What happened in 1850

26 events　North America 14, Europe 6, Asia 3, Latin America 2, Oceania 1

Highlights of 1850

Jan 29North AmericaHenry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the United States Congress.
Apr 19Latin AmericaThe Clayton–Bulwer Treaty is signed by the United States and Great Britain, allowing both countries to share Nicaragua, and not claim complete control over the proposed Nicaragua Canal.
Jul 2EuropeTwice-served former British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel dies following a fall from his horse at Constitution Hill, London.
Jul 9North AmericaVice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th president of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor.
JulAsiaTaiping Rebellion: Hong Xiuquan orders the general mobilisation of rebel forces in China.
Oct 1OceaniaThe University of Sydney (the oldest in Australia) is founded.

Jan 29Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the United States Congress.
Jan 31The University of Rochester is founded in Rochester, New York.
Feb 1Abraham Lincoln’s second son, Edward Baker Lincoln, died at the age of three after 52 days for struggling with tuberculosis (consumption) before his fourth birthday in Springfield, Illinois.
Feb 28The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City.
Mar 7United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech, in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850, in order to prevent a possible civil war.
Mar 16Nathaniel Hawthorne's historical novel The Scarlet Letter is published in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mar 19American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.
May 15The Bloody Island Massacre takes place at Clear Lake in northern California.
Jun 1The 1850 United States census shows that 11.2% of the population classed as "Negro" are of mixed race.
Jul 9Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th president of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor.
Sep 9The Utah Territory is established.
Sep 9The New Mexico Territory is organized by order of the United States Congress.
Mayer Lehman arrives from Germany to join his siblings in Lehman Brothers dry-goods business (predecessor of the bank) in Montgomery, Alabama.
The American system of watch manufacturing is started in Roxbury, Massachusetts, by the Waltham Watch Company.

Mar 5The Britannia Bridge opens over the Menai Strait in Wales.
Jul 2Twice-served former British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel dies following a fall from his horse at Constitution Hill, London.
Jul 19The ship Elizabeth, an American merchant freighter carrying cargo that included mostly marble from Carrara, slammed into a sandbar less than 100 yards from Fire Island, New York, drowning Margaret Fuller, her husband Ossoli, and their young son Angelino.
Aug 28Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin (including the Bridal Chorus) premieres under the direction of Franz Liszt, in Weimar.
Sep 29Papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae: The Catholic hierarchy is re-established in England and Wales, by Pope Pius IX and future Pope Pius X.
Nov 29The treaty known as the Punctation of Olmütz is signed in Olomouc. It means diplomatic capitulation of Prussia to the Austrian Empire, which takes over the leadership of the German Confederation.

Jul 9The Báb (Mírzá 'Alí-Muhammad) is executed by a firing squad in Tabriz, Persia, for claiming to be a prophet.
JulTaiping Rebellion: Hong Xiuquan orders the general mobilisation of rebel forces in China.
NovTaiping Rebellion: The first clashes of the Taiping Rebellion occur, between the Imperialist militia and the Heavenly Army.

Apr 19The Clayton–Bulwer Treaty is signed by the United States and Great Britain, allowing both countries to share Nicaragua, and not claim complete control over the proposed Nicaragua Canal.
Sep 4The Eusébio de Queirós Law is passed in the Brazilian Empire to abolish the international slave trade.