1830s

The 1830s refers to the decade from 1830 to 1839, a period of political upheaval, reform, and rapid industrialization that reshaped political systems, economies, and societies across Europe, the Americas, and parts of Asia. It saw the spread of liberal ideas, territorial realignments, and new technologies that accelerated modernization.

France experienced the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled the Bourbon restoration and installed the July Monarchy under Louis-Philippe. The Belgian Revolution of 1830–1831 led to independence from the Netherlands, formally recognized in 1839. In Britain, the Reform Act of 1832 broadened the franchise, while the Slavery Abolition Act (1833) ended slavery in most colonies; factory and municipal reforms followed in the mid-1830s. Greece, after its war of independence, became a kingdom in 1832.

In the United States, Andrew Jackson’s administration pushed Indian removal via the Indian Removal Act (1830), the issue of nullification peaked in 1832–33, and the Texas Revolution (1835–1836) created the Republic of Texas. Canada saw the Rebellions of 1837–1838 advocating constitutional reform, and the broader economy faced the Panic of 1837.

International conflict began in Asia with the First Opium War beginning in 1839, reshaping East Asian power dynamics. Technological and scientific progress included the opening of Britain’s Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 and the 1839 introduction of the daguerreotype, an early form of photography.

Reform movements grew, including Chartism from 1838 in Britain, while literature, science, and industry advanced in parallel with expanding global connections.