1843 CE

The Virginia Minstrels perform the first minstrel show (Bowery Amphitheatre, New York City). Ada Lovelace translates and expands Menabrea's notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, including an algorithm for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, regarded as the world's first computer program. Gwalior campaign was fought between the United Kingdom and Marathan forces in Gwalior in India.

In the 1840s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 25 – Paulet Affair: Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain.source
  • March 8 – The Danish government re-establishes the Althing in Iceland as an advisory body, by royal decree.source
  • 8 March: A royal decree providing for the establishment of a new Althing was issued, with the country's first elections being held the following year.Icelandsource
  • May 4 – Natal is proclaimed a British colony.source
  • May 23 – Chile takes possession of the Strait of Magellan.source
  • June 6 – In Barbados, Samuel Jackman Prescod is the first non-white person elected to the House of Assembly.source
  • 12 June – Parliamentary electionsBelgiumsource
  • 21 September - Chile takes possession of the Strait of Magellan.Chilesource
  • October 8 — Treaty of the Bogue signed between China and the United Kingdom, concluded in October 1843 to supplement the previous Treaty of NankingChinasource
  • 4 November: The Bay of Islands Advocate begins publishing. It runs for three months.New Zealandsource
  • November 28 – Hawaii is recognized as an independent nation by the United Kingdom and France. The holiday is celebrated annually as La Ku'oko'a (Independence Day).source
  • November 28 – Ka La Ku'oko'a (Hawaiian Independence Day): The Kingdom of Hawai`i is officially recognized by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and July Monarchy France as an independent nation.United Statessource
  • December 13 – Basutoland becomes a British protectorate.source
  • In Asia, the House of Jamalullail is established in the state of Perlis Darul Sunnah (formally as Perlis Indera Kayangan) after separation from the state of Kedah.source
  • Undated – The War of Southern Queensland begins between a coalition of Aboriginal tribes in South East Queensland, the "United Tribes", and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland it would be fought until 1855.Australiasource
  • Boer farmers and raiding Griqua groups threaten Moshoeshoe’s kingdom. Napier supports Moshoeshoe, signing a treaty defining Basotho land between the Orange and Caledon Rivers, with Moshoeshoe receiving £75 to maintain order.South Africasource

Conflict & Security

  • February 3 – Uruguayan Civil War: Argentina supports Oribe of Uruguay, and begins a siege of Montevideo.source
  • February – Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa captures the fort and town of Riffa after the rival branch of the family fails to gain control of the Riffa Fort and flees to Manama. Shaikh Mohamed bin Ahmed is killed at the battle, called the Battle of Hunayniya.source
  • March 24 – Battle of Hyderabad: The Bombay Army, led by Major General Sir Charles Napier, defeats the Talpur Mirs, securing Sindh as a province of British India.source
  • 24 March – Battle of Hyderabad: The Bombay Army led by Major General Sir Charles Napier defeats the Talpur Mirs, securing Sindh province for the British Raj.United Kingdomsource
  • April 30 – May 16 – Naval Battle of Campeche: Naval Battle between the Mexican Navy versus the Texas Navy and the Yucatán Navy. The battle featured the most advanced warships of its day.Mexicosource
  • April 30–May 16 – Naval Battle of Campeche: Naval Battle between the Mexican Navy versus the Texas Navy and the Yucatán Navy. The battle features the most advanced warships of its day.United Statessource
  • 16 May – French conquest of Algeria: Battle of the Smala - French troops led by Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale, are victorious over Algerian forces led by Emir Abdelkader.Francesource
  • June 17 – In New Zealand, a posse of British settlers sent to arrest Māori chief Te Rauparaha clash with members of his Ngāti Toa tribe, resulting in 26 deaths.source
  • 22 June – The Times sends a special correspondent to South Wales to cover the Rebecca Riots.Walessource
  • July – Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women" appears in The Dial magazine in the United States.source
  • 12 September – The Battle of One Tree Hill was a conflict between European settlers and Aboriginals.Australiasource
  • September 15 (Sept. 3, O.S.) – A Popular uprising in Athens, Greece, including citizens and military captains, demands from King Otto a liberal Constitution from the state, which has been governed since independence (1830) by various domestic and foreign business interests.source
  • December – Gwalior campaign was fought between the United Kingdom and Marathan forces in Gwalior in IndiaIndiasource
  • The Berlin Peace Column is a column located in Mehringplatz in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Christian Gottlieb Cantian and erected in 1843.Germanysource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 6 – Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross discovers Snow Hill Island.source
  • 6 January – Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross discovers Snow Hill Island.United Kingdomsource
  • April 16 or 17 – A group of 24 West Indian Moravians from Jamaica and Antigua, recruited by the Danish minister and Basel missionary, Andreas Riis, arrive in Christiansborg (Osu), Gold Coast, now Ghana, to set up schools and Presbyterian churches in the country.source
  • May 7 – Nakahama Manjirō lands in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the first known Japanese in the United States.United Statessource
  • July 25 – Père Antoine Désiré Mégret, a Capuchin missionary, purchases the land that will become Abbeville, Louisiana for $900, a town founded by descendants of Acadians from Nova Scotia.source
  • 2 August: The New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser ceases publishing after one year.New Zealandsource
  • 8 August – Border convention between Belgium and the Netherlands concluded at Maastricht.Belgiumsource
  • August 15 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world still intact, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • September 21 – The crew of schooner Ancud, including John Williams Wilson, takes possession of the Strait of Magellan on behalf of the Chilean government.source
  • October 30 – Fuerte Bulnes, the first Chilean settlement in the strait of Magellan, is founded.source
  • November 17 – The city of Shanghai opens for trade with foreigners for the first time, welcoming a party of traders from the United Kingdom.source
  • Kurdish leader Bedir Khan Beg launched an expedition against the Assyrians in the Hakkari region.Thousands of Assyrians were massacred during the campaign.source
  • David Thompson sends a set of refined maps to London.Canadasource
  • the first Treaty Ports were openedChinasource
  • The Ordnance Survey commences its first published mapping of Scotland with a survey of Wigtownshire.Scotlandsource
  • Abbeville, Louisiana is founded by descendants of Acadians from Nova Scotia.United Statessource

Religion & Belief

  • January 20 – Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná is appointed by the Emperor, Dom Pedro, as the leader of the Brazilian Council of Ministers, although the office of Prime Minister of Brazil will not be officially created until 1847.source
  • March 21 – The world does not end, contrary to the first prediction by American preacher William Miller.source
  • March 21 — Guadalupe Victoria, 1st President of Mexico (born 1786)Mexicosource
  • 22 April: The Southern Cross publishes its first issue. The Auckland-based newspaper publishes weekly, with a hiatus in 1845–1847, and from 1862 daily when it will also change its name to The Daily Southern Cross. It will eventually merge with The New Zealand Herald in 1876.New Zealandsource
  • May 18 – In Edinburgh, the Free Church of Scotland is disrupted from the Church of Scotland.source
  • 18 May – the Disruption of the Church of Scotland takes place. Construction of the Triple Kirks in Aberdeen begins.Scotlandsource
  • September 4 – Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil marries Dona Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, in a state ceremony in Rio de Janeiro Cathedral.source
  • October 3 – Elling Eielsen is ordained as the first Norwegian Lutheran minister in the United States.source
  • October 13 – In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith, the oldest Jewish service organization in the world.United Statessource
  • December 9 – Bishop's University is founded as Bishop's College by Bishop George Jehoshaphat Mountain in Lennoxville, Quebec, for the education of members of the Church of England.source
  • December 9 – Bishop's University is founded.Canadasource
  • Anglican diocese of Shanghai established after Rev. William Jones Boone appointed Bishop in ShanghaiChinasource
  • St. Nicholas Cossack CathedralRussiasource
  • Llewelyn Lewellin becomes Dean of St David's.Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • 21 February – repeal (of the Act of Union) debate in Dublin Corporation.Irelandsource
  • 27 March – A decision in Foss v Harbottle, a leading precedent in English corporate law, declares that in any action in which a wrong is alleged to have been done to a company, the proper claimant is the company itself and not individual shareholders.United Kingdomsource
  • 2 September – The Economist newspaper first published (preliminary issue dated August).United Kingdomsource
  • Undated – Lindeman's wine company, is founded in by Dr Henry John Lindeman (died 1881) in New South Wales.Australiasource
  • George Cannock and Andrew White establish the Dublin business that becomes Arnotts department store.Irelandsource
  • The Glenmorangie distillery is established in Tain by William Matheson.Scotlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 13 – Catawba County, North Carolina is created, and its first court is held in Mathias Barringer Jr.'s house.source
  • March 15 – Victoria, British Columbia, is founded by the Hudson's Bay Company as a trading post and fort.source
  • March 25 – Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the River Thames and the world's first bored underwater tunnel, is opened in London for pedestrians.source
  • 25 March – Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the River Thames, is opened to pedestrians.United Kingdomsource
  • May 22 – The first major wagon train headed for the American Northwest sets out with 1,000 pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail.source
  • May 22 – The first major wagon train for the American Northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri on the Oregon Trail.United Statessource
  • June 21 – Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Gold-Bug" begins serialization in American newspapers.source
  • 29 June – Robert Napier launches his first iron ship, the paddle steamer Vanguard, from his new yard at Govan on the River Clyde.Scotlandsource
  • 16 August – Georg Carstensen Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen are inaugurated with 3,615 visitors on the opening day. At the end of the 1843 season, more than 175,000 guests have visited the park.Denmarksource
  • 18 August – Dalkey Atmospheric Railway opens unofficially.Irelandsource
  • September – Ada Lovelace translates and expands Menabrea's notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, including an algorithm for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, regarded as the world's first computer program.source
  • September – John Ridley builds his invention, a corn stripper-harvester, in Hindmarsh.Australiasource
  • 1 November – The foundation stone for the first Beaumaris Pier is laid.Walessource
  • December – The world's first Christmas cards, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London from the artist John Callcott Horsley, are sent.source
  • The steam powered rotary printing press is invented, by Richard March Hoe in the United States.source
  • Fort Victoria built by British to strengthen their claim to Vancouver Island.Canadasource

Science & Discovery

  • March 11–14 – Eta Carinae flares, to become the second-brightest star.source
  • July 19 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain is launched from Bristol; it will be the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.source
  • August 1 – Brazil becomes the second country, after Great Britain, to issue nationally valid postage stamps, with the release of its Bull's Eye series.source
  • August 19 – Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat" is first published in The Saturday Evening Post.source
  • October 16 – Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton discovers the calculus of quaternions and deduces that they are non-commutative.source
  • 17 December – Publication of Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol by Chapman & Hall in London at his expense. It introduces the character Ebenezer Scrooge. Released on 19 December, the first printing sells out by Christmas Eve and inspires charitable giving.United Kingdomsource
  • December 19 – Charles Dickens's novella A Christmas Carol is first published in London, England. Released on December 19, it sells out by Christmas Eve.source
  • December 19 – "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens, was first published on December 19, 1843, with the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve. By 1844, the novella had gone through 13 printings and continues to be a robust seller more than 175 years later.United Statessource
  • December 21 – The first total solar eclipse of Saros 139 occurs over southern Asia.source
  • The Quaker magazine The Friend is first published in London.source
  • James Joule experimentally finds the mechanical equivalent of heat.source
  • Pierre-Joseph van Beneden establishes the world's first marine laboratory in OstendBelgiumsource
  • Lord Metcalfe comes to Montreal.Canadasource
  • Ohm's acoustic law was proposed by German physicist Georg Ohm.Germanysource
  • (Colonies) Evidence Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • Hill & Adamson form Scotland's first photographic studio, on Calton Hill in Edinburgh.Scotlandsource
  • Förhoppingar by Sophie von KnorringSwedensource

Health & Medicine

  • 7 April – Indian Slavery Act, 1843 was passed.Indiasource

Crime & Justice

  • 4 March – M'Naghten is found not guilty of murder "by reason of insanity", giving rise to the M'Naghten Rules on criminal responsibility, and subsequently committed to Bethlem Hospital.United Kingdomsource
  • 26 August: A riot of armed New Zealand Company workers occurs at the Company office in Nelson, spurred by issues surrounding quality of life and payment of wages. Several are arrested, and many leave for New South Wales as a result.New Zealandsource
  • 7 October – O'Connell gives in to government prohibition of Clontarf meeting planned for the next day. However, he is charged with conspiracy a few days later.Irelandsource
  • 22 December – John Jones (Shoni Sguborfawr), one of the ringleaders of the Rebecca Riots is sentenced to transportation to Australia.Walessource
  • Undated – The Argyle Cut in The Rocks is started, using convict labour, it is completed in 1864, using free labourers.Australiasource
  • Grace Marks is controversially convicted of murder after her trial on November 3 and 4, 1843. The crime and trial will form the basis for Margaret Atwood's novel Alias Grace in 1996.Canadasource
  • Crapula Mundi by Lars Levi LæstadiusSwedensource
  • Positiv-hataren by August BlancheSwedensource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 14 September – 2/3 of the town of Egersund burns down.Norwaysource

Climate & Environment

  • February 8 – The 1843 Guadeloupe Earthquake hits the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, killing 1,500–5,000 people.source
  • 17 March – earthquake in the Irish Sea.Irelandsource
  • 8 July: An earthquake occurs in the North Island centred near Wanganui, with several fatalities.New Zealandsource
  • November 25 – Mount Etna erupts in Italy, and kills 69 people in the village of Bronte.source
  • November – Devon Commission appointed to research the problems with land leases.Irelandsource
  • Merino sheep farming expands in the Cape Colony, leading to conflicts as farmers seek grazing land belonging to the AmaXhosa.South Africasource

Culture & Society

  • January 3 – The Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms (海國圖志, Hǎiguó Túzhì) compiled by Wei Yuan and others, the first significant Chinese work on the West, is published in China.source
  • February 6 – The Virginia Minstrels perform the first minstrel show, at the Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City.source
  • February 6 – The Virginia Minstrels perform the first minstrel show (Bowery Amphitheatre, New York City).United Statessource
  • February 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata premieres at La Scala in Milan.source
  • February 14 – The event that will inspire The Beatles' 1967 song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is held in England.source
  • 20 February – Søren Kierkegaard publishes Either/Or,Denmarksource
  • March 16 – The city of Petrópolis is founded by the government of Brazil.source
  • April 7 – The Indian Slavery Act, 1843 removes legal support for slavery within the territories of the East India Companysource
  • 21 July – Antwerp Zoo establishedBelgiumsource
  • September 1 – First Prime Minister of Canada Sir John A. Macdonald marries Isabella ClarkCanadasource
  • September 2 – The Economist newspaper is first published in London (preliminary issue dated August).source
  • 17 September - The University of Chile opens.Chilesource
  • October 16 – Søren Kierkegaard's philosophical book Fear and Trembling is first published, in Denmark.source
  • November 1843 – Noble College, MachilipatnamIndiasource
  • Saint Louis University School of Law becomes the first law school west of the Mississippi River.source
  • Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is published in The Pioneer, a Boston magazine.source
  • Serial publication of Charles Dickens's novel Martin Chuzzlewit begins in London; in the July chapters, he lands his hero in the United States.source
  • The University of Music and Theatre Leipzig founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn.Germanysource
  • Fjölnir, the Icelandic-language journal published annually in Copenhagen is published again after a hiatus.Icelandsource

Births

  • January 29 – William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (died 1901)source
  • February 24 – Teófilo Braga, Portuguese writer, playwright and politician (died 1924)source
  • 24 February – Teófilo Braga, playwright and politician (died 1924)Portugalsource
  • April 4 – William Henry Jackson, American explorer and photographer (died 1942)source
  • April 15 – Henry James, American novelist (died 1916)source
  • April 25 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, third child of Queen Victoria (died 1878)source
  • April 29 – Pedro Américo, Brazilian novelist, poet, scientist, art theorist, essayist, philosopher, politician and professor (died 1905)source
  • May 10 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (died 1920)source
  • 26 May - Artur Silveira da MotaBrazilsource
  • June 3 – King Frederick VIII of Denmark (died 1912)source
  • June 9 – Bertha von Suttner, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1914)source
  • June 12 – David Gill, Scottish astronomer (died 1914)source
  • June 15 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer (died 1907)source
  • August 1 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American politician, businessman, first son of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (died 1926)source
  • August 12 – Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, Prussian field marshal (died 1916)source
  • 14 August - Carlos Condell (died 1887)Chilesource
  • November 27 – Fazlullah Nouri, Iranian Shi'a theologian.Iransource
  • December 11 – Robert Koch, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1910)source

Deaths

  • January 11 – Francis Scott Key, American songwriter of The Star-Spangled Banner (born 1779)source
  • March 3 – David Porter, American naval officer (born 1780)source
  • March 21 – Robert Southey, English poet (born 1774)source
  • April 17 – Samuel Morey, American inventor (born 1762)source
  • May 28 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (born 1758)source
  • June 7 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (born 1770)source
  • July 2 – Samuel Hahnemann, German physician (born 1755)source
  • 19 July: George Hunter, first Mayor of Wellington (born 1788)New Zealandsource
  • July – Up to 150 Indigenous Australians are murdered by Angus McMillan's men in the Warrigal Creek Massacre as part of a series of mass murders of Gunai Kurnai people known as the Gippsland massacres.Australiasource
  • August – Sequoyah, Native American silversmith, creator of the Cherokee syllabary (born c. 1767)source
  • September 16 – Ezekiel Hart, Canadian entrepreneur, politician (born 1767 or 1770)source
  • November 10 – John Trumbull, American painter (born 1756)source
  • November – Esther Leach, English-Indian actress and director (born 1809)source
  • December 12 – King William I of the Netherlands (born 1772)source
  • 12 December – William I of the Netherlands (born 1772), former head of stateBelgiumsource
  • December 18 – Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch, British Governor-General of India (born 1748)source
  • Praskovya Alexandrovna HendrikovaRussiasource