WHAT HAPPENED IN 1839.
Look what happened the 1839.

The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin. (6. January 1839)

The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process. (9. January 1839)

The British East India Company captures Aden. (19. January 1839)

In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia. (20. January 1839)

The first Henley Royal Regatta is held. (26. March 1839)

The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guaranteeing its neutrality. (19. April 1839)

In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War. (3. June 1839)

Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, stages its first regatta. (14. June 1839)

In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result. (17. June 1839)

Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot are assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears. (22. June 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 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)

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

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

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

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

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

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