1840
January 3 – One of the predecessor papers of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, The Port Phillip Herald, is founded. January 10 – Uniform Penny Post is introduced in the United Kingdom. January 13 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks in icy waters, four miles off the coast of Long Island; 139 die, only four survive. January 19 – Captain Charles Wilkes' United States Exploring Expedition sights what becomes known as Wilkes Land in the southeast quadrant of Antarctica, claiming it for the United States, and providing evidence that Antarctica is a complete continent. January 21 – Jules Dumont d'Urville discovers Adélie Land in Antarctica, claiming it for France. January 22 – British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding the settlement of Wellington. February – The Rhodes blood libel is made against the Jews of Rhodes. February 5 – Damascus Affair: The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to a highly publicized case of blood libel, against the Jews of Damascus. February 6 – The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed. February 10 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. February 11 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment premieres in Paris. March 1 – Adolphe Thiers becomes prime minister of France. March 4 – Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson open their Daguerreian Parlor on Broadway (Manhattan), the world's first commercial photography portrait studio. March 9 – The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is completed, from Wilmington, North Carolina to Weldon, North Carolina. At , it is the world's longest railroad. March 12 – Paweł Strzelecki reaches Australia's highest summit, Mount Kosciuszko. April – The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is completed from Raleigh to near Weldon, North Carolina. April 2 – The Washingtonian movement for teetotalism is founded by a group of alcoholics in Baltimore, Maryland. April 3 – Johnny Appleseed meets Abraham Lincoln, and plants apple trees in New York City.
