25 – Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the River Thames and the world's first bored underwater tunnel, is opened in London for pedestrians. April–June April 7 – The Indian Slavery Act, 1843 removes legal support for slavery within the territories of the East India Company April 16 or 17 - A group of 24 West Indian Moravians from Jamaica and Antigua, recruited by the Danish minister and Basel missionary, Andreas Riis, arrive in Christiansborg (Osu), Gold Coast, now Ghana, to set up schools and Presbyterian churches in the country May 4 – Natal is proclaimed a British colony. May 18 – In Edinburgh, the Free Church of Scotland is disrupted from the Church of Scotland. May 22 – The first major wagon train headed for the American Northwest sets out with 1,000 pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail. May 23 – Chile takes possession of the Strait of Magellan. June 6 – In Barbados, Samuel Jackman Prescod is the first non-white person elected to the House of Assembly. June 17 – In New Zealand, a posse of British settlers sent to arrest Māori chief Te Rauparaha clash with members of his Ngāti Toa tribe, resulting in 26 deaths. June 21 – Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Gold-Bug" begins serialization in American newspapers. July–September July – Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women" appears in The Dial magazine in the United States. July 12 – Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy: Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement in the United States, receives a revelation recommending polygamy. July 19 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel's is launched from Bristol; it will be the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. July 25 – Père Antoine Désiré Mégret, a Capuchin missionary, purchases the land that will become Abbeville, Louisiana for $900, a town founded by descendants of Acadians from Nova Scotia. August 1 – Brazil becomes the second country, after Great Britain, to issue nationally valid postage stamps, with the release of its Bull's Eye series. August 19 – Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat" is first published in The Saturday Evening Post. August 15 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world still intact, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark. September – Ada Lovelace translates and expands Menabrea's notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical