/year

The 1850s

891 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 19th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1850 CE83 entries

  • May 25 – The hippopotamus Obaysch arrives at London Zoo from Egypt, the first seen in Europe since Roman times.
  • August 28 – Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin (including the Bridal Chorus) premieres under the direction of Franz Liszt, in Weimar.
  • September 29 – Papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae: The Catholic hierarchy is re-established in England and Wales, by Pope Pius IX and future Pope Pius X.

1851 CE88 entries

  • January 23 – The flip of a coin, subsequently named the Portland Penny, determines whether a new city in the Oregon Territory will be named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.
  • May 1 – The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria.
  • November 13 – The first protected submarine telegraph cable is laid, across the English Channel.

1852 CE84 entries

  • March 20 – Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is published in book form in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • August 3 – The first American intercollegiate athletic event, the Boat Race between Yale and Harvard, is held.
  • December – The Western Railroad is chartered to build a railroad from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to the coal fields of Egypt, North Carolina.

1853 CE83 entries

  • March 5 – Saint Paul Fire and Marine, as predecessor of The Travelers Companies, a worldwide insurance service, founded in Minnesota, United States.
  • April 16 – Indian Railways: The first passenger railway in India opens from Bombay to Thana, Maharashtra, 22 mi km.
  • December 14 – Compagnie Générale des Eaux, predecessor of Vivendi and Veolia, a global media conglomerate, is founded in Paris, France.

1854 CE90 entries

  • 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.
  • December 3 – The Eureka Stockade Miners' Rebellion breaks out in Ballarat, Victoria (Australia).
  • 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.

1855 CE81 entries

  • April 3 – The Nepalese invasion of Tibet (west of China) to the north across the Himalaya Mountains (tallest and most rugged in the world) starts the Nepalese–Tibetan War (1855–1856).
  • May 22 – In Australia, the province of Victoria (named for then reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria) to the southeast is separated administratively from the earlier larger province of New South Wales to the north.
  • September 29 – The Port of Iloilo in the Philippines is opened to international trade, by Queen Isabella II of Spain. This year also the ports of Sual (modern-day Pangasinan) and Zamboanga City are opened to international trade.

1856 CE97 entries

  • February 18 – The American Know Nothing Party convenes in Philadelphia to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
  • May 1 – The province of Isabela is created in the Philippines, in honor of Queen Isabella II of Spain.
  • May 24 – Pottawatomie massacre: A group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill 5 homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas.

1857 CE93 entries

  • 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.
  • May 15 – Spanish financial group, Banco Santander founded in Cantabria, Spain.
  • June 20 – The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is officially opened by Queen Victoria.

1858 CE92 entries

  • June 16 – Abraham Lincoln accepts the Republican Party nomination for a seat in the United States Senate, delivering his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.
  • July 28 – In Bengal, India, British officer William James Herschel uses the hand impression of Rajyadhar Konai, as a contract fingerprint signature.
  • September – Cochinchina Campaign: French warships, under Charles Rigault de Genouilly, attack and occupy Da Nang, Vietnam.

1859 CE100 entries

  • March 3 – Construction begins on the first railway in northern India as tracks are laid between the modern-day locations of Allahabad and Kanpur.
  • 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).
  • October 16 – John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion.