Editing 1851 (section)

== Events ==

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 11]] &ndash; [[Hong Xiuquan]] officially begins the [[Taiping Rebellion]] in China, one of the bloodiest revolts that would lead to 20 million deaths.
* [[January 15]] &ndash; Christian Female College, modern-day [[Columbia College (Missouri)|Columbia College]], receives its charter from the [[Missouri General Assembly]].
* [[January 23]] &ndash; The flip of a coin, subsequently named the [[Portland Penny]], determines whether a new city in the [[Oregon Territory]] will be named after [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], or [[Portland, Maine]], with [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] winning.
* [[January 28]] &ndash; [[Northwestern University]] is founded in [[Illinois]].
* [[February 1]] &ndash; ''[[Brandtaucher]]'', the oldest surviving [[submersible]] craft, sinks during acceptance trials in the German [[port of Kiel]], but the designer, [[Wilhelm Bauer]], and the two crew escape successfully.
* [[February 6]] &ndash; [[Black Thursday (1851)|Black Thursday]] occurs in Australia as [[Bushfires in Australia|bushfires]] sweep across the state of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], burning about a quarter of its area.
* [[February 12]] &ndash; [[Edward Hargraves]] claims to have found [[gold]] in Australia.
* [[February 15]] &ndash; In [[Boston, Massachusetts]], members of the anti-slavery [[Boston Vigilance Committee]] rescue fugitive slave [[Shadrach Minkins]] from a courtroom, following his arrest by U.S. marshals.
* [[March 1]] &ndash; [[Victor Hugo]] uses the phrase ''[[European Federation|United States of Europe]]'', in a speech to the French National Assembly.
* [[March 11]] &ndash; [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Rigoletto]]'' is first performed at [[La Fenice]] in [[Venice]].
* [[March 27]] &ndash; The first European men reportedly see [[Yosemite Valley]].
* [[March 30]] &ndash; A [[United Kingdom Census 1851|United Kingdom Census]] is taken. The population has reached 21&nbsp;million. 6.3&nbsp;million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, and cities of 20,000 or more account for 35% of the total English population. It also shows that a [[legacy of the Great Irish Famine]] is that the population of Ireland has fallen to 6,575,000 – a drop of 1,600,000 in ten years, many having emigrated.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Ross|year=2002|title=Ireland: History of a Nation|edition=New|location=New Lanark|publisher=Geddes & Grosset|isbn=1842051644|pages=[https://archive.org/details/irelandhistoryof0000ross/page/216 216, 313]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/irelandhistoryof0000ross/page/216}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Cormac|last=Ó Gráda|title=Ireland's Great Famine: Interdisciplinary Perspectives|publisher=University College Dublin Press|year=2006|isbn=1-904558-57-7|page=3}}</ref>

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 8]] &ndash; [[Western Union]] is founded, as the ''New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company''.<ref>{{cite book|author=United States. Congress. House. Committee on Patents|title=Pooling of Patents: Hearings Before the Committee on Patents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ou1sAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1912|year=1936|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=1912}}</ref> 
* [[April 9]] &ndash; [[San Luis, Colorado|San Luis]], the oldest permanent settlement in the state of [[Colorado]], is founded by settlers from [[Taos, New Mexico]].
* [[April 20]] &ndash; [[Ramón Castilla]] loses power in [[Peru]].
* [[April 23]] &ndash; [[Anne Darwin]], daughter of [[Charles Darwin]] dies, sending him into a great depression. 
* [[April 25]] &ndash; [[Placer County, California]], is formed from parts of [[Sutter County, California|Sutter]] and [[Yuba County, California|Yuba]] Counties with [[Auburn, California|Auburn]] as the county seat.
* [[April 28]] &ndash; [[Santa Clara College]] is chartered in [[Santa Clara, California]].
* [[May 1]] &ndash; ''[[The Great Exhibition]] of the Works of Industry of All Nations'' in [[the Crystal Palace]], [[Hyde Park, London]] is opened by [[Queen Victoria]].
* [[May 15]]
** The first [[Australian gold rushes|Australian gold rush]] is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
** [[Alpha Delta Pi]] sorority, the first secret society for women, is founded at [[Wesleyan College]] in [[Macon, Georgia]] (U.S.)
** [[Mongkut]]  is crowned as King (Rama IV) of [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Siam]], at the [[Grand Palace]] in [[Bangkok]].
[[File:Rama4pic.jpg|thumb|120px|right|[[May 15]]: [[Ramai IV of Thailand|Rama IV]] is crowned as the King of Siam.]]
* Mid-[[May]] to mid-[[July]] &ndash; Great [[Flood of 1851]]: Extensive flooding sweeps across the [[Midwestern United States]]. The town of [[Des Moines]] is virtually washed away, and many rainfall records hold for 160 years.
* [[June 2]]
** [[Maine]] passes the first state-wide prohibition [[Maine law|law]] in the United States.
** [[Castle & Cooke]], the predecessor of [[Dole Food Company]], is founded in [[Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Castle and Cooke, Ltd|author2=Castle & Cooke|title=The First 100 Years: A Report on the Operations of Castle & Cooke for the Years 1851-1951|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ibRAAAAMAAJ|year=1951|page=11}}</ref>
* [[June 21]] &ndash; The [[Immortal Game]], a famous [[chess]] match, is played between [[Adolf Anderssen]] and [[Lionel Kieseritzky]], during a break in the [[London 1851 chess tournament|first international tournament]], held in London.

=== July&ndash;September ===
* [[July 1]]
** [[Port Phillip District]] separates from [[New South Wales]] to become the  Colony of [[Victoria (Australia)]].
** Serial poisoner [[Hélène Jégado]] is arrested in [[Rennes]], France. Her trial opens on December 6; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed by [[guillotine]].
** Battle of Ras Tanoura, a collision occurs between the Bahrain blockading force off Kateef and the Arab fugitives at Kenn Island, who surprised and attacked the Bahrain fleet. Mubarak bin Abdulla bin Ahmed, along with his brother Rashid and Busher bin Rahma Al Jalahma were all killed in the battle.
* [[July 10]] &ndash; The [[University of the Pacific (United States)|University of the Pacific]] is chartered as California Wesleyan College, in [[Santa Clara, California]].
* [[July 28]] &ndash; Total [[solar eclipse]] visible in [[Canada]], [[Greenland]], [[Iceland]] and Northern [[Europe]], the first solar eclipse to be photographed.
* [[July 29]] &ndash;  [[Annibale de Gasparis]], in [[Naples]], Italy discovers asteroid ''[[15 Eunomia]]''.
* [[August 1]] &ndash; [[Virginia]] closes its Reform Constitutional Convention, deciding that all white men have the right to vote.
* [[August 3]] &ndash; The  [[filibuster (military)|filibustering]] [[Lopez Expedition]] sails from [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]] heading to seize [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Spanish-ruled Cuba]].
* [[August 12]] &ndash; [[Isaac Singer]] is granted a United States patent for his improved sewing machine.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Invention That Spawned a Fashion Revolution |url=https://time.com/3985665/sewing-machine-invented/ |magazine=Time |access-date=26 June 2020}}</ref>
* [[August 22]] &ndash; The yacht ''[[America (yacht)|America]]'' wins the first [[America's Cup]] race, off the coast of England.[[Image:America (schooner yacht) by Bard.jpg|thumb|[[August 22]]: The yacht ''[[America (yacht)|America]]'', winner of the first America's Cup]]
* [[September 1]] &ndash; [[Narciso López]] is executed in [[Havana]] following the failure of his expedition in Cuba.
* [[September 15]] &ndash; [[Saint Joseph's University]] is founded in [[Philadelphia]].
* [[September 18]] &ndash; ''[[The New York Times]]'' is founded in New York City.
* [[September 30]] &ndash; [[HSwMS Eugenie|HSwMS ''Eugenie'']] leaves from [[Karlskrona]], [[Sweden]] to begin its voyage as the first [[Swedish Royal Navy]] vessel to circumnavigate the world.

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 15]] 
** The City of [[Winona, Minnesota]] is founded.
** The Great Exhibition in London closes.
* [[October 17]] &ndash; The first [[Parsi-Muslim riots|Parsi-Muslim riot]] begins in [[Bombay]], India.
* [[October 24]] &ndash; [[Ariel (moon)|Ariel]] and [[Umbriel]], [[natural satellite|moon]]s of [[Uranus]], are discovered by [[William Lassell]].
* [[October]] &ndash; The [[Reuters]] [[News agency|news service]] is founded in [[London]]
* [[November 1]] &ndash; [[Saint Petersburg–Moscow Railway]] officially opened in Russia.
* [[November 13]]
** The [[Denny Party]] lands at [[Alki Point]], the first settlers of what later becomes [[Seattle]].
** The first protected [[Submarine communications cable|submarine telegraph cable]] is laid, across the [[English Channel]].
* [[November 14]] &ndash; [[Herman Melville]]'s novel ''[[Moby-Dick]]; or The Whale'' is published in the U.S. by [[Harper & Brothers]], New York, after being first published on [[October 18]] in London, by [[Richard Bentley (publisher)|Richard Bentley]], in three volumes as ''The Whale''.
* [[November 21]] &ndash; Mutineers [[mutiny of Cambiazo|take control]] of the Chilean [[penal colony]] of [[Punta Arenas]] in the [[Strait of Magellan]].<ref name=Nagel>{{Citation
 |last         = Nagel Behnke
 |first        = Harold
 |title        = Capitán de fragata Benjamín Muñoz Gamero (1817–1851)
 |journal      = [[Revista de Marina]]
 |volume       = 6
 |issue        = 
 |year         = 1994
 |pages        = 1–8
 |url          = http://revistamarina.cl/revistas/1994/6/nagel.pdf
 |language     = Spanish
 |access-date  = September 25, 2022
 |archive-date = May 24, 2014
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140524022441/http://revistamarina.cl/revistas/1994/6/nagel.pdf
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>
* [[November 26]]–[[November 27|27]] &ndash; [[Morocco]]: French naval forces [[Bombardment of Salé (1851)|bombard the Moroccan city]] of [[Salé]], in retaliation for looting of a French cargo ship.
* [[December 2]] &ndash; In what amounts to a [[French coup of 1851|coup d'etat]], President [[Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte]] of France dissolves the [[French National Assembly]], and declares a new constitution to extend his term. [[1852|A year later]] he declares himself as Emperor [[Napoleon III]], ending the [[French Second Republic|Second Republic]].
* [[December 9]] &ndash; The first [[YMCA]] in North America is established in [[Montreal]].
* [[December 22]] &ndash; The first railway operates in [[India]], hauling canal construction material in [[Roorkee]].
* [[December 24]] &ndash; The [[Library of Congress]] in Washington, D.C., burns.
* [[December 26]]–[[December 27|27]] &ndash; A British [[Royal Navy]] warship bombards [[Lagos]] Island; [[Oba (ruler)|Oba]] [[Kosoko]] is wounded, and flees to [[Epe, Nigeria|Epe]].
* [[December 29]] &ndash; The first [[YMCA]] in the United States opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
* [[December 31]] &ndash; [[1851 Chilean Revolution]]: At the [[Battle of Loncomilla]], Chilean rebels are defeated, ending the revolution.

===Ongoing===
* [[1851–1855 Yellow River floods]] in China.
* [[Nian Rebellion]] in China, 1851–68.
* [[Naga people|Naga]] raids on the [[East India Company]], 1851–65.
* [[Great Famine (Ireland)]], 1845–52.