Events January–March January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion. January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College, receives its charter from the Missouri General Assembly. January 23 – The flip of a coin, subsequently named Portland Penny, determines whether a new city in the Oregon Territory is named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning. January 28 – Northwestern University is founded in Illinois. February 1 – Brandtaucher, the oldest surviving submersible craft, sinks during acceptance trials in the German port of Kiel, but the designer, Wilhelm Bauer, and the two crew escape successfully. February 6 – Black Thursday in Australia: Bushfires sweep across the state of Victoria, burning about a quarter of its area. February 12 – Edward Hargraves claims to have found gold in Australia. February 15 – In Boston, Massachusetts, members of the anti-slavery Boston Vigilance Committee rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from a courtroom, following his arrest by U.S. marshals. March 1 – Victor Hugo uses the phrase United States of Europe, in a speech to the French National Assembly. March 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto is first performed at La Fenice in Venice. March 27 – The first European men reportedly see Yosemite Valley. March 30 – A population census is taken in the United Kingdom. The population reaches 21 million. 6.3 million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, and cities of 20,000 or more account for 35% of the total English population. April–June April 8 – Western Union is founded, as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. April 9 – San Luis, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Colorado, is founded by settlers from Taos, New Mexico. April 20 – Ramón Castilla loses power in Peru. April 23 – Anne Darwin, daughter of Charles Darwin dies, sending him into a great depression. April 28 – Santa Clara College is chartered in Santa Clara, California. May 1 – The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria (it runs until October 15). May 15 – The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier. Alpha Delta Pi sorority, the first secret society for women, is founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia (U.S.) Mongkut (Rama IV) is