1854 CE

Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa Shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade (see History of Japan). The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law (replacing the Missouri Compromise of 1820), creating the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, west of the State of Missouri and the State of Iowa. The Kansas–Nebraska Act also establishes that these two new Territories will decide either to allow or disallow slavery, depending on balloting by their residents (these areas would have been strictly "free territory" under the Missouri Compromise, which allowed slavery in the State of Missouri but disallowed it in any other new state north of latitude 36° 30', which forms most of the southern boundary of Missouri. This prohibition of slavery extended all the way from the western boundary of Missouri to the Pacific Ocean). The Grand Excursion takes prominent Eastern United States inhabitants from Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois, by railroad, then up the Mississippi River to Saint Paul, Minnesota, by steamboat.

In the 1850s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 17 – The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State in Southern Africa; its official independence is declared six days later in the Orange River Convention.source
  • March 20 – The Republican Party is formed by anti-slavery opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in Ripon, Wisconsin.source
  • March 24 – Slavery is abolished in Venezuela.source
  • March 31 – United States Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.source
  • March 31 – Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa Shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade (see History of Japan).United Statessource
  • May 30 – The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law (replacing the Missouri Compromise of 1820), creating the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, west of the State of Missouri and the State of Iowa. The Kansas–Nebraska Act also establishes that these two new Territories will decide either to allow or disallow slavery, depending on balloting by their residents (these areas would have been strictly "free territory" under the Missouri Compromise, which allowed slavery in the State of Missouri but disallowed it in any other new state north of latitude 36° 30', which forms most of the southern boundary of Missouri. This prohibition of slavery extended all the way from the western boundary of Missouri to the Pacific Ocean).source
  • June 6 – The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty is signed.Canadasource
  • 13 June – Partial legislative elections of 1854Belgiumsource
  • July 13 – Mohamed Sa'id Pasha succeeds his nephew Abbas as the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, then a province of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 26 August – A new conscription law was sanctioned, under which all Norwegian men regardless of condition and position had an obligation to serve in the armed forces.Norwaysource
  • October 9–11 – United States diplomats in Europe meet and draft the Ostend Manifesto, setting out a rationale for the U.S. to acquire Cuba from Spain.source
  • December 10 – Sa'id Pasha officially abolishes slavery in Egypt.source
  • 14 December – Signing of a decree requiring the registration of all slaves in Overseas Provinces as libertos ("freed slave", but not with equal rights to a free born individual).Portugalsource
  • Karl Wilhelm sets the words of Max Schneckenburger's poem "Die Wacht am Rhein" to music, creating a patriotic anthem.Germanysource
  • Nagpur became the administrative division of Chota Nagpur DivisionIndiasource
  • Sir George Grey, Portuguese-born British, is appointed Governor of the CapeSouth Africasource

Conflict & Security

  • February 13 – Mexican troops force William Walker and his troops to retreat to Sonora.source
  • 26 February – Students of the University of Coimbra and locals clash in riots during Carnival.Portugalsource
  • February 27 – Britain sends Russia an ultimatum to withdraw from two Romanian provinces it has conquered, Moldavia and Wallachia.source
  • February 28 – The Black Warrior Affair: A ship destined for New York City is detained in Havana, Cuba (under Spanish control at the time). The incident strains U.S.–Spanish relations.United Statessource
  • March 27 – Crimean War: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia.source
  • March 28 – Crimean War: France declares war on Russia.source
  • May 5–15 – Hokkien–Teochew Riots in Singapore.source
  • May 27 – Taiping Rebellion: United States diplomatic minister Robert McLane arrives at the Heavenly Capital aboard the USS Susquehanna.source
  • June 21 – Battle of Bomarsund in Åland off the coast of Finland: British Royal Navy seaman's mate Charles Davis Lucas throws a live Russian artillery shell overboard by hand before it explodes, for which he is awarded the first Victoria Cross in 1857.source
  • July 17 – The Bienio progresista revolutionary coup occurs in Spain.source
  • August 16 – Battle of Bomarsund: Russian troops on the island of Bomarsund, in Åland, surrender to French–British troops.source
  • August 19 – John Lawrence Grattan leads 29 United States troops and a civilian interpreter in attack on Lakota village over dispute involving emigrant cow. Grattan's command was annihilated.source
  • September 20 – Crimean War: Battle of Alma – The French–British alliance wins the first major land engagement of the war.source
  • September 20 — Battle of the Alma: Menshikov's forces unsuccessfully defend a height above the Alma River from an allied infantry advance commanded by de Saint-Arnaud, Suleiman Pasha, and Lord Raglan.Russiasource
  • October 25 – Crimean War: Battle of Balaclava – The allies gain an overall victory, except for the disastrous cavalry Charge of the Light Brigade, from which only 200 of 700 men survive.source
  • November 5 – Crimean War: Battle of Inkerman – The Russians are defeated.source
  • 5 November — At the Battle of Inkerman, Hugh Rowlands carries out the actions that lead to his becoming the first Welshman to win the Victoria Cross.Walessource
  • 29 November – The Eureka Flag was flown for the first time during the Eureka Stockade rebellion in Ballarat.Australiasource
  • December 3 – The Eureka Stockade Miners' Rebellion breaks out in Ballarat, Victoria (Australia).source
  • The Mute Rebellion breaks out in Sweden.source
  • Florence Nightingale and her team of 38 trained volunteer nurses, having set out on October 21 from England, arrive at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari in the Ottoman Empire, to care for British Army troops wounded in the Crimean War.source
  • Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856)Chinasource
  • The British Raj annexed Jhansi, Nagpur, and Oudh and began annexing Udaipur State, ChhattisgarhIndiasource
  • The Boers defeat the Ndebele at MakapansgatSouth Africasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.source
  • 4 January – Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang discovers the McDonald Islands.Australiasource
  • March 1 – The British Inman Line's SS City of Glasgow sets out from Liverpool on passage to the United States with 480 on board; she is lost without a trace.source
  • 1 March – Inman Line's SS City of Glasgow sets out from Liverpool on passage to the United States with 480 on board; she is lost without trace.United Kingdomsource
  • March 11 – A Royal Navy fleet sails from Britain, under Vice Admiral Sir Charles Napier.source
  • 11 March – Royal Navy fleet sails from Britain under Vice Admiral Sir Charles Napier.United Kingdomsource
  • August 27 – English lawyer Alfred Wills and party set out for the first ascent of the Wetterhorn in Switzerland, regarded as the start of the "golden age of alpinism".source
  • August 27 – Alfred Wills ascends the Wetterhorn, starting the golden age of alpinismSwitzerlandsource
  • 27 August – Alfred Wills and party set out for the first ascent of the Wetterhorn in Switzerland, regarded as the start of the "golden age of alpinism".United Kingdomsource
  • September 28 or 29 – Sloop USS Albany is lost off the coast of Venezuela with all hands.United Statessource
  • The Icelandic trade is opened to merchants other than Danes.source
  • Ignacy Łukasiewicz drills the world's first oil well in Poland, in Bóbrka near Krosno County.source
  • Happy Valley Tea Estate, a tea garden in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal, was establishedIndiasource
  • Dalhousie, India, a hill station in Himachal Pradesh, was established by the British Empire's government in India as a summer retreat for its troops and officialsIndiasource

Religion & Belief

  • 15 June – Cuddesdon College is inaugurated by Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, as a diocesan Anglican seminary.United Kingdomsource
  • December 9 – Pope Pius IX in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus defines ex Cathedra the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin.source
  • St. Joseph's Academy for Young Ladies, later to be known as St. Joseph's College School, was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.Canadasource
  • Woodstock School, a Christian, international, co-educational, residential school located in Landour, a small hill station contiguous with the town of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, was establishedIndiasource
  • Nathan Brown, an American missionary, published খ্রীষ্টৰ বিবৰণ আৰু শুভ বাৰ্তা, Jesus Christ and his Holy MessagesIndiasource
  • Quarrel between Tenant League and Archbishop Cullen; League appeals to Rome.Irelandsource
  • The free church of Anna Johansdotter Norbäck is separated from the state church.Swedensource
  • The fables of Jean Jacques Porchat are reissued under the new title Fables et parabolesSwitzerlandsource
  • Samuel Prideaux Tregelles — Account of the Printed Text of the New TestamentWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • 27 February – Commercial treaty with France on tariffs, transit and navigation for five years.Belgiumsource
  • March 1 – The Plan de Ayutla calls for liberal reforms and the ouster of President Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico.source
  • March – The British East India Company annexes Jhansi State in India under the doctrine of lapse.source
  • The French fashion label Louis Vuitton is founded.source
  • Formation of the Maua, McGregor and Company Bank in Rio de JaneiroBrazilsource
  • Lauritz Rasmussen establishes a zinc and bronze foundry at Åbenrå 24 in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • Bhopal Agency was absorbed into the Central India AgencyIndiasource
  • The Dalhousie administration formally dissolved Fort William CollegeIndiasource
  • Founding of the Fruntimmersällskapet för fångars förbättring.Swedensource
  • The United Bank of Switzerland is formed in the form of the Swiss Bank Corporation when six private banking firms pool their resourcesSwitzerlandsource
  • The West Switzerland Company is formedSwitzerlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 20 – The North Carolina General Assembly in the United States charters the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, to run from Goldsboro through New Bern, to the newly created seaport of Morehead City, near Beaufort.source
  • January 27 – The Great Western Railway opens, linking Toronto, Hamilton and Windsor.Canadasource
  • February 11 – Major streets are lit by coal gas for the first time by the San Francisco Gas Company; 86 such lamps are turned on this evening in San Francisco, California.source
  • February 14 – Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed.source
  • March 1 – German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears; 2 years later his remains are found in the canal near Charlottenburg.source
  • March 3 – Australia's first telegraph line, linking Melbourne and Williamstown, Victoria, opens.source
  • March 20 – The Boston Public Library opens to the public.source
  • June 10 – The first class of the United States Naval Academy graduates at Annapolis, Maryland.source
  • June – The Grand Excursion takes prominent Eastern United States inhabitants from Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois, by railroad, then up the Mississippi River to Saint Paul, Minnesota, by steamboat.source
  • July 4 – James Ambrose Cutting takes out the first of his three United States patents for improvements to the wet plate collodion process (Ambrotype photography).source
  • July 7 – The Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company is established as the first cotton mill in India by Cowasjee Nanabhoy Davar and associates.source
  • 15 July – The Glaspalast is opened in Munich. A giant glass building modelled on London's Crystal Palace, it houses an industrial exhibition.Germanysource
  • 1 September – The first Norwegian railway, Hovedbanen between Oslo and Eidsvoll, is opened. This also constitutes the establishment of the now state owned Norwegian State Railways.Norwaysource
  • 12 September – Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria Charles Hotham opens Flinders Street station, the first city railway station in Australia.Australiasource
  • October 1 – The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, by Aaron Lufkin Dennison, relocates to Waltham, to become the Waltham Watch Company, pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing.source
  • November 17 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal Company is formed.source
  • December 19 – The Basel SBB railway station is openedSwitzerlandsource
  • The future Waterbury Clock Company (Incorporated on March 27, 1857) is founded as a department within the Benedict and Burnham Manufacturing Company in Waterbury, Connecticut, the predecessor of Timex Group USA in timepiece manufacturing.source
  • A Russian fort is established at the modern-day site of Almaty.source
  • the first Chinese laborers arrive in JamaicaChinasource
  • The first train ran on Eastern Railway zone between Howrah and Hooghly on 15 AugustIndiasource

Science & Discovery

  • April - The Chile 1854 Census is conducted.Chilesource
  • 22 July – Discovery of the asteroid 30 Urania by John Russell Hind.United Kingdomsource
  • August 9 – Walden first published.United Statessource
  • 10 August – Merchant Shipping Act 1854 introduces official numbers for ships, revises calculations of tonnage, vests management of Scottish lighthouses in the Northern Lighthouse Board and provides for rewards to lifesavers leading to creation of the Sea Gallantry Medal.United Kingdomsource
  • Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale University is the first person to fractionate petroleum into its individual components, by distillation.source
  • Alexander Cunningham, a British army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group, published LADĀK: Physical, Statistical, and Historical with Notices of the Surrounding CountriesIndiasource
  • Dadabhai Naoroji founded a Gujarati fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar ('The Truth Teller'), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts and promote Parsi social reformsIndiasource
  • Calcutta Survey first issued Inverted Head 4 Annas postage stampsIndiasource
  • c. October – George Airy calculates the mean density of the Earth by measuring the gravity in a coal mine in South Shields.United Kingdomsource

Health & Medicine

  • April 1 – Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens' magazine, Household Words.source
  • 1 April – Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens's magazine, Household Words.United Kingdomsource
  • August 31–September 8 – An epidemic of cholera in London kills over 10,000. Dr John Snow traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single water pump, validating his theory that cholera is water-borne, and forming the starting point for epidemiology.source
  • 31 August–8 September – An epidemic of cholera in London kills 10,000. Dr John Snow traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single water pump, validating his theory that cholera is water-borne, and forming the starting point for epidemiology.United Kingdomsource
  • November 29 – Bleeding Kansas: A pro-slavery Democrat, John Wilkins Whitfield, is elected as the congressional delegate for Kansas Territory.United Statessource
  • Late August — Third cholera pandemic in Cardiff.Walessource

Crime & Justice

  • January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born.source
  • May 24 – Slave Runaway Anthony Burns is arrested in Boston, MA and soon thereafter (June 2) shipped back to Virginia–back into a life of slavery. Abolitionists of the North would be infuriated.United Statessource
  • 10 August – Youthful Offenders Act limits prison sentences for under-16s and extends the system of reformatory schools for them.United Kingdomsource
  • Antoine Wiertz, The Premature BurialBelgiumsource
  • Arent Nicolai Dragsted establishes his own goldsmith's workshop on Bredgade in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • 23February – Hadley v Baxendale decided in the Exchequer Court, the leading case on applicability of consequential damages.United Kingdomsource
  • California Gold Rush (1848–1855)United Statessource
  • William Thomas (Islwyn) — BarddoniaethWalessource
  • Love Jones-Parry is High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire.Walessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 21 – The iron clipper RMS Tayleur runs aground off the east coast of Ireland, on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool, bound for Australia, with the loss of at least 300 out of 650 on board.source
  • 21 January – the iron clipper RMS Tayleur runs aground on Lambay Island on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool with the loss of at least 300 of around 650 on board.Irelandsource
  • 21 January – The iron clipper RMS Tayleur runs aground on Lambay Island (off the east coast of Ireland) on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool with the loss of at least 300 of around 650 on board.United Kingdomsource
  • April 16 – The United States packet ship Powhattan is wrecked off the New Jersey shore, with more than 200 victims.source
  • April 16 – The American packet ship Powhattan is wrecked off the shore of New Jersey with a loss of more than 200 lives.United Statessource
  • July 8 – An anti-Catholic riot in Bath, Maine, destroys a church used by Irish Catholics.United Statessource
  • September 9 – British Inman Line's SS City of Philadelphia is wrecked off Cape Race (Newfoundland) on her maiden voyage without loss of life.source
  • September 27 – SS Arctic disaster: The American paddle steamer SS Arctic sinks after a collision with the much smaller French ship SS Vesta, 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Newfoundland, with approximately 320 deaths.source
  • October 6 – The great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead in England is ignited by a spectacular explosion.source
  • 6 October – The great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead is ignited by a spectacular explosion.United Kingdomsource
  • October 27 – A Great Western Railway passenger train collides with the tail end of gravel train at Baptiste Creek, Canada West. At least 52 people are killed.Canadasource
  • November 14 – Great Storm of 1854 in the Black Sea: 19 British transport and other ships (plus 2 French) supporting the Crimean War are wrecked with the loss of at least 287 men.source
  • 14 November – Great Storm of 1854 in the Black Sea: 19 British transport and other ships supporting the Crimean War are wrecked with the loss of at least 287 men.United Kingdomsource
  • 30 November – SS Nile is wrecked on The Stones reef off Godrevy Head on the north Cornwall coast, with the loss of all on board – at least 40.United Kingdomsource

Culture & Society

  • January 9 – The Teutonia Männerchor in Pittsburgh is founded to promote German culture.source
  • 2 May Realskolen for Frederiksberg og Vesterbro (later Schneekloths Skole) is founded.Denmarksource
  • May 18 – The Catholic University of Ireland (forerunner of University College Dublin) is founded.source
  • 5 July – The Mercury was first published in Hobart.Australiasource
  • July 6 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the U.S. Republican Party is held.source
  • July 19 – Wood's despatch is sent by Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax to Lord Dalhousie, Governor General of India, proposing radical improvements to the Indian educational system.source
  • August 9 – Johann succeeds to the throne of Saxony, on the death of his brother.source
  • October 16 – Abraham Lincoln, in his "Peoria speech", expresses opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, Popular Sovereignty, and the expansion of slavery in the United States.United Statessource
  • October 17 – The Age newspaper is founded in Melbourne, Australia.source
  • 2 December – The Canterbury Jockey Club is formed, the first club of its kind in New Zealand. It holds its first meeting, at Riccarton Racecourse, in 1855.New Zealandsource
  • Bryant & Stratton College is founded as a business institute in the United States.source
  • Government Arts College, Kumbakonam was established on 19 October in Kumbakonam in Tamil NaduIndiasource
  • Pedro V, King of Portugal (1837–61), oil painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.Portugalsource
  • ETH Zurich (The Federal Polytechnic Institute) is established.Switzerlandsource
  • A penny newspaper, the Herald Cymraeg, is founded at Caernarfon, with James Evans as editor.Walessource

Births

  • February 9 – Edward Carson, Irish Unionist MP and barrister (died 1935)source
  • February 9 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and women's suffrage activist (died 1929)source
  • February 16 – Charles Webster Leadbeater, British theosophist (died 1934)source
  • March 14 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and scientist, recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1915)source
  • April 19 – Emma Pieczynska-Reichenbach, abolitionist and feminist (died 1927)Switzerlandsource
  • April 29 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist (died 1912)source
  • June 26 – Robert Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada, leader in World War I (died 1937)source
  • July 3 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (died 1928)source
  • July 12 – George Eastman, American photographic inventor (Kodak) (died 1932)source
  • 9 September - Nicolás Palacios (died 1911)Chilesource
  • October 16 – Karl Kautsky, Czech Marxist theoretician (died 1938)source
  • October 16 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (died 1900)source
  • October 20 – Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (died 1891)source
  • November 6 – John Philip Sousa, American composer, conductor (Stars and Stripes Forever) (died 1932)source
  • November 17 – Hubert Lyautey, Marshal of France (died 1934)source
  • November 21 – Pope Benedict XV (died 1922)source
  • 29 November – Egas Moniz, neurologist, inventor of the lobotomy, and first Portuguese to be awarded a Nobel Prize (died 1955).Portugalsource
  • ? – Mirza Hossein-Qoli, Iranian musician.Iransource

Deaths

  • January 8 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (born 1768)source
  • February 10 – José Joaquín de Herrera, President of Mexico (born 1792)source
  • February 17 – John Martin, English painter (born 1789)source
  • February 25 – Ann Walker, English landowner and philanthropist (born 1803)source
  • March 6 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (born 1778)source
  • March 11 – Willard Richards, American religious leader (born 1804)source
  • April 22 – Nicolás Bravo, 3-time President of Mexico (born 1786)source
  • April 22: Nicolás Bravo, 11th Mexican President (born 1786)Mexicosource
  • April 29 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, British general (born 1768)source
  • July 6 – Georg Ohm, German physicist (born 1789)source
  • August 20 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (born 1775)source
  • August 21 – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer, politician (born 1777)source
  • August – Conquering Bear, Lakota chief (born c. 1800)source
  • October 22 – Jeremias Gotthelf, novelist (born 1797)Switzerlandsource
  • November 9 – Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, philanthropist, wife of Alexander Hamilton (born 1757)source
  • 22 November - José Joaquín Prieto (born 1786)Chilesource
  • 9 December – Almeida Garrett, writer, journalist, and politician (born 1799).Portugalsource
  • December 15 – Kamehameha III, King of Hawaii (born c. 1814)source