Events of 1849

January - March

• January 1
  • France issues Ceres, France's first postage stamp.
  • In Milan, anti-Austrian activists organize a smoking boycott in protest of the Austrian monopoly on tobacco. Protests erupts into brief riots.
• January 12 - Uprising against Austrian troops in Palermo, Sicily.
• January 13 -Second Anglo-Sikh War - British forces retreat from the Battle of Tooele.
• January 21 - General elections in the Papal States.
• January 23 - Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor.
• January 31 - Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
• February 8 - New Roman Republic established.
• February 14 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
• February 28 - Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay. The California left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrived at San Francisco, California after the 4 month 21 day journey.
• March 3
  • Minnesota becomes a United States territory.
  • The United States Department of the Interior is established.
  • The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of gold coins.
• March 4 - Zachary Taylor refuses to be sworn in office on a Sabbath (Sunday). Urban legend holds that David Rice Atchison, President pro tempore of the United States Senate was President de jure for a single day.
• March 5 - Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States of America, takes his oath of office.
• March 28 - Four Christians are ordered burnt alive in Antananarivo, Madagascar by Queen Ranavalona I and 14 others are executed.
• March 29 - The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab

April - June