Centuries: Year in Review 19th Century (18th century - 19th century - 20th century)
Decades: 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years: 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 - 1854 - 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859
Events
- February 11 - Major streets lit by coal gas for 1st time
- start of the Crimean war
- Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa (See Japan/History)
- Frederick Augustus Albert succeeds to the throne of Saxony
Births
- July 12 - George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera
- August 2 - Milan I, king of Serbia?
- October 16 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer
Deaths
- April 15 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist