[caption id=“attachment_3107” align=“alignleft” width=“416”]General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814[/caption] In the year 1814, the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom goes on all year long (Jan), Denmark cedes Norway into personal union with Sweden in exchange for west Pomerania (Jan 4), Norway’s independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union (Feb 11), Napoleonic Wars are coming to an end (Apr 10) and Napoleon is exiled to Elba (May 30), inspired by the French Gendarmerie. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3273” align=“alignleft” width=“441”]Photo courtesy National Library of Medicine[/caption] In the year 1854, Major streets are lit by goal gas for the first time in San Francisco (Feb 11), the Republican Party is founded in the U.S. (Feb 28), slavery is abolished in Venezuela (Mar 24), the Convention of Kanagawa opens Japanese ports to American trade (Mar 31), the first cotton mill in India is established (Jul 7), the findings of the cholera outbreak in London form the starting point for epidemiology (Aug 31), Florence Nightingale and her team of volunteer nurses arrives in Scutari, Ottoman Empire to care for wounded soldiers there (Nov), the French fashion label Louis Vuitton is founded - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Ottawa is incorporated as a city (Jan 1), Alexander II ascends the Russian throne (Mar 2), Nepalese troops invade Tibet (Apr 3), Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City opens its doors (Jun 5), stamp duty is removed from British newspapers, creating mass media in the United Kingdom (Jun 15), The Daily Telegraph begins publication in London (Jun 29), the Australian Colonies are granted self-governing status by the United Kingdom (Jul 16), the capital of the Crimea, Sebastopol, falls to French and British troops (Sep 9), Van Diemen’s Land is officially renamed Tasmania (Oct 24), the cocaine alkaloid is first isolated - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_1955” align=“alignleft” width=“372”]Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) in the 21st century[/caption] In the year 1808, the importation of slaves into the United States is banned (Jan 1), John Adams, the last alive HMS Bounty mutineer is found on Pitcairn Islands (Feb 6), the Finnish War begins (Feb 21), Russian troops occupy Helsinki (Mar 1), Denmark declares war on Sweden (Mar 13), the people of Madrid rise up against the French troops (May 2), the fortress of Sveaborg in Helsinki is lost to Russia (May 3), the Swedish archipelago fleet defeats the Russians in the Battle of Turku (Jun 30), Tsar Alexander I of Russia proclaims Finland a part of Russia (Dec 1), Napoleon joins his army in Spain (Dec 4) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3085” align=“alignleft” width=“377”]Police crossing notice from 1868[/caption] In the year 1868, the last convict ship from England to Australia arrives in Western Australia (Jan 9), the first identified skeletons of Cro-Magnon are discovered in France (Mar), MetLife is founded in New York City (Mar 24), United Kingdom decides to end public hanging (May 29), the Navajo people begin their long march home to Arizona and New Mexico (Jul 18), the name of the city of Edo changes to Tokyo (Sep 3), the 265-year long Edo period in Japan ends to give way to the new Meiji period (Oct 23), Thomas Edison applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder (Oct 28), the world’s first traffic signal lights are installed in London, England (Dec 9) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3220” align=“alignleft” width=“345”]Singer’s 1854 improved patent model[/caption] In the year 1851, Edward Hargraves claims to have found gold in Australia (Feb 12), Verdi’s Rigoletto is first performed (Mar 11), the first Australian gold rush is proclaimed (May 15), Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine (Aug 12), the New York Times is founded (Sep 18), the news service Reuters is founded (Oct), The Whale (later known as Moby Dick) is published in London (Oct 18), Moby Dick is published in the U. Continue reading

American Express is founded by Henry Wells & Williams Fargo (Mar 19), Los Angeles and San Francisco are incorporated as cities (Apr 4&15), the transportation of British convicts to Western Australia begins (Jun 1), the Danish Stag Holocaust takes place (Jul 2), Prussia capitulates to Austrian Empire (Nov 29), tens of thousands of East Indian laborers are shipped to Trinidad and Jamaica until 1880, the Great Famine in Ireland goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2748” align=“alignright” width=“206”]Maori chief Hone Heke with wife Hariata wearing flax cloaks[/caption] In the year 1845, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published (Jan 29), Florida becomes the 27th U.S. state (Mar 3), New Zealand Wars begin, waged between the Maori and the British (Mar 11), Stephen Perry patents the rubber band (Mar 17), Scientific American begins publication (Aug 28), potato blight breaks out in Ireland, beginning the Great Famine (Sep 9), the Monroe Doctrine states that the United States should aggressively expand into the West (Dec 2), anesthesia is used for the first time for childbirth in Jefferson, Georgia (Dec 27), Texas is admitted as the 28th U. Continue reading

In the year 1844, the Edict of Toleration is passed allowing Jews to settle in the Holy Land (Mar 23), the world’s second police force is established in Hong Kong (May 1), the first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel Morse (May 24), YMCA is founded in London (Jun 6), Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber (Jun 15), the Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother are killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois (Jun 27), Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx meet in Paris (Aug 28), Hungarian becomes the official language of Hungary (Nov 13), the safety match is invented - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2744” align=“alignnone” width=“950”]Pioneers on the Oregon Trail in 1843[/caption] The Thames Tunnel, the world’s first bored underwater tunnel, is opened in London (Mar 25), the first major wagon train headed for the American Northwest sets out with 1000 pioneers from Missouri (May 22), Brazil becomes the second country to issue postage stamps (Aug 1), the amusement park Tivoli Gardens opens in Copenhagen, Denmark (Aug 15), Ada Lovelace becomes in essence the world’s first computer programmer (Sep), the Economist is first published in London (Sep 2), the city of Shanghai opens for trade with foreigners (Nov 17), the world’s first Christmas cards are sent (Dec) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1842, an American medical student becomes the first person to administer an inhaled anesthetic to facilitate a surgical procedure (Jan), Mexican troops invade Texas, but soon head back - the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution (Mar 5), the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performs its first concert (Mar 28), a primary school system is established in Sweden (Jun 18), the Treaty of Nanking ends the First Opium War, and establishes Hong Kong as a British colony until 1997 (Aug 29), the New York Philharmonic performs its first concert (Dec 7) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2727” align=“alignright” width=“394”]Replica of The Amistad (courtesy of Amistad America)[/caption] In the year 1841, Britain occupies Hong Kong (Jan 24), the two colonies of The Canadas are merged into the United Province of Canada (Feb 11), the court case United States v. The Amistad is ruled in favor of the slaves from Sierra Leone (Mar 9), John Tyler is sworn in as the 10th U.S. President (Apr 6), New Zealand becomes a British colony (May 3), the first edition of Punch is published in London (Jul 17), Emperor Pedro II is crowned in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Jul 18), first demonstration of what was then called animal magnetism - later hypnotism - is observed (Nov 13) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, published 1829-1833 by Katsushika Hokusai In the year 1829, Andrew Jackson is sworn in as the 7th President of the United States (Mar 4), Greece receives autonomy from the Ottoman Empire (Mar 22), accordion is patented (May 23), the Metropolitan Police Service in London is established (Jun 19), the first bus service in London is begun (Jul 4), African-American abolitionist David Walker publishes his Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (Sep 25), the first bobbies start patrolling London streets (Sep 23), the first modern hotel in the U. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2650” align=“alignleft” width=“237”]Marker stone on the battlefield of Little Bighorn, courtesy of Mark A. Wilson[/caption] In the year 1876, Alexander Graham Bell is granted a U.S. patent for the telephone, ahead of Elisha Gray (Mar 7), thousands of Plains Indians gather at the Little Bighorn River (spring), Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is published in London (June), the first train ride from New York to San Francisco takes some 84 hours (Jun 4), Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeat Custer’s forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Jun 25-26), retaliated later at Powder River (Nov 25), Heinz Tomato Ketchup is introduced, Anheuser-Busch first markets Budweiser as a nationally sold beer, samurai are banned from carrying swords in Japan - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1883, Life Magazine is founded in Los Angeles (Jan 4), the first vaudeville theater is opened in Boston, MA (Feb 28), oxygen is liquefied for the first time (Apr 5), after 13 years of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic (May 24), the world’s first rodeo is held in Pecos, Texas (Jul 4), Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) erupts, killing thousands (Aug 26), the Orient Express begins to run (Oct 4), U. Continue reading

In the year 1884, the eight-hour workday is proclaimed in the United States, and is henceforth observed as May Day or Labor Day elsewhere in the world as well (May 1), the espresso machine is patented (May 16), the invention of local anesthesia is made public in a medical congress in Heidelberg, Germany (Sep 15), Timisoara becomes the first European town to be illuminated by electric light (Nov 2), the Washington Monument is completed, becoming for a while the tallest structure in the world (Dec 6), Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in London (Dec 10) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1834, York in Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto (Mar 6), Cyrus McCormick is granted a patent for his mechanical reaper (Jun 21), the Spanish Inquisition, which began in the 15th century, is suppressed by royal degree (Jul 15), slavery is abolished in the British Empire (Aug 1), Athens becomes the capital of Greece, Thomas Davenport creates one of the first electric cars by installing his DC electrical motor in a small model car - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland comes about, and Ceres is discovered (Jan 1), Thomas Jefferson is the new U.S. President (Mar 4), the first census is held in Great Britain (Mar 10), the First Barbary War where the United States and Sweden fight against four North African States, begins (May 1), Tsar Alexander I of Russia confirms the privileges of the Baltic provinces (Sep 9), the first edition of New York Evening Post is printed (Nov 16), ultraviolet radiation is discovered, the French Revolutionary Wars go on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_1798” align=“alignright” width=“413”]The windy city in the year 1833[/caption] In the year 1833, U.S. President Andrew Jackson is attacked in Alexandria, Virginia (May 6), Dubai gains independence from the United Kingdom (Jun 9), a mob destroys the Mormon printing office in Jackson County, Missouri (Jul 20), the city of Chicago is established by 350 settlers (Aug 12), the British Parliament limits child labor with the Factory Acts (Aug 29), the American Anti-Slavery Society is founded - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2203” align=“alignleft” width=“287”]Positive made out of the first ever negative, of a latticed window at Lacock Abbey in England[/caption] In the year 1835, the United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history (Jan 8), Ferdinand becomes Emperor of Austria (Mar 2), the first railway in the continental Europe is opened, between Brussels and Mechelen (May 5), the world’s first photographic negatives are exposed in England (Aug), European settlers, landing at Yarra River in southeastern Australia, found the city of Melbourne (Aug 30), the pencil manufacturer Staedler is founded (Oct 3), settlers in Mexican Texas launch the Texas Revolution (Oct), James Pratt and John Smith are the last to suffer capital punishment for homosexual acts in England (Nov 27), the Second Seminole War led by Osceola breaks out (Dec 28), English becomes the official language in India - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading