1851

Events

January–March

* January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion in China, one of the bloodiest revolts that would lead to 20 million deaths.
* January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College, receives its charter from the Missouri General Assembly.
* January 23 – The flip of a coin, subsequently named the Portland Penny, determines whether a new city in the Oregon Territory will be named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.
* January 28 – Northwestern University is founded in Illinois.
* February 1 – '' Brandtaucher'', the oldest surviving submersible craft, sinks during acceptance trials in the German port of Kiel, but the designer, Wilhelm Bauer, and the two crew escape successfully.
* February 6 – Black Thursday occurs in Australia as bushfires sweep across the state of Victoria, burning about a quarter of its area.
* February 12 – Edward Hargraves claims to have found gold in Australia.
* February 15 – In Boston, Massachusetts, members of the anti-slavery Boston Vigilance Committee rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from a courtroom, following his arrest by U.S. marshals.
* March 1 – Victor Hugo uses the phrase '' United States of Europe'', in a speech to the French National Assembly.
* March 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''Rigoletto'' is first performed at La Fenice in Venice.
* March 27 – The first European men reportedly see Yosemite Valley.
* March 30 – A United Kingdom Census is taken. The population has reached 21 million. 6.3 million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, and cities of 20,000 or more account for 35% of the total English population. It also shows that a legacy of the Great Irish Famine is that the population of Ireland has fallen to 6,575,000 – a drop of 1,600,000 in ten years, many having emigrated.

April–June

* April 8 – Western Union is founded, as the ''New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company''.
* April 9 – San Luis, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Colorado, is founded by settlers from Taos, New Mexico.
* April 20 – Ramón Castilla loses power in Peru.
* April 23 – Anne Darwin, daughter of Charles Darwin dies, sending him into a great depression.
* April 25 – Placer County, California, is formed from parts of Sutter and Yuba Counties with Auburn as the county seat.
* April 28 – Santa Clara College is chartered in Santa Clara, California.
* May 1 – '' The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations'' in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria.
* May 15
** The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
** Alpha Delta Pi sorority, the first secret society for women, is founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia (U.S.)
** Mongkut is crowned as King (Rama IV) of Siam, at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

* Mid- May to mid-July – Great Flood of 1851: Extensive flooding sweeps across the Midwestern United States. The town of Des Moines is virtually washed away, and many rainfall records hold for 160 years.
* June 2
** Maine passes the first state-wide prohibition law in the United States.
** Castle & Cooke, the predecessor of Dole Food Company, is founded in Hawaii.
* June 21 – The Immortal Game, a famous chess match, is played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky, during a break in the first international tournament, held in London.

July–September

* July 1
** Port Phillip District separates from New South Wales to become the Colony of Victoria (Australia).
** Serial poisoner Hélène Jégado is arrested in Rennes, France. Her trial opens on December 6; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed by guillotine.
** Battle of Ras Tanoura, a collision occurs between the Bahrain blockading force off Kateef and the Arab fugitives at Kenn Island, who surprised and attacked the Bahrain fleet. Mubarak bin Abdulla bin Ahmed, along with his brother Rashid and Busher bin Rahma Al Jalahma were all killed in the battle.
* July 10 – The University of the Pacific is chartered as California Wesleyan College, in Santa Clara, California.
* July 28 – Total solar eclipse visible in Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Northern Europe, the first solar eclipse to be photographed.
* July 29 – Annibale de Gasparis, in Naples, Italy discovers asteroid '' 15 Eunomia''.
* August 1 – Virginia closes its Reform Constitutional Convention, deciding that all white men have the right to vote.
* August 3 – The filibustering Lopez Expedition sails from New Orleans, Louisiana heading to seize Spanish-ruled Cuba.
* August 12 – Isaac Singer is granted a United States patent for his improved sewing machine.
* August 22 – The yacht ''America'' wins the first America's Cup race, off the coast of England.
* September 1 – Narciso López is executed in Havana

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