| 1800–1850 | USA [consumer products] | A revolution in retail and wholesale trade occurs: specialization transforms the urban retail market, replacing the general store with individual stores for hardware, groceries, dry goods, furnishing, books, tobacco, and so on. Cash-only sales policies are instituted around 1806. |
| 1810–1859 | USA [agriculture] | US cotton production, the vast majority of which is grown in the southern states, rises from 171,000 bales in 1810 to just under 5.4 million in 1859. |
| 1827–1838 | Ireland, Germany, USA [statistics and demography] | A period of Irish and German migration to the USA begins due to a severe winter in 1829, increased legislation against German Jews, economic stress in Ireland, and Irish factionalism. |
| 1827–1838 | USA [zoology] | US ornithologist John James Audubon publishes the first volume of his multi-volume work Birds of America. |
| July 1830 - April 1833 | Scotland [earth sciences] | Scottish geologist Charles Lyell publishes the first volume of his three-volume work Principles of Geology in which he argues that geological formations are the result of presently observable processes acting over millions of years. It creates a new time frame for other sciences such as biology and palaeontology. |
| 1831 | Europe, Russian Empire [famines] | Cholera and famine lead to 900,000 deaths in Europe. |
| 1831 | France [orchestral music] | The French composer Hector Berlioz completes his Symphonie fantastique/Fantastic Symphony. |
| 1831 | UK [other structures] | London Bridge, designed by the British architects George and John Rennie, is completed in London, England. |
| 1831 | USA [transport] | The US engineer Matthias William Baldwin develops a steam-tight boiler that doubles the pressure of previous steam engines and allows locomotives to reach speeds of 96 kph/60 mph. |
| 1831 | USA, UK [statistics and demography] | The population of Britain is 12.2 million, Ireland, 7.7 million, and the USA, 12.8 million. |
| 1831–1840 | USA, UK [statistics and demography] | Emigration to the USA is 75,810 from Britain and 207,381 from Ireland. |
| 1831 | Scotland [biology] | Scottish botanist Robert Brown discovers the nucleus in plant cells. |
| 25 January 1831 | Poland, Russian Empire [political events] | The Polish diet (national assembly) declares Poland independent of Russia and the rule of the Russian tsars. |
| 2 February 1831 | Papal States [political events] | Pope Gregory XVI is elected. He is believed by many to have liberal sympathies. |
| 7 April 1831 | Brazil, Portugal [political events] | Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favour of his son, in order to return to Portugal to aid his daughter, Oueen Maria II, who is being challenged by his brother, Dom Miguel, for the throne. |
| 29 August 1831 | England [physics] | English physicist Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction – the production of an electric current by change in magnetic intensity (and also the principle of the electric generator). US scientist Joseph Henry makes the same discovery independently of Faraday, and shortly before him, but does not publish his work. |
| 8 September 1831 | Poland, Russian Empire [political events] | Russia takes the Polish capital, Warsaw, after a two-day battle and the Polish revolt for independence collapses. |
| 13 November 1831 | Scotland [births and deaths] | James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist who formulated the theory of electromagnetism, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (–1879). |
| 14 November 1831 | Germany [births and deaths] | Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher of the idealist school, dies in Berlin, Germany (61). |
| 17 November 1831 | Venezuela, Ecuador, New Granada [political events] | Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada (now Colombia) dissolve the Union of Colombia (of 1819) and New Granada becomes an independent state. |
| 27 December 1831 - 2 October 1836 | South America, Pacific [zoology] | The English naturalist Charles Darwin undertakes a five-year voyage, to South America and the Pacific, as naturalist on the Beagle. The voyage convinces him that species have evolved gradually but he waits over 20 years to publish his findings. |
