1783 CE

American Revolutionary War: Britain awards the United States independence. Spain refuses to grant diplomatic recognition to the United States. The Count de Belgioioso, bound from Liverpool to China, founders on the Kish Bank in Dublin Bay in a storm. On 2 June, Scottish diver Charles Spalding and his nephew Ebenezer Watson die in attempting to salvage the £150,000-worth of cargo from the ship using a diving bell of Spalding's design. The volcano Laki in Iceland begins an 8-month eruption, starting the chain of natural disasters known as the Móðuharðindin, killing tens of thousands throughout Europe, including up to 33% of Iceland's population, and causing widespread famine. It has been described as one of "the greatest environmental catastrophes in European history".

In the 1780s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 20 – At the palace of Versailles, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain.source
  • January 20 - Preliminary peace treaty signed between Britain and SpainSpainsource
  • January 23 – The Confederation Congress ratifies two October 8, 1782, treaties signed by the United States with the United Netherlands.source
  • February 3 – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain acknowledges the independence of the United States of America. At this time, the Spanish government does not grant diplomatic recognition.source
  • February 3 – American Revolutionary War: Britain awards the United States independence. Spain refuses to grant diplomatic recognition to the United States.United Statessource
  • February 4 – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States.source
  • April 3 – A Peace and Commercial Treaty is signed between the newly-formed United States and Sweden in Paris, among the first acts of state concluded between the U.S. and a foreign power.source
  • April 15 – Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War are ratified by the Congress of the Confederation in the United States.source
  • 17 April – the Renunciation Act, is passed by Westminster. It acknowledges the exclusive right of the Parliament of Ireland to legislate for Ireland.Irelandsource
  • April – General George Washington sends a letter to the 13 governors of the Confederation of the United States, regarding the needs of the nation.source
  • May 18 – The first United Empire Loyalists, fleeing the new United States, reach Parrtown in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.source
  • July 16 – Grants of land in Canada to American Loyalists are announced.source
  • July 24 – The Treaty of Georgievsk is signed between Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, making Georgia a protectorate of Russia.source
  • September 3 – Peace of Paris: A treaty between the United States and Great Britain is signed in Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War, in which Britain recognizes the independence of the United States; and treaties are signed between Britain, France, and Spain at Versailles, ending hostilities with the Franco-Spanish Alliance.source
  • September 3 – American independence is formally recognized at the Treaty of Paris.Canadasource
  • 26 September - Industrialist and slave-owner Richard Pennant is created 1st Baron Penrhyn in the county of Lough.Walessource
  • November 3 – The American Continental Army is disbanded as the first act of business by the Confederation Congress, after Thomas Mifflin is elected the new President to succeed Elias Boudinot.source
  • November 25 – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City and George Washington triumphantly returns, three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.source
  • 17 December – George III dismisses the Fox-North Coalition. It is succeeded by a government formed by William Pitt the Younger.United Kingdomsource
  • December 19 – William Pitt the Younger becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.source
  • December 23 – General George Washington resigns his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to the Congress of the Confederation in the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland, and retires to his home at Mount Vernon. Washington's resignation, described by historian Thomas Fleming as "the most important moment in American history," affirms the United States' commitment to the principle of civilian control of the military, and prompts King George III to call Washington "the greatest character of the age."source
  • Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa, the Emir of Zubarah conquers and rules Bahrain. Shaikh Ahmed restores Arab independence and sovereignty over Bahrain and makes the islands his summer residence.source
  • Treaty of Georgievsk - Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti becomes a Russian protectorateRussiasource
  • Elspeth Buchan proclaims herself in Irvine as possessed of heavenly powers, leading to the formation of a Society of Buchanites.Scotlandsource

Conflict & Security

  • 6 February – American Revolutionary War: Spain lifts the Great Siege of Gibraltar.United Kingdomsource
  • February 7 – The Great Siege of Gibraltar is abandoned.source
  • February 26 – The United States Continental Army's Corps of Engineers is disbanded.source
  • March 5 – The last celebration of Massacre Day is held in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • March 5 – Last celebration of Massacre Day in Boston, Massachusetts.United Statessource
  • March 15 – Newburgh Conspiracy: A potential uprising in the Continental Army stationed at Newburgh, New York, is defused, when George Washington asks the officers to support the supremacy of the United States Congress.source
  • 19 March – Zong massacre: the case of a British slave trader who, in 1781, threw approximately 142 slaves overboard to conserve supplies for the remainder, the owners subsequently attempting to reclaim part of their value from insurers, is revealed by Olaudah Equiano to anti-slavery activist Granville Sharp, creating new support for abolitionism.United Kingdomsource
  • April 8 – The Crimean Khanate, which has existed since 1441 and is a late remnant of the Mongol Golden Horde, is annexed by the Russian Empire of Catherine the Great.source
  • April 9–28 – Second Anglo-Mysore War: Siege of Bednore – Tipu Sultan of Mysore with 100,000 troops besieges 1600 British East India Company troops who are obliged to surrender with honours of war.source
  • April 17 – American Revolutionary War: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish garrison under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeats British irregulars at Arkansas Post.source
  • April 17 – American Revolutionary War: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish garrison under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeat British irregulars at Arkansas Post.United Statessource
  • June 1 - Domingo Elizondo, soldier (born 1710)Spainsource
  • June 20 – Continental Army soldiers mob Independence Hall, Philadelphia, demanding back pay from the Congress of the Confederation in the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783. Congress flees to New Jersey.United Statessource
  • November 2 – In Rocky Hill, New Jersey, United States General George Washington gives his Farewell Address to the Army.source
  • 9 December – executions begin to be held in Newgate Prison.United Kingdomsource
  • Annexation of Crimea by the Russian EmpireRussiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • June - Gustav III has plans to conquer the Danish province of Norway, and meet with Catherine the Great in Finland in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade her to end the Russian-Danish alliance.Swedensource
  • August 10 – The British East India Company packet ship Antelope (1781) is wrecked off Ulong Island in the Palau (Pelew) group, resulting in the first sustained European contact with those islands.source
  • 27 September - Gustav III begun his trip to Italy and France.Swedensource
  • Loyalists from New York settle Great Abaco in the Bahamas.source
  • The city of Sevastopol is founded on the Crimean Peninsula of the Russian Empire, by Rear Admiral Thomas MacKenzie.source
  • Pennsylvania Germans begin moving into southwestern Ontario.Canadasource
  • The border between Canada and the U.S. is accepted from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake of the Woods.Canadasource
  • Welsh emigrant Evan Williams founds a whiskey distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, United States, which will still be operating in the 21st century.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • March 2 - Francisco Salzillo, sculptor (born 1707)Spainsource
  • 10 May – John Moore enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.United Kingdomsource
  • 25 June – the Bank of Ireland opens for business in a former private residence at Mary's Abbey off Capel Street in Dublin and begins to issue notes.Irelandsource
  • November 24 – In Spain, the Cedula of Population is signed, stating that anyone who will swear fealty to Spain and is of the Roman Catholic faith is welcome to populate Trinidad and Tobago.source
  • The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is founded by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, as part of the Evangelical Revival.United Kingdomsource

Economy & Finance

  • 1 January – Glasgow Chamber of Commerce is founded by Patrick Colquhoun – the first in Britain.United Kingdomsource
  • 5 March – the Count de Belgioioso, bound from Liverpool to China, founders on the Kish Bank in Dublin Bay in a storm. On 2 June, Scottish diver Charles Spalding and his nephew Ebenezer Watson die in attempting to salvage the £150,000-worth of cargo from the ship using a diving bell of Spalding's design.Irelandsource
  • April 18 – Three-Fifths Compromise: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three-fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), is included in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation (this is later adopted in the 1787 Constitution).source
  • Vermont delays entering the Union, because Congress is partial to New York, and because of the General Government's indebtedness, for which Vermont is not bound.Canadasource
  • The North West Company is formed.Canadasource
  • The Glasgow engraving and publishing firm J. Lumsden and Son, which becomes known for children's books, is founded.Scotlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • October 3 – The first Waterford Crystal glassmaking business begins production in Waterford, Ireland.source
  • 3 October – first Waterford Crystal glassmaking business begins production in Waterford.Irelandsource
  • 21 November First manned hot air balloon flightFrancesource
  • The Evan Williams (bourbon) distillery is founded in Bardstown, Kentucky.source
  • Sevastopol Naval Base completedRussiasource
  • Malo-Kalinkin Bridge (St. Petersburg) builtRussiasource
  • Halbeath Railway opens from the colliery at Halbeath (in the Fife Coalfield) to the harbour at Inverkeithing.Scotlandsource
  • Evan Williams (bourbon) distillery is founded in Bardstown, Kentucky.United Statessource
  • Industrial Revolution: Henry Cort of Funtley, Hampshire, invents the grooved rolling mill for producing bar iron.United Kingdomsource
  • Evan Hughes (Hughes Fawr) - Rhai Hymnau Newyddion o Fawl i'r OenWalessource

Science & Discovery

  • 5 July – HDMS Friderichsværn is launched at Bodenhoffs Plads in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • August 18 – The 1783 Great Meteor passes on a 1,000-mile track across the North Sea, Great Britain and France, prompting scientific discussion.source
  • August 27 – Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert launch the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon, Le Globe, in Paris.source
  • November 21 – In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight (flight time: 25 minutes, Maximum height: 900 m).source
  • November 27 – English rector John Michell concludes that some stars might have enough gravity force to prevent light escaping from them, so he calls them "dark stars".source
  • 27 November – English rector John Michell concludes that some stars might have enough gravity force to prevent light escaping from them, so he calls them "dark stars".United Kingdomsource
  • December 1 – Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert make the first manned flight in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon in Paris.source
  • December 31 – Louis-Sébastien Lenormand makes the first ever recorded public demonstration of a parachute descent, by jumping from the tower of the Montpellier Observatory in France, using his rigid-framed model, which he intends as a form of fire escape.source
  • Princess Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova is elected an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the first female foreign member and its second female member, after Eva Ekeblad.source
  • The first balloon ascent takes place on Leinster House grounds in DublinIrelandsource
  • John Goodricke presents his conclusions that the variable star Algol is what comes to be known as an eclipsing binary to the Royal Society of London.United Kingdomsource
  • Erasmus Darwin begins publication of A System of Vegetables, a translation of Linnaeus in which he coins many common English language names of plants.United Kingdomsource

Health & Medicine

Crime & Justice

  • 7 November – the last public execution at Tyburn, London, is held, of highwayman John Austin for murder.United Kingdomsource
  • Jacob Juel is put in house arrest for embezzlement of the state. It would later turn out to be 556,000 Rdlr, the largest embezzlement in Norwegian history.Norwaysource
  • Vladimir Central Prison foundedRussiasource
  • Julia Ann Hatton - Poems on Miscellaneous SubjectsWalessource

Climate & Environment

  • February 5 – 1783 Calabrian earthquakes: The first of a sequence of five earthquakes strikes Calabria, Italy (February 5–7, March 1 & 28), leaving 50,000 dead.source
  • 1 May: A volcanic eruption started on the Reykjanes ridge and Nýey was formed.Icelandsource
  • June 8 – The volcano Laki in Iceland begins an 8-month eruption, starting the chain of natural disasters known as the Móðuharðindin, killing tens of thousands throughout Europe, including up to 33% of Iceland's population, and causing widespread famine. It has been described as one of "the greatest environmental catastrophes in European history".source
  • August 4 – Mount Asama, the most active volcano in Japan, begins a climactic eruption, killing roughly 1,400 people directly and exacerbating a famine, resulting in another 20,000 deaths (Tenmei eruption).source
  • November 29 – 1783 New Jersey earthquake: An earthquake of 5.3 magnitude strikes New Jersey.source
  • November 29 – The 5.3 Mfa New Jersey earthquake affects the Province of New Jersey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII ("Very strong").United Statessource
  • 1–31 July – the hottest month in the CET series until July 1983 with a mean temperature of 18.8 °C features what is still the highest minimum daily CET for any month at 16.3 °C.United Kingdomsource

Culture & Society

  • 27 January – The Herald newspaper begins publication as the weekly Glasgow Advertiser (with news of the Peace of Paris); it will become the longest continually-published daily in Britain.Scotlandsource
  • 17 March – Installation dinner for the founding of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick by King George III of the United Kingdom takes place in Dublin Castle.Irelandsource
  • May 13 – The Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal organization for American veterans of the American Revolution, is formed in Newburgh, New York.source
  • May 26 – A Great Jubilee Day, celebrating the end of the American Revolution, is held in Trumbull, Connecticut.source
  • May 26 – A Great Jubilee Day is held in Trumbull, Connecticut, to celebrate the end of the American Revolution.United Statessource
  • June 4 or June 5 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their hot air balloon at Annonay, France.source
  • 18 August – Great Meteor passes over the east coast of Britain, sparking reports in the press and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.United Kingdomsource
  • 20 August - Thomas Charles marries Sally Jones and settles in Bala.Walessource
  • August – Robert Burns writes his poem "Now Westlin' Winds" or "Composed in August".source
  • September 9 – Dickinson College is chartered in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.source
  • October 17 – Mozart's Great Mass is first performed, in Salzburg, Austria.source
  • December 4 – At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, U.S. General George Washington formally bids his officers farewell.source
  • In Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Rose Fortune becomes Canada's first policewoman.Canadasource
  • Church of St. Catherine (Saint Petersburg) completedRussiasource
  • Bolshoi Theatre, Saint Petersburg first builtRussiasource

Births

  • January 23 – Stendhal, French writer (died 1842)source
  • February 8 – Charles-Marie Denys de Damrémont, French general, governor-general of French Algeria (died 1837)source
  • April 3 – Washington Irving, American author (died 1859)source
  • April 3 – Washington Irving, author (died 1859)United Statessource
  • April 10 - Francisco de Longa (died 1831 or 1842)Spainsource
  • April 21 – Reginald Heber, English priest (died 1821)source
  • April 26 – Peter Boyle de Blaquière, political figure and first chancellor of the University of Toronto (d.1860)Canadasource
  • May 3 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (died 1858)source
  • May 25 – Philip P. Barbour, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1841)source
  • May 27 – John Crawfurd, Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat and author. Last British Resident of Singapore (died 1868)source
  • May 29 – Benedetto Pistrucci, Italian engraver and medalist (died 1855)source
  • June 19 – Friedrich Sertürner, German pharmacist who discovered morphine in 1804 (died 1841)source
  • June 21 – Theodosia Burr Alston, First Lady of South Carolina during War of 1812, daughter of Aaron Burr (died 1813)source
  • July 24 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan patriot, revolutionary leader and statesman (died 1830)source
  • August 7 – Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom, member of the British Royal Family (died 1810)source
  • September 17 – Nadezhda Durova, first female Russian army officer (died 1866)source
  • September 17 – Samuel Prout, English painter (died 1852)source
  • Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia - daughter of Paul I of RussiaRussiasource

Deaths

  • January 15 – William Alexander, Lord Stirling, American major-general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (born 1726)source
  • February 6 – Capability Brown, English landscape gardener (born 1716)source
  • March 30 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (born 1718)source
  • March 31 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (born 1718)source
  • May 23 – James Otis, American lawyer, patriot (born 1725)source
  • June 2 – Charles Spalding, Scottish inventor and underwater diver, killed in diving bell accident (born 1738)source
  • 6 September - Anna Williams, friend of Dr Johnson, 77?Walessource
  • September 18 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician, physicist (born 1707)source
  • September 18 – Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman, Hebrew scholar (born 1718)source
  • September 28 – Marguerite Gourdan, French procurer (born c. 1730)source
  • October 29 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician (born 1717)source
  • November 15 – John Hanson, American President of the Continental Congress (born 1721)source
  • November 15 – John Hanson, first president of the Continental Congress (born 1721)United Statessource
  • December 15 – Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi, first ruler of Oman of the Al Said dynasty (born 1710)source
  • December 16 – Sir William James, 1st Baronet, British naval commander (born 1720)source
  • December 16 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (born 1699)source
  • Simen Fougner, farmer and writer (born 1701).Norwaysource
  • Tikhon of Zadonsk - bishop, writer, saintRussiasource