Explore 629 historical events from 1840–1849.
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
Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette was a German Lutheran theologian and biblical scholar.
Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, German theologian and scholar (born 1780)
Sarah Allen was an American abolitionist and missionary for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is known within the AME Church as The Founding Mother.
Sarah Allen, African-American missionary for the African Methodist Episcopal Church (born 1764)
Charles Albert was the King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard state from 27 April 1831 until his abdication in 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, t…
Charles Albert of Sardinia (born 1798)
Muhammad Ali was the Ottoman viceroy and governor of Albanian origin, who became the de facto ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely considered the founder of modern Egypt. At th…
Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Ottoman Albanian commander (born 1769)
Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin was a Genevan-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist, and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figur…
Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, and politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury…
Friedrich August Schulze was a German novelist, who wrote under the pen name Friedrich Laun. Schulze was born in Dresden. His first novel, Der Mann, auf Freiersfüssen (1801), was f…
Friedrich Laun, German author (born 1770)
Johann Baptist Strauss I, also known as Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder or the Father, was an Austrian composer of the Romantic Period. He was famous for his light music, namely walt…
Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer (born 1804)
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macab…
Edgar Allan Poe, American short story writer, poet, and critic (born 1809)
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading…
Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (born 1810)
Edwin Forrest was a nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849.
A personal dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Macready in New York City devolved into a riot that left at
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating t…
Abraham Lincoln was issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river, making him the only U
Epaulettes is the name given by philatelists to the first series of postage stamps issued by Belgium. The stamps, which depicted King Leopold I with prominent epaulettes from which…
Belgium introduced its first series of postage stamps, known as epaulettes (example pictured).
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…
Harriet Tubman (pictured) escaped from slavery in the U.S. state of Maryland, and later orchestrated the rescues of…
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macab…
American author Edgar Allan Poe was found semi-conscious and delirious in Baltimore under mysterious circumstances; it…
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macab…
American writer Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances at Washington Medical College four days after…
This is a page on the history of the island of Martinique.
Slavery is abolished in Martinique
The Prague Slavic Congress of 1848 took place in Prague, Austrian Empire between 2 June and 12 June 1848. It was the first occasion on which representatives from nearly all Slav po…
The Slavic Congress opens in Prague
Peter Carl Frederik von Scholten was a Danish army officer and colonial administrator who served as Governor-General of the Danish West Indies from 1827 to 1848.
Governor-General Peter von Scholten emancipates all remaining slaves in the Danish West Indies.