Queen Victoria

Historical eventDecember 311857

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria announced the choice of Ottawa , then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.

Everything on December 31Original source

In context

When
Thursday, December 31 1857169 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
19th century · 1850s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

Russia, Greece and some other countries used the Julian calendar into the early 20th century, so local records may show a date up to 13 days earlier.

At a glance

Dates: From 1857.

What happened

Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than those of any of her predecessors, constituted the Victorian era, a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

December 31 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1857Queen Victoria
  2. 2004Taipei 101
  3. 2006War in Somalia (2006–2009)
  4. 2009Blue moon
  5. 20102010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak
  6. 2011NASA
  7. 20142014 Shanghai stampede
  8. 2015Downtown Dubai
  9. 20182018 Magnitogorsk building collapse
  10. 2019World Health Organization
  11. 2020COVID-19 vaccine

Also in 1857

  • September 11Nauvoo LegionA legion of Mormon militiamen completed a massacre of at least 120 California-bound Arkansas pioneers at Mountain Meadow, Utah.
  • June 1Revolution of the GanhadoresThe Revolution of the Ganhadores, the first general strike in Brazil, began in Salvador, Bahia.
  • August 3Indian Rebellion of 1857Indian Rebellion: An eight-day siege of a fortified outbuilding in Arrah occupied by 68 defenders against more than 10,000 men ended when…
  • January 24University of CalcuttaThe University of Calcutta was established as the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent.
  • August 24Ohio Life Insurance and Trust CompanyThe New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. collapsed following widespread embezzlement, leading to a severe recess…
  • January 91857 Fort Tejon earthquakeAn earthquake registering 7.9 Mw ruptured part of the San Andreas Fault in central and southern California.
  • March 6Dred Scott v. SandfordThe Supreme Court of the United States rules 7–2 in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case that the Constitution does not confer citizenship on…
  • May 14Mindon MinMindon Min was crowned as King of Burma.

Everything we record for 1857 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Queen Victoria”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/queen-victoria-1857-december-31, accessed October 29, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Queen Victoria happen?

December 31 1857 — 169 years ago, on a Thursday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.