1799 CE

Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars. Battle of Seringapatam: British forces defeat the Sultan of Mysore; his kingdom is divided between the Honourable East India Company and Hyderabad. War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Novi – the defeat of Barthélemy Joubert's army by Suvorov's Austrian–Russian troops.

In the 1790s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 21 – The Parthenopean Republic is established in Naples by French General Jean Étienne Championnet; King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies flees.source
  • January 30 – Congress passes the Logan Act, forbidding unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments, in response to George Logan's unofficial attempt to negotiate peace between the U.S. and France.United Statessource
  • March 1 – Federalist James Ross becomes President pro tempore of the United States Senate.source
  • June 13 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies is restored to his kingdom following the collapse of the Parthenopean Republic.source
  • 12 July – the Combination Act is passed by Parliament to outlaw trade unions.Scotlandsource
  • September 23 – Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, the Governor of British Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka), issues a proclamation declaring that the laws of the Netherlands for the conquered Dutch Ceylon shall be enforced until superseded by new laws.source
  • 16 October – Evan Pritchard (Ieuan Lleyn), David Thomas (Dafydd Ddu Eryri) and Griffith Williams (Gutyn Peris) are "ordained" bards of the province of Gwynedd by Iolo Morganwg.Walessource
  • 18 October – Five settlers are found guilty of killing aborigines in the Hawkesbury, they are later pardoned.Australiasource
  • October 18 - Convention of AlkmaarRussiasource
  • December 10 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.source
  • Vermont answers Indian chiefs, in Canada, that their claims were extinguished by treaties of 1763 and 1783 between France, Great Britain and the United States.Canadasource
  • The Alþingi is held for the first time in Reykjavík. The assembly was held in Hólavallarskóli.Icelandsource
  • On 25 October 1799, Serfoji II of Thanjavur cedes the State of Thanjavur to the East India Company, receiving in return an annual income of a lakh of Pagodas.Indiasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 27 – French Revolutionary Wars: Macau Incident – French and Spanish warships encounter a British Royal Navy escort squadron in the Wanshan Archipelago of China inconclusively.source
  • February 9 – Quasi-War: In the single-ship action of USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente in the Caribbean, the American ship is the victor.source
  • 15 February – the rebel guerilla leader Michael Dwyer escapes from a gun battle with British troops at Miley Connell's cottage, Dernamuck, in the Glen of Imaal, County Wicklow. (today called the Dwyer–McAllister Cottage)Irelandsource
  • February – Fries's Rebellion, an armed tax revolt among Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, begins as John Fries organizes meetings to discuss a collective response to the taxes imposed to raise funds for the Quasi-War.United Statessource
  • March 4 – The Russo-Ottoman Siege of Corfu (1798–1799) ends with the surrender of the French garrison, bringing an end to the first period of French rule in the Ionian Islands (1797–1799).source
  • March 7 – War of the Second Coalition: Siege of Jaffa – Napoleon captures Jaffa in Palestine from the Ottomans and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.source
  • March 21 – War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Ostrach.source
  • March 23 – War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Franjo Jelačić and the Austrian army over the French army of André Masséna at the Battle of Feldkirch.source
  • March 25 – War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Stockach (1799), a key crossroads at the western end of Lake Constance.source
  • April 16 – French Revolutionary Wars: At the Battle of Mount Tabor severely outnumbered French forces repulse an Ottoman attack.source
  • April 27 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Cassano takes place outside of Milan, as Russian and Austrian troops commanded by General Alexander Suvorov rout the French Army under the command of General Jean Moreau.source
  • May 4 – Battle of Seringapatam: Tipu Sultan is defeated and killed by the British, ending the captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam ends and concluding the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.source
  • 4 May – Battle of Seringapatam: British forces defeat the Sultan of Mysore; his kingdom is divided between the Honourable East India Company and Hyderabad.United Kingdomsource
  • May 21 – The Siege of Acre ends after two months; Napoleon's attempt to widen his Middle Eastern campaign into Syria is frustrated by Ottoman forces, and he withdraws to Egypt.source
  • May 27 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Winterthur – Habsburg forces secure control of north-east Switzerland from the French Army of the Danube.source
  • June 7 – War of the Second Coalition: First Battle of Zurich – Four days of fighting ends in victory for Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army under André Masséna.source
  • June 17 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of the Trebbia – The beginning of the battle that marked the debacle of Étienne Macdonald's French army. Suvorov scores a comprehensive victory.source
  • June 17–19 - Battle of Trebbia (1799)Russiasource
  • June 18 – French Revolutionary Wars: Action of 18 June 1799 – A French frigate squadron, under Rear-admiral Perrée, is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith, off Toulon.source
  • June – the last militia regiments in the Highland Fencible Corps are raised at about this time, but most are disbanded this year.Scotlandsource
  • July 12 – Ranjit Singh captures Lahore from the Bhangi Misl, a key step in establishing the Sikh Empire, and becoming Maharaja of the Punjab.source
  • July 25 – Battle of Abukir: French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte defeat 20,000 Ottoman Mamluk troops under Mustafa Pasha at Abukir. The French suffer only 220 dead and 600 wounded while the Ottoman losses are enormous: 2,000 dead on the battlefield, 11,000 men drowned, 5,000 prisoners of war. Napoleon captures 100 Ottoman banners, 32 guns, 400 horses and three Pashas' Bunchuks (ceremonial flags issued to Pasha).source
  • August 15 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Novi – the defeat of Barthélemy Joubert's army by Suvorov's Austrian–Russian troops.source
  • August 23 – Napoleon Bonaparte leaves the command of the French army (some 10,000 men) to General Jean-Baptiste Kléber. He secretly embarks on the frigate Muiron in a small French flotilla – with Alexandre Berthier, Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes – and several of his servants to France. Kléber reads a proclamation to the troops: "My soldiers, extraordinary circumstances have persuaded me to return, for the benefit of France."source
  • August 27 – War of the Second Coalition: Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland – Britain and Russia send an expedition to the Batavian Republic.source
  • August 30 – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Vlieter Incident – A squadron of the Batavian Republic's navy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Samuel Story, surrenders to the British Royal Navy, under Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell, near Wieringen, without joining action.source
  • September 18 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Mannheim – Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over a French force under Jacques Léonard Mullersource
  • September 30 – Suvorov's Swiss campaign: Battle of Muottental – the rout of Masséna's French troops by Suvorov's army.source
  • 5 November – Hunter is recalled and Philip Gidley King is named as his successorAustraliasource
  • November 9 – Coup of 18 Brumaire: Napoleon overthrows the French Directory in a coup d'état, which ends the French Revolution.source
  • American competition for West Indies trade kills Liverpool, Nova Scotia's merchant fleet.Canadasource
  • The French Revolutionary Wars resumed, with a number of campaignsFrancesource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 7 January – Bass and Flinders complete their circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land in sloop Norfolk.Australiasource
  • 8 July – Matthew Flinders leaves Port Jackson to explore the East coast in sloop Norfolk; he surveys Moreton Bay between the 15th and 31st and charts Hervey Bay on 2 August. He returns to Sydney on 20 August.Australiasource
  • July 15 – In the Egyptian port city of Rosetta, French Captain Pierre Bouchard finds the Rosetta Stone.source
  • July/August – Iolo Morganwg travels to North Wales to collect material for the Myvyrian Archaiology.Walessource
  • Conrad John Reed, 12, finds what he describes as a "heavy yellow rock" along Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and makes it a doorstop in his home. Conrad's father John Reed learns that the rock is actually gold in 1802, initiating the first gold rush in the United States.source
  • George Vancouver's Journeys to the North Pacific Ocean published in LondonCanadasource
  • Alexander Baranov establishes Russian post known today as Old Sitka; trade charter grants exclusive trading rights to the Russian American Company.Canadasource
  • Italian and Swiss expedition of 1799Russiasource
  • 15–19 August – A combined French and Spanish fleet stands off the south west coast of England.United Kingdomsource
  • Baptist leader and colonist Morgan John Rhys moves to Somerset County, Pennsylvania.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • September 29 – The Second Roman Republic, a puppet state formed by the French Army after they dissolve the Papal States and the occupation of Rome, is dissolved 19 months after its creation on February 15, 1798.source
  • November 10 (19 Brumaire) – A remnant of the Council of Ancients in France abolishes the Constitution of the Year III, and ordains the French Consulate with Napoleon as First Consul, with the Constitution of the Year VIII.source
  • November 30 – 1799–1800 Papal conclave opens in Venice at San Giorgio Monastery.source
  • 14 December – The office of Lord High Chancellor of Sweden is abolished for the final time.Swedensource
  • Handsome Lake, a Seneca chief, founds the Longhouse religionCanadasource
  • King Christian VII appointed a committee to make recommendations for improvements in the affairs of Hólar School.Icelandsource
  • George Buchanan's De Jure Regni apud Scotos (1579) is translated by Robert Macfarlan as A Dialogue Concerning The Rights of the Crown in Scotland.Scotlandsource
  • The Roman Catholic seminary for the Vicariate Apostolic of the Lowland District is transferred from Scalan to Aquhorthies College by George Hay, the Vicar Apostolic.Scotlandsource
  • The Religious Tract Society is established as an evangelical publisher in Paternoster Row, London; as The Lutterworth Press the imprint continues into the 21st century.United Kingdomsource

Economy & Finance

  • January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's effort in the French Revolutionary Wars.source
  • 9 January – Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.Scotlandsource
  • July 8 - Ukase of 1799 founding Russian-American Company and delineating Russian claims.Russiasource
  • July 8 – The Russian-American Company is founded.United Statessource
  • December 31 – The Dutch East India Company's charter is allowed to expire by the Batavian Republic.source
  • The Place Royale in Paris is renamed Place des Vosges, when the Department of Vosges becomes the first to pay new Revolutionary taxes.source
  • The small town of Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada is founded.source
  • Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island – Philip Gidley KingAustraliasource
  • Alexander Mackenzie resigns from North West CompanyCanadasource
  • Russian-American Fur Company chartered; launches aggressive policy in Aleutians and on Northwest Coast.Canadasource
  • The coffee manufacturer Friele is established in Bergen.Norwaysource
  • The Llandovery Bank is established, as W & D Jones & Co. Commonly known as the "Black Ox Bank" or "Banc yr Eidon", it is one of the earliest banks established in Carmarthenshire.Walessource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • October – Anthony Bushby Bacon and his brother Thomas take over the Hirwaun ironworks. Thomas sells his interest in the Plymouth ironworks to the Hill family.Walessource
  • William Cockerill begins building cotton-spinning machinery in Belgium.source
  • Eli Whitney, holding a 1798 United States government contract for the manufacture of muskets, is introduced by Oliver Wolcott Jr. to the concept of interchangeable parts, an origin of the American system of manufacturing.source
  • North West Company establishes a fur post at Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. The nearby Hudson's Bay Company fur post which is also established at this time is called Acton House.Canadasource
  • Frankenthal Porcelain Factory closed by the French forces.Germanysource
  • River Shannon made navigable from Limerick to Killaloe.Irelandsource
  • Inverbervie Old Bridge (over the Bervie Water), designed by James Burn, is completed.Scotlandsource
  • Eli Whitney, holding a January 1798 U.S. government contract for the manufacture of muskets, is introduced by Oliver Wolcott Jr. to the French concept of interchangeable parts, an origin of the American system of manufacturing.United Statessource
  • Carolina Gold Rush: 12-year-old Conrad John Reed finds what he describes as a "heavy yellow rock" along Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina and makes it a doorstop in his home. Conrad's father John Reed learns that the rock is actually gold in 1802, initiating the first gold rush in the U.S.United Statessource
  • The Crumlin Arm of the Monmouthshire canal, with Fourteen Locks, is completed. It leaves the main line at Crindau, rising 358 feet (109m) through 32 locks to Crumlin (including the Cefn flight of Fourteen Locks).Walessource

Science & Discovery

  • February 7 – Marc Isambard Brunel leaves the United States.United Statessource
  • April 10 – Ellicott's Stone is placed by a U.S.-Spanish survey party headed by Andrew Ellicott.United Statessource
  • October 12 – Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute, from an altitude of 900 m over France.source
  • William Wallace becomes the first to publish the concept of the Simson line in mathematics.Scotlandsource
  • The quarterly periodical Trysorfa Ysprydol is launched by Thomas Charles.Walessource
  • Japanner John Pyrke relocates to Usk from London.Walessource

Health & Medicine

  • February 7 – The Jiaqing Emperor of China comes into his full powers on the death of his father, the Qianlong Emperor. He prosecutes corrupt court official Heshen and issues a decree prohibiting the import of opium to China.source
  • 12 July – The Combination Act to outlaw trade unions.United Kingdomsource

Crime & Justice

  • 12 March – Isaac Nichols is accused of stealing stolen goods and sentenced to 14 years on Norfolk Island; his sentence is suspended by Governor Hunter on 1 AprilAustraliasource
  • October 16 – War of the Second Coalition: Action of 16 October 1799 – A Spanish treasure convoy worth more than £54,000,000 is captured by the British Royal Navy off Vigo.source
  • 16 October – Action of 16 October 1799: A Spanish treasure convoy worth more than £600,000 is captured by the Royal Navy off Vigo.United Kingdomsource
  • Governor of New South Wales – John HunterAustraliasource
  • Inspector of Public Works – Richard AtkinsAustraliasource
  • John Sevier, governor of Tennessee, writes of the alleged discovery of six skeletons in brass armour bearing the Welsh coat-of-arms.Walessource
  • Ann Hatton and her husband take a lease on Swansea Bathing House.Walessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 11 February – The jail in Sydney is burned by arsonists.Australiasource
  • 13 June – Colliers Act ("An Act to explain and amend the Laws relative to Colliers in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland") frees coal miners from bondage to their employers, the last vestige of serfdom in Scotland.Scotlandsource
  • October 9 – HMS Lutine (a famous treasure wreck) is sunk in the West Frisian Islands.source
  • 9 October – Sinking of HMS Lutine, a famous treasure wreck, in the West Frisian Islands.United Kingdomsource
  • 23 October – The River Severn ferry at The Tuckies, Jackfield, Shropshire capsizes and 28 workers from Coalport China Works are drowned.United Kingdomsource
  • November 5 – HMS Sceptre is driven ashore and wrecked in a storm in Table Bay, South Africa, with the loss of 349 and 41 survivors.source
  • 5 November – HMS Sceptre is wrecked in a storm in Table Bay, South Africa, with the loss of 349 and 41 survivors.United Kingdomsource
  • 25 December – HMS Ethalion is wrecked off the Penmarks.Walessource
  • 28 December – The jail in Parramatta is lost to arson.Australiasource

Climate & Environment

  • 3 March – Hawkesbury River floods, killing one.Australiasource
  • Two cases are filed challenging slavery in New Brunswick: R v Jones and R v Agnew.Canadasource
  • Following the failure of the Pembrokeshire fish harvest, Richard Fenton imports grain from the Mediterranean to relieve the plight of local people.Walessource

Culture & Society

  • March 14 – The public premiere of Haydn’s oratorio The Creation takes place at the Burgtheater in Vienna.source
  • March 29 – New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state.source
  • 12 July – Unlawful Societies Act to outlaw clandestine radical societies and require a printer's imprint on all published material.United Kingdomsource
  • David Thompson marries Charlotte SmallCanadasource
  • Hilchen Sommerschild became the first female teacher in Norway.Norwaysource
  • Philip Yorke – The Royal Tribes of WalesWalessource

Births

Deaths

  • February 7 – Qianlong Emperor of China (born 1711)source
  • February 12 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist, physiologist (born 1729)source
  • February 24 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German scientist, satirist, and Anglophile (born 1742)Germanysource
  • February 28 – French Revolutionary Wars: Action of 28 February 1799 – British Royal Navy frigate HMS Sybille defeats the French frigate Forte off the mouth of the Hooghly River in the Bay of Bengal, but both captains are killed.source
  • May 4 – Tipu Sultan, Indian warrior and ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, killed in battle (born 1750)source
  • May 18 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French writer (born 1732)source
  • May 26 – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish jurist (born 1714)source
  • June 6 – Patrick Henry, American revolutionary politician, Governor of Virginia (born 1736)source
  • June 10 – Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Guadeloupe-born French musician (born 1745)source
  • August 2 - Vasily Bazhenov, architect (born 1737 or 1738)Russiasource
  • August 5 – Richard Howe, British admiral (born 1726)source
  • August 29 – Pope Pius VI (born 1717)source
  • October 24 – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Austrian composer (born 1739)source
  • December 6 – Joseph Black, Scottish physician, physicist and chemist (born 1728)source
  • December 14 – George Washington, first President of the United States, dies at Mount Vernon, Virginia, aged 67.source
  • December 14 – George Washington, military leader of the American Revolution, president of the Constitutional Convention (1787) and 1st President of the United States (born 1732)source
  • December 14 – George Washington, first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797 (born 1732)United Statessource
  • Storming of Seringapatam and death of Tipu Sahib.Indiasource