1851

1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1851st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 851st year of the 2nd millennium, the 51st year of the 19th century, and the 2nd year of the 1850s decade. As of the start of 1851, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1820s  1830s  1840s  – 1850s –  1860s  1870s  1880s
Years:	1848 1849 1850 – 1851 – 1852 1853 1854

1851 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1851 MDCCCLI
Ab urbe condita	2604
Armenian calendar	1300 ԹՎ ՌՅ
Assyrian calendar	6601
Bahá'í calendar	7–8
Balinese saka calendar	1772–1773
Bengali calendar	1258
Berber calendar	2801
British Regnal year	14 Vict. 1 – 15 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar	2395
Burmese calendar	1213
Byzantine calendar	7359–7360
Chinese calendar	庚戌年 (Metal Dog) 4547 or 4487     — to — 辛亥年 (Metal Pig) 4548 or 4488
Coptic calendar	1567–1568
Discordian calendar	3017
Ethiopian calendar	1843–1844
Hebrew calendar	5611–5612
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1907–1908
- Shaka Samvat	1772–1773
- Kali Yuga	4951–4952
Holocene calendar	11851
Igbo calendar	851–852
Iranian calendar	1229–1230
Islamic calendar	1267–1268
Japanese calendar	Kaei 4 (嘉永４年)
Javanese calendar	1779–1780
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 12 days
Korean calendar	4184
Minguo calendar	61 before ROC 民前61年
Nanakshahi calendar	383
Thai solar calendar	2393–2394
Tibetan calendar	阳金狗年 (male Iron-Dog) 1977 or 1596 or 824     — to — 阴金猪年 (female Iron-Pig) 1978 or 1597 or 825

Events

• January 23 – The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in Oregon is named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.
• March 1 – Victor Hugo gives speech at the French national assembly and uses the phrase United States of Europe several times
• March 27 – First reported case of white men seeing Yosemite Valley.
• March 30 – A population census was taken of all people living in the United Kingdom.
• May 1 – The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria. It runs until October 18.
• May 15 – Rama IV is crowed King of Thailand.
• July – The immortal game, a famous chess game, is played.
• July 1 – Colony of Victoria separates from New South Wales.
• July 29 – Annibale de Gasparis, in Naples, Italy discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
• August 22 – The yacht America wins the first America's Cup race (see Yachting).
• October 18 – The Great Exhibition in London is closed.
• November 13 – The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, the first settlers of what will become Seattle, Washington.
• December 2 – Louis Napoleon, president of France, dissolves French National Assembly and declares a new constitution to extend his term. Later he declares himself as an emperor Napoleon III. End of the Second Republic.
• December 24 – The Library of Congress burns.
• December 29 – The first YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Births

• January 17 – A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)
• January 19 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (d. 1922)
• February 8 – Kate Chopin, American writer (d. 1904)
• March 27 – Vincent d'Indy, French composer and teacher (d. 1931)
• April 21 – Charles Barrois, French geologist (d. 1939)
• May 6 – Aristide Bruant, French cabaret singer and comedian (d. 1925)
• May 20 – Emil Berliner, telephone and recording pioneer (d. 1929)
• August 14 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (d. 1887)
• October 2 – Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (d. 1929)
• October 31 – Princess Louise of Sweden
• Robert Abbe, American surgeon (d. 1928)
• Ruperto Chapí, Spanish zarzuelist
• Tom Morris, Jr., Scottish golfer (d. 1875)

Deaths

• February 1 – Mary Shelley, British writer of Frankenstein
• August 28 – Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Australian explorer
• September 14 – James Fenimore Cooper

Art, music, theatre, and literature

• The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.