- March 9
- First Japanese ambassador arrives in San Francisco en route to Washington DC. [1]
- March 27
- M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew). [1]
- April 2
- First Italian Parliament meets at Turin. [1]
- April 4
- Finland adopts the markka as currency, divided into 100 pennia. [538.58]
- April 7
- Grand duke Frederik I liberalizes laws in Bathe. [1]
- April 9
- In Paris, France, inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville makes the first (known) audio recording, ten seconds long, of a person singing a folk song. The recording is made on a phonautograph that scratches sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp. [35]
- April 18
- Count István Széchenyi, statesman, commits suicide. [1]
- May 26
- Garibaldi occupies Palermo, Italy. [1]
- September 7
- Excursion steamer Lady Elgin drowns 340 in Lake Michigan. [1]
- October 12
- British and French troops capture Peking. [1]
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- October 17
- First professional golf tournament held (Scotland); Willie Park wins. [1]
- November 4
- Abraham Lincoln (Republican-Illinois-Representative) is elected 16th president of the USA. [434.134]
- December 20
- South Carolina's legislature votes 169-0 to pass the "Ordinance of Secession" declaring "the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." [129] [919.141]
1861
- January 1
- Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City. [1]
- January 2
- Wilhelm I becomes the Prussian King. [37]
- January 9
- First hostile act of coming war in America; US steamship Star of the West carrying troops and ammunition for Fort Sumter is fired on, at Sumter, South Carolina. [1] [888.27]
- Mississippi becomes second state to secede from the USA. [1]
- January 10
- Florida becomes third state to secede from USA. [1]
- January 11
- Mexico City captured by Juárez (Liberal) in War of the Reform. [1]
- Alabama becomes fourth state to secede from the USA. [1]
- January 15
- Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis. [1]
- January 17
- Flush toilet (with separate water tank and a pull chain) patented by Mr Thomas Crapper. [1]
- January 19
- Georgia becomes fifth state to secede from the USA. [1]
- January 26
- Louisiana becomes sixth state to secede from the USA. [1]
- January 29
- Kansas becomes 34th state of the USA. [1]
- February 1
- Dike breaks in Gelderland, Netherlands. [1]
- February 5
- First moving picture peep show machine is patented by Samuel Goodale of Cincinnati. [1]
- Kinematoscope patented by Coleman Sellers, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. [1]
- February 6
- English Admiral Robert Ritzroy issues first storm warnings for ships. [1]
- February 8
- Confederate States of America is proclaimed in Montgomery, Alabama. [1] [448.50]
- February 9
- The Confederate States of America establishes its capital at Montgomery, Alabama, with Jefferson Davis as president. [434.134]
- February 18
- King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia becomes first king of Italy. [1]
- Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery, Alabama. [1] [601.58]
- February 19
- Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom. [1]
- February 20
- Steeple of Chichester Cathedral is blown down during a storm. [1]
- February 23
- Dutch Premier Floris A van Hall resigns. [1]
- By popular referendum, Texas becomes seventh state to secede from US. [1]
- February 27
- Warsaw Massacre: Russians fire on crowd demonstrating against Russian rule of Poland. [1]
- March 4
- Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as 16th President of the USA. [1] [129] [491.22] [547.52]
- Confederate States of America adopts "Stars and Bars" flag. [1]
- March 15
- Mexican President Juárez decrees decimal monetary system, silver peso duro 0.902784 fine, 1/17 of pound weight, gold coins 0.875 fine, and 1-centavo copper coin 0.32 ounce weight. [1042.791]
- March 17
- Italy declares independence; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed. Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy is crowned King of Italy. [1] [1268.92]
- March 23
- London's first tramcars, designed by Mr Train of New York, begin operating. [1]
- April 12
- Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on USA-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay, beginning the War Between the States (US Civil War, War of Southern Insurrection, War of Northern Aggression). [129] [412.50] [888.27] [919.143]
- April 17
- Virginia become eighth state to secede from the USA. [1]
- May 6
- Arkansas becomes ninth state to secede from USA. [1]
- CSA President Jefferson Davis approves a bill declaring War between US and Confederacy. [1]
- May 8
- Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederacy. [1]
- May 11
- The New York Stock Exchange prohibits trading of Confederate States of America securities. [404.44]
- May 13
- Queen Victoria announces England's position of neutrality in the War Between the States. [1]
- May 20
- North Carolina becomes tenth state to secede from USA. [1]
- June 24
- Tennessee becomes eleventh state to secede from USA. [1]
- July 4
- US President Abraham Lincoln asks Congress for $400 million and 400,000 men to suppress the Southern insurrection. [446.58] [453.108]
- July 17
- US Congress authorizes first US government-issued paper money, $50 million worth, known as "demand notes" and "Greenbacks". [451.38] [453.108] [476.68] [789.70]
- July 18
- Federal government of Confederación Granadina ceases to exist. [970.229]
- July 20
- Confederate States of America's congress begins holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia. [1]
- July 26
- Confederación Granadina name changes to Estados Unidas de Nueva Granada. [970.228]
- August 1
- Brazil recognizes the Confederate States of America. [1]
- September 20
- Union Pact signed, uniting States of Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Santander, and Tolima as Estados Unidos de Colombia. [970.236]
- October 24
- First transcontinental telegram is sent. [1]
- November 8
- Captain Charles Wilkes of American steam-sloop San Jacinto fires shot across bow of British vessel Trent, stops it on high seas, takes four passengers off, two of them CSA envoys to France (Mason) and Great Britain (Slidell). They are taken to Fort Warren in Boston as prisoners. (They are later released on protest of the British government.) [1] [919.159]
- December 28
- US government suspends specie payments (gold) for paper money. [476.68] [789.72] (January 3, 1862 [747.32])
- December 30
- American banks stop payments in gold. [1] [668.104]
- Year
- 22.99m of rain falls in Cherrapunji, Assam, during year, world record. [1]
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