This page is about the year 1846. For the board game, see 1846 (board game).

1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events

• January 5 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
• February 5 - The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States.
• February 10 - Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois to Great Salt Lake led by Brigham Young.
• February 19 - In Austin, Texas the newly-formed Texas state government is officially installed.
• March 10 - Prince Osahito, fourth son of deceased Emperor Ninko of Japan, becomes Emperor Komei of Japan.
• March 13 - Ballinglass Incident: eviction of 300 tenants at the village of Ballinglass in Ireland during the Irish Potato famine.
• April 25 - Mexican-American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
• April 27 - The first arrival of a train to Celje.
• May 8 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto - Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
• May 13 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
• 16 May - Under the leadership of British Prime Minister Robert Peel, the British Parliament repeals the Corn Laws, replacing the old Colonial mercantile trade system with Free Trade.
• May 17 - The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax.
• June 10 - Mexican-American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico.
• June 10 - Grinnell College: The first American college or university to the West of the Mississippi River is founded.
• June 14 - Bear Flag Revolt begins - American settlers in Sonoma, California start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
• June 15 - The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.^*
• June 21 - Pope Pius IX ascends to the Holy See.
• July 7 - Acting on instructions from Washington, DC, Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
• August 14 - The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite type meteorite struck earth 7.5 miles (12 km) south of the town of Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
• September 23 – Neptune discovered by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, although the planet did not get its current name for many years.
• October 1 - Christ College opens with the hope that it would develop along the lines of an Oxbridge college and provide the basis for university education in Tasmania. Today, its the oldest tertiary instituition in Australia.
• October 16 - Boston dentist William T.G. Morton uses ether anesthesia for the first time when he assist in removal of a tumor in the Massachusetts General Hospital
• December 28: Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

• The portion of the District of Columbia that was ceded by Virginia in 1790 is re-ceded to Virginia.
• Potato crop fails in Ireland.
• Electric Telegraph Company founded in Britain.
• Elias Howe patents the sewing machine.
• Railway Mania in Britain reaches its zenith.
• Rotary printing press invented making rapid printing of newspapers possible.

Ongoing events

• Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
• Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849)

Births

• January 5 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
• January 27 - M. Lewis Clark American founder of Kentucky Derby (d. 1899)
• February 2 - Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (d. 1931)
• February 9 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (d. 1929)
• February 18 - Wilson Barrett, English actor (d. 1904)
• February 26 - Buffalo Bill, American hunter and entertainer (d. 1917)
• April 4 - Comte de Lautreamont, French writer (d. 1870)
• May 5 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
• June 11 - William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
• June 27 - Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish political leader (d. 1891)
• July 17 - Tokugawa Iemochi, Japanese shogun (d. 1866)
• November 25 - Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate (d. 1911)

Deaths

• February 21 - Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
• March 17 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1784)
• May 23 - Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (b. 1778)
• June 1 - Pope Gregory XVI (b. 1765)
• June 8 - Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss author, painter, and caricature artist (b. 1799)
• August 16 - Sylvain Charles Valée, Marshal of France (b. 1773)
• September 23 - John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (b. 1818)
• October 2 - Benjamin Waterhouse, Cambridge physician and medical professor (smallpox vaccine pioneer) (b. 1754)
• November 6 - Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (b. 1800)

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