General
Population: 1.19 Billion*
- Archaeology: American traveler John Lloyd Stephens examines antiquities of the ancient Maya culture with Frederick Catherwood
- Entertainment: Writers include Jared Sparks Life of Washington, Longfellow (poetry), Poe Fall of the House of Usher, Stendhal publishes Charterhouse of Parma
Art includes Karl Spitzweg "The Poor Poet"
Music includes Schumann, Berlioz, Chopin, Mendelssohn conducts Schubert's symphony
- Language: German philologist Franz Bopp identifies Celtic as part of Indo-European language family
- Politics: French political leader Louis Blanc publishes essay which included "to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities"
- Science: Schonbein discovers and names ozone
Lanthanum discovered by Carl Gustav Mosander
Schleiden and Schwann proposes cells as basic unit of life
Schwann promotes cell-growth theory
Murchison and Sedgwick name Devonian System
- Technology: Charles Goodyear discovers vulcanization of rubber
Moritz Jacobi of Russia announces process of electrotyping and makes duplicate plates for relief printing
Steinheil builds first electric clock
WH Fox Talbot claims invention of photography before Daguerre and submits evidence to Royal Society
Daguerrotypes invented in France
Nasmyth invents steam hammer
- Travel: Two British ships Erebus and Terror set out on cross-Antarctic voyage
First bicycle constructed by Scottish inventor Kirkpatrick Macmillan
- Deaths: Painter Joseph Anton Koch, Frederick IV of Denmark, Sikh Ranjit Singh, Politician Stephen Van Rensselaer, Novelist John Galt,
Poet WM Praed, Author James Smith, Cardinal Jospeh Fesch (half uncle of Napoleon), Geologist William Smith, Painter SIr William Beechey,
Death of Lady Hester Stanhope the English eccentric who settled among the Druses of Lebanon
Bloodless Honey War,
Africa
- Gabon: France annexes Gabon (W Africa)
- Natal: Independent republic of Natal founded by the Boers
Americas
- General: End of Peru-Bolivian Confederacy
"War of Pork and Beans" between Maine and New Brunswick – bloodless
- Brazil: Juliana Republic dissolved in War of the Farrapos
- Canada: Lord Durham, governor of British North America plans a unified state
Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada
- Uruguay: War declared against Argentina
Asia
- China: Imperial Chinese commissioner Lin Zexu sent to Guangzhou to stop Opium trade
China confiscates opium from British - British withdraw to Macao
Start of first Opium War until 1842 over trade restrictions
- India: Death of Ranjit Singh founder of Sikh kingdom - end of Sikh uprising
Cyclone hits killing over 300,000 – 5th worst disaster ever
Europe
- General: Treaty of London settles the dispute between the Dutch and former Belgian subjects
- Austria: Vienna Philharmonic founded
- Belgium: Independence from Netherlands
Permanent neutrality guaranteed in Treaty of London
- Denmark: Death of Frederick IV King of Denmark – nephew Christian VIII rules
- German States: Prussia restricts juvenile labor to a maximum of 10 hours per day
- Great Britain: Albert arrives in England – Victoria finds him beautiful
Samuel Cunard starts British and North-American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
First Grand National run at Aintree England
British Parliament rejects the first People's Charter
Anti-corn Law League protest high wheat prices due to tariffs
Middle East
- Aden: (Yemen) British occupy Aden as part of Anglo-Afghan War
- Afghanistan: First Afghan War with British starts until 1842 - trying to quell Russian influence
- Ottoman Empire: Sultan Abdul Majid starts the "Tanzimat" program for modernization and rules Turkey
- Syria: Turks invade Syria - Battle of Nesib – Turks defeated by Mehmet Ali of Egypt
Pacific