What happened in 1845

20 events　World 3, North America 6, Europe 8, Asia 1, Latin America 1, Oceania 1

Highlights of 1845

Mar 11OceaniaThe New Zealand Wars open with the Flagstaff War. Chiefs Kawiti and Hōne Heke lead 700 Maoris in the burning of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka (modern-day Russell, New Zealand).
Jun 8North AmericaFormer U.S. President Andrew Jackson, 78, dies at The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee).
Sep 9WorldPotato blight breaks out in Ireland, beginning the Great Famine.
Nov 20Latin AmericaAnglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata – Battle of Vuelta de Obligado: The Argentine Confederation is narrowly defeated by an Anglo–French fleet on the waters of the Paraná River, but the victors suffer serious damage to their ships, and Argentina attracts political support in South America.
Dec 11AsiaFirst Anglo-Sikh War: Sikh army crosses the Sutlej in the Punjab.
Dec 30EuropeQueen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway are incorporated in Ireland.

Jul 28HMS Terror and HMS Erebus of the Franklin Expedition go missing in the Davis Strait west of Greenland, while searching for the Northwest Passage.
Sep 9Potato blight breaks out in Ireland, beginning the Great Famine.
Sep 18The Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata is formally declared.

Jan 29The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time, in the New York Evening Mirror.
Feb 1Anson Jones, President of the Republic of Texas, signs the charter officially creating Baylor University (the oldest university in the U.S. state of Texas that still operates under its original name).
Feb 28The United States Congress approves the annexation of Texas.
MayFrederick Douglass's autobiographical Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is published by the Boston Anti-Slavery Society.
Jun 8Former U.S. President Andrew Jackson, 78, dies at The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee).
Aug 28The journal Scientific American begins publication.

Mar 13The Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn premieres in Leipzig, with Ferdinand David as soloist.
May 19HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with 134 men, comprising Sir John Franklin's expedition to find the Northwest Passage, sail from Greenhithe on the Thames. They will last be seen in the summer, entering Baffin Bay.
Aug 9The Aberdeen Act is passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, empowering the British Royal Navy to search Brazilian ships, as part of the abolition of the slave trade from Africa.
Oct 19Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser debuts at the Dresden Royal Court Theater.
Dec 22Battle of Ferozeshah (Anglo-Sikh War): East India Company forces are victorious over those of the Sikh Empire.
Dec 30Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway are incorporated in Ireland.
Heinrich Hoffmann publishes a book (Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder), introducing his character, Struwwelpeter, in Germany.
Friedrich Engels' treatise The Condition of the Working Class in England is published in Leipzig as Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England.

Nov 20Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata – Battle of Vuelta de Obligado: The Argentine Confederation is narrowly defeated by an Anglo–French fleet on the waters of the Paraná River, but the victors suffer serious damage to their ships, and Argentina attracts political support in South America.

Mar 11The New Zealand Wars open with the Flagstaff War. Chiefs Kawiti and Hōne Heke lead 700 Maoris in the burning of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka (modern-day Russell, New Zealand).