Victoria succeeds to the British throne; her reign of more than 63 years coincides with the height of the British Empire.
Louis Daguerre's photographic process is made public in France, the first commercially successful form of photography.
Britain wars with Qing China after it cracks down on the opium trade; the defeat opens what China calls the 'century of humiliation'.
Representatives of the British Crown and many Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document; differences between its English and Māori texts remain debated.
The Qing cede Hong Kong Island to Britain and open five treaty ports, the first of China's unequal treaties.
Michael Faraday discovers that a changing magnetic field induces an electric current, the principle behind generators and transformers.
Three days of uprising in Paris overthrow King Charles X; Louis-Philippe takes the throne, beginning the July Monarchy.