istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Fox Talbot exposes the first photographic negatives, among them a view looking out through an oriel window in Lacock Abbey
French author Honoré de Balzac publishes Le Père Goriot, one of the key novels that he later includes in La Comédie Humaine
Alexis de Tocqueville publishes in French the first two volumes of his extremely influential study Democracy in America
Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor has its premiere in Naples
English artist Edward Lear begins a series of travels, sketching around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East
Hendrik Potgieter sets off with some 200 Boers and their cattle at the start of the Great Trek to the north
24-year-old Charles Dickens begins monthly publication of his first work of fiction, Pickwick Papers (published in book form in 1837)
A site is selected for Adelaide and emigration begins from Britain to south Australia
The Inspector General, a farce by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol satirising Russian offialdom, has tsar Nicholas I in the audience for the premiere
The Tolpuddle Martyrs are brought back to England from Australia after public protest leads to their sentences being remitted
The Portuguese ban the shipping of slaves from the coast of Angola
Hendrik Potgieter and the Boers, protected by a laager at Vegkop, hold off an attack by a large force of Ndebele tribesmen
Work begins on the suspension bridge over the river Avon, at Clifton, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
HMS Beagle reaches Falmouth, in Cornwall, after a voyage of five years, and Charles Darwin brings with him a valuable collection of specimens
The 18-year-old Victoria comes to the throne in Britain, beginning the long Victorian era
Alexander Pushkin dies from a stomach wound received in a duel with his brother-in-law, Georges d'Anthès
After a victory at Vegkop, Boers massacre the inhabitants of a dozen Ndebele villages in secret dawn raids
Piet Retief emerges as the new leader of the Great Trek, replacing Potgieter
Work begins on Charles Barry's spectacular design for London's new Houses of Parliament
Potgieter defeats the Ndebele at the Marico river and drives them north of the Limpopo
Piet Retief reaches a provisional agreement with Dingaan, the Zulu leader, for a Boer settlement in southern Natal
In The American Scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson urges his student audience to heed their own intellectuals rather than those of Europe
Hector Berlioz's requiem mass, the Grande messe des morts, has its first performance in Paris
Charles Dickens' first novel, Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication (in book form, 1838)
An Irish packet steamer, the Sirius, becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, completing the journey to New York in 19 days
