Explore 418 historical events from 1850–1859.
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French scientist, artist and photographer recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as …
Louis Daguerre, French photographer and physicist, invented the daguerreotype (born 1787)
Anne-Marie Javouhey, SJC was a French nun who founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny. She is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. She is known as the Liberator of the Slav…
Anne-Marie Javouhey, French nun, founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny (born 1779)
Juan Felipe Ibarra was an Argentine soldier and politician. He was one of the caudillos who dominated the Argentine interior during the formation of the national state, and ruled…
Juan Felipe Ibarra, Argentinian general and politician (born 1787)
The Congress of the Republic of Colombia is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.
The Congress of Colombia passed a law abolishing slavery in the country, to take effect at the beginning of the new year
Matooskie, also known as Anne "Nancy" McKenzie, was a First Nations woman of the Chipewyan (Dënesųłı̨né) nation in Canada. The daughter of Scottish-Canadian fur trader Roderick Mac…
Matooskie, First Nations woman
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New …
Sojourner Truth (pictured) delivered her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron
The Arana–Southern Treaty or Convention of Settlement, formally known as the Convention for the perfect restoration of friendly relations between the Argentine Confederation and He…
The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina
The American League of Colored Laborers (ALCL) was a short-lived labor union established in New York City in 1850. It is notable for being the first union created for African Ameri…
The American League of Colored Laborers, the first African American labor union in the United States, is established in
Louise of the Netherlands, also called Lovisa, was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 8 July 1859 until her death in 1871 as the wife of King Charles XV & IV.
Princess Louise of the Netherlands marries Crown Prince Karl of Sweden–Norway
Autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Orthodox and Orie…
Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece
Zachary Taylor was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army,…
U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk; he is succeeded in office by Vice President…
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This s…
Vega becomes the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed.
Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works include The Minute Man, an 1874 statue in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 m…
Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (died 1931)
Luise Adolpha Le Beau was a German composer of classical music. She studied with noted musicians Clara Schumann and Franz Lachner, but her primary instructor was Josef Gabriel Rhei…
Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (died 1927)
Hans Hartwig von Beseler was a German colonel general.
Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (died 1921)
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served a…
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (died 1942)
The Báb was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in hi…
Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.
Millard Fillmore was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and th…
U.S. President Millard Fillmore is sworn in, a day after becoming president upon Zachary Taylor's death.
Charles Roscoe Barnes was one of the stars of baseball's National Association (1871–1875) and the early National League (1876–1881), playing second base and shortstop. He played fo…
Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager (died 1915)
Edward Weston was an English-born American chemist and engineer noted for his achievements in electroplating and his development of the electrochemical cell, named the Weston cell,…
Edward Weston, English-American chemist (died 1936)
Henry Cabot Lodge was an American politician, historian, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the United States Senate from 1893…
Henry Cabot Lodge, American historian and politician (died 1924)
Sir Frederick William Holder was an Australian politician who served as the first speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 1901 to 1909. A member of the Free Trade P…
Frederick Holder, Australian politician, 19th Premier of South Australia (died 1909)
Oliver Heaviside was a British mathematician and electrical engineer who invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and r…
Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (died 1925)
Giuseppe Mercalli was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is known best for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquake intensity.
Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest and volcanologist (died 1914)