1840

1840 was a leap year.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1810s  1820s  1830s  – 1840s –  1850s  1860s  1870s
Years:	1837 1838 1839 – 1840 – 1841 1842 1843

Events

• The Great Natchez Tornado: A massive tornado hits Natchez, Mississippi. Before it was over, 317 people had died and 209 were injured.

Births

• January 3– Father Damien, priest
• January 18 – Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
• May 7 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer
• Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan

Deaths

• May 27 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer