What happened in 1840

20 events　World 4, Japan 1, North America 2, Europe 10, Middle East 1, Oceania 2

Highlights of 1840

Jan 22EuropeBritish colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding the settlement of Wellington.
Feb 5Middle EastDamascus Affair: The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to a highly publicized case of blood libel, against the Jews of Damascus.
Feb 6OceaniaThe Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.
Nov 4North America1840 United States presidential election: William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren in a landslide.
WorldFirst Opium WarA war between Britain and Qing China. In the Treaty of Nanking of 1842, China gave up Hong Kong and opened five ports. News that the great Qing empire had lost alarmed the Japanese shogunate and scholars.
JapanKajima, a construction company based in Japan, is founded in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).

Aug 19The Battle of the Barrier.
First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842)
Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)
First Opium WarA war between Britain and Qing China. In the Treaty of Nanking of 1842, China gave up Hong Kong and opened five ports. News that the great Qing empire had lost alarmed the Japanese shogunate and scholars.

Kajima, a construction company based in Japan, is founded in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).

Mar 19The Council House Fight results in the deaths of 35 Comanche and seven Texas Rangers/militia, ending any hopes for peace in the Texas–Indian wars.
Nov 41840 United States presidential election: William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren in a landslide.

Jan 22British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding the settlement of Wellington.
Feb 11Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment premieres in Paris.
FebThe Rhodes blood libel is made against the Jews of Rhodes.
Apr 15King's College Hospital opens in London.
May 1Britain issues the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp; it becomes valid for the pre-payment of postage from May 6.
Jun 7On the death of Frederick William III of Prussia, he is succeeded on the throne of the Kingdom of Prussia (which he has ruled for more than 40 years) by his eldest son Frederick William IV.
Jun 12The World Anti-Slavery Convention is organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, at Exeter Hall in London, England. Arguments over the exclusion of women from the convention have important ramifications for the movement for women's suffrage in the United States.
Jul 4The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer departs from Liverpool, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service.
Jul 15The Austrian Empire, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire sign the Convention of London with the Sublime Porte, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
Jul 23The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union, but not proclaimed until 10 February 1841.

Feb 5Damascus Affair: The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to a highly publicized case of blood libel, against the Jews of Damascus.

Feb 6The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.
May 21New Zealand is declared a British colony.