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Year 1857 (MDCCCLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1857

January - June

• January 1 - The biggest Estonian newspaper Postimees is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen.
• January 9 - An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 strikes near Parkfield, California (see Fort Tejon earthquake).
• January 24 - The University of Calcutta is established in Kolkata as the first multidisciplinary modern university in South Asia.
• February 3 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, DC, becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.
• March 3 - France and the United Kingdom formally declare war on China in the Second Opium War.
• March 4 - James Buchanan succeeds Franklin Pierce as President of the United States.
• March 6 - Dred Scott v. Sanford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the 14th Amendment in 1868).
• March 21 - An earthquake in Tokyo, Japan kills over 100,000.
• March 23 - Elisha Otis' first elevator is installed (at 488 Broadway, New York City).
• April 18 - The Spirits' Book (Le Livre des Esprits in original French), one of the Five Fundamental Works of Spiritism, is published by French educator Allan Kardec.
• May 10 - Indian rebellion of 1857: The 3rd Light Cavalry of the British East India Company's army rebels against its British officers, thus beginning the rebellion.
• May 11 - Indian rebellion of 1857: Indian combatants capture Delhi from the East India Company.
• June 6 - Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden-Norway.

July - December

• July 15 - Indian rebellion of 1857: The second massacre at Kanpur takes place.
• July 18 - The Utah Expedition leaves Fort Leavenworth, effectively beginning the Utah War.
• September 11 - Mountain Meadows massacre in Utah.
• September 12 - The S.S. Central America sinks off the coast of North Carolina, killing 425 people.
• October 13 - New York banks close following a major financial panic and do not reopen until December 12.
• October 24 - Sheffield F.C., the world's first association football team, is founded in Sheffield, England.
• November 30 - President of Mexico Ignacio Comonfort is succeeded by Félix María Zuloaga.
• December 16 - An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.9 kills 11,000 people in Naples, Italy.
• December 20 - Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issues a decree, Es ist Mein Wille, which leads to the demolition of the city walls of Vienna, allowing the construction of the Ringstraße.
• December 31 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario as the capital of Canada.

Undated

• Divorce without parliamentary approval becomes legal in Britain.
• Speculation in U.S. railway shares causes financial crisis in Europe.
• The Mormons abandon Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Hollywood is founded.
• The Mexican Republic is restored (see Mexico/History).
• La Tene culture artifacts are discovered in Switzerland by Hansli Kopp.
• The University of Mumbai is established.
• The Mughal Empire is finally destroyed by the British Empire.
• American politician William Daniel proposes the Local Option for prohibition.
• Three universities are established in British India.

Ongoing events

• Second Opium War (1856-1860)
• Anglo-Persian War (1856-1857)
• Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864)

Births

January - June

• January 4 - Émile Courtet, French caricaturist and animator (d. 1938)
• January 26 - the 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
• January 31 - George Jackson Churchward, GWR Chief mechanical engineer (d. 1933)
• February 13 - Almanzo James Wilder, husband of author Laura Ingalls Wilder (d. October 23, 1949)
• February 22
• Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of the Scouting movement (d. 1941)
• Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
• March 7 - Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1940)
• March 8 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
• March 27 - Karl Pearson, statistician (d. 1936)
• March 30 - Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (d. 1926)
• April 5 - Alexander of Battenberg, first Prince of Bulgaria (d. 1893)
• May 7 - William A. MacCorkle, Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
• May 13 - Ronald Ross, English physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1932)
• May 15 - Williamina Fleming, Scottish astronomer (d. 1911)
• May 19 - John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist (d. 1938)
• May 31 - Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
• June 2
• Edward Elgar, English composer (d. 1934)
• Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)

July - December

• July 11- Alfred Binet, French Psychologist (Stanford-Binet IQ test) (d. 1911)
• July 22 - Shams-ul-haq Azeemabadi, Islamic scholar (d. 1911)
• July 23 - Carl Meinhof, German linguist (d. 1944)
• July 24 - Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
• July 28 - Ballington Booth, Salvation Army Officer and co-founder of Volunteers of America (d. 1940)
• July 30
• Lucy Bacon, Californian Impressionist painter (d. 1932)
• July 30 - Thorstein Veblen, Norwegian economist (d. 1929)
• August 14 - Max Wagenknecht, German composer (d. 1922)
• September 5 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist and inventor (d. 1935)
• September 8 - Georg Michaelis, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1936)
• September 13
• Michał Drzymała, Polish peasant and revolutionary (d. 1937)
• Milton S. Hershey, American chocolate manufacturer (d. 1945)
• September 15 - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (d. 1930)
• October 24 - Ned Williamson, American baseball player (d. 1894)
• November 5
• Joseph Tabrar, British songwriter (d. 1931)
• November 5 - Ida Tarbell, American journalist (d. 1944)
• November 17 - George Marchant, English-born inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist (d. 1941)
• November 26 - Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (d. 1913)
• November 27 - Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1952)
• November 28 - King Alfonso XII of Spain (d. 1885)
• December 3 - Joseph Conrad, Polish-British novelist (d. 1924)
• date unknown
• Shibli Nomani, Indian Muslim scholar (d. 1914)
• Zübeyde Hanım, mother of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (d. 1923)

Deaths

• February 10 - David Thompson, British-Canadian explorer (b. 1770)
• February 15 - Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (b. 1804)
• February 16 - Elisha Kent Kane, American explorer of the Arctic regions (b. 1820)
• March 11 - Manuel José Quintana, poet (b. 1772)
• March 26 - Thomas Peters, Dutch supercentenarian (b. 1745)
• May 2 - Alfred de Musset, French poet (b. 1810)
• May 11 - Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal and private detective (b. 1775)
• May 13 - Parley P. Pratt, early Mormon church leader (murdered) (b. 1807)
• May 23 - Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (b. 1789)
• June 30 - Alcide d'Orbigny, naturalist (b. 1802)
• July 4 - Henry Montgomery Lawrence, soldier and statesman (b. 1806)
• July 15 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (b. 1791)
• July 19 - Stefano Franscini, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1796)
• July 29 - Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1803)
• August 3 - Eugène Sue, French novelist (b. 1804)
• September 3 - John McLoughlin, Canadian trapper (b. 1784)
• September 5 - Auguste Comte, French philosopher (b. 1798)
• November 12 - Maximilian Spinola, entomologist (b. 1780)
• November 26 - Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet (b. 1788)
• December 3 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (b. 1777)
• December 15 - Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer (b. 1773)