1840 in Belgium

Events in the year 1840 in Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold I
 * Prime Minister: Barthélémy de Theux de Meylandt (to 18 April); Joseph Lebeau (from 18 April)

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 (Brussels, Librairie Polytechnique)
 * 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 (Brussels, Société Typographique Belge)
 * 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


 * Exhibitions
 * Exposition publique de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique à Gand (Ghent, D. J. Vanderhaeghen-Hulin)


 * Guidebooks and directories
 * Indicateur belge, ou Guide commercial et industriel  (Brussels, Bauchard-Rinche)
 * Alexandre Ferrier de Tourettes, Belgium Historical and Picturesque, translated by Henry Robert Addison (Brussels)
 * Alexandre Ferrier de Tourettes, Handbook for Travellers on the Belgian Rail-Road (Brussels)


 * Monographs
 * P. Namur, Histoire des bibliothèques publiques de la Belgique (Brussels, F. Parent)


 * Literature
 * Maria Doolaeghe, Madelieven
 * Jules de Saint-Genois, Le Faux Baudouin

Births

 * 3 January – Father Damien, missionary (died 1889)
 * 11 April – Paul Janson, politician (died 1913)
 * 7 June – Charlotte of Belgium, Empress of Mexico (died 1927)
 * 11 June – Henri de Braekeleer, painter (died 1888)

Deaths

 * 4 February – Angélique de Rouillé (born 1756), writer
 * 20 March – Jan Frans van Dael (born 1764), painter
 * 9 June – John Cockerill (born 1790), industrialist
 * – Jeanne-Marie Artois (born 1762), brewer