1860

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File:Decade.png ( 1860s: )     1860 link
File:Looty.jpg "Looty", queen Victoria's pekingese, gifted to her from the looting of the Summer Palace
year 1860

Events

Looting of the Old Summer Palace, a vast complex of palaces and temples known for its architecture and numerous art and historical treasures, by Anglo-French forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War.

• March 22 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany is annexed to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.
• March 24 – Sakuradamon Incident: Rōnin samurai of the Mito Domain in Japan assassinate tairō (Chief Minister) Ii Naosuke outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle, disaffected with his role in the opening of Japan to foreign powers.
• April 2 – The first Italian Parliament meets at Turin.
• Template:OldStyleDate – The State Bank of the Russian Empire is established.
• June 30 – A historic debate about evolution is held, at the Oxford University Museum.
• July 2 – Vladivostok is founded in Russia.
• July 11 – Mutsuhito (the future Emperor Meiji) becomes Crown Prince of Japan.
• July 20 – Battle of Milazzo: The forces of Giuseppe Garibaldi defeat royal Neapolitan forces near Messina, bringing nearly all of Sicily under Garibaldi's control.
• August 22 – Assisted by the British Navy, the troops of Giuseppe Garibaldi cross from Sicily to the Italian mainland.
• October 18 – The first Convention of Peking formally ends the Second Opium War.
• October 18–21 – Beijing's Old Summer Palace is burned to the ground by orders of British general Lord Elgin, during the Second Opium War.
• November 6 – U.S. presidential election: Abraham Lincoln beats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell, and is elected as the 16^th President of the United States, the first Republican to hold that office.
• December 20 – American Civil War: South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.
• December 29 – The world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled and armoured battleship, the (British) HMS Warrior, is launched.

Date unknown

• China agrees, in an unequal treaty (the Convention of Peking) imposed on it, to allow missionaries to proselytize throughout the country.
• German chemist Albert Niemann makes a detailed analysis of the coca leaf, isolating and purifying the alkaloid, which he calls cocaine.
• Britain produces 20% of the entire world's output of industrial goods.
• The Russian Empire has c. 1,250 miles (2,010 km) of railroads.
• The American South has c. 4 million slaves.
• 1860–1900 – 14 million immigrants come to the United States.
• The first local law was passed concerning usage of drugs - although the first nationwide policy would not be implemented until the Harrison Tax Act of 1914.