in London. By the preliminary treaty signed at Villafranca, Italy, Lombardy is ceded to the French (who immediately cede it to Sardinia), while the Austrians keep Venetia, and the French promise to restore the Central Italian rulers expelled in the course of the war. This brings the Austro-Sardinian War effectively to a close. July 30 – Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps, is first ascended. August 16 – The Tuscan National Assembly formally deposes the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, ending an ascendancy of 109 years. August 27 – Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, starting the Pennsylvania oil rush. August 28 – September 2 – The solar storm of 1859, the largest geomagnetic solar storm on record, causes the Northern lights to be visible as far south as Montería, Colombia and knocks out telegraph communication (this is also called the Carrington Event). September – British merchant Thomas Blake Glover begins business in Nagasaki, Japan. September 17 – In San Francisco, Joshua Norton proclaims himself to be His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. October–December October 16 – John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion. October 18 – Troops under Colonel Robert E. Lee overpower John Brown at the Federal arsenal. October 26 – The steamship Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, Wales, with 454 dead. November 1 – The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse is lighted for the first time (its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles). November 10 – The Treaty of Zürich, reaffirming the terms of the Treaty of Villafranca, brings the Austro-Sardinian War to an official close. November 15 – The first Zappas Olympics open in Greece. November 24 English naturalist Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, a book which argues for the gradual evolution of species through natural selection (it immediately sells out its initial print run). The French Navy's La Gloire, the first ocean-going ironclad warship in history, is launched. December 2 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. December 10 – The Ateneo de Manila University is founded, as the Escuela Municipal de Manila. Date unknown District nursing begins in Liverpool,