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Victoria becomes queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Inherited the throne at an early age of 18. She remained Queen until her death in 1901, which was the longest any monarch has been in power (63 years, 7 months). -
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Charles Dickens publishes Oliver Twist in periodical form
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William Wordsworth becomes poet laureate
Williams Wordsworth claim to fame was towards the end of his life when he wrote his semiautobiographical piece, "The Prelude." After the piece, from 1843 to his death in 1850 he was Britain's poet Laureate -
Potato famine begins in Ireland; close to one million people die of starvation or famine-related diseases; massive emigration begins
The potato famine in Ireland in 1845 caused a massive emigration of Irish citizens and over 1.3 million people died. The majority moved to either Great Britain or the United States in search of food and work. -
Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning Elope; during their courthship she writes poems included in Songs from the Portuguese
Elizabeth Barrett was one of the most influential poets of the Victorian era. Her husband published her last set of poems after her death in 1851 and yet again, was another hit in Britain and in America -
Charloette Bronte publishes Jane Eyre; Emily Bronte publishes Wuthering Heights
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Ten Hours Act limits the number of hours that women and children can work in factories
This act restricted the amount of hours a woman or child is allowed to work in a factory. This also enforced safety laws after the discovery of how the children were worked in factories. -
Alfred, Lord Tennyson becomes a poet laureate
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Japan opens trade to the West
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Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
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The U.S. Civil War begins
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In France, Victor Hugo publishes Les Miserables
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Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declares slavery illegal in Confederate Territories
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Lewis Carroll publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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Britain ends eighty-year practice of deporting convicts to Australia
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Mohandas K. Gandhi is born in India
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Thomas Edison invents the incandescent lamp
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Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn appears
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L. Frank Baum publishes The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
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Queen Victoria dies
