1842

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File:98th Foot at Chinkiang.jpg

July 21: The Battle of Chinkiang is fought between British and Chinese troops.

File:The Signing of the Treaty of Nanking.jpg

August 29: The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the Opium War between Britain and China.

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Events

January–March

January 6–13 – First Anglo-Afghan War – Massacre of Elphinstone's army (Battle of Gandamak): British East India Company troops are destroyed by Afghan forces on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, by Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammad Khan.
January 8 – Delft University of Technology is established by William II of the Netherlands, as a 'Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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January 23 – Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross, charting the eastern side of James Ross Island, reaches a Farthest South of 78°09'30"S.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
January
- Michael Alexander takes office, as the first appointee to the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem.
- American medical student William E. Clarke of Berkshire Medical College becomes the first person to administer an inhaled anesthetic, to facilitate a surgical procedure. After Clarke uses a towel and ether to anesthetize a patient identified as "Miss Hobbie", Dr. Elijah Pope pulls her tooth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 1 – The modern-day Willamette University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the western United States, is established in Salem, Oregon as "The Oregon Institute". The first students begin classes begin on August 13, 1844.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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February 7 – Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia, defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
March – Commonwealth v. Hunt: The Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that labor strikes and the formation of labor unions are both legal in the United States.
March 2 – Gaylad, ridden by Tom Olliver, wins the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in England.
March 5 – Mexican troops led by Ráfael Vásquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio, and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution.
March 9 – Giuseppe Verdi's third opera Nabucco premieres at La Scala in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's foremost operatic composers.
March 17 – The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, forerunner to the philanthropic and educational women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is formally organized.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 28 – The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, founded by Otto Nicolai, performs its first concert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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March 30 – American physician and pharmacist Crawford Long administers an inhaled anesthetic (diethyl ether) to facilitate a surgical procedure, performing the removal of a neck tumor.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
March 31 – The Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway line is opened up to Werneth in North West England.

April–June

April–September – 1842 general strike spreads across England's industrial districts, driven by Chartism. Includes the Preston Strike and Pottery Riots. Protestors are killed by the military in several places.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
April 13 – First Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Jellalabad – British troops are victorious.
May 5–8 – The Great fire of Hamburg in Germany destroys around one-third of the city centre and kills 51.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 8 – Versailles rail accident: A train traveling between Versailles and Paris, France derails, due to a broken locomotive axle, and catches fire, killing at least 55 passengers in the locked carriages.<ref>Template:Cite book Available online at catskillarchive.com The Versailles Accident. Accessed 26 October 2012.</ref>
May 11 – The Income Tax Act establishes the first peacetime income tax in the United Kingdom; 7 pence in the pound, for incomes over 150 pounds.<ref name=CBH>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 19 – Dorr Rebellion: Militiamen supporting Thomas Wilson Dorr attack the arsenal in Providence, Rhode Island, but are repulsed.
June 4 – In South Africa, hunter Dick King rides into a British military base in Grahamstown, to warn that the Boers have besieged Durban (he had left 11 days earlier). The British army dispatches a relief force.
June 13 – Queen Victoria becomes the first reigning British monarch to travel by train, on the Great Western Railway between Slough and London Paddington station.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
June 18 – Education in Sweden: A primary school system is established in Sweden.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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June – James Nasmyth patents the steam hammer in the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

July–September

July 8 – The total solar eclipse of July 8, 1842 is visible from Asia.
July 13 – The Tri-Kap fraternity is founded at Dartmouth College (the oldest local fraternity in the United States).
August 4 – The Armed Occupation Act is signed, providing for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the Peninsula of East Florida.
August 9 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed between the United States and United Kingdom, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
August 10 – The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 in the United Kingdom makes it illegal for women and girls of any age, and boys under ten years, to work underground.
August 14 – American Indian Wars: United States general William J. Worth declares the Second Seminole War to be over.
August 29 – The Treaty of Nanking, an unequal treaty between the United Kingdom and Qing dynasty China, ends the First Opium War, and establishes Hong Kong as a British colony (later a British dependent territory until 1997).
September – Wesleyan University is established in Ohio.
September 16–17 – The Treaty of Chushul ends the Dogra–Tibetan war (Sino-Sikh War).

October–December

October 5 – Josef Groll brews the first pilsner light lager beer in the city of Pilsen, Bohemia (the modern-day Czech Republic).
October 29 – The Iberian Peninsula is struck by a category 2 hurricane.
November 10 & 19 – London debtor's prisons the Fleet Prison and Marshalsea are closed and inmates transferred to Queen's Bench Prison.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Pentonville Prison for criminals is completed in north London this year.
November 26 – The University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana (United States) is established by Father Edward Sorin, of the Roman Catholic Congregation of Holy Cross.
December 7 – The New York Philharmonic, founded by Ureli Corelli Hill, performs its first concert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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December 20 – The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, is established.

Date unknown

The Polynesian islands of Tahiti and Tahuata are declared a protectorate of France.
The New Zealand seat of government moves from Russell to Auckland.
Dzogchen Monastery, in Sichuan, China, is almost completely destroyed by an earthquake.
English palaeontologist Richard Owen coins the name Dinosauria, hence the Anglicized dinosaur.<ref>Owen, R. (1842). "Report on British Fossil Reptiles." Part II. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Plymouth, England.</ref>
Julius von Mayer proposes that work and heat are equivalent.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Pickelhaube helmet introduced in the Prussian Army.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation