1859 CE

Austro-Sardinian War – By the preliminary treaty signed at Villafranca, Italy, Lombardy is ceded to the French (who immediately cede it to Sardinia), while the Austrians keep Venetia, and the French promise to restore the Central Italian rulers expelled in the course of the war. This brings the Austro-Sardinian War effectively to a close. September 2 – The solar storm of 1859, the largest geomagnetic solar storm on record, causes the Northern lights to be visible as far south as Montería, Colombia and knocks out telegraph communication (this is also called the Carrington event). John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion.

In the 1850s, the 19th century.

1859 at a glance

World population
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United States
James Buchanan (President) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
United Kingdom
Victoria (Queen); Edward Smith-Stanley, then Henry John Temple (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
Russian Empire
Alexander II (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
Qing dynasty
Xianfeng (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
Second French Empire
Napoleon III (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602
Tokugawa shogunate of Japan
Kōmei (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1370561602

Who led every country in 1859 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 21 – José Mariano Salas (1797–1867) becomes Conservative interim President of Mexico.source
  • January 24 (O. S.) – Under the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia are united under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire. It would be a principal step in forming the modern state of Romania.source
  • January 28 – The city of Olympia is incorporated in the Washington Territory of the United States of America.source
  • February 2 – Miguel Miramón (1832–1867) becomes Conservative interim President of Mexico.source
  • February 14 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.source
  • February 14 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state (see History of Oregon).United Statessource
  • March–23 June – Parliamentary elections are held, resulting in 47 seats won by farmers, sheriffs, church singers, and teachers; 33 by civil servants; and 37 by individuals from other professions.Norwaysource
  • May 5 – Border Treaty between Brazil and Venezuela: The two countries agree their borders should be traced at the water divide, between the Amazon and the Orinoco basins.source
  • May 18 – The 1859 United Kingdom general election concludes. It is the first election fought by the new Liberal Party, in which they win a 28 seat majority, with Liberal leader Viscount Palmerston becoming prime minister.source
  • June 6 – The British Crown colony of Queensland in Australia is created, by devolving part of the territory of New South Wales (Queensland Day). Brisbane is declared the capital.source
  • 6 June – The colony of Queensland is established by decree of Queen Victoria.Australiasource
  • August 16 – The Tuscan National Assembly formally deposes the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, ending an ascendancy of 109 years.source
  • 31 August – Belgian Chamber of Representatives votes to fortify Antwerp as a National Redoubt.Belgiumsource
  • September 6 – Esaias Reynier Snijman becomes the acting State President of the Orange Free State.South Africasource
  • September 17 – In San Francisco, Joshua Norton proclaims himself to be His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.source
  • 3 October – The Auckland Independent begins publishing. It barely survives into the following year.New Zealandsource
  • November 10 – The Treaty of Zürich, reaffirming the terms of the Treaty of Villafranca, brings the Austro-Sardinian War to an official close.source
  • Count Camillo Benso di Cavour resigns, as president of Piedmont-Sardinia.source
  • The Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros Land Grant is confirmed to Rafael Alvisa (part of modern-day Santa Clara County, California).source
  • William Hall, becomes the first Nova Scotian and the first Black person to win the Victoria Cross.Canadasource
  • Hong Rengan arrives in Tianjing, reunited with Hong XiuquanChinasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 5–21 - Revolution of 1859Chilesource
  • January 20 - beginning of the Federal War between the Government of Venezuela and the federalistsVenezuelasource
  • 14 February – Ole Rasmussen Apeness, district sheriff, soldier, and farmer (born 1765)Norwaysource
  • February 17 – French naval forces under Charles Rigault de Genouilly capture the city and Citadel of Saigon in Vietnam, beginning the Siege of Saigon.source
  • March 9 – The army of the Kingdom of Sardinia mobilizes against Austria, beginning the crisis which will lead to the Austro-Sardinian War.source
  • April 18 – Indian Rebellion revolutionary, Tantia Tope is hanged for the 1857 Rebellionsource
  • April 29 – Austrian troops begin to cross the Ticino River to Piedmont.source
  • May 20 – Austro-Sardinian War: Battle of Montebello – The Austrian army led by Karl von Urban faces the French-Sardinian combined forces.source
  • May 26 – Austro-Sardinian War: Battle of Varese – Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps confront and defeat Austrian forces, led by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Karl von Urban.source
  • May 30 – Austro-Sardinian War: Battle of Palestro – The Sardinians defeat the Austrian army.source
  • June 4 – Austro-Sardinian War: Battle of Magenta – The French and Sardinians defeat the Austrians.source
  • June 15 – Austro-Sardinian War: Battle of Treponti – The Austrian Field Marshall Karl von Urban defeats Giuseppe Garibaldi.source
  • June 15 – The so-called Pig War border dispute between the Americans and the British, over the San Juan Islands, begins by the death of the namesake pig.source
  • June 24 – Austro-Sardinian War – Battle of Solferino: The Kingdom of Sardinia and the armies of Napoleon III of France defeat Franz Joseph I of Austria in northern Italy; the battle inspires Henri Dunant to found the Red Cross.source
  • July 11 – Austro-Sardinian War – By the preliminary treaty signed at Villafranca, Italy, Lombardy is ceded to the French (who immediately cede it to Sardinia), while the Austrians keep Venetia, and the French promise to restore the Central Italian rulers expelled in the course of the war. This brings the Austro-Sardinian War effectively to a close.source
  • October 16 – John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion.source
  • October 16 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion.United Statessource
  • October 18 – Troops under Colonel Robert E. Lee overpower John Brown at the Federal arsenal.source
  • October 23 – Battle of Cepeda (1859)Argentinasource
  • Lyman Cutlar, an American settler, homesteads on San Juan Island in defiance of British claims and triggers off the Pig War.Canadasource
  • The Indian rebellion of 1857 ends (formally declared in July).Indiasource
  • The Vodka protests of 1858–1859Russiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 2–3 – The Great Slave Auction, the largest single sale of slaves in U.S. history, with more than 400 people sold, takes place near Savannah, Georgia.United Statessource
  • June 8 – The discovery of the Comstock Lode in the western Utah Territory sets off the Rush to Washoe.source
  • June 8 – The discovery of the Comstock Lode in the western Utah Territory (present-day Nevada) sets off a rush of prospectors to the area.United Statessource
  • June 30 – Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope for the first time.source
  • 30 June - Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope for the first time.Francesource
  • July – Pike's Peak Gold Rush begins in the Colorado Territory.United Statessource
  • 27 August – Catharine Hermine Kølle, adventurer and painter (born 1788)Norwaysource
  • September – British merchant Thomas Blake Glover begins business in Nagasaki, Japan.source
  • The island of Timor is divided between Portugal and the Netherlands.source
  • Pike's Peak Gold Rush begins in the Colorado Territory.source
  • The Ørnen Corvette begins patrolling Icelandic waters.Icelandsource
  • St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society opens its first shop in Edinburgh.Scotlandsource
  • Women are explicitly permitted to engage freely and without restrictions in any type of retail business in both the cities as well as the countryside and to manage village general stores without inheriting them (married women, however, would as minors still be obliged to provide a permit from their spouse as well).Swedensource

Religion & Belief

  • February 4 – German scholar Constantin von Tischendorf rediscovers the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th-century uncial manuscript of the Greek Bible, in Saint Catherine's Monastery on the foot of Mount Sinai, in the Khedivate of Egypt and arranges for its presentation to his patron, Tsar Alexander II of Russia at Saint Petersburg.source
  • 4 February – German scholar Constantin von Tischendorf rediscovers the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th-century uncial manuscript of the Greek Bible, in Saint Catherine's Monastery on the foot of Mount Sinai, in the Khedivate of Egypt.Germanysource
  • May 22 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies is succeeded by his 23-year-old son, Francis II of the Two Sicilies.source
  • July 28 The Bishop Cotton school (Shimla) (BCS) was founded on July 28, 1859,source
  • 24 November – Breve of Pope Pius IX congratulating the Catholic University of Leuven on its twenty-fifth anniversary.Belgiumsource
  • 19 December - César Franck inaugurates the new organ at the basilia of Sainte-Clotilde, Paris, an instrument built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.Francesource
  • Welsh religious revival led by Humphrey Jones and large Ulster Christian revival.United Kingdomsource
  • Thomas Stephens & Gweirydd ap Rhys - Orgraff yr Iaith GymraegWalessource
  • John Roberts (Ieuan Gwyllt) - Llyfr Tonau CynulleidfaolWalessource
  • Religious revival led by Humphrey Jones.Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • 7 June – Lauritz Dorenfeldt Jenssen, businessperson (born 1801)Norwaysource
  • Nillmij, a predecessor of Aegon, Dutch-based worldwide insurance company, is founded in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia).source
  • The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women is founded.source
  • The all-Black Victoria Pioneer Rifle Company is formed to defend British Columbia.Canadasource
  • Albani Brewery is founded in Odense.Denmarksource
  • East India Loan Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • Merger of Yr Amserau and Baner Cymru.Walessource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 10 January – Pencarrow Head Lighthouse becomes the first permanent lighthouse in New Zealand. Its first keeper is Mary Bennett, the only woman to hold the position.New Zealandsource
  • March 3 – Construction begins on the first railway in northern India as tracks are laid between the modern-day locations of Allahabad and Kanpur.source
  • 1 April - Opening of the Corris Railway.Walessource
  • 15 April – An act provides for the Royal Danish Navy as well as the Botanical Gardens to leave Gammelholm which is instead to undergo urban redevelopment. The Navy's activities are moved to Nyholm while the Botanical Gardens relocate to their current site.Denmarksource
  • April 25 – Ground is broken for the Suez Canal, in Egypt.source
  • May 4 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge, linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.source
  • 26 May – Engebret Soot, canal engineer (born 1786)Norwaysource
  • July 11 – The chimes of Big Ben ring for the first time in London.source
  • August 28–September 2 – The solar storm of 1859, the largest geomagnetic solar storm on record, causes the Northern lights to be visible as far south as Montería, Colombia and knocks out telegraph communication (this is also called the Carrington event).source
  • 8 September – A small 0-4-0 tank steam locomotive is landed in Cape Town, to be used during construction of the first railway in South Africa.South Africasource
  • 14 October – Glasgow Town Council's Loch Katrine public water supply scheme officially opened.Scotlandsource
  • November 1 – The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse is lighted for the first time (its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles).source
  • Tidskrift för hemmet, the first women's magazine in the Nordic countries, begins publication in Sweden.source
  • Fabrique d'armes Émile et Léon Nagant established in LiègeBelgiumsource
  • The beginning of the Tidskrift för hemmet, the first women's magazine in the Nordic countries.Swedensource

Science & Discovery

  • March 26 – French amateur astronomer Edmond Modeste Lescarbault claims to have noticed a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury (later named Vulcan).source
  • 26 March - Attempting to explain Mercury's solar orbit, mathematician Urbain Le Verrier has proposed the existence of a hypothetical planet, Vulcan, inside its orbit and amateur astronomer Edmond Modeste Lescarbault claims to have observed it on this date.Francesource
  • 21 April – the Dunfermline Press begins publication.Scotlandsource
  • June 18 – Aletschhorn, the second summit of the Bernese Alps, is first ascended.source
  • 1 September – Astronomer Richard Carrington makes the first observation of a solar flare.United Kingdomsource
  • 6 October – Thomas Austin takes 24 rabbits and 5 hares to Australia in order to release them there as a game. They will multiply exponentially.Australiasource
  • November 24 – The French Navy's La Gloire, the first ocean-going ironclad warship in history, is launched.source
  • 24 November - The French Navy's La Gloire ("Glory"), the first ocean-going ironclad warship in history, is launched.Francesource
  • November – Bernhard Riemann publishes On the Number of Primes Less Than a Given Magnitude. In his paper there is an incidental comment that later becomes the Riemann Hypothesis, one of the most important unsolved problems in Mathematics.source
  • British Law Ascertainment Act (British statute)Indiasource
  • Evidence By Commission Act (British statute)Indiasource

Health & Medicine

  • 1 January – Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to have her name entered on the General Medical Council's Medical Register, under a clause in the Medical Act 1858 that recognizes doctors with foreign degrees.United Kingdomsource
  • 16 September – Charles Vaughan announces his resignation as headmaster of Harrow School, apparently under threat of exposure for an affair with a pupil.United Kingdomsource
  • 1 October – The Odontological Society of London's Dental Hospital of London opens the first dental school in Britain, the London School of Dental Surgery.United Kingdomsource
  • District nursing begins in Liverpool, England, when philanthropist William Rathbone employs Mary Robinson to nurse the sick poor in their own homes.source
  • Undated – A retaliatory mass-slaughter of Indigenous Australians occurs in the Hospital Creek Massacre.Australiasource
  • District nursing begins in Liverpool when philanthropist William Rathbone employs Mary Robinson to nurse the sick poor in their own homes.United Kingdomsource
  • The Cymanfa Ganu movement is launched in Aberdare.Walessource

Crime & Justice

  • February 27 – United States Congressman Daniel Sickles shoots Philip Barton Key (U.S. District Attorney) for having an affair with his wife.source
  • 9 August – Modeste Decroix (in religion Fr François) and Louis-Joseph Miroux (in religion Br François), both of Scourmont Priory, condemned to twenty years and ten years hard labour respectively on multiple counts of sexual assault.Belgiumsource
  • 11 November – Belle Gunness, serial killerNorwaysource
  • December 2 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.source
  • December 2 – John Brown is hanged at Charles Town, West Virginia for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry.United Statessource
  • Alfred Stevens, Will you come out with me, Fido?Belgiumsource
  • Sculptor Aimé Millet receives the Légion d'honneur.Francesource
  • Robertson's "Golden Shred" marmalade first produced, in Paisley.Scotlandsource
  • Red House in Bexleyheath, a key building in the Arts and Crafts Movement, is designed by its owner, William Morris, and the architect Philip Webb.United Kingdomsource
  • William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) - PrydyddiaethWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • April 28 – American ship Pomona is wrecked off the Irish coast, with 424 dead.source
  • 30 April – American ship Pomona carrying, mainly Irish, emigrants from Liverpool to New York, is wrecked on a sandbank at Ballyconigar, off Wexford, with 424 deaths and only 24 survivors.Irelandsource
  • 5 August – The passenger steamship SS Admella is shipwrecked on a submerged reef near Mount Gambier South Australia with the loss of 89 lives.Australiasource
  • August 27 – Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, starting the Pennsylvania oil rush.source
  • October 26 – The steamship Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, Wales, with 454 dead.source
  • 17 December – Frederiksborg Castle is devastated by fire but Frederiksborg Chapel is saved.Denmarksource
  • 25–26 October – Royal Charter Storm, the most severe storm to hit the British Isles this century. 133 ships are sunk and another ninety badly damaged, with a death toll estimated as up to 800 (including some killed on land); most notably from the steam clipper Royal Charter, driven ashore on the north-east coast of Anglesey on 26 October with around 459 dead and just 39 men surviving.United Kingdomsource
  • St Brynach's Church, Cwm-yr-Eglwys, is destroyed.Walessource
  • Steam clipper Royal Charter is wrecked off the north-east Anglesey coast, with the estimated loss of around 459 lives, the greatest loss of life in any maritime accident in Welsh waters.Walessource

Climate & Environment

  • June 17 – The only recorded simoom ever in North America hits Goleta and Santa Barbara, California.source

Culture & Society

  • February 12 – The Mekteb-i Mülkiye School is founded in the Ottoman Empire.source
  • March 21 – Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United States, and founder of the nation's first zoo.source
  • March 21 – The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United States and founder of the nation's first zoo.United Statessource
  • April 13 – The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is founded by Peter Cooper, a New York industrialist, inventor and philanthropist.source
  • 13 April – The New Zealand Advertiser starts publishing in Wellington. In 1867 it is incorporated into the New Zealand Times, but it is restored for six months in 1868.New Zealandsource
  • April 30 – A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published in England.source
  • 28 May – The poet Bernhard Severin Ingemann, a central figure of the Danish Golden Age, turns 70 and receives a golden horn from the women of Denmark at his home at Sorø Academy.Denmarksource
  • May 31 – Big Ben, the Great Clock at the Palace of Westminster, London, is started.source
  • July 1 – The first intercollegiate baseball game is played, between Amherst and Williams Colleges.source
  • July 8 – Charles XV succeeds his father Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (as Charles IV).source
  • 8 July – Charles XV succeeds his father Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (as Charles IV)Norwaysource
  • July 30 – Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps, is first ascended.source
  • 3 November – Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic University of Leuven.Belgiumsource
  • November 15 – The first Zappas Olympics open in Greece.source
  • November 24 – English naturalist Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, a book which argues for the gradual evolution of species through natural selection (it immediately sells out its initial print run).source
  • December 10 – The Ateneo de Manila University is founded, as the Escuela Municipal de Manila.source
  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson publishes the first set of Idylls of the King.source
  • The University of Michigan Law School is founded.source
  • Karl Marx publishes A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.source
  • The Mary Institute is founded in Missouri.source
  • John Stuart Mill publishes On Liberty.source
  • George Eliot publishes Adam Bede.source
  • The first permanent educational institution for girls, the East Leigh, is founded in Melbourne by Elizabeth Tripp.Australiasource
  • Black Rock, Montreal completedCanadasource
  • Foundation of the Russian Musical Society in St. Petersburg (founded by A. G. Rubinstein)Russiasource

Births

  • 1 January - Henrique Pousão, painter (died 1884)Portugalsource
  • January 11 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, British statesman, Viceroy of India (died 1925)source
  • January 27 – Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (died 1941)source
  • February 1 – Victor Herbert, Irish-born composer (Babes In Toyland) (died 1924)source
  • March 9 – Alexandru Averescu, Romanian general and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Romania (died 1938)source
  • April 8 – Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (died 1938)source
  • May 22 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish writer (died 1930)source
  • June 21 – Henry Ossawa Tanner, American artist (died 1937)source
  • September 16 – Yuan Shikai, Chinese dictator (died 1916)source
  • September 16 – Yuan Shikai, president of the Republic of ChinaChinasource
  • September 17 – William H. Bonney (Billy The Kid), American outlaw, gunfighter (died 1881)source
  • October 9 – Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer, subject of the Dreyfus affair (died 1935)source
  • October 18 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (died 1941)source
  • October 20 – John Dewey, American philosopher, psychologist and educator (died 1952)source
  • 6 December − Einar Hjörleifsson Kvaran, novelist, poet, playwright.Icelandsource
  • December 15 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (died 1917)source
  • December 17 – Haj Aqa Nourollah, Iranian grand ayatollah.Iransource
  • December 29 – Venustiano Carranza, 37th President of Mexico (died 1920)source

Deaths