Editing 1840 (section)

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 3]] – One of the predecessor papers of the ''[[Herald Sun]]'' of [[Melbourne]], Australia, ''The Port Phillip Herald'', is founded.
* [[January 10]] – [[Uniform Penny Post]] is introduced in the United Kingdom.
* [[January 13]] – The steamship [[Lexington (steamship)|''Lexington'']] burns and sinks in icy waters, four miles off the coast of [[Long Island]]; 139 die, only four survive.
* [[January 19]] – Captain [[Charles Wilkes]]' [[United States Exploring Expedition]] sights what becomes known as [[Wilkes Land]] in the southeast quadrant of Antarctica, claiming it for the United States, and providing evidence that Antarctica is a complete continent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/exploration.shtml|title=Antarctic Exploration — Chronology|access-date=2006-10-20|publisher=Quark Expeditions|year=2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908120017/http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/exploration.shtml |archive-date=2006-09-08}}</ref>
* [[January 21]] – [[Jules Dumont d'Urville]] discovers [[Adélie Land]] in Antarctica, claiming it for [[July Monarchy|France]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Guillon|first=Jacques|title=Dumont d'Urville|publisher=France-Empire|year=1986|location=Paris|isbn=2-7048-0472-9}}</ref>
* [[January 22]] – [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] colonists reach [[New Zealand]], officially founding the settlement of [[Wellington]].
* [[February]] – The [[Rhodes blood libel]] is made against the Jews of [[Rhodes]].
* [[February 5]] – [[Damascus Affair]]: The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to a highly publicized case of [[blood libel]], against the Jews of [[Damascus]].
* [[February 6]] – The [[Treaty of Waitangi]], granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.
* [[February 10]] – [[Queen Victoria]] of the United Kingdom marries her cousin [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]].
* [[February 11]] – [[Gaetano Donizetti]]'s opera ''[[La fille du régiment]]'' premieres in Paris.
* [[March 1]] – [[Adolphe Thiers]] becomes prime minister of [[July Monarchy|France]].
* [[March 4]] – Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson open the world's first commercial photography portrait studio, their ''Daguerreian Parlor'', on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[Manhattan]].
* [[March 9]] – The [[Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad]] is completed, from [[Wilmington, North Carolina]] to [[Weldon, North Carolina]]. At {{convert|161.5|mi|km}}, it is the world's longest railroad.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historync.org/railroad-WWRR.htm|title=Railroad — Wilmington & Raleigh (later Weldon)|work=North Carolina Business History|year=2006|access-date=2011-12-02}}</ref>
* [[March 12]] – [[Paweł Strzelecki]] reaches [[Australia]]'s highest summit, [[Mount Kosciuszko]].

=== April–June ===
* [[April]] – The [[Raleigh and Gaston Railroad]] is completed from [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] to near [[Weldon, North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historync.org/railroads.htm|title=Railroads — prior to the Civil War|work=North Carolina Business History|year=2006|access-date=2011-12-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726152211/http://historync.org/railroads.htm|archive-date=July 26, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[April 2]] – The [[Washingtonian movement]] for [[teetotalism]] is founded by a group of [[alcoholic]]s in [[Baltimore]], Maryland.
* [[April 3]] – [[Johnny Appleseed]] meets [[Abraham Lincoln]], and plants apple trees in [[New York City]].
* [[April 15]] – [[King's College Hospital]] opens in London.
* [[May 1]] – Britain issues the [[Penny Black]], the world's first [[postage stamp]]; it becomes valid for the pre-payment of postage from [[May 6]].
* [[May 7]] – [[Great Natchez Tornado]]: A massive tornado strikes [[Natchez, Mississippi]] during the early afternoon. Before it is over, 317 people are killed and 109 injured (the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history).
* [[May 21]] – [[New Zealand]] is declared a British colony.
* [[June 7]] – On the death of [[Frederick William III of Prussia]], he is succeeded on the throne of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] (which he has ruled for more than 40 years) by his eldest son [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]].
* [[June 12]]–[[June 23|23]] – The [[World Anti-Slavery Convention]] is organised by the [[British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society]], at [[Exeter Hall]] in London, England. Arguments over the exclusion of women from the convention have important ramifications for the movement for [[women's suffrage in the United States]].
* [[June 18]] – [[Maria massacre|''Maria'' massacre]]: British [[brigantine]] ''Maria'' is wrecked off [[South Australia]]. All 26 passengers and crew make it to the shore but none survive the trek to safety over the following two weeks, most being massacred by [[Aboriginal Australians]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://firstsourcesguide.com/uploads/3/2/4/6/3246279/case_study_-_wreck_of_the_maria.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001182534/http://firstsourcesguide.com/uploads/3/2/4/6/3246279/case_study_-_wreck_of_the_maria.pdf|archive-date=2018-10-01|accessdate=2024-08-14|title=Wreck of the ''Maria'' Incident|publisher=First Sources}}</ref>

=== July–September ===
[[File:RMS Britannia 1840 paddlewheel.jpg|thumb|right|[[July 4]]: {{RMS|Britannia}}]]
* [[July 4]] – The [[Cunard Line]]'s 700-[[ton]] wooden paddlewheel steamer {{RMS|Britannia}} departs from [[Liverpool]], bound for [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service.<ref>{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Alan|last2=Palmer |first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=263–264|isbn=0-7126-5616-2}}</ref>
* [[July 15]] – The [[Austrian Empire]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and the [[Russian Empire]] sign the [[Convention of London (1840)|Convention of London]] with the [[Sublime Porte]], ruler of the [[Ottoman Empire]].
* [[July 21]] – [[August Borsig]]'s [[steam locomotive]], the first built in [[German Confederation|Germany]], competes against a [[George Stephenson|Stephenson]]-built locomotive on the [[Anhalt Railway|Berlin–Jüterbog railroad]]; the Borsig locomotive wins by 10 minutes.
* [[July 23]]
** [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]] is declared "of age" prematurely, and begins to reassert central control in [[Empire of Brazil|Brazil]].
** The [[Province of Canada]] is created by the [[Act of Union 1840|Act of Union]], but not proclaimed until 10 February 1841.
* [[August 1]] – Remaining former slaves in the [[British Empire]] are released from apprenticeships under terms of the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]].
* [[August 10]] – [[Fortsas hoax]]: A number of book collectors gather in [[Binche]], Belgium, to attend a non-existent book auction of the late "Count of Fortsas".
* [[August 19]] – The [[Battle of the Barrier]].
* [[September 10]] – Ottoman and British troops bombard [[Beirut]], and land troops on the coast, to pressure [[Egypt Eyalet|Egypt]]ian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.
* [[September 16]] – [[Joseph Strutt (philanthropist)|Joseph Strutt]] hands over the deeds and papers concerning the [[Derby Arboretum]], which is to become England's first public park.
* [[September 30]] – The French frigate [[French ship Belle Poule (1834)|''Belle-Poule'']] arrives in Cherbourg, bringing back the remains of [[Napoleon]] from [[Saint Helena]] to [[July Monarchy|France]].

=== October–December ===
[[File:Repatriación de las cenizas de Napoleón a bordo de la Belle Poule, por Eugène Isabey.jpg|thumb|right|The frigate Belle-Poule brings back the remains of Napoleon to France.]]
* [[October 7]] – [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]] becomes King of the [[Netherlands]].
* [[October 8]] – A ''[[firman]]'' (imperial decree) of Sultan [[Abdulmejid I]] replaces [[Bashir Shihab II]] as [[Emir of Mount Lebanon]] with [[Bashir III|Prince Bashir Chehab III]] (Bashir Qasim al-Chehab).<ref name=Farah>{{cite book|last1=Farah|first1=Caesar E.|author2=Centre for Lebanese Studies (Great Britain)|title=Politics of Interventionism in Ottoman Lebanon, 1830-1861|date=2000|publisher=I. B. Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uxkz9D4Ff_sC&q=Falugha+Druze|isbn=9781860640568|pages=41–43}}</ref>
* [[October 11]] – [[Maronite]] leader [[Bashir Shihab II]] surrenders to the Ottomans,<ref name=Farah/> and on October 14 goes into exile, initially in [[Malta]].
* [[November 4]] – [[1840 United States presidential election]]: [[William Henry Harrison]] defeats [[Martin Van Buren]] in a landslide.
* [[December 7]] – [[David Livingstone]] leaves Britain for Africa.
* [[December 15]] – The body of [[Napoleon]] is laid to rest in [[Les Invalides]] in Paris.
* [[December 21]] – [[Stockport Viaduct]] is completed in [[North West England]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Geoffrey O.|last=Holt|title=A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 10: The North West|location=Newton Abbot|publisher=David and Charles|year=1978|isbn=0-7153-7521-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/northwest0010holt/page/117 117]|url=https://archive.org/details/northwest0010holt/page/117}}</ref> It is one of the largest brick structures in Europe.

=== Date unknown ===
* The first English translation of Goethe's ''[[Theory of Colours]]'' by [[Charles Lock Eastlake|Charles Eastlake]] is published.
* The first known photograph of [[Niagara Falls]], a [[daguerreotype]], is taken by English chemist [[Hugh Lee Pattinson]].
* [[Kajima]], a [[construction]] company based in Japan, is founded in [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]] (modern-day [[Tokyo]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kajima.co.jp/english/prof/outline/index.html|title=Corporate Data|publisher=Kajima Corporation|access-date=2021-01-11}}</ref>
* Approximate date – [[Volcanic eruption]] of [[Tinakula]] in the [[Solomon Islands]] causes the island to be depopulated.

===Ongoing===
* [[First Opium War]] (1839–1842)
* [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] (1839–1842)
* [[Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)]]