Timeline April 1848

Events in April 1848 6

• 1797 – 1848 Gaetano Donizetti Italian bel canto opera composer Italian composer of over 70 operas including Lucia di Lammermoor and L'elisir d'amore, a pillar of the bel canto tradition.
• 1848 Chicago Board of Trade founded Grain exchange set up in Chicago Merchants in Chicago founded the Board of Trade on 3 April to promote trade in the city. It went on to develop standardised grain contracts and futures trading. It became one of the world's largest futures exchanges.
• 1848 Chartist meeting on Kennington Common Mass rally for the People's Charter in London Chartists gathered on Kennington Common on 10 April to deliver a petition for political reform to Parliament. The government brought in troops and special constables, and the planned march was abandoned. The petition was found to contain far fewer genuine signatures than claimed, and the movement declined afterwards.
• 1848 Franklin expedition abandons its ships Crews leave HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in the Arctic ice On 22 April, the 105 survivors of Sir John Franklin's expedition left their ships, which had been trapped in ice off King William Island. A note left at Victory Point recorded that Franklin and many others had died. None of the men survived the march south.
• 1848 Abolition of Slavery Decree of 1848 The Second Republic officially abolished slavery in all French colonies.
• 1848 Slavery abolished in the French colonies Decree drafted by Victor Schœlcher The provisional government of the Second Republic decreed the abolition of slavery in all French colonies on 27 April. About 250,000 enslaved people were freed in places such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and Réunion. Slave owners received compensation and the freed people did not.