This article is about the year 1848. For the film, see 1848 (film).
Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
---|---|
Centuries: | 18th century – 19th century – 20th century |
Decades: | 1810s 1820s 1830s – 1840s – 1850s 1860s 1870s |
Years: | 1845 1846 1847 – 1848 – 1849 1850 1851 |
1848 in topic: |
Humanities |
Archaeology – Architecture – Art – Literature – Music |
By country |
Australia – Canada – France – Germany – Mexico – Philippines – South Africa – US – UK |
Other topics |
Rail Transport – Science – Sports |
Lists of leaders |
Colonial Governors – State leaders |
Birth and death categories |
Births – Deaths |
Establishments and disestablishments categories |
Establishments – Disestablishments |
Works category |
Works |
Gregorian calendar | 1848 MDCCCXLVIII |
Ab urbe condita | 2601 |
Armenian calendar | 1297 ԹՎ ՌՄՂԷ |
Assyrian calendar | 6598 |
Bahá'í calendar | 4–5 |
Bengali calendar | 1255 |
Berber calendar | 2798 |
British Regnal year | 11 Vict. 1 – 12 Vict. 1 |
Buddhist calendar | 2392 |
Burmese calendar | 1210 |
Byzantine calendar | 7356–7357 |
Chinese calendar | 丁未年十一月廿五日 (4484/4544-11-25) — to —
戊申年十二月初六日(4485/4545-12-6) |
Coptic calendar | 1564–1565 |
Ethiopian calendar | 1840–1841 |
Hebrew calendar | 5608–5609 |
Hindu calendars | |
- Vikram Samvat | 1904–1905 |
- Shaka Samvat | 1770–1771 |
- Kali Yuga | 4949–4950 |
Holocene calendar | 11848 |
Iranian calendar | 1226–1227 |
Islamic calendar | 1264–1265 |
Japanese calendar | Kōka 5Kaei 1 (嘉永元年) |
Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 12 days |
Korean calendar | 4181 |
Minguo calendar | 64 before ROC 民前64年 |
Thai solar calendar | 2391 |
Year 1848 (MDCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar and a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. It is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most fail in their immediate aims, they significantly alter the political and philosophical landscape and have major ramifications throughout the rest of the century.
Events
January–March
- January 3 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Republic of Liberia.
- January 12 – The Palermo rising erupts in Sicily, against the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- January 24 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California.
- January 31 – The Washington Monument is established.
- January 31 – John C. Fremont court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders. Verdict set aside by President, but Fremont retires to California Territory.
- February 2
- Mexican–American War formally ends, making the unincorporated, unorganized California Territory a provisional official possession: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war and ceding to the United States virtually all of what is today the southwest United States. California is never organized by congress as a territory, but passes the requirements directly for statehood in 1850. Some even today claim this treaty did not include Texas, over the annexation of which the quarrel began.
- John Henry Newman founds the first Oratory in the English-speaking world when he establishes the Birmingham Oratory at 'Maryvale', Old Oscott, England.
- February 21 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
- February 24 – Louis Philippe, King of the French, abdicated after days of revolution in France. A republic was later declared.
- March 15 – The start of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
- March 22 – Republic of San Marco comes into existence in Venice.
- March 24 – The First Schleswig War begins (German: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg) or Three Years' War (Danish: Treårskrigen) a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
April–June
- April 10 – A Chartist 'Monster Rally' is held in Kennington Park London, headed by Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
- April 29 – Pope Pius IX publishes an allocution announcing his refusal to support Piedmont-Sardinia in its war with Austria and dispelling hopes that he might serve as ruler of a pan-Italian republic. The allocution, by which Pius is seen to withdraw his moral support for the Italian unification movement, is a key first step in the soon-to-be crushing reaction against the revolutions of 1848.
- May 1 – Phi Gamma Delta is founded.
- May 15 – Radicals invade the French Chamber of deputies.
- May 18 – The first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) opens in Frankfurt, Germany.
- May 19 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, is ratified by the Mexican government. (cf. February 2, above.)
- May 29 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
- June 17 – The Austrian army bombards Prague and crushes a working class revolt.
- June 22 – The French government dissolves the national workshops in Paris, giving the workers the choice of joining the army or going to workshops in the provinces.
July–September
- July – Public Health Act establishes Boards of Health across England and Wales, the nation's first public health law, giving cities broad authority to build modern sanitary systems.[1]
- July 19 – Women's rights – Seneca Falls Convention: The 2-day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York and the "Bloomers" are introduced at the feminist convention.
- July 26 – Matale Rebellion against British rule in Sri Lanka.
- July 29 – Young Irelander Rebellion: a nationalist revolt in County Tipperary against British rule is put-down by a government police force.[1]
- August 17 – Yucatán officially unites with Mexico.
- August 19 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States that there is a gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
- August 24 – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.
- August 28 – Mathieu Luis becomes the first black member to join the French Parliament as a representative of Guadaloupe.
- September 12 – One of the successes of the Revolutions of 1848, the Swiss Federal Constitution, patterned on the US Constitution, enters into force, creating a federal republic and one of the first modern democratic states in Europe.
- September 13 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head.
- September 16 – William Cranch Bond and William Lassell discover Hyperion, Saturn's moon.
October–December
- October 28 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Barcelona–Mataró railroad route (the first to be constructed in the Iberian Peninsula) is inaugurated.
- November 1 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merges with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
- November 3 – A greatly revised Dutch constitution is proclaimed.
- November 4 – France ratifies a new constitution. The Second Republic of France is set up, ending the state of temporary government lasting since the Revolution of 1848.
- November 7 – U.S. presidential election, 1848: Whig Zachary Taylor of Louisiana defeats Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan in the first US presidential election held in every state on the same day.
- December 2 – Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicates in favor of his nephew, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia.
- December 10 – Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is elected first president of the French Second Republic.
- December 18 – Punta Arenas, the first major settlement in the Strait of Magellan, is founded.
- December 20 – President Bonaparte takes his Oath of Office in front of the French National Assembly.
- December 20 – Slavery is abolished in Réunion. This day is celebrated every year since 1981.
- December 26 – Phi Delta Theta Fraternity is founded.
Date unknown
- The Independent Republic of Yucatán joins Mexico in exchange for Mexican help in suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population.
- A cholera epidemic in New York kills 5,000.
- The Associated Press founded in New York.
- The Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.
- British, Dutch, and German governments lay claim to New Guinea.
- Admiral Nevelskoi explores the Strait of Tartary.
- Dunedin, New Zealand is founded by Scots settlers.
- The University of Ottawa is founded.
- The University of Mississippi is founded.
- The University of Wisconsin–Madison is founded.
- Geneva College in Pennsylvania is founded.
- Queen's College, London, for women, is founded.
- Rhodes College is founded.
- The Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts.
- Prince Klemens von Metternich ends his work as Austrian foreign minister.
- John Bird Sumner becomes archbishop of Canterbury.
- Elizabeth Gaskell publishes Mary Barton anonymously.
- The Shaker song Simple Gifts is written by Joseph Brackett in Alfred, Maine.
- Richard Wagner begins writing the libretto that will become Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
Ongoing events
Births
January–June
- January 6 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1876)
- January 19 – John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (d. 1904)
- January 21 – Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
- January 24 – Vasily Surikov Russian painter (d. 1916)
- January 27 – Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
- February 5
- Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (d. 1907)
- Belle Starr, American outlaw (d. 1889)
- February 14 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)
- February 16 – Octave Mirbeau, French art critic and novelist (d. 1917)
- February 18 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)
- February 24
- Grant Allen, Canadian author (d. 1899)
- Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d. 1907)
- February 25 – King William II of Württemberg (d. 1921)
- February 27 – Hubert Parry, English composer (d. 1918)
- March 3 – Adelaide Neilson, English actress (d. 1880)
- March 18 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1939)
- March 19 – Wyatt Earp, American lawman and gunfighter (d. 1929)
- March 31 – Viscount William Astor, British financier and statesman (d. 1919)
- April 7 – Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
- April 10 – Hubertine Auclert, French feminist (d. 1914)
- April 27 – King Otto of Bavaria (d. 1916)
- May 23 – Otto Lilienthal, German engineer (d. 1896)
- June 7 – Paul Gauguin, French artist (d. 1903)
July–December
- July 3 – Lothar von Trotha, German military commander (d. 1920)
- July 6 – Gabor Baross, Hungarian statesman (d. 1892)
- July 9 – Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (d. 1907)
- July 10 – Karoline Jagemann, German actor (b. 1777)
- July 15 – Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist (d. 1923)
- July 18 – W. G. Grace, cricketer (d. 1915)
- July 22
- Winfield Scott Stratton, American miner (d. 1902)
- Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1914)
- July 25
- George Robert Aberigh-Mackay, Anglo-Indian writer (d. 1881)
- Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)
- September 4 – Lewis Howard Latimer, inventor (d. 1928)
- October 3 – Henry Lerolle, French painter (d. 1929)
- October 11 – James Acton, English cricketer (d. 1924)
- November 8 – Gottlob Frege, German logician (d. 1925)
- November 12 – Eduard Müller, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1919)
- November 13 – Albert I, Prince of Monaco (d. 1922)
- November 28 – Henry Lomb, German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (d. 1908)
- December 6 – Johann Palisa, Austrian astronomer (d. 1925)
Deaths
January–June
- January 19 – Isaac D'Israeli, English author (b. 1766)
- January 20 – Christian VIII, King of Denmark (b. 1786)
- February 15 – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian field marshal (b. 1771)
- February 22 – Wilhelmine Reichard, first German women balloonist (b. 1788)
- February 23 – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
- March 29 – John Jacob Astor, American businessman (b. 1763)
- April 8 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
- May 25 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (b. 1797)
- June 27 – Denis Auguste Affre, Archbishop of Paris (b. 1793)
July–December
- July 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (b. 1768)
- August 3 – Edward Baines, British newspaperman and politician (b. 1774)
- August 7 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779)
- August 8 – Veera Puran Appu,Sri Lankan hero who led the Matale Rebellion against the British (b.1812)
- August 12 – George Stephenson, English locomotive pioneer (Locomotion No. 1 & Rocket) (b. 1781)
- August 30 – Simon Willard, celebrated American horologist (b. 1753)
- September 24 – Branwell Brontë, painter and poet, brother of novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne (b. 1817)
- November 9 – Robert Blum, German politician (b. 1810)
- November 10 – Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, military leader (b. 1789)
- November 23 – Sir John Barrow, English statesman (b. 1764)
- November 24 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1779)
- December 1 – Kyokutei Bakin, Japanese author (b. 1767)
- December 19 – Emily Brontë, English author (b. 1818)