monarchy|France]].

* [[March 9]] – The [[Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad]] is completed, from [[Wilmington, North Carolina]] to [[Weldon, North Carolina]]. At {{convert|161.5|mi|km}}, it is the world's longest railroad.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historync.org/railroad-WWRR.htm|title=Railroad — Wilmington & Raleigh (later Weldon)|work=North Carolina Business History|year=2006|access-date=2011-12-02}}</ref>

 

=== April–June ===

* [[June 7]] – On the death of [[Frederick William III of Prussia]], he is succeeded on the throne of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] (which he has ruled for more than 40 years) by his eldest son [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]].

* [[June 12]]–[[June 23|23]] – The [[World Anti-Slavery Convention]] is organised by the [[British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society]], at [[Exeter Hall]] in London, England. Arguments over the exclusion of women from the convention have important ramifications for the movement for [[women's suffrage in the United States]].

 

=== July–September ===

[[File:RMS Britannia 1840 paddlewheel.jpg|thumb|right|[[July 4]]: {{RMS|Britannia}}]]

* [[July 21]] – [[August Borsig]]'s [[steam locomotive]], the first built in [[German Confederation|Germany]], competes against a [[George Stephenson|Stephenson]]-built locomotive on the [[Anhalt Railway|Berlin–Jüterbog railroad]]; the Borsig locomotive wins by 10 minutes.

* [[July 23]]

** [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]] is declared "of age" prematurely, and begins to reassert central control in [[Empire of Brazil|Brazil]].

** The [[Province of Canada]] is created by the [[Act of Union 1840|Act of Union]].

* [[September 10]] – Ottoman and British troops bombard [[Beirut]], and land troops on the coast, to pressure [[Egypt Eyalet|Egypt]]ian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.

* [[September 16]] – [[Joseph Strutt (philanthropist)|Joseph Strutt]] hands over the deeds and papers concerning the [[Derby Arboretum]], which is to become England's first public park.

 

=== October–December ===

* [[October 8]] – A ''[[firman]]'' (imperial decree) of Sultan [[Abdulmejid I]] replaces [[Bashir Shihab II]] as [[Emir of Mount Lebanon]] with [[Bashir III|Prince Bashir Chehab III]] (Bashir Qasim al-Chehab).<ref name=Farah>{{cite book|last1=Farah|first1=Caesar E.|author2=Centre for Lebanese Studies (Great Britain)|title=Politics of Interventionism in Ottoman Lebanon, 1830-1861|date=2000|publisher=I. B. Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uxkz9D4Ff_sC&q=Falugha+Druze|isbn=9781860640568|pages=41–43}}</ref>

* [[October 11]] – [[Maronite]] leader [[Bashir Shihab II]] surrenders to the Ottomans,<ref name=Farah/> and on October 14 goes into exile, initially in [[Malta]].

* [[December 7]] – [[David Livingstone]] leaves Britain for Africa.

* [[December 15]] – The body of [[Napoleon]] is laid to rest in [[Les Invalides]] in Paris.

* The first English translation of Goethe's ''[[Theory of Colours]]'' by [[Charles Lock Eastlake|Charles Eastlake]] is published.

* The first known photograph of [[Niagara Falls]], a [[daguerreotype]], is taken by English chemist [[Hugh Lee Pattinson]].

* Approximate date – [[Volcanic eruption]] of [[Tinakula]] in the [[Solomon Islands]] causes the island to be depopulated.

 

[[File:Porträt des Komponisten Pjotr I. Tschaikowski (1840-1893).jpg|thumb|110px|[[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]]]

[[File:Princess Charlotte of Belgium, Empress of Mexico.jpg|thumb|110px|Empress [[Carlota of Mexico]]]]

* [[January 3]] – [[Father Damien]], Belgian missionary priest (d. [[1889]])

* [[January 9]] – [[Samuel Baldwin Marks Young]], American general, first [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]] (d. [[1924]])

* [[January 23]] – [[Ernst Abbe]], German physicist (d. [[1905]])

* [[February 9]] – [[William T. Sampson]], American admiral (d. [[1902]])

* [[February 15]] – [[Titu Maiorescu]], 23rd Prime Minister of Romania (d. [[1917]])

* [[July 1]] – [[Edward Clodd]], English banker, writer and anthropologist (d. [[1930]])

* [[July 6]] – [[Peter Conover Hains]], major general in the [[United States Army]], and veteran of the [[American Civil War]], [[Spanish–American War]], and [[First World War]] (d. [[1921]])

* [[August 4]] – [[Richard von Krafft-Ebing]], German sexologist (d. [[1902]])

* [[September 12]] – [[Mary Jane Patterson]], the first African-American woman to receive a B.A degree in 1862. (d. [[1894]])

* [[September 22]] – [[D. M. Canright]], American Seventh-day Adventist minister and author, later one of the church's severest critics (d. [[1919]])

* [[September 27]]

** [[Alfred Thayer Mahan]], United States Navy admiral, American geostrategist and historian (d. [[1914]])

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