Events January–March January 1 – William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper, in Boston, Massachusetts. January 10 – Japanese department store, Takashimaya in Kyoto established. February–March – Revolts in Modena, Parma and the Papal States are put down by Austrian troops. February 2 – Pope Gregory XVI succeeds Pope Pius VIII, as the 254th pope. February 5 – Dutch naval lieutenant Jan van Speyk blows up his own gunboat in Antwerp rather than strike his colours on the demand of supporters of the Belgian Revolution. February 7 – The Belgian Constitution of 1831 is approved by the National Congress. February 8 – French-born botanical explorer Aimé Bonpland leaves Paraguay for Argentina. February 14 – Battle of Debre Abbay: Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray, and defeats and kills the warlord Sabagadis. February 25 – Battle of Olszynka Grochowska (Grochów): Polish rebel forces divide a Russian army. March 10 – The French Foreign Legion is founded. March 16 – Victor Hugo's historical romantic Gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, is published in Paris. March 29 – The Bosnian uprising (1831–32) against the Ottoman Empire begins. April–June April 7 – Pedro I abdicates as Emperor of Brazil in favor of his 5-year-old son Pedro II, who will reign for almost 59 years. April 18 The University of Alabama is founded. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper is first published, as the Sydney Herald. April 27 Charles Albert becomes king of Sardinia after the death of King Charles Felix. Ending of the First Anglo-Ashanti War (1823–1831). May 26 – Battle of Ostrołęka: The Poles fight another indecisive battle. May 31 – Auxiliary paddle steamer Sophia Jane arrives at Sydney from London, becoming the first steamboat to operate in the coastal waters of New South Wales. May–June – Merthyr Rising: Coal miners and others riot in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for improved working conditions. June 1 – British Royal Navy officer James Clark Ross locates the position of the North Magnetic Pole, at this time on the Boothia Peninsula. June 21 – The North Carolina State House and Canova's George Washington are destroyed by fire in Raleigh, North Carolina. July–September July 13 – Russian imperial officials in Wallachia adopt Regulamentul Organic, introducing a period of unprecedented reforms that provide for Westernization of this region of Romania. July 15 – The volcanic Graham Island briefly emerges