1857 CE

The University of Calcutta is established in Calcutta, as the first multidisciplinary modern university in South Asia. The University of Bombay is also established in Bombay, British India, this year. Spanish financial group, Banco Santander founded in Cantabria, Spain. In Belfast, confrontations between crowds of Catholics and Protestants turn into 10 days of rioting, exacerbated by the open-air preaching of Evangelical Presbyterian minister "Roaring" Hugh Hanna, with many of the police force joining the Protestant side. There are also riots in Derry, Portadown and Lurgan.

In the 1850s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 5 – The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States is promulgated.source
  • February 5 – ratification of the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857Mexicosource
  • March 4 – James Buchanan is sworn in as the 15th president of the United States, and John C. Breckinridge is sworn in as the 14th vice president.United Statessource
  • March 14 – Youssef Bey Karam is assigned, by the people of Ehden and Bsharri, to be the region's ruler.source
  • August 28 – The Matrimonial Causes Act makes divorce without parliamentary approval legal in the United Kingdom.source
  • 30 October – Pierre de Decker's ministry resigns.Belgiumsource
  • November 1 – The Indus Valley Region (i.e., Pakistan Region) is incorporated as part of British India, for the next 90 years until 1947.source
  • November 30 – President of Mexico Ignacio Comonfort is succeeded by Félix María Zuloaga.source
  • December 7 – U.S. Consul in Japan Townsend Harris meets the Shogun in Edo in a diplomatic reception, the first ever meeting between the Shogun and a foreign diplomat.source
  • 29 December - The National Party (Chile, 1857–1933) is established.Chilesource
  • December 31 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as the capital of Canada.source
  • December 31 - Queen Victoria names Ottawa as capital of the Province of Canada.Canadasource
  • Establishment of banks including the Commercial and Agricultural Bank of Rio de Janeiro; the Bank of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul; the New Bank of Pernambuco, the Savings Bank of Pernambuco,;and the Bank of MaranhaoBrazilsource
  • The first Legislative Council is selected in the Natal Colony.South Africasource
  • A conference between France, the United Kingdom, Prussia, and Russia ends the Neuchâtel Crisis as Prussia yields its claim to the principalitySwitzerlandsource

Conflict & Security

  • March 3 – France and the United Kingdom formally declare war on China, in the Second Anglo-Chinese War.source
  • March 3 – The largest slave auction in U.S. history is held, dubbed The Weeping Time. Over a 2-day period (starting March 2), Pierce M. Butler sells 436 men, women, children, and infants, all of whom are kept in stalls meant for horses at a racetrack in Savannah, Georgia, for weeks beforehand.source
  • March 8 – 12 – Spirit Lake Massacre, near Okoboji and Spirit lakes in the northwestern territory of Iowa near the Minnesota border.source
  • March – The Austrian garrison leaves Bucharest.source
  • April 1–8 – Reform War: Crabb MassacreMexicosource
  • April 4 – The Anglo-Persian War ends.source
  • April 8 – Mangal Pandey is hanged for mutiny against the British East India Company army; the execution is a precursor event to the Indian Rebellion of 1857.source
  • April 20 — James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin appointed plenipotentiary to China.Chinasource
  • May 10 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: The 3rd Light Cavalry of the British East India Company's army rebels against its British officers, thus beginning the rebellion.source
  • 10 May (starting date of the revolt)- Indian rebellion of 1857 (also known as the Sepoy Mutiny) or The First War Of Indian Independence, widespread uprising in northern and central India against the rule of the British East India Company.Indiasource
  • May 11 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian combatants capture Delhi from the British East India Company.source
  • 28 May – Liberal protests near the Palace of the Nation against a proposed "convents" law that would give the Catholic Church more power to manage charitable foundations.Belgiumsource
  • June 1 – Second Anglo-Chinese War: Battle of Fatshan Creek – The British Royal Navy defeats the Cantonese fleet of Qing dynasty China.source
  • June 12 – U.S. mercenary William Walker is overthrown as ruler of Nicaragua by Honduran general Florencio Xatruch.source
  • June 26 – At a ceremony in London, Queen Victoria awards the first 66 Victoria Crosses to British troops, for actions during the Crimean War.source
  • July 1–November 19 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Siege of Lucknow.source
  • 4 July – Anti-Chinese riots occur in the goldfields of the Buckland Valley, Victoria.Australiasource
  • July 15 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: The second massacre at Kanpur takes place.source
  • September 11 – The Mountain Meadows massacre occurs in Utah.source
  • September 11 – Mountain Meadows massacre in Utah.United Statessource
  • September 20 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: British forces recapture Delhi, compelling the surrender of Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor.source
  • November 16 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: British troops win 24 Victoria Crosses in action this day.source
  • 16 November – the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot wins six Victoria Crosses in the storming of Sikandar Bagh during the second relief of Lucknow in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.Scotlandsource
  • December 28 – Second Anglo-Chinese War: 2nd Battle of Canton – British and French forces begin an assault on the Qing dynasty Chinese city of Canton (Guangzhou).source
  • December – The Reform War in Mexico begins.source
  • Autumn — Aberdare Strike 1857-8 against reductions in coal miners' pay begins.Walessource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 6 May — Samuel Roberts (S. R.) sails for Tennessee.Walessource
  • July 18 – The Utah Expedition leaves Fort Leavenworth, effectively beginning the Utah War.source
  • The Mormons abandon Las Vegas.source
  • The first commercial tea plantation in the British Raj is opened in the Mulnicherra Estate in Sylhet.source
  • Suzumoto Vaudeville Theater officially opens in Ueno region, Edo (modern-day Tokyo) in Japan.source
  • The Palliser Expedition begins its exploration of Western Canada.Canadasource
  • About 157 Irish women arrive on the ship Lady Kennaway 1816 ship and settle in British Kaffraria.South Africasource
  • The Mormons abandon the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada.United Statessource
  • Robert Parry (Robyn Ddu Eryri) — Teithiau a Barddoniaeth Robyn Ddu EryriWalessource

Religion & Belief

  • 12 July – in Belfast, confrontations between crowds of Catholics and Protestants turn into 10 days of rioting, exacerbated by the open-air preaching of Evangelical Presbyterian minister "Roaring" Hugh Hanna, with many of the police force joining the Protestant side. There are also riots in Derry, Portadown and Lurgan.Irelandsource
  • 25 July – Matthew Blagden Hale is consecrated as the first Bishop of Perth in a ceremony at the Lambeth Palace Chapel.Australiasource
  • 10 August — John Bowen is consecrated as Bishop of Sierra Leone.Walessource
  • 28 August – Matrimonial Causes Act removes divorce from ecclesiastical jurisdiction and makes it possible by order of a new civil Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, removing the necessity of parliamentary approval.United Kingdomsource
  • 4 October – the Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny, is opened.Irelandsource
  • Krýsuvíkurkirkja was constructed in Krýsuvík.Icelandsource
  • Franciscan Sisters of the Family of MaryRussiasource
  • Robert Moffat completes Old Testament Bible translation into Setswana.South Africasource

Economy & Finance

  • May 15 – Spanish financial group, Banco Santander founded in Cantabria, Spain.source
  • May 28 – Banco de Bilbao, as predecessor of BBVA is founded in Spain.source
  • 30 June – Hassel & Teudt is founded in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • August 24 – Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company suspends payments, leading to the Panic of 1857.United Statessource
  • October 13 – Panic of 1857: New York banks close, and do not reopen until December 12.source
  • October 13 – Panic of 1857: New York banks close and do not reopen until December 12. This has an impact in Europe also.United Statessource
  • 9 November – The Western Bank of Scotland (Glasgow) collapses.Scotlandsource
  • Christiani & Grisson is acquired by Wilhelm Hansen.Denmarksource
  • Tom Gallaher sets up the Gallaher tobacco business in Derry.Irelandsource
  • Tom Gallaher sets up the Gallaher tobacco business in Ireland.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating.source
  • March 12 — Desjardins Canal disaster - The bridge over Desjardins Canal, near Hamilton, Canada West, collapses under a Great Western Railway passenger train. About 60 people die.Canadasource
  • 13 May – St Kilda railway station, Melbourne is opened.Australiasource
  • May 25 – Flying Eagle cent released for circulation.United Statessource
  • 1 June — Opening of the Crumlin Viaduct, built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway.Walessource
  • September – The Panic of 1857 begins: Speculation in U.S. railroad shares, and the collapse on August 24 of the New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, following widespread embezzlement, trigger a financial crisis which will extend to Europe.source
  • December 20 – Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issues a decree, Es ist Mein Wille, which leads to the demolition of the city walls of Vienna, allowing the construction of the Ringstraße.source
  • Bustling tourist attraction Sunny Lane in Falmouth, United Kingdom, is built.source
  • Bucharest becomes the world's first city to have its streets illuminated by kerosene lamps.source
  • Kuala Lumpur, the future capital of Malaysia, is founded as a tin mining settlement.source
  • Svanemøllen is constructed on the island of Bornholm.Denmarksource
  • Krenholm Manufacturing CompanyRussiasource
  • The Union Steam Ship Company wins the first mail contract for regular mail service between Great Britain and South Africa.South Africasource
  • Several protests for higher pay in Sweden's iron and steel factories.Swedensource

Science & Discovery

  • March 15 - President Comonfort signs the law adopting the metric systemMexicosource
  • March 23 – Elisha Otis' first elevator is installed (at 488 Broadway, New York City).source
  • March 25 – The phonautograph is patented by French typesetter Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It is the earliest known device for recording sound.source
  • 13 August — Eugene Goddard crosses the Menai Strait in his gas balloon Aurora from Caernarfon Castle to Llanidan.Walessource
  • W. C. Stewart publishes The Practical Angler.Scotlandsource
  • Owen Wynne Jones — Dafydd LlwydWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • March 12 – Elizabeth Blackwell opens a hospital, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children.source
  • 25 August – Obscene Publications Act makes the sale of obscene material a statutory offence.United Kingdomsource
  • U.S. politician William Daniel proposes the Local Option for Prohibition.source
  • Liberia annexes the Republic of Maryland as native groups (notably Grebo people and Kru people) continually attack and kill settlers in Cape Palmas.source
  • In Victoria, Australia, one adult male in 7 is Chinese.Australiasource
  • Jean Neuhaus opens an apothecary shop in Galeries Royales Saint-HubertBelgiumsource
  • Lunga, Treshnish Isles, is depopulated.Scotlandsource
  • An interim Swedish-Norwegian government is formed in Stockholm due to the King's deteriorating health.Swedensource
  • Maryland politician William Daniel proposes the Local Option for prohibition.United Statessource

Crime & Justice

  • 5 March – In London, barrister James Townsend Saward receives a sentence of penal transportation for forgery of cheques.United Kingdomsource
  • May 5 – October 17 – The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition is held in Manchester, one of the largest such displays of all time.source
  • 5 May–17 October – The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition is held in Manchester, one of the largest such displays of all time.United Kingdomsource
  • May 24 – Slave trader Isaac Bolton shoots and kills slave trader James McMillin, beginning the long-running and violent Bolton–Dickins feud.United Statessource
  • 30 June – 9 July: trial of Madeleine Smith, charged with the poisoning of a former lover in Glasgow; a "not proven" verdict is returned.Scotlandsource
  • July 18 – Prison hulks are used for the last time in the United Kingdom.source
  • October 24 – 28 enslaved people escape their enslavers in Maryland.source
  • November – Kilburn White Horse cut in North Yorkshire.United Kingdomsource
  • La Tène culture artifacts are discovered in Switzerland, by Hansli Kopp.source
  • Hansli Kopp discovers La Tène culture artifactsSwitzerlandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 19 February – Lundhill Colliery explosion at Wombwell in the South Yorkshire Coalfield kills 189 miners.United Kingdomsource
  • August 20 – The Dunbar wrecks near the entrance to Sydney Harbour, Australia, with the loss of 121 lives.source
  • 20 August – The Dunbar is wrecked at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, killing 121 passengers.Australiasource
  • September 12 – The SS Central America sinks off the coast of North Carolina with the loss of 425 lives.source
  • September 12 – The SS Central America sinks off the coast of North Carolina, killing 425 people and sending large quantities of gold to the bottom.United Statessource
  • September 22 (September 10 O.S.) – Russian ship of the line Lefort sinks in the Gulf of Finland during a sudden squall with the loss of 826 lives; 30 other ships are wrecked in the same storm.source
  • 29 October — St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, badly damaged by arson.Walessource
  • Devastating fire in the Mosebacke area in Stockholm leads to significant damage to property.Swedensource

Climate & Environment

  • January 9 – The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).source
  • January 9 – The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake affects Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).United Statessource
  • October 1 – Eviction of last residents of Seneca Village to make way for New York City's Central Park is completed.United Statessource
  • December 16 – The 7.0 Mw Basilicata earthquake shakes the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Southern Italy) with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing about 10,000 people.source

Culture & Society

  • January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, Postimees, is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen.source
  • January 24 – The University of Calcutta is established in Calcutta, as the first multidisciplinary modern university in South Asia. The University of Bombay is also established in Bombay, British India, this year.source
  • 24 January – University of Calcutta is founded through the Calcutta University Act.Indiasource
  • February 3 – The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, D.C., becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.source
  • 4 March — Thomas Gee launches the radical nonconformist newspaper Baner Cymru in Denbigh.Walessource
  • March 6 – Dred Scott v. Sandford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the U.S. further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the 14th Amendment is adopted in 1868).source
  • March 6 – Dred Scott v. Sanford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Blacks are not citizens and slaves cannot sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868).United Statessource
  • April 14 – Princess Beatrice, the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, is born.source
  • April 18 – The Spirits' Book (Le Livre des Esprits), one of the Five Fundamental Works of Spiritism, is published by French educator Allan Kardec.source
  • April 27 – First horse race run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.source
  • June 6 – Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden–Norway.source
  • 6 June – Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden-NorwayNorwaysource
  • 6 June – Wedding between Prince Oscar and Sophie of Nassau.Swedensource
  • June 20 – The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is officially opened by Queen Victoria.source
  • 17 September – The Folketeatret opens in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • 23 October: The Colonist publishes its first issue, in Nelson. The newspaper is published until 1920, when it is incorporated into The Nelson Evening Mail.New Zealandsource
  • October 24 – Sheffield F.C., the world's first association football team, is founded in Sheffield, United Kingdom by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prestsource
  • San Jose State, the first public U.S. university west of the Mississippi River, opens in San Francisco as Minn's Evening School.source
  • U.S. composer James Lord Pierpont composes "Jingle Bells", originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh".source
  • Illinois State University, the first public university in Illinois, is established in Normal, Illinois.source
  • The first Federal Palace completes constructionSwitzerlandsource

Births

  • February 22 – Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of the Scouting movement (died 1941)source
  • February 22 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (died 1894)source
  • 6 March – Manuel Maria Coelho, military officer and politician (died 1943).Portugalsource
  • March 27 – Karl Pearson, English statistician (died 1936)source
  • April 14 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, youngest child of Queen Victoria (died 1944)source
  • 18 April - Pedro Nolasco Cruz Vergara (died 1939)Chilesource
  • April 23 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (died 1919)source
  • May 13 – Ronald Ross, English physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1932)source
  • June 2 – Edward Elgar, English composer (died 1934)source
  • July 30 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist (died 1929)source
  • August 8 – Henry Fairfield Osborn, American geologist, paleontologist and eugenist (died 1935)source
  • September 5 – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist, inventor (died 1935)source
  • September 15 – William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States and 10th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1930)source
  • November 5 – Ida Tarbell, American journalist (died 1944)source
  • November 26 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (died 1913)source
  • November 26 – Ferdinand de Saussure, linguist (died 1913)Switzerlandsource
  • December 3 – Joseph Conrad, Polish-British novelist (died 1924)source
  • ? – Mirza Jawad Agha Maleki Tabrizi, one of the contemporary Islamic scholars.Iransource

Deaths

  • January 27 – Dorothea Lieven, Baltic-German diplomat in Russian services (born 1785)source
  • February 10 – David Thompson, British-Canadian explorer (born 1770)source
  • February 15 – Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (born 1804)source
  • March 9 – Dominic Savio, Italian adolescent saint (born 1842)source
  • May 2 – Alfred de Musset, French poet (born 1810)source
  • May 11 – Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal, private detective (born 1775)source
  • May 13 – Parley P. Pratt, early American Latter Day Saint movement leader (murdered) (born 1807)source
  • May 23 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (born 1789)source
  • July 4 – Henry Lawrence, British soldier, statesman (born 1806)source
  • July 15 – Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (born 1791)source
  • September 3 – John McLoughlin, Canadian trapper (born 1784)source
  • September 5 – Auguste Comte, French philosopher (born 1798)source
  • 14 September - John Williams Wilson (born 1798)Chilesource
  • November 23 — Ren Xiong (1823 – 1857) painter from Xiaoshan, ZhejiangChinasource
  • November 26 – Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet (born 1788)source
  • December 15 – Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer (born 1773)source
  • 15 December – Anna Maria Truter, Cape Colony botanical artist and wife of Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet. (born 1777)South Africasource
  • ? – Mirza Muhammed Ibrahim, Iranian educator.Iransource