Year by year · 19th century

1847

1847 in world history: 16 events, 10 births, 20 deaths, 3 works, 3 states founded and 6 that came to an end. 1,073 recorded states existed that year.

Events

  1. 13 January

    Treaty of Cahuenga ends the fighting in California

    Californio leader Andrés Pico and John C. Frémont signed an informal capitulation near Los Angeles. It ended hostilities in California, which Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848.

    United StatesMexico

  2. 11 February

    Thomas Edison is born in Milan, Ohio

    Edison patented more than 1,000 inventions, including the phonograph and a practical incandescent lamp. His laboratory at Menlo Park pioneered organised industrial research.

    Milan

  3. 22 February

    Battle of Buena Vista begins in northern Mexico

    Zachary Taylor's outnumbered army held off Santa Anna's attacks over two days near Saltillo. Santa Anna withdrew, and Taylor's fame carried him to the presidency in 1848.

    Mexico

  4. 24 July

    Brigham Young's Mormon pioneers enter the Salt Lake Valley

    After a long trek from Illinois, Brigham Young's vanguard company entered the Great Salt Lake Valley; he reportedly declared 'This is the right place'. Salt Lake City became the centre of the Latter-day Saints.

  5. 26 July

    Liberia declares independence

    Liberia, founded by the American Colonization Society as a home for freed Black Americans, declared itself an independent republic. It became Africa's oldest modern republic, though settler rule marginalised indigenous peoples.

  6. War

    Sonderbund War

    The Sonderbund War was a brief civil war in Switzerland in November 1847, in which the federal army under General Guillaume-Henri Dufour defeated the Sonderbund, a league of seven Catholic cantons, in under a month and with roughly a hundred dead.

  7. Treaty

    Jarnac Convention

    The Jarnac Convention was an agreement signed by Britain and France on 19 June 1847 in which both powers recognised the independence of the Leeward Islands of the Society group, Huahine, Raiatea and Bora Bora, and agreed not to annex them.

ProfileState912 states with a known seat in 1847Open the atlas at 1847 →

In the profiles

  • Republic of GuatemalaRafael Carrera proclaims the Republic of Guatemala
  • Kazakh KhanateKenesary Kasymov, the last khan, is killed and his revolt ends
  • French AlgeriaAbdelkader surrenders to French forces after fifteen years of resistance
  • Duchy of SavoyThe ‘perfect fusion’ merges the mainland states with Sardinia
  • Swiss ConfederationFederal troops under General Dufour win the Sonderbund War
  • LiberiaLiberia declares independence under President Joseph Jenkins Roberts

Wars and longer events

Born in 1847 10

Died in 1847 20

Works 3

States founded 3

States that came to an end 6

All years → The 19th century →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). 1847. In The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1847
MLA
“1847.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1847. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “1847.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1847.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘1847’, The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1847 (Accessed: ).