- Jan 13 British lease Vancouver Island to the Hudson's Bay Company for seven shillings a year, granting them exclusive trading rights
First Woman Earns US Medical Degree
Jan 23 Elizabeth Blackwell becomes 1st woman in the US to earn a medical degree graduating from New York's Geneva Medical College
- Jan 23 US Patent granted for an envelope-making machine to Jesse K. Park and Cornelius S. Watson
- Jan 31 Corn Laws abolished in Britain
- Feb 4 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
- Feb 8 New Roman Republic established in Italy
- Feb 9 Roman Republic declared in Rome replacing following flight of Pope Pius IX
Oldest Photo of a Serving US President
Feb 14 In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes first serving US President to have his photograph taken (by Matthew Brady).
Discovery of Gold in California
Feb 28 1st boat load of gold rush prospectors arrives in San Francisco from the east coast
- Mar 3 Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin and the $1 Gold Liberty coin in the USA
- Mar 3 Territory of Minnesota organizes
- Mar 3 US Home Department (later renamed the Department of the Interior) established by Congress
Zachary Taylor
Mar 4 US President Zachary Taylor delays his swearing-in and inauguration ceremony for one day due to religious reasons, rising to the false belief by some that Senator David Atchison (President pro tempore) technically assumed the office of President for one day
- Mar 5 Zachary Taylor sworn in as 12th US President
- Mar 9 Carl Nikolais opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" premieres
Abraham Lincoln's Patent
Mar 10 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
- Mar 12 1st gold seekers arrive in Nicaragua en route to California
- Mar 23 Battle of Novara (King Charles Albert vs Italian republic)
- Mar 27 Joseph Couch patents steam-powered percussion rock drill
- Mar 29 Great Britain formally annexs Punjab after defeat of Sikhs in India
- Mar 31 Colonel John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of San Francisco
Safety Pin
Apr 10 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400
Dostoyevsky Arrested
Apr 23 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and members of the Petrashevsky Circle are arrested in St. Petersburg
- Apr 25 The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
- May 3 The May Uprising in Dresden begins - the last of the German revolutions of 1848
- May 10 Astor Place Riot: Backers of American actor and working class hero Edwin Forrest attempt to disrupt British actor William McReady's performance at Astor Place Opera House in NYC; Military troops supporting police shoot at the crowd, killing between 22 and 31 [1]
- May 15 Philadelphia Turngemeinde founded
- May 17 Fire destroy Centrum in St Louis, Missouri
- May 22 Abraham Lincoln receives a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
Opening of Euston Station
May 27 Opening of the Great Hall at Euston station in London
- May 28 Princess Marianne of the Netherlands and Albrecht of Prussia separate
- May 29 Lincoln says "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
- May 31 Last edition of Orange sheet "Journal de La Haye"
- Jun 5 Danish National Day, Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy
- Jun 12 Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett (Louisville, Kentucky)
- Jun 21 Battle at Waghausel: Prussian troops beat Baden rebels
- Jun 22 Stephen C. Massett opens concert at San Francisco courthouse using only piano in California
Garibaldi Begins Hunger Strike
Jul 2 Giuseppe Garibaldi begins hunger strike in Rome
- Jul 3 The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power; proves a major obstacle to Italian unification
- Jul 8 St Paul's Place in the Bronx named
- Jul 20 Start of 1st Lancashire-Yorkshire clash at Hyde Park, Sheffield
- Jul 28 Memmon is first clipper to reach San Francisco, 120 days out of NY
- Jul 31 American engraver Benjamin Chambers patents breech loading cannon
- Aug 9 Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria & Russia
- Aug 22 The first air raid in history; Austria launches pilotless balloons against the Italian city of Venice
- Aug 28 Venice under Daniele Manin surrenders to Austrians under Radetsky, having been under siege since July 20 after proclaiming independence
- Sep 1 California Constitutional Convention convenes in Monterey
Edwin Booth's Stage Debut
Sep 10 Famous American actor Edwin Booth makes his stage debut aged 15 in Richard III in Boston
- Sep 13 1st US prize fight fatality (Tom McCoy)
Harriet Tubman Escapes
Sep 17 Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers
Edgar Allan Poe's Mysterious Demise
Oct 3 American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances; it is the last time he is seen in public before his death.
- Oct 6 The execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad after the Hungarian war of independence
- Oct 16 Avery College establishes in Allegheny, Pennsylvania
- Oct 16 British seize Tigre Island in Gulf of Fonseca from Honduras
- Nov 1 Dutch government of Thorbecke forms
- Nov 13 Peter Burnett elected first governor of California
- Nov 15 1st US poultry show opens in Boston
- Nov 16 Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor
Schubert's Symphony No. 4
Nov 19 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 4, "The Tragic", premieres in Leipzig, more than 20 years after the composer's death
- Nov 21 Friedrich Hebbel's play "Der Rubin" premieres in Vienna
- Dec 6 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland for the 2nd and final time
Luisa Miller
Dec 8 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller" premieres in Naples
- Dec 14 1st chamber music group in US gives their 1st concert in Boston
- Dec 18 William Bond obtains 1st photograph of Moon through a telescope
- Dec 21 1st US skating club formed (Philadelphia)
- Dec 22 The execution of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky by firing squad is called off at the last second
- Dec 24 First great fire of early San Francisco starts east side of the Plaza, first of great seven fires in 2 years
- Dec 28 Jean Baptiste Jolly opens “Teinturerier Jolly Belin”, 1st modern dry cleaning shop in Paris
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