WHAT ALL HAPPENED JULY TO DECEMBER 1839
Find out what all happened July to December 1839

John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph. (9. September 1839)

A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40-foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster. (25. November 1839)

Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad. (2. July 1839)

The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War. (23. August 1839)

In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded. (27. November 1839)

The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia. (11. November 1839)

The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world". (19. August 1839)

The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing Dynasty of China. (5. September 1839)

The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students. (3. July 1839)

Oberto, Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, opens at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. (17. November 1839)

Newport Rising: the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. (4. November 1839)