Explore 534 historical events from 1850–1859.
The Revolution of the Ganhadores was a labor strike that involved African porters, known as ganhadores, in the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia. The strike began following the pas…
The Revolution of the Ganhadores begins in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the …
The first investiture of the Victoria Cross in Hyde Park, London
Louis Léon César Faidherbe was a French general and colonial administrator. He created the Senegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor of Senegal.
Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj…
The siege of Arrah took place during the Indian Mutiny. It was the eight-day defence of a fortified outbuilding, occupied by a combination of 18 civilians and 50 members of the Ben…
Indian Rebellion: Sixty-eight men hold out for eight days against a force of 2,500 to 3,000 mutinying sepoys and 8,000…
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and politician who became famous in the 19th century for high-profile representations of trade union causes, and in the 20th century f…
Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (died 1938)
Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Throughout his career, Leoncavallo produced numerous operas and songs, but it is his 1892 opera Pagliacci that rem…
Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (died 1919)
Theodor Severin Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist. He is one of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustration…
Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (died 1914)
Paul Eugen Bleuler was a Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist most notable for his influence on modern concepts of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including schizo…
Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist (died 1940)
The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of …
The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history.
Walter Simon was a German banker, councillor and philanthropist active in Königsberg and Tübingen.
Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (died 1920)
Theodorus van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer and a younger brother of Vincent van Gogh. His support of his older brother's artistic ambitions and well-being allowed Vincent to devote …
Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (died 1891)
William Alexander MacCorkle, was an American teacher, lawyer, prosecutor, the ninth governor of West Virginia and state legislator of West Virginia, and financier. His residence in…
William A
Sir Ronald Ross was a British medical doctor. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism…
Ronald Ross, Indian-English physician and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1932)
Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was a Scottish astronomer. At the Harvard College Observatory, she contributed to the photographic classification of stellar spectra, helping to de…
Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (died 1911)
John Jacob Abel was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. He established the pharmacology department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1893, and then became Am…
John Jacob Abel, American biochemist and pharmacologist (died 1938)
Geheimrat Julius Wilhelm Theodor Curtius was professor of Chemistry at Heidelberg University. He published the Curtius rearrangement in 1890/1894 and also discovered diazoacetic ac…
Theodor Curtius, German chemist (died 1928)
Pope Pius XI was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of Vatican City upon its creation on 11 February…
Pope Pius XI (died 1939)
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known com…
Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (died 1934)
Karl Adolph Gjellerup was a Danish poet and novelist who together with his compatriot Henrik Pontoppidan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1917. He is associated with the Modern…
Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919)
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov was a Russian mathematician, mechanician and physicist. He was the son of the astronomer Mikhail Lyapunov and the brother of the pianist and compose…
Aleksandr Lyapunov, Russian mathematician and physicist (died 1918)
Maurice Perrault was a Canadian architect, civil engineer, and politician.
Maurice Perrault, Canadian architect, engineer, and politician, 15th Mayor of Longueuil (died 1909)
Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straußenburg was an Austro-Hungarian colonel general and last Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the outbreak of the First World Wa…
Arthur Arz von Straußenburg, Austrian-Hungarian general (died 1935)
Henry Clay Folger Jr. was an American businessman who was president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, a collector of Shakespeareana, and co-founder of the Folger Shak…
Henry Clay Folger, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Folger Shakespeare Library (died 1930)
Charles Courtice Alderton was an American pharmacist and the inventor of the carbonated soft drink Dr Pepper.
Charles Alderton, American pharmacist, founded Dr