1863

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.
1861–1865	USA [economic conditions]	The USA, or the North, has a booming economy during the Civil War as production and profits soar. There is inflation, too; prices rise 117% and wages rise just 43%.
1861–1870	USA, UK, Ireland [statistics and demography]	Emigration to the USA from Britain totals 606,896; from Ireland it is 435,779.
1863	UK [taxation]	The British government passes the Revenue Act, which aims to encourage the drinking of beer, rather than spirits, by increasing the tax rate for spirits.
1863	UK [shops and shopping]	William Whiteley opens the Universal Provider, in London, England, under the slogan ‘Everything from a pin to an elephant’. This is essentially the first department store in Britain.
1863	France [food and drink]	The French company Source Perrier launches its naturally carbonated Perrier mineral water.
1863	France [historical study]	The French historian (Joseph-) Ernest Renan publishes his Vie de Jésus/Life of Jesus. The book is controversial because it treats Jesus as a purely historical figure and denies any supernatural aspects to his life. He also publishes the first volume of his Histoire des origines du christianisme/History of the Origins of Christianity. The final volume appears in 1904.
1863	France [medicine]	French parasitologist Casimir-Joseph Davaine shows that anthrax is due to the presence of rodlike micro-organisms in the blood. It is the first disease of animals and humans to be shown to be caused by a specific micro-organism.
1863	France, UK, USA [opera]	The opera Les Pêcheurs de perles/The Pearl Fishers by the French composer Georges Bizet is first performed, in Paris, France. It is first performed in Britain in 1887 (in London, England), and in the USA in 1893 (in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
1863	France [painting]	The French artist Edouard Manet paints Déjeuner sur l'herbe/Luncheon on the Grass. It causes an outcry when it is exhibited in the Salon in 1865, where it is condemned as badly painted and obscene because of its composition of nude female figures and male figures in everyday dress. He also paints Spanish Dancers.
1863	England [painting]	The English artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti paints Beata Beatrix/Blessed Beatrix.
1863	USA [fairs and festivals]	US president Abraham Lincoln establishes the annual national Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday in November.
1863	England [chemistry]	English chemist John Alexander Reina Newlands devises the table of the elements.
1 January 1863	France [births and deaths]	Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, French administrator responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games and who serves as the first president of the International Olympic Committee 1896–1925, born in Paris, France (–1937).
10 January 1863	UK [railways]	The Metropolitan Railway opens between Faringdon Street and Bishops' Road, Paddington, in London, England. The world's first subway system, it is 6 km/3.75 mi long, uses steam locomotives, and carries 9.5 million passengers during the first year.
17 January 1863	Wales, England [births and deaths]	David Lloyd George, Welsh Liberal politician, British prime minister 1916–22, born in Manchester, England (–1945).
22 January 1863	Russian Empire [revolution]	A Polish insurrection against Russian rule begins when the Polish National Committee, a conspiratorial body, publishes a manifesto demanding the reconstitution of an independent Polish state.
8 February 1863	Prussia, Russian Empire, Poland [diplomacy]	Prussia allies with Russia to suppress the Polish revolt through a convention drawn up by Gustav, Count von Alvensleben, chief advisor to the Prussian king Wilhelm I (the ‘Alvensleben Convention’).
17 February 1863	Switzerland [charities]	The International Red Cross is founded in Geneva, Switzerland.
2 May - 4 May 1863	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	In one of the most humiliating Union defeats of the American Civil War, 60,000 Confederate troops defeat a Union force over twice that size at the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Confederacy suffers the most grievous loss, however, as the outstanding Confederate general Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson is mortally wounded by one of his own men and subsequently dies on 10 May.
10 May 1863	USA [births and deaths]	Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, one of the most able Confederate generals in the American Civil War, dies from pneumonia in Guiney's Station, Virginia, eight days after being accidentally shot by one of his own men (39).
1 July - 3 July 1863	USA [American Civil War (1861–65)]	General Robert E Lee's Confederate army is defeated by General George G(ordon) Meade's Union force in the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Confederate casualties in the three-day battle total 28,000, Union casualties 23,000.
30 July 1863	USA [births and deaths]	Henry Ford, US industrialist who develops the mass-production of cheap Ford cars, born in Wayne County, Michigan (–1947).
19 September - 20 September 1863	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg win a clear but strategically indecisive victory over a Union army commanded by William Rosecrans at the Battle of Chickamauga, Tennessee. The Confederacy loses 18,000 men, the Union 16,000.
20 September 1863	Germany [births and deaths]	Jacob Grimm, German author (with his brother Wilhelm) of Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812), dies in Berlin, Germany (78).
26 October 1863	UK [football]	The Football Association is founded in London, England, by the representatives of 11 clubs. Their purpose is to establish ‘a definite code of rules for the regulation of the game’. All clubs are from the London area.
15 November 1863	Denmark, Germany [political events]	King Frederick VII of Denmark dies and is succeeded by his liberal son Christian IX, who is determined to pursue his father's policies with regard to the duchy of Schleswig.
19 November 1863	USA [American Civil War (1861–65)]	US president Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Civil War cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He reiterates the principles of freedom, equality, and democracy embodied in the US constitution.
23 November - 25 November 1863	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	Union forces attain command of a crucial railway junction at the Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee, thus strengthening the Union's grip on Confederate supply lines.
8 December 1863	Chile [natural disasters]	The Church of La Compañia, in Santiago, Chile, burns down, killing 2,500 people.
12 December 1863	Norway [births and deaths]	Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter of psychological subjects such as The Scream, born in Löten, Norway (–1944).