19th century

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 18th century · 19th century · 20th century
Decades: 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s
1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
Categories: Births – Deaths
Establishments – Disestablishments

The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar.

During the 19th century, the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Ottoman empires began to crumble and the Holy Roman and Mughal empires ceased.

Following the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one quarter of the world's population and one third of the land area. It enforced a Pax Britannica, encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy. During this time the 19th century was an era of widespread invention and discovery, with significant developments in the understanding or manipulation of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, electricity, and metallurgy largely setting the groundworks for the comparably overwhelming and very rapid technological innovations which would take place the following century. Modest advances in medicine and the understanding of human anatomy and disease prevention were also applicable to the 1800s, and were partly responsible for rapidly accelerating population growth in the western world. The introduction of Railroads provided the first major advancement in land transportation for centuries, and their placement and application radically altered the ways people could live and rapidly and reliably obtain necessary commodities, fueling major urbanization movements in countries across the globe. Numerous cities worldwide surpassed populations of 1,000,000 or more during this century, the first time which cities surpassed the peak population of ancient Rome. The last remaining undiscovered landmasses of Earth, largely pacific island chains and atolls, were discovered during this century, and with the exception of the extreme zones of the Arctic and Antarctic, accurate and detailed maps of the globe were available by the 1890s.

Slavery was greatly reduced around the world. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti, Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, banned slavery throughout its domain, and charged its navy with ending the global slave trade. Britain abolished slavery in 1834, America's 13th Amendment following their Civil War abolished slavery there in 1865, and in Brazil slavery was abolished in 1888 (see Abolitionism). Similarly, serfdom was abolished in Russia.

The 19th century was remarkable in the widespread formation of new settlement foundations which were particularly prevalent across North America and Australasia, with a significant proportion of the two continents' largest cities being founded at some point in the century.

Eras

Events

Map of the world from 1897. The British Empire (marked in pink) was the superpower of the 19th century.
Map of the world from 1897. The British Empire (marked in pink) was the superpower of the 19th century.

1800s

  • 1800: The Company of Surgeons are awarded their Royal Charter and become The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
  • 1800: The inception of the Second Great Awakening for the United States.
  • 1801: The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merge to form the United Kingdom.
  • 1801: Ranjit Singh crowned as King of Punjab.
  • 1801–15: Barbary War between the United States and the Barbary States of North Africa
  • 1803: The United States buys out France's territorial claims in North America via the Louisiana Purchase. This begins the U.S.'s westward expansion to the Pacific referred to as its Manifest Destiny which involves annexing and conquering land from Mexico, Britain, and Native Americans.
  • 1803: Saudi Wahhabists conquered Mecca and destroyed various shrines.
  • 1804: Haiti gains independence from France and becomes the first black republic.
  • 1804: Austrian Empire founded by Francis I.
  • 1804–10: Fulani Jihad in Nigeria.
  • 1804–13: The First Serbian Uprising against Ottoman rule.
  • 1805–48: Muhammad Ali modernizes Egypt.
  • 1806: Holy Roman Empire dissolved as a consequence of the Treaty of Lunéville.
  • 1807: Kingdom of Great Britain declares the Slave Trade illegal.
  • 1808–09: Russia conquers Finland from Sweden in the Finnish War.
  • 1808–14: Spanish guerrillas fight in the Peninsular War.
  • 1809: Napoleon strips the Teutonic Knights of their last holdings in Bad Mergentheim.

1810s

1816: Shaka rises to power over the Zulu kingdom
1816: Shaka rises to power over the Zulu kingdom
  • 1810: The University of Berlin, the world's first research university, is founded. Among its students and faculty are Hegel, Marx, and Bismarck. The German university reform proves to be so successful that its model is copied around the world (see History of European research universities).
  • 1810s–20s: Most of the Latin American colonies free themselves from the Spanish and Portuguese Empires after the Mexican War of Independence and the South American Wars of Independence.
  • 1812: The French invasion of Russia is a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.
  • 1812–15: War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom
  • 1813–1907: The contest between the British Empire and Imperial Russia for control of Central Asia is referred to as the Great Game.
  • 1815: The Congress of Vienna redraws the European map. The Concert of Europe attempts to preserve this settlement, but it fails to stem the tide of liberalism and nationalism that sweeps over the continent.
  • 1815: Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo brings a conclusion to the Napoleonic Wars and marks the beginning of a Pax Britannica which lasts until 1870.
  • 1816: Year Without a Summer: Unusually cold conditions wreak havoc throughout the Northern Hemisphere, likely caused by the 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora.
  • 1816–28: Shaka's Zulu kingdom becomes the largest in Southern Africa.
  • 1819: The modern city of Singapore is established by the British East India Company.

1820s

  • 1820: Liberia founded by the American Colonization Society for freed American slaves.
  • 1821–27: Greece becomes the first country to break away from the Ottoman Empire after the Greek War of Independence.
  • 1823–87: The British Empire annexed Burma (now called Myanmar) after three Anglo-Burmese Wars.
  • 1825: Erie Canal opened connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1826–28: After the final Russo-Persian War, the Persian Empire took back territory lost to Russia from the previous war.
  • 1825–28: The Argentina-Brazil War results in the independence of Uruguay.

1830s

  • 1830: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is established on April 6, 1830.
  • 1830: The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands led to the creation of Belgium.
  • 1830: Greater Colombia dissolved and the nations of Colombia (including modern-day Panama), Ecuador, and Venezuela took its place.
  • 1831: France invades and occupies Algeria.
  • 1833: Slavery Abolition Act bans slavery throughout the British Empire.
  • 1833–76: Carlist Wars in Spain.
  • 1834: Spanish Inquisition officially ends.
  • 1834–59: Imam Shamil's rebellion in Russian-occupied Caucasus.
  • 1835–36: The Texas Revolution in Mexico resulted in the short-lived Republic of Texas.
  • 1837–1838: Rebellions of 1837 in Canada.
  • 1837–1901: Queen Victoria's reign is considered the apex of the British Empire and is referred to as the Victorian era.
  • 1838-40: Civil war in the Federal Republic of Central America led to the foundings of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
  • 1839-51: Uruguayan Civil War
  • 1839- 60: After two Opium Wars, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia gained many concessions from China resulting in the decline of the Qing Dynasty.
Samuel Morse
Samuel Morse

1840s

  • 1840: New Zealand is founded, as the Treaty of Waitangi is signed by the Maori and British.
  • 1844: First publicly funded telegraph line in the world - between Baltimore and Washington - sends demonstration message on May 24, ushering in the age of the telegraph.
  • 1844: Millerite movement awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ on October 22. Christ's non-appearance becomes known as the Great Disappointment.
  • 1844: Persian Prophet the Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábísm. He announced to the world of the coming of " He whom God shall make manifest." He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
  • 1844: Dominican War of Independence from Haiti.
  • 1845: Unification of the Kingdom of Tonga under Tāufaʻāhau (King George Tupou I)
  • 1845–49: The Irish Potato Famine led to the Irish diaspora.
  • 1846–48: The Mexican-American War leads to Mexico's cession of much of the modern-day Southwestern United States.
  • 1846–47: Mormon migration to Utah.
  • 1847–1901: The Caste War of Yucatán.
  • 1848: The Communist Manifesto published.
  • 1848: Revolutions of 1848 in Europe
  • 1848-58: California Gold Rush

1850s

The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War
The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War

1860s

The first vessels sail through the Suez Canal
The first vessels sail through the Suez Canal

1870s

Alexander Graham Bell speaking into prototype model of the telephone
Alexander Graham Bell speaking into prototype model of the telephone
  • 1870-71: The Franco-Prussian War results in the unifications of Germany and Italy, the collapse of the Second French Empire, the breakdown of Pax Britannica, and the emergence of a New Imperialism.
  • 1871-1872: Famine in Persia is believed to have caused the death of 2 million.
  • 1871-1914: Second Industrial Revolution
  • 1870s- 90s: Long Depression in Western Europe and North America
  • 1872: Yellowstone National Park is created.
  • 1873: Maxwell's A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism published.
  • 1874: The British East India Company is dissolved.
  • 1874-1875: First Republic in Spain.
  • 1875-1900: 26 million Indians perished in India due to famine.
  • 1876: The Bulgarian revolt against Ottoman rule.
  • 1876-1879: 13 million Chinese died of famine in northern China.
  • 1876-1914: The massive expansion in population, territory, industry and wealth in the United States is referred to as the Gilded Age.
  • 1877: Great Railroad Strike in the United States may have been the world's first nationwide labor strike.
  • 1877-78: The Balkans are freed from the Ottoman Empire after another Russo-Turkish War in the Treaty of Berlin.
  • 1878: First commercial telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut.
  • 1879: Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa.
Thomas Edison in 1878
Thomas Edison in 1878

1880s

  • 1880-1881: the First Boer War.
  • 1881: First electrical power plant and grid in Godalming, Britain.
  • 1881-1899: The Mahdist War in Sudan.
  • 1883: Krakatoa volcano explosion.
  • 1884-85: The Berlin Conference signals the start of the European "scramble for Africa". Attending nations also agree to ban trade in slaves.
  • 1884-85: The Sino-French War led to the formation of French Indochina.
  • 1885 : "The Strange Case of Dr. Jeky'll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson is published.
  • 1886: Russian-Circassian War ended with the defeat and the exile of many Circassians. Imam Shamil defeated.
  • 1888: Jack the Ripper began murdering.
  • 1888: Slavery banned in Brazil.
  • 1889: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad establishes the Ahmadi Muslim Community.
  • 1889: End of the Brazilian Empire and the beginning of the Brazilian Republic

1890s

A 1954 U.S. stamp featuring George Eastman.
A 1954 U.S. stamp featuring George Eastman.

Significant people

  • Clara Barton, nurse, pioneer of the American Red Cross
Sitting Bull, 1885
Sitting Bull, 1885
  • Sitting Bull, a leader of the Lakota
  • Davy Crockett, King of the wild frontier, folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician
  • Jefferson Davis, Confederate States President
  • William Gilbert Grace, English cricketer
  • Baron Haussmann, civic planner
  • Franz Joseph I of Austria, Emperor of Austria
  • Chief Joseph, a leader of the Nez Percé
  • Ned Kelly, Australian folk hero, and outlaw
  • Elizabeth Kenny, Australian Nurse and found an Innovative Treatment of Polio
  • Sándor Körösi Csoma, explorer of the Tibetan culture
  • Abraham Lincoln, United States President
  • Fitz Hugh Ludlow, writer and explorer
  • Florence Nightingale, nursing pioneer
  • Napoleon I, First Consul and Emperor of the French
  • Commodore Perry, U.S. Naval commander, opened the door to Japan
  • Sacagawea, Important aide to Lewis&Clark
  • Ignaz Semmelweis, proponent of hygienic practices
  • Dr. John Snow, the founder of epidemiology
  • F R Spofforth, Australian cricketer
  • Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom
  • William Wilberforce, Abolitionist, Philanthropist
  • Hong Xiuquan inspired China's Taiping Rebellion, perhaps the bloodiest civil war in human history
Franz Boas one of the pioneers of modern anthropology
Franz Boas one of the pioneers of modern anthropology

Show business and Theatre

  • Sarah Bernhardt, actress
  • Edwin Booth, actor
  • Anton Chekhov, playwright
  • Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild West legend, and showman
  • Eleonora Duse, actress
  • Henrik Ibsen, playwright
  • Edmund Kean, actor
  • Charles Kean, actor
  • Jenny Lind, opera singer called the Swedish Nightingale
  • Céleste Mogador, dancer
  • Lola Montez, exotic dancer
  • Annie Oakley, Wild West, sharp-shooter
  • Ellen Terry, actress

Athletics

  • Cap Anson, baseball player
  • Gentleman Jim Corbett, heavyweight boxer
  • Big Ed Delahanty, baseball player
  • Bob Fitzsimmons, heavyweight boxer
  • Pud Galvin, baseball player
  • Olympic Games, 1894 the IOC is formed, and the first Summer Olympics games are held in Athens, Greece in 1896
  • Old Hoss Radbourn, baseball player
  • John L. Sullivan, heavyweight boxer

Business

  • Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist, philanthropist
  • Henry Clay Frick, Industrialist, art collector
  • Jay Gould, Railroad developer
  • Andrew W. Mellon, Industrialist, philanthropist, art collector
  • J.P. Morgan, banker, art collector
  • John D. Rockefeller, Business tycoon, philanthropist
  • Levi Strauss, clothing manufacturer

Famous and infamous personalities

Deputies Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp in Dodge City, 1876
Deputies Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp in Dodge City, 1876
  • William Bonney aka Billy the kid, Wild West, outlaw
  • James Bowie, Soldier, Texan who died at the Alamo, invented the Bowie knife
  • Jim Bridger, Wild West, Mountain man
  • John Brown, a fanatical abolitionist who led an armed insurrection at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
  • Kit Carson, Wild West, frontiersman
  • Cochise, Chiricahua Apache leader
  • George Armstrong Custer, soldier, whose last stand was in the Wild West
  • Wyatt Earp, Wild West, lawman
  • Pat Garrett, Wild West, lawman
  • Geronimo, Chiricahua Apache leader
  • Wild Bill Hickock, Legendary Wild West, lawman
  • Doc Holliday, Legendary Wild West, gambler, gunfighter
  • Crazy Horse, War leader of the Lakota
  • Frank James, Wild West, outlaw, older brother of Jesse
  • Jesse James, Legendary Wild West, outlaw
  • Calamity Jane, Frontierswoman
  • Bat Masterson, Wild West, lawman, gambler, newspaperman
  • William Poole aka Bill the Butcher, member of the New York City gang, the Bowery Boys, a bare-knuckle boxer, and a leader of the Know Nothing political movement.
  • Belle Starr Legendary Wild West, female outlaw
  • Nat Turner, led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia during August 1831.

Anthropology

  • Franz Boas
  • Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai
  • Lewis H. Morgan
  • Edward Burnett Tylor
  • Karl Verner

Journalists, missionaries, explorers

Visual artists, painters, sculptors

Liberty Leading the People (1830, Louvre)
Liberty Leading the People (1830, Louvre)
Monet's Impression, Sunrise, which gave the name to Impressionism
Monet's Impression, Sunrise, which gave the name to Impressionism

The Realism and Romanticism of the early 19th century gave way to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the later half of the century, with Paris being the dominant art capital of the world. In the United States the Hudson River School was prominent. 19th century painters included:

Music

Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata form matured during the Classical era to become the primary form of instrumental compositions throughout the 19th century. Much of the music from the nineteenth century was referred to as being in the Romantic style. Many great composers lived through this era such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Richard Wagner. Others included:

Literature

Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Mark Twain in 1894
Mark Twain in 1894
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe
Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the literary front the new century opens with Romanticism, a movement that spread throughout Europe in reaction to 18th-century rationalism, and it develops more or less along the lines of the Industrial Revolution, with a design to react against the dramatic changes wrought on nature by the steam engine and the railway. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are considered the initiators of the new school in England, while in the continent the German Sturm und Drang spreads its influence as far as Italy and Spain.

French arts had been hampered by the Napoleonic Wars but subsequently developed rapidly. Modernism began.

The Goncourts and Emile Zola in France and Giovanni Verga in Italy produce some of the finest naturalist novels. Italian naturalist novels are especially i