Explore 629 historical events from 1840–1849.
Prince Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese statesman who served as the first prime minister of Japan from 1885 to 1888. Itō held office again as prime minister three times between 1892 and…
Itō Hirobumi, Japanese lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Japan (died 1909)
Peter Andreas Heiberg was a Danish-Norwegian author and philologist. He was born in Vordingborg, Denmark-Norway. The Heiberg ancestry can be traced back to Norway, and has produced…
Peter Andreas Heiberg, Danish philologist and author (born 1758)
Benedict Franz von Baader, born Benedikt Franz Xaver Baader, was a Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mining engineer from Germany. Resisting the empiricism of his day, he denou…
Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (born 1765)
Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter, especially known for his genre scenes. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes, portraits, includi…
David Wilkie, Scottish painter and academic (born 1785)
Konstantinos Agathophron Nikolopoulos was a Greek composer, philologist and colleague of Adamantios Korais.
Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, Greek composer, archaeologist, and philologist (born 1786)
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's …
Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poet and painter (born 1814)
Theodore Edward Hook was an English writer, intellectual, prankster and civil servant. One of the first writers of the English fashionable novel, he is best known for his practical…
Theodore Hook, English civil servant and composer (born 1788)
John Ordronaux was a French-born privateer and businessman. Born in Nantes, Brittany, he eventually moved to the United States. During the War of 1812, Ordronaux captained two ship…
John Ordronaux, French-American soldier (born 1778)
Augustin Pyramus de Candolle was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de…
Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (born 1778)
Alessandro Rolla was an Italian viola and violin virtuoso, composer, conductor and teacher. His son, Antonio Rolla, was also a violin virtuoso and composer.
Alessandro Rolla, Italian violinist and composer (born 1757)
Vice-Admiral Sir Patrick Campbell, KCB was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who was distinguished by his service in the French Revolutionary and …
Patrick Campbell, Scottish admiral (born 1773)
Johan August Arfwedson was a Swedish chemist who discovered the chemical element lithium in 1817 by isolating it as a salt.
Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist and academic (born 1792)
Giselle, originally titled Giselle, ou les Wilis, is a romantic ballet in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it…
Giselle (title role pictured), a ballet by the French composer Adolphe Adam, was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Aca
Thomas James Lempriere was a British colonial administrator in the Australian colony of Van Diemen's Land. He is known for his diaries depicting the convict period in Van Diemen's …
Thomas Lempriere and James Clark Ross carved a sandstone marker on Tasmania's Isle of the Dead, one of the oldest…
Thomas Cook was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy…
Thomas Cook, the founder of the British travel company Thomas Cook & Son, organised his first excursion, escorting…
Dom Pedro II, known as "the Magnanimous", was the second and final emperor of the Empire of Brazil. He reigned from 1831 until his deposition in the military coup of 1889, presidin…
Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, was crowned at the Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
Omar Ali Saifuddin II was the 23rd Sultan of Brunei from 1828 until his death in 1852. During his reign, Western powers such as the United Kingdom and the United States visited the…
Raja Muda Hashim, the uncle of Omar Ali Saifuddin II, Sultan of Brunei, conceded land to the British adventurer James…
The Church of Scotland is a Reformed denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national and established church of Scotland. It is one of the country's larger denomi…
The Church of Scotland established Queen's College in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada.
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until…
The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until…
The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The 1840 Natchez tornado was a deadly tornado that hit Natchez, Mississippi, on Thursday, May 7, 1840. The tornado, while officially unrated, was the second-deadliest tornado in Un…
The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people
Penal transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifica…
The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of …
Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph
An earthquake occurred on 2 July 1840 at 16:00 local time with an epicenter near Mount Ararat, where it triggered an eruption and caused a landslide that destroyed villages. An est…
A Ms 7.4 earthquake strikes present-day Turkey and Armenia; combined with the effects of an eruption on Mount Ararat,…