Mauna Loa erupts.

Masonic order established in Honolulu.

Lord George Paulet demands "provisional cession" of Hawai'i to Great Britain and the British flag flies over the Islands for five months until British Admiral Richard Thomas arrives to rescind cession and negotiates a favorable trade treaty. Read More.

Admiral Thomas declares Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) independent sovereign.

First paper money engraved in Hawai'i printed at Lahainaluna Seminary.

T.R. Foster and Company of Honolulu incorporates as the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. Employee John Ena invests heavily in stock and eventually becomes company president in 1899.

Imports to the Islands total $223,000; exports come to $158,000.

First number of the Friend printed.

Catholic Mission operates about 100 schools with some 3,000 students.

Sir Edward Belcer publishes Narrative of a Voyage Round the World; the book describes an important surveying voyage to the Pacific between 1836-1842.

Herman Melville discharged from a whaling ship at Maui.

Publisher of The Polynesian writes the first history of Hawai'i: "The History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands."

Soren Kierkegaard publishes Either/Or.

Richard Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman performed in Dresden.