1800–1899(A.D.)World History (part 2 of 3): 1836 Boerfarmers start “Great Trek”—Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State founded in South Africa. Mexican army besieges Texans in Alamo. Entire garrison, including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, wiped out. Texans gain independence from Mexico after winning Battle of San Jacinto. Dickens'sPickwick Papers. 1837 Victoriabecomes queen of Great Britain. Mob kills Elijah P. Lovejoy, Illinois abolitionist publisher. 1839 First Opium War(to1842) between Britain and China, over importation of drug into China. 1840 Lower and Upper Canada united. 1841 U.S. President Harrison dies (April 4) one month after inauguration; John Tyler becomes first vice president to succeed to presidency. 1842 Crawford Long uses first anesthetic (ether). 1843 Wagner's operaThe Flying Dutchman. 1844 Democratic convention calls for annexation of Texas and acquisition of Oregon (“Fifty-four-forty-or-fight”). Five Chinese ports opened to U.S. ships. Samuel F. B. Morsepatents telegraph. 1845 Congress adopts joint resolution for annexation of Texas. Edgar Allan PoepublishesThe Raven and Other Poems. 1846 U.S. declares war on Mexico. California and New Mexico annexed by U.S. Brigham Young leads Mormons to Great Salt Lake. W. T. Morton uses ether as anesthetic. Sewing machine patented by Elias Howe. Frederick Douglasslaunches abolitionist newspaperThe North Star.Failure of potato crop causes famine in Ireland. 1848 Revolt in Paris: Louis Philippe abdicates; Louis Napoleon elected president of French Republic. Revolutions in Vienna, Venice, Berlin, Milan, Rome, and Warsaw. Put down by royal troops in1848–1849.U.S.-Mexico War ends; Mexico cedes claims to Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada. U.S. treaty with Britain sets Oregon Territory boundary at 49th parallel. Karl Marxand Friedrich Engels'sCommunist Manifesto.Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and joins the Underground Railroad. Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. 1849 California gold rush begins. 1850 Henry Clayopens great debate on slavery, warns South against secession. 1851 Herman Melville'sMoby-Dick. 1852 South African Republic established. Louis Napoleon proclaims himself Napoleon III (“Second Empire”). Harriet Beecher Stowe'sUncle Tom's Cabin. 1853 Crimean Warbegins as Turkey declares war on Russia. Commodore Perryreaches Tokyo. 1854 Britain and France join Turkey in war on Russia. In U.S., Kansas- Nebraska Actpermits local option on slavery; rioting and bloodshed. Japanese allow American trade. Antislavery men in Michigan form Republican Party. Tennyson'sCharge of the Light Brigade. Thoreau'sWalden. 1855 Armed clashes in Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery forces. Florence Nightingalenurses wounded in Crimea. Walt Whitman'sLeaves of Grass. 1856 Flaubert'sMadame Bovary. 1857 Supreme Court, in Dred Scottdecision, rules that a slave is not a citizen. Financial crisis in Europe and U.S. Great Mutiny ( Sepoy Rebellion) begins in India. India placed under crown rule as a result. 1858 Pro-slavery constitution rejected in Kansas. Abraham Lincolnmakes strong antislavery speech in Springfield, Ill.: “This Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” Lincoln-Douglas debates. First trans-Atlantic telegraph cable completed by Cyrus W. Field. 1859 John Brownraids Harpers Ferry; is captured and hanged. Work begins on Suez Canal. Unification of Italy starts under leadership of Count Cavour, Sardinian premier. Joined by France in war against Austria. Jean-Joseph-Étienne Lenoir builds first practical internal-combustion engine. Edward Fitzgerald's translation ofThe Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Charles Darwin'sOrigin of Species. J. S. Mill'sOn Liberty. 1860 South Carolina secedes from the Union. 1861 U.S. Civil Warbegins as attempts at compromise fail. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas secede; with South Carolina, they form the Confederate States of America, with Jefferson Davis as president. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina secede and join Confederacy. First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas).(For detailed chronology, see The Civil War.) Congress creates Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada territories; adopts income tax; Lincoln inaugurated. Serfs emancipated in Russia. Pasteur's theory of germs. Independent Kingdom of Italy proclaimed under Sardinian king Victor Emmanuel II. 1862 Several major Civil War battles: Battle of Shiloh, Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), Battle of Antietam. Salon des Refusés introduces impressionism. 1863 French capture Mexico City; proclaim Archduke Maximilianof Austria emperor. Battle of Gettysburg. 1864 Gen. Sherman's Atlanta campaign and “march to the sea.”