References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 October 2.

1848 January 1 Britain takes Mosquito Coast from Nicaragua. [1] January 5 Ferdinando Orlandi composer, dies at age 73. [1] January 8 Austrian soldiers kill 10 students, Pavia. [1] January 9 Death of Caroline Lucretia Herschel in Hannover, Germany; discovered three nebulae and eight comets, given a gold medal by the British Astronomical Society. [37] First commercial bank in San Francisco established. [1] People's uprising in Palermo Sicily. [1] January 24 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma California. [1] January 28 King of Naples grants his subjects a constitution. [1] January 29 Sicily accepts new Constitution (choose parliament/freedom of press). [1] February 2 First shipload of Chinese arrive in San Francisco. [1] Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War; US acquires Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona for $15 million. [1] February 12 Ballet "Faust" premieres, Milan. [1] February 14 James K Polk became first President photographed in office (Matthew Brady). [1] February 15 Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston. [1] February The Communist Party Manifesto, written by Karl Marx, is published in London, England, in German. This becomes the blueprint for world revolutionary Communism. [55.43] February 17 Toscane gets liberal Constitution. [1] February 20 [Willem] Alexander prince of Netherlands/General-Major, dies at age 29. [1] February 23 John Quincy Adams 6th US President (1825-1829), dies of a stroke at age 80. [1] February 24 Frans van Campenhout Belgian singer/composer (Brabançonne), dies at age 69. [1] King Louis-Philippe abdicates, second French republic declared. [1] February 26 Second French Republic forms. [1] Marx and Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto". [1] February 29 Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland. [1] March 3 Heinrich Olivier German painter, dies. [1] March 4 Sardinia-Piemonte gets new Constitution. [1] March 7 In Hawaii, Great Mahele (division of lands) signed. [1] March 12 Second republic established in France. [1] March 20 Abraham des Amorie van der Hoeven Dutch theologist/poet, dies at age 27. [1] King Louis I of Bayern abdicates to marry dancer Lola Montez. [1] March 24 State of siege proclaimed in Amsterdam. [1] March 27 John Parker Paynard originates medicated adhesive plaster. [1] March 29 John Jacob Astor chartered American Fur Company, dies at age 84. [1] Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam. [1] April 3 Thomas Douglas becomes first San Francisco public teacher. [1] April 6 Jews of Prussia granted equality. [1] April 8 First battle at Gioto: Sardinia-Piemonte beats Austrians. [1] Battle at Xaquixaguana, Peru: Pedro de la Gasca beats Gonzalo Pizarro. [1] Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti Italian composer, dies at age 50. [1] April 10 Godert AGP baron van Capellen Governor-General of Dutch-Indies, dies at age 69. [1] April 11 Hungary becomes constitutional monarchy under king Ferdinand of Austria. [1] April 24 François van Campenhout Belgian composer (Brabançonne), dies at age 69. [1] April 28 Free last slaves in French colonies. [1] April 30 Friedrich Freiherr Gagern German/Dutch army commandant, dies at age 53. [1] May 6 Otto Tank ends slavery in Suriname colony. [1] May 7 Prussians stop insurrection in Varsovia. [1] May 17 Premier Earl Schimmelpenninck resigns. [1] May 18 William A Leidesdorf black, dies at age 38 in San Francisco. [1] May 19 México gives Texas to US, ending the war. [1] May 23 Otto Lilienthal, pioneer aviator. [1] May 24 A V Droste-Hülshoff writer, dies at age 51. [1] May 29 Battle at Curtazone: Austrians beat Sardinia-Piemonte. [1] Wisconsin becomes 30th state. [1] May 30 Second battle at Gioto: Sardinia-Piemonte beats Austrians. [1] México ratifies treaty giving US New Mexico, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado in return for $15 million. [1] William G Young patents ice cream freezer. [1] June 10 First telegraph link between New York City and Chicago. [1] June 22 Barnburners (anti-slavery) party nominates Martin Van Buren for President. [1] June 23 Bloody insurrection of workers in Paris. [1] July 4 Francois Rene de Chateaubriand French novelist/politician, dies. [1] July 19 First women's rights convention (Seneca Falls, New York). [1] July 26 First Woman's Rights Convention (Senecca Falls New York). [1] August 9 Barnburners (anti-slavery) party merges with the Free Soil Party nominating Martin Van Buren for president. [1] August 14 Oregon Territory created. [1] August 19 The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although it had started in January). [5] September 6 National Black Convention meets (Cleveland). [1] September 14 Alexander Stewart opens the first US dept store. [1] September 19 Bond (US) and Lassell (England) independently discover Hyperion, moon of Saturn. [1] October 16 First US homeopathic medical college opens in Pennsylvania. [1] November 1 First US women's medical school opens (Boston). [1] November 9 Post office at Clay and Pike opens. [1] November 21 Cincinnati Turngemeinde founded. [1] November 23 Female Medical Educational Society founded in Boston. [1] December 2 Franz Josef I becomes emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. [1] December 5 President Polk triggers Gold Rush of '49, confirms California gold discovery. [1] December 19 Adam van Duyn governor of South Holland, dies at age 77. [1] December 25 Johann Erik Nordblom composer, dies at age 60. [1] New Haven Railroad opens. [1] December 26 First gold seekers arrive in Panamá en route to San Francisco. [1] William and Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia. [1] December 29 Gas lights first installed at White House (Polk's administration). [1] December 31 Oliver Shaw composer, dies at age 69. [1] 1849 January 9 Jan Kops Dutch agriculturist/vicar, dies at age 83. [1] January 13 Vancouver Island granted to Hudson's Bay Co. [1] January 16 Wilhelm M L de Wette German theologist, dies at age 69. [1] January 23 Mrs Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first woman physician in US. [1] Patent granted for an envelope-making machine. [1] January 26 Thomas Lovell Beddoes English poet (Death's Jest-Book), suicide at age 45. [1] January 31 Corn Laws abolished in Britain. [1] February 4 University of Wisconsin begins in one room with 20 students. [1] February 8 France Preseren Slovenian poet (Sonetni Venec), dies at age 48. [1] François-Antoine Habeneck composer, dies at age 68. [1] February 9 Corneille Vander Planken composer, dies at age 76. [1] Roman Republic declared. [1] February 13 Christian Rummel composer, dies at age 61. [1] February 15 Pierre F Verhulst Belgian mathematician (logistic curve), dies at age 44. [1] February 18 First regular steamboat service to San Francisco California starts: gold rush prospectors from east coast. [1] February 22 Alexander Ernst Fesca composer, dies at age 28. [1] March 3 US Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin. [1] Territory of Minnesota is organized. [1] US Department of the Interior established by Congress. [1] March 4 US had no President, Polk's term ends on a Sunday, Taylor couldn't be sworn-in, Senator David Atchison (pres pro tem) term ended March third. [1] March 5 Zachary Taylor sworn in as 12th President. [1] March 9 Carl Nikolais opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" premieres. [1] March 10 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US President to do so. [1] March 12 First gold seekers arrive in Nicaragua en route to California. [1] March 17 Willem II Frederik GL King of Netherlands (1840-49), dies at age 56. [1] March 23 Battle of Novara (King Charles Albert vs Italian republic). [1] March 27 Joseph Couch patents steam-powered percussion rock drill. [1] March 28 Dutch princess Marianne and Prince Albert of Prussia separate. [1] Stephan L Endlicher Austrian priest/botany, dies at age 44. [1] March 29 Britain formally annexs Punjab after defeat of Sikhs in India. [1] March 31 Colonel John W Geary arrives as first postmaster of San Francisco. [1] April 3 Juliusz Slowacki Pol poet (Father of the Plague-Patient), dies at age 39. [1] April 6 Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "Le Prophète", premieres in Paris France. [1] April 10 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (New York City, New York); sold rights for $100. [1] April 13 Hungarian Republic proclaimed. [1] April 16 The opera "Il Profeta" premieres (Paris France). [1] May 2 David H Chassé Baron/General (fought Napoleon at Waterloo), dies at age 84. [1] May 10 Katsushika Hokusai Japanese painter, dies at age 89. [1] Pack destroys Astor Place opera house in New York City (22 killed). [1] May 11 Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai composer/conductor, dies at age 38. [1] May 12 Willem Alexander PFL crowned king Willem III in Amsterdam. [1] May 15 Philadelphia Turngemeinde founded. [1] May 17 Fire destroy Centrum in Saint Louis Missouri. [1] May 22 Abraham Lincoln patents a buoying device. [1] May 25 Andreas Michiels Dutch Military Governor of West Sumatra, dies in battle at age 52. [1] May 28 Anne Bronté novelist, dies. [1] Princess WFLC Marianne and Albrecht of Prussia separate. [1] May 29 Lincoln says "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and of people some of time, but you can't fool all of the people all of time". [1] Patent for lifting vessels granted to Abraham Lincoln. [1] May 31 Last edition of Orange sheet "Journal de La Haye". [1] Léonard du Bus de Gisignies Governor-General of Netherlands-Indies, dies at age 69. [1] June 5 Danish National Day-Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy. [1] June 12 Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett, Louisville, Ky. [1] June 15 James Knox Polk the 11th US Pres, dies in Nashville, Tenn. [1] June 22 Stephen C Massett opens courthouse using only piano in California. [1] July 8 Saint Paul's Place in the Bronx named. [1] July 28 Memmon is first clipper to reach SF, 120 days out of New York. [1] August 9 Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria and Russia. [1] August 22 Austria launches the first air raid in history: Pilotless balloons against the Italian city of Venice. [5] September 1 California Constitutional Convention held in Monterey. [1] September 3 California State Constitutional Convention convenes in Monterey. [1] September 13 First US prize fight fatality (Tom McCoy). [1] September 19 First commercial laundry established, in Oakland, California. [1] September 29 First passenger train service to Peekskill New York (New Haven Railroad). [1] October 7 Edgar Allen Poe poet, dies in Baltimore at age 40. [1] October 16 Avery College establishes in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. [1] British seize Tigre Island in Gulf of Fonseca from Honduras. [1] George Washington Williams Penns, first major black historian. [1] October 19 Elizabeth Blackwell became first woman in US to receive medical degree. [1] November 13 Peter Burnett elected first governor of California. [1] November 15 First US poultry show opens in Boston. [1] December 6 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland. [1] December 8 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller" premieres in Naples. [1] December 14 First chamber music group in US gives their first concert (Boston). [1] Conradin Kreutzer composer, dies at age 69. [1] December 18 William Bond obtains first photograph of Moon through a telescope. [1] December 28 M Jolly-Bellin discovers dry-cleaning, he accidentally upset lamp containing turpentine and oil on his clothing and sees cleaning effect. [1]