1857 - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 9 - Earthquake at Fort Tejon, California with an estimated magnitude of 7.9
• February 16 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, DC becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.
• March 3 - France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
• March 4 - End of term for President of the United States Franklin Pierce. He is succeeded by James Buchanan.
• March 5 – In London, ex-solicitor James Towsend Saward is sentenced for transportation for forging number of cheques over the years
• March 6 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, driving the country further towards the American Civil War.
• March 23 - Elisha Otis' first elevator is installed (at 488 Broadway, New York City)
• May 10 - Indian Mutiny: In India, the Mutiny of XI Native Cavalry of the Bengal Army in Meerut, revolt against the British Army
• May 11 - Indian Mutiny: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
• June 6 - Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden-Norway.
• July 15 - Second Cawnpore massacre during the Indian Mutiny
• August - Calcutta University established.
• November 30 - End of term for President of Mexico Ignacio Comonfort. He is succeeded by Félix María Zuloaga.
• December 31 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario as the capital of Canada

• Divorce without parliamentary approval becomes legal in Britain
• Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah
• Speculation in US railway shares causes financial crisis in Europe
• Russian serfs emancipated
• The Mormons abandon Las Vegas
• Founding of Hollywood
• Restoration of the Mexican republic (see Mexico/History)
• Discovery of La Tene culture artifacts in Switzerland by Hansli Kopp.
• Philip Henry Gosse writes Omphalos text elaborating a Creationist school of thought
• University of Bombay established
• The Mughal Empire is finally destroyed by the British Empire.
• The city walls of Vienna are demolished, allowing the construction of the Ringstraße.

Births

• January 4 - Émile Courtet (later known as Émile Cohl), French caricaturist and animator.
• February 22 - Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting youth movement (†1941)
• February 22 - Heinrich Hertz, physicist
• March 8 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, composer († 1919)
• March 30 - Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (d. 1926)
• April 5 - Alexander of Battenberg, first prince of Bulgaria
• May 15 - Williamina Fleming, astronomer († 1911)
• May 31 - Pope Pius XI († 1939)
• July 23 - Carl Meinhof († 1944) German linguist
• July 30 - Thorstein Veblen, economist († 1929)
• September 5 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, scientist, inventor († 1935)
• September 13 - Milton S. Hershey, founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company
• September 13 - Michał Drzymała, famous Polish peasant fighting with German bureaucracy (d. 1937)
• November 26 - Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist
• November 28 - Alfonso XII of Spain, later one of the Kings of Spain
• December 3 - Joseph Conrad, Polish/British novelist (Heart of Darkness)
• Joseph Tabrar, one of the most famous songwriters of British Music Hall
• John Jacob Abel - American pharmacologist.

Deaths

• February 10 - David Thompson, British-Canadian explorer, the first European to explore Columbia River from source to mouth.
• May 11 - Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal, first director of Surete Nationale and founder of the earliest known private detective agency.
• May 23 - Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician.
• July 19 - Stefano Franscini, member of the Swiss Federal Council (* 1796)
• September 3 - John McLoughlin, Hudson's Bay Company Factor.
• November 26 - Joseph von Eichendorff, lyricist and narrator.
• December 15 - Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer.
• Johann Georg Hiedler, step-father of Alois Hitler