1854
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years: 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 - 1854 - 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859
Events
- January 13 - The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas.
- February 11 - Major streets lit by coal gas for first time
- February 17 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State
- February 28 - The United States Republican Party is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
- March 28 - Crimean War: United Kingdom and France declare war on Russia, to begin the Crimean War.
- March 31 - Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy, signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade. (See History of Japan)
- May 30 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
- July 6 - In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the U.S. Republican Party is held.
- October 25 - The Battle of Balaclava occurs, overall a victory for the allies, but it included the disastrous Cavalry Charge of the Light Brigade, from which only 200 of 700 men survive
- Frederick Augustus Albert succeeds to the throne of Saxony
- Stockholm, Wisconsin is founded by immigrants from Karlskoga, Sweden (cf 1252)
- Chemistry Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale University is the first to fractionate petroleum by distillation
- Said Pasha becomes Khedive of Egypt
- 1854 in literature:
- Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity
- Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity
- January 18 - Thomas Watson, telephone pioneer
- February 17 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, industrialist (+ 1902)
- March 14 - Paul Ehrlich, physician, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908 (+ 1915)
- March 15 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901
- July 3 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer
- July 12 - George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera
- August 2 - Milan I, king of Serbia
- October 16 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer
- April 15 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist
- Abbas I, Khedive of Egypt
