Calendar of Literary Facts

1848

  • Gold is discovered in California, news of which begins the California Gold Rush of 1848-49
  • The Revolutions of 1848 erupt in Europe, with revolts breaking out in Milan, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, Naples, Budapest, Prague, and Venice
  • The first American women’s-rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York
  • Safety matches are invented
  • Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
  • Mexican and U.S. representatives sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War
  • Edgar Allan Poe publishes Eureka
  • The Pre-Raphaelite movement flourishes as a movement in literature and the visual arts in England
  • Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is published
  • Emily Brontë dies (December 19)