1853

File:Decade.png ( 1850s: ) 1853
File:Decade.png ( 1850s: ) 1853 link
	Battle of Sinop, the last major naval battle involving sailing warships.
	year 1853

1843 < 1844 < 1845 < 1846 < 1847 < 1848 < 1849 <1850 < 1851 < 1852 < 1853 > 1854 > 1855 > 1856 > 1857 > 1858 > 1859 > 1860 > 1861 > 1862 > 1863

Events

January 6 – Florida Governor Thomas Brown signs legislation that provides public support for the new East Florida Seminary, leading to the establishment of the University of Florida.
January 8 – Taiping Rebellion: Zeng Guofan is ordered to assist the governor of Hunan, in organising a militia force to search for local bandits.
January 12 – Taiping Rebellion: The Taiping army occupies Wuchang.
January 19 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres, in performance at Teatro Apollo in Rome.
February 10 – Taiping Rebellion: Taiping forces assemble at Hanyang, Hankou and Wuchang, for the march on Nanjing.
February 12 – Puerto Montt is founded in the Reloncaví Sound, Chile.
February 22 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary.
March – The clothing company Levi Strauss & Co. is founded in the United States.
March 4 – Inauguration of Franklin Pierce as 14^th President of the United States (his only child was killed in a train accident on January 6).
March 5 – Saint Paul Fire and Marine, as predecessor of The Travelers Companies, a worldwide insurance service, founded in Minnesota, United States.
March 20 – Taiping Rebellion: A rebel army of around 750,000 seizes Nanjing, killing 30,000 Imperial troops.
March 29 – Manchester is granted city status in the United Kingdom

April 16 – Indian Railways: The first passenger railway in India opens from Bombay to Thana, Maharashtra, 22 miles (35 km).
May
- The world's first public aquarium opens, at the London Zoo.
- An outbreak of yellow fever kills 7,790 in New Orleans.
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel accepts John Scott Russell's tender for construction of the Template:SS passenger steamer.
May 12–October 31 – The Great Industrial Exhibition is held in Dublin, Ireland.
May 23 – The first plat for Seattle, Washington is laid out.
June 27 – Taiping Rebellion: The Northern Expeditionary Force crosses the Yellow River.
June 30 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann is selected as préfect of the Seine (department), to begin the re-planning of Paris.

July 1 - The Swiss watch company Tissot is founded^[1].
July 8 – U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives in Edo Bay, Japan, with a request for a trade treaty.
July 25 – Outlaw and bandit Joaquin Murrieta is killed in California.
July 27 – Iesada succeeds his father Ieyoshi, as Japanese shōgun. The Late Tokugawa shogunate (the last part of the Edo period in Japan) begins.
August 12 – New Zealand acquires self-government.
August 23 – The first true International Meteorological Organization is established in Brussels, Belgium.
August 24
- The Royal Norwegian Navy Museum is founded at Karljohansvern in Horten, perhaps the world's first naval museum.
- Potato chips are first prepared, by George Crum at Saratoga Springs, New York, according to popular accounts.
September 19 – Hudson Taylor first leaves for China.
September 20 – Otis Elevator, as predecessor of Otis Worldwide was founded in United States.^[2]

October 1 – C. Bechstein's piano factory is founded, one of three established in a "Golden year" in the history of the piano (Julius Blüthner and Steinway & Sons being the others).
October 4–5 – Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire begins war with Russia.
October 4 – On the east coast of the United States, Donald McKay launches the Great Republic, the world's biggest sailing ship, which at 4,500 tons is too large to be successful.
October 28 – Crimean War: The Ottoman army crosses the Danube into Vidin/Calafat, Wallachia.
October 30 – Taiping Rebellion: The Taiping Northern Expeditionary Force comes within 3 miles (4.8 km) of Tianjin.
November 3 – Troops of William Walker capture La Paz in Baja California Territory, and declare the (short-lived) Republic of Lower California.
November 4 – Crimean War: Battle of Oltenitza – Turkish forces defeat the Russians.
November 15 – Maria II of Portugal is succeeded by her son Pedro V.
November 30 (November 18 O.S.) – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop – The Russian fleet destroys the Turkish fleet.
December 6 – Taiping Rebellion: French minister de Bourboulon arrives at the Heavenly Capital, aboard the Cassini.
December 14 – Compagnie Générale des Eaux, predecessor of Vivendi, a global media conglomerate, is founded in Paris, France.
December 30 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys approximately 77,000 square kilometres (30,000 sq mi) of land from Mexico, to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.

The Independent Santa Cruz Maya of Eastern Yucatán is recognized as an independent nation, by the British Empire.
Arthur de Gobineau begins publication of his An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines).
Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood independently invent a practical hypodermic syringe.
Wheaton Academy is founded in West Chicago, Illinois.
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China is incorporated in London by Scotsman James Wilson, under a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria.^[3]^[4]
Ishikawajima Shipyard, as predecessor of IHI Corporation, a shipyard and transport-related machinery manufacturer in Japan, is founded.^{[citation needed]}^[5]
Melbourne Cricket Ground, now the largest sports stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, officially opens.
1853–1873 – More than 130,000 Chinese laborers come to Cuba.