In 1840:
• Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha;
• A French explorer discovered Antarctica;
• Britain declared war on China, demanding the right to sell opium, imported from India, to the Chinese people;
• African captives who sailed the ship Amistad to the U.S. were declared free;
• The first steamship operated by Samuel Cunard arrived in Halifax 12 days after leaving Liverpool;
• Charles Darwin had just formulated his theory of natural selection but hadn’t written it yet;
• The world’s first photograph was made;
• Thomas Carling had begun brewing beer in London, Ont.;
• In Windsor, Thomas Halliburton, author of Sam Slick stories, was appointed a Supeme Court Judge;
• In the U.S., federal civil servants were required to work only 10 hours a day.
• Elizabeth Cady, 24, shocks her parents by refusing to use the word ‘obey’ when marrying;
• Somewhere in Nova Scotia someone carves a stick to play a sport that will become known as hockey.
