AROUND THE WORLD IN 1861In a few days we'll be celebrating the 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood. Most Americans are aware of the fact that Kansas entered the Union a few months before the official beginning of the American Civil War. Statehood came on January 29th, 1861 and shots were fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12th starting up four years of confrontation between North and South.
This article takes a look at what was going on in the rest of the world during that first year of Kansas statehood. We'll step out of the "Kansas Box" and see what other people around the globe were doing. Wars, natural disasters, discoveries, literature, music and dress... it's interesting to place ourselves in the context of Kansas within the activities of the bigger picture.
Imagine Kansans not just as a people struggling to survive their first year of statehood dealing with a Civil War that would spill into their lives again and again but also as human beings who will also feel the ripples of other lives far away... sometimes faintly, sometimes powerfully.
The Great Comet of 1861
http://cometography.com/lcomets/1861j1.html
http://www.phenomena.org.uk/Cometof1861.htm
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1861J1;orb=1
(formally designated C/1861 J1 and 1861 II, was a comet that was visible to the naked eye for approximately 3 months. It was categorized as a Great Comet, one of eight in the 19th Century)
Discovery of Thallium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallium
(Discovered independently by William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy, thallium production is used in the electronics industry, and the rest is used in the pharmaceutical industry and in glass manufacturing. It is also used in infrared detectors)
Italian Unification, or Risorgimento (Europe)
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/italian_unification_risorgimento_map.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Gaeta_%281860%29
http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II_of_Italy
(Throughout the 19th Century up until about 1871 the Italian Peninsula went through wars, insurrections and revolutions in slowly creating a united Italian state. Several incidents played out in 1861, among them the Siege of Gaeta, the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy and crowning of Victor Emmanual II as its first king)
End of First Taranaki War (New Zealand)
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ-c18.html
(An armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Maori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from March 1860 to March 1861)
Abolition of Serfdom in Russia (Europe)
http://academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php/Alexander_II,_Emancipation_Manifesto,_1861
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_reform_of_1861
(The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto, signed by Alexander II of Russia, proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and of the domestic (household) serfs. By this edict more than twenty-three million people received their liberty. Serfs were granted the full rights of free citizens, gaining the rights to marry without having to gain consent, to own property and to own a business)
Conquest of the Bamana Empire (Africa)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamana_Empire
(The West African empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 to the 1861 invasion of Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall)
Earthquake Hits Mendoza, Argentina (South America)
http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/35760
http://www.pbase.com/mr2c280/image/15979354
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rolandkrebs/5321294784/
(An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude. Approximately six to eight thousand people lost their lives in this city of 18,000)
The Melbourne Cup's First Race (Australia)
http://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/melbournecup
(The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major thoroughbred horse race. Billed as "The Race That Stops a Nation," it is a race for three-year-olds and over, over a distance of 3,200 metres)
The Battle of Shanghai (China)
http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/Battle_of_Shanghai_%281861%29
http://www.taipingrebellion.com/
(The 1861 Battle of Shanghai was one of many confrontations of the Taiping Rebellion which was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864. About 20 million people died during this war, mainly civilians, in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history)
Lambing Flat Riots (Australia)
http://about.nsw.gov.au/encyclopedia/article/lambing-flat-riots-14-july/
(A gold rush and immigration of Chinese workers caused several conflicts, chief among them an attack on Chinese workers in 1861)
Colombian Civil War, 1860-1862 (South America)
http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Colombian_Civil_War_%281860%E2%80%931862%29
(The United States was not the only country engaged in a civil war during the 1860s)
Battle of Ky Hoa Forts (IndoChina)
http://www.historynet.com/1861-french-conquest-of-saigon-battle-of-the-ky-hoa-forts.htm
(Another war in Vietnam in a different century)
Life in 1861 (Australia)
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/outbackhouse/history/
(An excellent look at life down under in 1861)
LITERATURE and MUSIC
(Titles published, composed or written in 1861)
"Abide With Me" (hymn)
Text written in 1847 by Henry Francis Lyte, and the music composed in 1861 by William Henry Monk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abide_with_Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw5TtwJFIKU
"Aura Lea," by W.W. Fosdick and George R. Poulton (song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvBAu0JO9G4
Silas Marner, by George Eliot (book)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Marner
The Insulted and Humiliated, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (book)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humiliated_and_Insulted
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens (book)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations
Orley Farm, by Anthony Trollope (book)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orley_Farm_%28novel%29
"Paul Revere's Ride," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (poem)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere%27s_Ride_%28poem%29
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" (poem/song)
http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/BattleHymnoftheRepublic.htm
The Tragedy of Man, by Imre Madách (play)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_Man
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (book)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Beeton%27s_Book_of_Household_Management
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10136
"Washington Grays," by Claudio S. Grafulla (march)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Grays_%28march%29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHypd4cT0IY
(Also known as "Washington Greys")
Artworks for the year 1861
http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list_single_year.php?y=1861
(provided by The Athenaeum)
Music of the American Civil War
http://www.pdmusic.org/civilwar.html
FASHION
Fashion Print Timeline, 1861-1865
http://www.victoriana.com/library/Timeline/1861.htm
Fashion 1861
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/social-history/1861/fashion
CSA Fashion
http://www.angelpig.org/csa_fashion.html
Kentucky Library & Museum
http://www.wku.edu/library/kylm/collections/online/fashion/fashionplates/index.html
1860s in Fashion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860s_in_fashion
GENERAL ONLINE RESOURCES ON 1861
The Year in Review: 1861
http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/almanac/1861
(The House Divided Project at Dickinson College aims to create resources for teachers and students that will help bring alive and explain the turbulent Civil War era in American history)
The Year 1861
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1861
(Wikipedia)
The Civil War Home Page
http://www.civil-war.net/
American Civil War Battles, 1861
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1861.htm
Harper's Weekly Original Civil War Newspapers
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/the-civil-war.htm
World Events By Year: 1861
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZX3yTogiwk
(Youtube video)
Article by: Bill Sowers
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