- South America
Reign of Pedro II begins
Pedro II assumes personal rule, beginning a long reign that brings political stability and the rise of the coffee economy.
Era: Independence and the Empire of Brazil
Sources: Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Brazil · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Reign of Mswati II begins
Mswati II succeeds Sobhuza I; he reorganises the army into age-regiments and expands the kingdom to its greatest extent. The Swazi take their name from him.
Era: The Mfecane and the Making of a Nation
Sources: Mswati II · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Mswati II · Wikipedia, History of Eswatini · Wikipedia
- Asia
Fall of Bashir Shihab II
After siding with Egypt's Ibrahim Pasha, the long-ruling emir Bashir Shihab II is deposed and exiled when Egyptian rule in Syria collapses, ending the autonomous emirate.
Era: The Emirate of Mount Lebanon
Sources: Bashir Shihab II · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Lebanon · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Said bin Sultan moves his capital to Zanzibar
The Omani ruler Said bin Sultan transfers his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, making the islands the commercial heart of the western Indian Ocean.
Era: The Portuguese and Omani Zanzibar
Sources: Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964) · BlackPast.org
- South America
First British lieutenant governor
Britain appointed a civilian lieutenant governor for the Falklands, formalising the colonial administration begun in 1833.
Era: Buenos Aires, Vernet, and 1833
Sources: Falkland Islands — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
A prince visits at last
Prince Alois II became the first reigning prince to set foot in Liechtenstein, more than a century after its foundation, the dynasty having until then governed entirely from its Austrian and Bohemian seats.
Era: Bought and Founded: The Imperial Principality of 1719
Sources: How the Principality of Liechtenstein came into being · Swiss National Museum (Blog), Liechtenstein: History (Alpine, Principality, Sovereignty) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Althing restored
A royal decree of 1843 revived the Althing, which first met again on 1 July 1845 as an advisory assembly, reviving in modern form the institution founded in 930.
Era: National Awakening, Home Rule and Sovereignty
Sources: History of Iceland, 1840s to the Second World War · nordics.info (Aarhus University), Þingvellir and the Independence Campaign · Þingvellir National Park (official)
- Africa
Geledi at the height of its power
Under Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim the Geledi Sultanate reaches its peak, commanding tribute across southern Somalia, before the sultan's death in battle in 1848 begins a gradual decline.
Era: The Ajuran, Geledi and Majeerteen Sultanates
Sources: Sultanate of the Geledi · Wikipedia, The Sultanates of Somalia · Lumen Learning, Early World Civilizations
- North America
Dominican Republic secedes
The eastern, Spanish-speaking part of Hispaniola breaks from Haitian rule to form the independent Dominican Republic.
Era: Kingdom, Republic, and the Indemnity
Sources: Hispaniola · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Stanley becomes the capital
The seat of government moved to Stanley on East Falkland, which became the islands' capital, port and main settlement.
Era: The Pastoral Colony of Sheep and Wool
Sources: Falkland Islands — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Our History · Falkland Islands Government
- Africa
End of the Sayfawa line
The traditional office of mai was abolished in 1846 after the al-Kanemi shehus, who had risen during the Fulani jihad, took full control of Bornu.
Era: Kanem and Kanem-Bornu
Sources: Kanem-Bornu Empire · Wikipedia
- Asia
Jung Bahadur founds Rana rule
After a violent seizure of power, Jung Bahadur becomes prime minister for life with the hereditary title of Rana, sidelining the Shah kings for a century.
Era: The Rana Century and the Return of the Crown
Sources: Jung Bahadur · Encyclopædia Britannica, Rana era · Encyclopædia Britannica
- North America
Republic of Guatemala proclaimed
With the federation dissolved, Guatemala declares itself a sovereign republic under Conservative rule.
Era: Colony, Independence, and Federation
Sources: Guatemala: History (Postcolonial period and after) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Central America: Independence, 1808-23 · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Revolution and the accession of Franz Joseph
The revolutions of 1848 shook the Austrian Empire, drove the chancellor Metternich into exile and brought the eighteen-year-old Franz Joseph to the throne, where he would remain until 1916.
Era: Maria Theresa, the Empire of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire
Sources: Franz Joseph I · Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs)
- Europe
The Revolutions of 1848
Liberal and nationalist uprisings swept the German states, and the Frankfurt Parliament drafted a constitution for a united Germany, but the movement collapsed when the Prussian king refused its imperial crown.
Era: Prussia, Fragmentation and the Road to Unity
Sources: Germany · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Revolution of 1848
A bloodless rising in Pest, with Sándor Petőfi among its voices, won the March Laws abolishing censorship and serfdom and establishing a responsible Hungarian government against Habsburg absolutism.
Era: Habsburg Rule, Revolution and the Dual Monarchy
Sources: Hungarian Revolution (1848-1849) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Joseph Jenkins Roberts inaugurated
Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a free man of colour born in Virginia, was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of Liberia.
Era: The republic and the True Whig order
Sources: Liberia — History (Colonialism, Civil War, Reconstruction) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Liberian independence proclaimed, 26 July 1847 · HISTORY (A&E Television Networks)
- Europe
Menton and Roquebrune secede
Amid the revolutions of 1848, Menton and Roquebrune declared themselves free towns, banished the prince and sought union with Sardinia, which then occupied them.
Era: Revolution, the Cession of 1861 and the Birth of Monte-Carlo
Sources: Secession of Menton and Roquebrune (Treaty of 1861) · Government of Monaco (gouv.mc)
- Europe
Liberal constitution of Thorbecke
A new constitution drafted by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke establishes ministerial responsibility and parliamentary government, founding modern Dutch democracy.
Era: Decline, French Rule and the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Sources: Netherlands · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Citizenship granted to coastal towns
The French Second Republic extends citizenship to inhabitants of the coastal communes, a status later restricted before being reaffirmed in 1916.
Era: Atlantic Trade, Gorée and Saint-Louis
Sources: Four Communes · Wikipedia
- Europe
Slovaks in the revolutions of 1848
During the revolutions of 1848 Slovak leaders, Štúr among them, set out national demands and raised volunteers, asserting the Slovaks as a distinct people within the Hungarian kingdom.
Era: The Slovak National Awakening
Sources: Ľudovít Štúr · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Slovakia · Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal)
- Europe
The United Slovenia programme
During the Spring of Nations, Slovene activists demanded a single autonomous unit joining all Slovene districts of the monarchy with the Slovene language in public use, marking the birth of modern Slovene politics.
Era: The Illyrian Provinces and the National Awakening
Sources: History of Slovenia · Government of Slovenia (gov.si), Our past · Slovenia.si (Government Communication Office)
- Europe
The Federal Constitution
Switzerland adopted a federal constitution that turned the loose confederation into a modern federal state with a Federal Assembly, a collegial executive and a single market, while preserving the cantons; the assembly first met in Bern in November 1848.
Era: The Federal State and the Birth of Humanitarian Geneva
Sources: The History of Switzerland · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (aboutswitzerland.eda.admin.ch), Switzerland: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The June Constitution
Frederick VII signed the Grundlov, abolishing absolute monarchy and establishing a constitutional government with an elected parliament; 5 June is celebrated as Constitution Day.
Era: The Napoleonic Catastrophe and the Birth of Constitutional Denmark
Sources: Frederick VII, king of Denmark · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The nation state (1848-1915) · National Museum of Denmark
Politics & Power in the 1840s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged politics and power — dynasties, constitutions, revolutions and changes of regime, narrowed to the 1840s — 24 of them, drawn from 23 nations, running from 1840 to 1849. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 24
- Nations
- 23
- Earliest
- 1840
- Latest
- 1849
- Europe
- 11
- Africa
- 6
- South America
- 3
- Asia
- 2
- North America
- 2
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.