1840

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