19th century

For the periodical, see Nineteenth Century (periodical).

The 19th century lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar.

Historians sometimes define a "Nineteenth Century" historical era stretching from 1815 (The Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (The outbreak of the First World War); alternatively, Eric Hobsbawm defined the "Long Nineteenth Century" as spanning the years 1789 (the French Revolution) to 1914. Some other scholars even include the preceding period, starting a Very long 19th century at the American Declaration of Independance.

During this century, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Ottoman empires began to crumble and the Holy Roman and Mughal empires ceased.

Following the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one quarter of the World's population and one third of the land area. It enforced a Pax Britannica, encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy.

Slavery was greatly reduced around the world. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti, Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, banned slavery throughout its domain, and charged its navy with ending the global slave trade. Slavery was then abolished in Russia, America, and Brazil (see Abolitionism).

Electricity, steel, and petroleum fueled a Second Industrial Revolution which enabled Germany, Japan, and the United States to become Great Powers that raced to create empires of their own. However, Russia and Qing Dynasty China failed to keep pace with the other world powers which led to massive social unrest in both empires.

Contents
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Events

Map of the world from 1897. The British Empire (marked in pink) was the superpower of the 19th century.
Map of the world from 1897. The British Empire (marked in pink) was the superpower of the 19th century.
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1800s

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1810s

1816: Shaka rises to power over the Zulu kingdom
1816: Shaka rises to power over the Zulu kingdom
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1820s

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1830s

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1840s

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1850s

The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War
The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War
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1860s

The first vessels sail through the Suez Canal
The first vessels sail through the Suez Canal
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1870s

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1880s

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1890s

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Significant people

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Anthropology

Franz Boas one of the pioneers of modern anthropology
Franz Boas one of the pioneers of modern anthropology
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Painters

Monet's Impression, Sunrise, which gave the name to Impressionism
Monet's Impression, Sunrise, which gave the name to Impressionism

The Realism and Romanticism of the early 19th century gave way to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the later half of the century, with Paris being the dominant art capital of the world. 19th century painters included:

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Music

Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata form matured during the Classical era to become the primary form of instrumental compositions throughout the 19th century. Much of the music from the nineteenth century was referred to as being in the Romantic style. Many great composers lived through this era such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Richard Wagner. Others included:

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Literature

Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Mark Twain in 1894
Mark Twain in 1894
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe
Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe

On the literary front the new century opens with Romanticism, a movement that spread throughout Europe in reaction to 18th-century rationalism, and it develops more or less along the lines of the Industrial Revolution, with a design to react against the dramatic changes wrought on nature by the steam engine and the railway. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are considered the initiators of the new school in England, while in the continent the German Sturm und Drang spreads its influence as far as Italy and Spain.

French arts had been hampered by the Napoleonic Wars but subsequently developed rapidly. Modernism began.

The Goncourts and Emile Zola in France and Giovanni Verga in Italy produce some of the finest naturalist novels. Italian naturalist novels are especially important in that they give a social map of the new unified Italy to a people that until then had been scarcely aware of its ethnic and cultural diversity. On February 21, 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto.

There was a huge literary output during the 19th century. Some of the most famous writers included the Russians Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekov and Fyodor Dostoevsky; the English Charles Dickens, John Keats, and Jane Austen; the Irish Oscar Wilde; the Americans Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and the French Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Jules Verne and Charles Baudelaire. Some others of note included:

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Science

Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

The 19th century saw the birth of science as a profession; the term scientist was coined in 1833 by William Whewell. Among the most influential ideas of the 19th century were those of Charles Darwin, who in 1859 published the book The Origin of Species, which introduced the idea of evolution by natural selection. Louis Pasteur made the first vaccine against rabies, and also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, including the asymmetry of crystals. Thomas Alva Edison gave the world light with his invention of the lightbulb. Karl Weierstrass and other mathematicians also carried out the arithmetization of analysis. Other important 19th century scientists included:

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Philosophy and religion

Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche

The 19th century was host to a variety of religious and philosophical thinkers, including:

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Politics

Otto Von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor
Otto Von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor
The last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu in French military uniform
The last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu in French military uniform
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Inventions, discoveries, introductions

One of the first photographs, produced in 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce
One of the first photographs, produced in 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce

Research became institutionalized at research universities such as the University of Berlin and at corporate laboratories such as Edison's Menlo Park which accelerated the rate at which discoveries and innovations were made.

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See also

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Decades and years

Millennium Century
4th BC: 40th BC 39th BC 38th BC 37th BC 36th BC 35th BC 34th BC 33rd BC 32nd BC 31st BC
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1st BC: 10th BC 9th BC 8th BC 7th BC 6th BC 5th BC 4th BC 3rd BC 2nd BC 1st BC
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4th: 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th
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