28th January » Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.
6th February » The largest Bushfires in Australia Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history Black Thursday (1851) take place in the state of Victoria (Australia) Victoria.
12th February » Edward Hargraves announces that he has found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, starting the Australian gold rushes.
11th March » The first performance of 'Rigoletto' by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
27th March » First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans.
2nd April » Mongkut called Rama IV is crowned Monarchy of Thailand named King of Thailand.
1st May » Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.
21st May » Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
29th July » Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
12th August » Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
11th September » Christiana Resistance: Escaped slaves stand against their former owner in armed resistance in Christiana, Pennsylvania, creating a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement.
18th September » First publication of 'The New-York Daily Times', which later becomes 'The New York Times'.
24th October » William Lassell, discovers the moons Umbriel (moon) or Umbriel, and Ariel (moon) called Ariel, orbiting Uranus.
9th November » Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.
13th November » The Denny Party lands at Alki, Seattle, Washington known as Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle, Washington.
2nd December » French President Napoleon III of France called Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the French Second Republic known as Second Republic.
9th December » The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal.