1848

Events

January 24 - California gold rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento
February 2 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war.
February 2 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
February 18 - Battle of Montereau
February 21 - Karl Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto.
February 24 - Abdication of Le Roi-Citoyen (citizen king) Louis Philippe, King of the French and the proclamation of the Second Republic.
March 7 - The Great Mahele (land division) is signed in Hawaii.
December 10 - Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte elected first president of the French Second Republic.
December 20 - President Bonaparte takes his Oath of Office in front of the French National Assembly

Wave of communist, socialist, anarchist, and democratic uprisings throughout Europe, mostly unsuccessful
Gold is discovered at Sutters Mill in Coloma, California.
November - Zachary Taylor defeats Lewis Cass in the U.S. presidential election.
Women hold Seneca Falls Convention in New York.
Associated Press is founded.
Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts,
First railway in Spain is opened, with line Barcelona to Mataró (circa 40 km).
Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.
Independent Republic of Yucatan joins Mexico in exchange for Mexican help in surpressing revolt by Maya Indians.
Serfdom is abolished in Austro-Hungarian Empire.
John Bird Sumner becomes archbishop of Canterbury.
British, Dutch, and German governments lay claim to New Guinea.
Admiral Nevelskoi explores Strait of Tartary.
Dunedin, New Zealand is founded.
University of Ottawa is founded.
University of Mississippi is founded.
University of Wisconsin, Madison is founded.
Geneva College in Pennsylvania is founded.
Holmes County, Florida is created.
Elizabeth Gaskell publishes Mary Barton anonymously.
Henrik Ibsen publishes first play Catilina.
Ivar Aasen publishes Grammar of the Norwegian Dialects.
Robert Schumann composes opera Genoveva.
Richard Wagner begins writing libretto that will become The Ring of the Nibelung.

Births

Deaths