Explore 510 historical events from 1840–1849.
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her fami…
American abolitionist Harriet Tubman makes her first attempt to escape from slavery.
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow was a German politician who served as the imperial chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to 190…
Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1929)
Maria Theresa Henriette Dorothea of Austria-Este was the last Queen of Bavaria. She was the only child of Archduke Ferdinand Karl Viktor of Austria-Este and Archduchess Elisabeth F…
Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (died 1919)
William Thomas Stead was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of …
William Thomas Stead, English journalist (died 1912)
Nicholas Edward Brown was an English plant taxonomist and authority on succulents. He was also an authority on several families of plants, including Asclepiadaceae, Aizoaceae, Labi…
N. E. Brown, English plant taxonomist and authority on succulents (died 1934)
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for speci…
William Osler, Canadian physician and author (died 1919)
Ferdinand Vincent-de-Paul Marie Brunetière was a French writer and critic.
Ferdinand Brunetière, French scholar and critic (died 1906)
Robert Anderson Van Wyck was an American politician who was the first mayor of New York City after the consolidation of the five boroughs into the City of Greater New York in 1898.
Robert Anderson Van Wyck, American lawyer and politician, 91st Mayor of New York City (died 1918)
James Edson White, frequently known as Edson White, was an American author, publisher and the second son of two of the pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, James S. White …
James Edson White, American author and publisher, second son of Ellen G. White and James S. White
Max Simon Nordau was a Jewish Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theodor Herzl, and president or vi…
Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (died 1923)
Emma Lazarus was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. Lazarus is especially remembered for her 1883 sonnet,…
Emma Lazarus, American poet and educator (died 1887)
Leonora M. Kearney Barry was an Irish-American labor activist. As the only woman to hold national office within the Knights of Labor, she brought attention to the conditions of wor…
Leonora Barry, Irish-born American social activist (died 1930)
William Kidston was an Australian bookseller, politician and Premier of Queensland, from January 1906 to November 1907 and again from February 1908 to February 1911.
William Kidston, Scottish-Australian politician, 17th Premier of Queensland (died 1919)
Joaquim Aurélio Barreto Nabuco de Araújo was a Brazilian statesman, diplomat, a leading voice in the abolitionist movement of his country, historian, jurist, journalist, and one of…
Joaquim Nabuco, Brazilian politician and diplomat (died 1910)
William Ernest Henley was an English poet, writer, critic, and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus". A fixt…
William Ernest Henley, English poet and critic (died 1903)
Emil Zuckerkandl was an Austrian-Hungarian anatomist who held the first chair for anatomy at the University of Vienna as of 1888.
Emil Zuckerkandl, Hungarian anatomist (died 1910)
Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett was an American novelist, short story writer and poet, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern coast of Maine. Jewett is reco…
Sarah Orne Jewett, American novelist, short story writer and poet (died 1909)
Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier, known as Juliette, was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Pa…
Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (born 1777)
Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. His woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji includes the icon…
Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (born 1760)
Lieutenant-General Sir Benjamin D'Urban was a British general and colonial administrator, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony. Dur…
Benjamin D'Urban, English general and politician, Governor of British Guiana (born 1777)
Anne Brontë was an English novelist and poet. A member of the Brontë literary family, she was the younger sister of Charlotte, Emily, and Branwell. Anne is known for her 1847 novel…
Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (born 1820)
Thomas Robert Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie, duc d'Isly was a Marshal of France and Governor-General of Algeria during the French colonization. Born an aristocrat, he has a com…
Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician (born 1784)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and paleobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. His contributions include o…
Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (born 1773)
James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Amer…
James K