| 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. |
| 1840–1860 | world [plagues and epidemics] | A cholera pandemic kills millions of people worldwide. |
| 1845–1958 | Germany [earth sciences] | German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion. |
| 1851–1860 | world [photography] | Photographic exposure times become short enough to capture movement. |
| 1851–1860 | USA, UK [statistics and demography] | Emigration to the USA from Britain is 423,964, and from Ireland, 914,119. |
| 1852 | UK [transport disasters] | The British troopship HMS Birkenhead sinks after hitting a rock off the southern African coast, killing 445 men. |
| 1852 | USA [technology] | US inventor and machine-shop owner Elisha Otis installs, in a factory in Albany, New York, a freight lift equipped with an automatic safety device that prevents it from falling if the lifting chain or rope breaks. This leads to the passenger elevator, making the building of skyscrapers more practical. The first permanent Otis and Son elevator is installed in the Haughwort Department Store in New York in 1857. |
| 1852 | UK [postal services] | The first pillar boxes in Britain are set up, in St Helier, Jersey.Though usually credited to Rowland Hill, the idea is probably the inspiration of the novelist and postal inspector Anthony Trollope. |
| 1852 | USA [Christianity] | Polygamy becomes a tenet of the Mormon faith in the USA. |
| 1852 | UK [civic and commercial buildings] | The Houses of Parliament, in London, England, designed by the English architect Charles Barry, are completed, one of the most prominent examples of the Gothic Revival style. The interiors are by Augustus Pugin. |
| 1852 | UK [magazines] | British publisher Samuel Orchart Beeton launches the first mass-market women's magazine, the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. Its popularity is partly due to the contributions of his wife, Isabella Beeton, on domestic management. |
| 1852 | England [painting] | The English artist Ford Madox Brown paints The Last of England. |
| 1852 | UK [photography] | English scientist William Fox Talbot patents a photolythic engraving method that involves photographing images through a fine mesh and developing them on sensitized steel plates. It leads to the development of photogravure. |
| 1852 | England [fiction] | The English writer William Makepeace Thackeray publishes his novel The History of Henry Esmond. |
| 1852 | Germany [food and drink] | The Butchers' Guild of Frankfurt introduces frankfurters in Germany. |
| 17 January 1852 | Transvaal, UK [political events] | The Sand River Convention is made between the Boers (Dutch settlers) and the British government, allowing the Boers to establish the South African Republic (Transvaal). |
| 3 February 1852 | Argentina [political events] | Juan Manuel de Rosas is overthrown as dictator of Argentina at the Battle of Caseros by the insurgent Justo de Urquiza, supported by Brazilian and Uruguayan forces. |
| 1 April 1852 | Burma, UK [wars] | The Second Anglo-Burmese War breaks out after the expiry of a British ultimatum to the king of Burma to pay compensation to British merchants following disputes between the traders and local inhabitants. |
| 20 April 1852 | USA [literature and language] | Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin in book form. The book, previously serialized in the antislavery broadsheet National Era, is instantly controversial and popular, selling 1.2 million copies by mid-1853. |
| 25 June 1852 | Spain [births and deaths] | Antonio Gaudí, Spanish architect known for his free-flowing forms and rich colours, born in Reus, Spain (–1926). |
| 30 June 1852 | UK, New Zealand [law and government] | A British act of Parliament grants a new constitution providing for representative government for the colony of New Zealand. |
| 14 September 1852 | England [births and deaths] | Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, British army commander and Tory prime minister 1828–30, dies in Walmer Castle, Kent, England (83). |
| 24 September 1852 | France [aircraft] | French engineer Henri Giffard flies the first steam-powered airship a distance of 28 km/17 mi, at an average speed of 10 kph/6 mph. |
| 11 November 1852 | USA [elections] | In the US presidential elections the Democrat candidate, Franklin Pierce, defeats the Whig candidate, Winfield Scott, by 254 electoral votes to 42. |
| 2 December 1852 | France [political events] | The Second French Empire is proclaimed. President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor Napoleon III. |
