1850s

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From left, clockwise: Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 the U.S. Senate; Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin; Russian forces fight against British, French and Ottoman forces in Sevastopol during the Crimean War; SS Arctic, an American steamship, sinks in the Atlantic Ocean after a collision with a French steamship, SS Vesta in 1854; The Panama Railroad opens in 1855 connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with a railroad in Central America; Anglo-French and Qing Empire forces engage each other in a four-year long campaign known as the Second Opium War starting in 1856; Dred Scott v. Sandford denies American citizenship as mandated under the U.S. Constitution to African Americans; Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species in 1859, presenting the idea of natural selection. 1850s Montage.jpg
From left, clockwise: Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 the U.S. Senate; Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin ; Russian forces fight against British, French and Ottoman forces in Sevastopol during the Crimean War ; SS Arctic , an American steamship, sinks in the Atlantic Ocean after a collision with a French steamship, SS Vesta in 1854; The Panama Railroad opens in 1855 connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with a railroad in Central America; Anglo-French and Qing Empire forces engage each other in a four-year long campaign known as the Second Opium War starting in 1856; Dred Scott v. Sandford denies American citizenship as mandated under the U.S. Constitution to African Americans; Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species in 1859, presenting the idea of natural selection .

The 1850s (pronounced "eighteen-fifties") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1850, and ended on December 31, 1859.

Contents

It was a very turbulent decade, as wars such as the Crimean War, shifted and shook European politics, as well as the expansion of colonization towards the Far East, which also sparked conflicts like the Second Opium War. In the meantime, the United States saw its peak on mass migration to the American West, that particularly made the nation experience an economic boom, as well as a rapidly increasing population.

The last living person from this decade was Ada Roe, who died in 1970.

Crimean War Malakhov1.jpg
Crimean War

Wars

Internal conflicts

Prominent political events

Assassinations and attempts

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:

Science and technology

Michael Faraday delivering a Christmas Lecture at the Royal Institution in London, c. 1855 Professor Faraday lecturing at the Royal Institution, 27th December, 1855 RIIC 0006 20110213 BAL EP.jpg
Michael Faraday delivering a Christmas Lecture at the Royal Institution in London, c.1855

Economics

Environment

Society

Literature

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crimean War</span> 1853–1856 war

The Crimean War was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom, and Sardinia-Piedmont.

This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from 1820 to 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xianfeng Emperor</span> Emperor of China from 1850 to 1861

The Xianfeng Emperor, also known by his temple name Emperor Wenzong of Qing, personal name Yizhu, was the eighth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China proper. During his reign, the Qing dynasty experienced several wars and rebellions including the Taiping Rebellion, the Nian Rebellion, and the Second Opium War. He was the last Chinese emperor to exercise sole power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Saunders Dundas</span>

Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Saunders Dundas, was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain, he took part in the capture of the Bogue forts in January 1841, during the First Opium War. He was appointed to the command of the Fleet in the Baltic Sea, in succession to Sir Charles Napier, in February 1855 and led the naval support during the latter stages of the Crimean War, enforcing a strict blockade and carrying out the bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855. He was appointed First Naval Lord in the first Palmerston ministry in November 1857 and then, after stepping down to be Second Naval Lord during the second Derby–Disraeli ministry, he stepped up again to become First Naval Lord in the second Palmerston ministry in June 1859, remaining in office until his death. The prime minister described Dundas as "a most distinguished officer".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Robertson (photographer)</span>

James Robertson (1813–1888) was an English gem and coin engraver who worked in the Mediterranean region, and who became a pioneering photographer working in the Crimea and possibly India. He is noted for his Orientalist photographs and for being one of the first war photographers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherard Osborn</span> English rear admiral and polar explorer

Sherard Osborn was a Royal Navy admiral and Arctic explorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Keppel</span> Royal Navy officer (1809–1904)

Admiral of the Fleet The Honourable Sir Henry Keppel was a Royal Navy officer. His first command was largely spent off the coast of Spain, which was then in the midst of the First Carlist War. As commanding officer of the corvette HMS Dido on the East Indies and China Station he was deployed in operations during the First Opium War and in operations against Borneo pirates. He later served as commander of the naval brigade besieging Sebastopol during the Crimean War. After becoming second-in-command of the East Indies and China Station, he commanded the British squadron in the action with Chinese pirates at the Battle of Fatshan Creek when he sank around 100 enemy war-junks. He subsequently took part in the capture of Canton during the Second Opium War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felice Beato</span> Italian-British photographer (1832–1909)

Felice Beato, also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and the Mediterranean region. Beato's travels gave him the opportunity to create images of countries, people, and events that were unfamiliar and remote to most people in Europe and North America. His work provides images of such events as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Opium War, and represents the first substantial body of photojournalism. He influenced other photographers, and his influence in Japan, where he taught and worked with numerous other photographers and artists, was particularly deep and lasting.

Qishan, courtesy name Jing'an, was a Mongol nobleman and official of the late Qing dynasty. He was of Khalkha Mongol and Borjigit descent, and his family was under the Plain Yellow Banner of the Manchu Eight Banners. He is best known for negotiating the Convention of Chuanbi on behalf of the Qing government with the British during the First Opium War of 1839–42.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ye Mingchen</span> Chinese official

Ye Mingchen was a high-ranking Chinese official during the Qing dynasty, known for his resistance to British influence in Canton (Guangzhou) in the aftermath of the First Opium War and his role in the beginning of the Second Opium War.

HMS Highflyer was a 21-gun wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built on the River Thames by C J Mare and launched on 13 August 1851. She spent twenty years in service, including action in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War, before being broken up at Portsmouth in May 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiping Heavenly Kingdom</span> Former unrecognized theocratic monarchy (1851–1864)

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (1851–1864), was a theocratic absolute monarchy which sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The Heavenly Kingdom, or Heavenly Dynasty, was led by Hong Xiuquan. Its capital was at Tianjing, present-day Nanjing. The unsuccessful war it waged against the Qing is known as the Taiping Rebellion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amur Annexation</span> Russian annexation of Outer Manchuria

Between 1858 and 1860, the Russian Empire annexed territories adjoining the Amur River belonging to the Chinese Qing dynasty through the imposition of unequal treaties. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun, signed by the general Nikolay Muravyov representing the Russian Empire and the official Yishan representing Qing China, ceded Priamurye—a territory stretching from the Amur River north to the Stanovoy Mountains, but the Qing government initially refused to recognize the treaty's validity. Two years later, the Second Opium War concluded with the Convention of Peking, which affirmed the previous treaty as well as an additional cession including the entire Pacific coast to the Korean border, as well as the island of Sakhalin to Russia. These two territories roughly correspond to modern-day Amur Oblast and Primorsky Krai, respectively. Collectively, they are often referred to as Outer Manchuria, part of the greater region of Manchuria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">19th century</span> One hundred years, from 1801 to 1900

The 19th century began on 1 January 1801, and ended on 31 December 1900 (MCM). It was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolished in much of Europe and the Americas. The First Industrial Revolution, though it began in the late 18th century, expanded beyond its British homeland for the first time during the 19th century, particularly remaking the economies and societies of the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Northern Italy, and the Northeastern United States. A few decades later, the Second Industrial Revolution led to ever more massive urbanization and much higher levels of productivity, profit, and prosperity, a pattern that continued into the 20th century.

<i>The Nautical Magazine</i> Monthly seafaring magazine

The Nautical Magazine was a monthly magazine containing articles of general interest to seafarers. The magazine was first published in 1832 by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. (London) as The Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects Connected with Maritime Affairs in General and then as The Nautical Magazine And Naval Chronicle. From 1891 the title was modified to Nautical Magazine and Journal of the Royal Naval Reserve and it was published by Brown, Son and Ferguson, (Glasgow), who continued to produce it until it was acquired and merged into Sea Breezes in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Indies and China Station</span> Military unit

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856)</span> Revolt against Qing rule in Guangdong Province, China (1854-56)

The Red Turban Rebellion of 1854–1856 was a rebellion by members of the Tiandihui in the Guangdong province of South China.

Qiu Ersao, was a Chinese rebel and military commander during the Taiping Rebellion. Originally a religious leader within the Tiandihui, she later had 500 female soldiers under her command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the 19th century</span> Timeline of events 1801-1900

This is a timeline of the 19th century.