1840 in Belgium
Events in the year 1840 in Belgium.
Incumbents
Events
- 29 March – Treaty of amity and navigation with the United States signed but never ratified.
- 18 April – Liberal ministry under Joseph Lebeau comes to power.
- 25 May – Provincial elections
- 30 May – Parliament considers petitions for Dutch to be made an official language, organised by Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert and Jean-Baptist David.
- 4 June – Botanical Garden of Mechelen opens, with Joseph Van Hoorde as head gardener.
- 10 August – Culmination of the Fortsas hoax in Binche.
- 15 August – City of Antwerp festively marks the bicentenary of the death of Peter Paul Rubens.
Publications
;Periodicals- Almanach royal de Belgique
- Annuaire de la bibliothèque royale de Belgique
- Annuaire dramatique de la Belgique, 2
- Archives de la médecine belge
- Messager des sciences historiques
- Pasinomie: Collection complète des lois, décrets, arrêtés et règlements généraux qui peuvent être invoqués en Belgique, series 2, 1822-1824
- La renaissance: Chronique des arts et de la littérature begins publication under the auspices of the Association Nationale pour Favoriser les Arts en Belgique.
- Revue de Bruxelles, 4
- Revue nationale de Belgique
;Guidebooks and directoriesIndicateur belge, ou Guide commercial et industriel
- Alexandre Ferrier de Tourettes, Belgium Historical and Picturesque, translated by Henry Robert Addison
- Alexandre Ferrier de Tourettes, Handbook for Travellers on the Belgian Rail-Road
- P. Namur, Histoire des bibliothèques publiques de la Belgique
- Maria Doolaeghe, Madelieven
- Jules de Saint-Genois, ''Le Faux Baudouin''
Births
- 3 January – Father Damien, missionary
- 11 April – Paul Janson, politician
- 7 June – Charlotte of Belgium, Empress of Mexico
- 11 June – Henri de Braekeleer, painter
Deaths
- 4 February – Angélique de Rouillé, writer
- 20 March – Jan Frans van Dael, painter
- 9 June – John Cockerill, industrialist
- – Jeanne-Marie Artois, brewer