1808 CE

English chemist Humphry Davy informs the Royal Society of London of his isolation and discovery of two elements by electrolysis. From lime, he has produced calcium and established that lime is calcium oxide; by heating boric acid and potassium in a copper tube, he creates a substance he calls boracium, which is eventually called boron. This year he also isolates magnesium and strontium. The Congress of Erfurt, between the emperors Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia, begins. The Congress of Erfurt, between the emperors Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia, begins.

In the 1800s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – The importation of slaves into the United States is formally banned, as the 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves takes effect. However Americans still continue the slave trade by transporting Africans to Cuba and Brazil.source
  • January 1 – Sierra Leone becomes a British Crown Colony.source
  • 1 January – Sierra Leone becomes a British Crown Colony.United Kingdomsource
  • January 22 – Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil: John (Dom João), Prince Regent, and the Braganza royal family of Portugal arrive in their colony of Brazil in exile from the French occupation of their home kingdom.source
  • February 21 – Russia issues an ultimatum to Sweden, to join Napoleon's Continental System against the United Kingdom.source
  • March 7 – Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil: The Portuguese royal court arrives in Rio de Janeiro, making it the centre of the Portuguese Empire.source
  • March 19 – Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII.source
  • May 6 – Ferdinand VII is forced to abdicate as King of Spain by Napoleon. This effectively ends the Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808) as the United Kingdom allies with Spain and Portugal against the French in the Peninsular War.source
  • July 8 – Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain, during the Peninsular War.source
  • 30 August – Peninsular War: Convention of Sintra signed, by which the defeated French are allowed to evacuate their troops from Portugal without further conflict.Francesource
  • September 27 – The Congress of Erfurt, between the emperors Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia, begins.source
  • 27 September – Congress of Erfurt, between Emperor Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I of Russia begins.Francesource
  • 27 September – The Congress of Erfurt, between the emperors Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia, begins.Germanysource
  • November 8 – 1808 United States presidential election: James Madison defeats Charles C. Pinckney, winning 122 electoral votes to Pinckney's 47. Ten of the 17 states choose their electors by popular vote; the rest choose through state legislatures. George Clinton, who is separately elected as vice president, gets six electoral votes for president.source
  • November – James Madison defeats Charles C. Pinckney in the U.S. presidential election.United Statessource
  • December 1 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia proclaims Finland a part of Russia.source
  • The settlement of Clanwilliam is establishedSouth Africasource
  • George Ponsonby becomes de facto first (whig) Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons.United Kingdomsource
  • Benjamin Hall is given the Abercarn estate by his father-in-law, Richard Crawshay.Walessource

Conflict & Security

  • January 26 – Rum Rebellion: On the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the colony of New South Wales, disgruntled military officers of the New South Wales Corps (the "Rum Corps") overthrow and imprison Governor William Bligh and seize control of the colony.source
  • February 6 – The ship Topaz (from Boston April 5, 1807, hunting seals) "rediscovers" the Pitcairn Islands; only one HMS Bounty mutineer is still alive, John Adams, who is using the pseudonym Alexander Smith.source
  • February 6 – The ship Topaz (from Boston April 5, 1807, hunting seals) rediscovers the Pitcairn Islands; only one HMS Bounty mutineer is found alive, Alexander Smith (John Adams).United Statessource
  • February 21 – The Finnish War begins as Russian troops cross the border into Finland without a declaration of war.source
  • March 2 – A minor naval battle which takes place off the coast of Scarborough results in the capture of the Danish brig Admiral Yawl, commanded by Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen.source
  • March 2 – Russian troops occupy Helsinki and threaten Sveaborg.source
  • 2 March – Action of 2, a naval battle between the British 18-gun Brig-sloop HMS Sappho, and the Danish 28-gun Danish brig of war Admiral YawlDenmarksource
  • March 13 – Upon the death of Christian VII, Frederick VI becomes king of Denmark. The next day (March 14), Denmark declares war on Sweden.source
  • 14 March – Denmark-Norway declares war on Sweden.Norwaysource
  • March 22 – English Wars (Scandinavia): Battle of Zealand Point – British ships defeat those of Denmark and Norway.source
  • May 2 – Peninsular War: Dos de Mayo Uprising – The people of Madrid rise up against the French troops.source
  • May 3 – Finnish War: The fortress of Sveaborg is lost by Sweden to Russia.source
  • June 12 – Finnish War: A landing of Swedish troops at Ala-Lemu, near Turku, fails.source
  • June 15–August 14 – Peninsular War: First siege of Zaragoza – Spanish resist the French.source
  • June 19 – Finnish War: A second landing of Swedish troops at Ala-Lemu fails.source
  • June 30 – Finnish War – Battle of Turku: The Swedish archipelago fleet defeats the Russians.source
  • July 14 – Finnish War: Swedish troops under Colonel Adlercreutz force the Russians to withdraw in Lapua.source
  • July 22 – Peninsular War: Battle of Bailén: French General Dupont surrenders to Spanish irregular forces.source
  • August 10 – Finnish War: Swedish troops under Carl von Döbeln defeat a Russian attack in Kauhajoki.source
  • August 17 – The Finnish War: the Battle of Alavus is fought.source
  • August 17 – Peninsular War: Battle of Roliça: A British-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats an outnumbered French army under General Henri Delaborde.source
  • August 21 – Peninsular War: Battle of Vimeiro – British-Portuguese troops under Wellesley defeat the French under General Jean-Andoche Junot.source
  • September 1–2: Battle of Ruona–SalmiRussiasource
  • September 13 – Finnish War – Battle of Jutas – Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero.source
  • September 29 – Finnish War: A truce is declared between Swedish and Russian troops in Finland.source
  • November 7-December 5 - Siege of Roses (1808)Spainsource
  • November 15 – Mahmud II (1808–1839) succeeds Mustafa IV (1807–1808), as sultan of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • November 23 – Peninsular War: Battle of Tudela: French forces under Marshal Jean Lannes defeat a Spanish army.source
  • November 30 – Peninsular War: Battle of Somosierra: A French cavalry charge of the Polish Chevau-léger (some 8,000 horsemen) of the Imperial Guard under Baron Jan Kozietulski overwhelm the Spanish positions at Somosierra. The victory removes the last obstacle barring the road to Madrid.source
  • The Upper Canada Militia Act 1808 states that all males between ages of sixteen and sixty are required to enroll as militiamen and are to be called out once a year for exercisesCanadasource
  • Napoleonic Wars: English raiders arrived, after sinking or capturing most of the Danish-Norwegian Navy in the Battle of Copenhagen, the amount of gunpowder in Iceland was so small that the governor of Iceland, Count Trampe, could not offer any resistance.Icelandsource
  • Either 1807 or early this year, Ngāpuhi are defeated at the battle of Moremonui at Maunganui Bluff. Although armed with a few muskets the Ngā Puhi are ambushed by Murupaenga, leader of Ngāti Whātua, who successfully takes advantage of the time taken to reload the muskets. The fighting chief of Ngāpuhi, Pokaia, is killed as are 2 of Hongi Hika's brothers. After this Hongi becomes the war leader of Ngāpuhi.New Zealandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 2 February – William Paterson sails to Sydney from Port Dalrymple, Van Diemen's Land to take over the administration of New South Wales following the removal of Bligh.Australiasource
  • 18 February – First recorded rescue using the Manby Mortar when the crew of the Plymouth brig Elizabeth stranded off Great Yarmouth are hauled safely to shore under the direction of Captain Manby.United Kingdomsource
  • March 1 – The slave trade is abolished by the United Kingdom in all of its colonies as the Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect. This year, the British Royal Navy establishes the West Africa Squadron on the coast of West Africa to enforce the abolitionist Blockade of Africa.source
  • 26 September – Te Pahi returns to the Bay of Islands on the Commerce.New Zealandsource
  • November 12 – Four large French frigates under the command of Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, including the Venus, are sent to operate from Isle de France (Mauritius) against British trade in the Indian Ocean, triggering the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811.source
  • David Thompson explores Kootenay River.Canadasource
  • The British naturalist William Hooker traveled around Iceland for the first time.Icelandsource
  • Either 1807 or this year Charlotte Badger, from the Venus, is presumed to have left New Zealand, after at least twice refusing passage to Port Jackson. A woman fitting her description is sighted in Tonga nearly 10 years later.New Zealandsource
  • Moravian missionaries receive Groenekloof farm for work among freed slaves & Khoikhoi.South Africasource
  • Twelve-year-old Charles Nice Davies goes to serve in India as an ensign.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • January – Christopher Anderson begins missionary work in The Pleasance district of Edinburgh, which will lead to his taking over the Charlotte Chapel.Scotlandsource
  • 2 February – French troops occupy Papal States (Vatican).Francesource
  • 15 February – Laying of the foundation stone for Nelson's Pillar in Dublin.United Kingdomsource
  • April 24 – Irish Dominican R. Luke Concanen is consecrated first bishop of the newly erected Roman Catholic Diocese of New York (appointed April 8) but is unable to sail from Italy to America before his death in 1810 due to restrictions caused by the Napoleonic Wars.United Statessource
  • 30 October - William Lort Mansel is consecrated Bishop of Bristol.Walessource
  • The Legislative Assembly of Quebec criticizes the swearing-in of Ezekiel Hart because he is of Jewish faith, and votes his expulsion.Canadasource
  • Thomas Kendall applies to the Church Missionary Society to be a missionary/settler in New Zealand.New Zealandsource

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves (1807) comes into effect: The importation of slaves into the United States is banned; this is also the earliest day under the United States Constitution that an amendment can be made restricting slavery.United Statessource
  • April 6 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.source
  • April 6 – John Jacob Astor founds the American Fur Company.United Statessource
  • 6 June – the Bank of Ireland moves its premises to the former Irish Houses of Parliament on College Green, Dublin.Irelandsource
  • October 12 – Banco do Brasil, a major financial group in South America, founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.source
  • The American Fur Company is chartered by John Jacob Astor to compete with Canadian fur tradeCanadasource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 11 – Anthracite coal is first burned as fuel by Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; the discovery leads to the use of coal as the key fuel source of America's Industrial Revolution.United Statessource
  • 27 May – the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway becomes the first railway line in Scotland to be authorised by Act of Parliament.Scotlandsource
  • 20 July – Henry Crabb Robinson makes the first despatch from a specialist war reporter, to The Times newspaper.United Kingdomsource
  • October – Thomas Telford's Dunkeld–Birnam bridge is opened to road traffic.Scotlandsource
  • Late this year or early 1809 the Unity, Captain Daniel Cooper, is probably the first identifiable European ship to visit Otago Harbour. For a while the harbour is called 'Port Daniel' by visiting sealers. Hooper's Inlet, on the seaward side of the Otago Peninsula is named for the Unitys First Officer Charles Hooper.New Zealandsource
  • The Russian Messenger magazine begins publicationRussiasource
  • Construction of Fort Constantin beginsRussiasource
  • Construction of the Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee by Thomas Telford.Walessource

Science & Discovery

  • June 30 – English chemist Humphry Davy informs the Royal Society of London of his isolation and discovery of two elements by electrolysis. From lime, he has produced calcium and established that lime is calcium oxide; by heating boric acid and potassium in a copper tube, he creates a substance he calls boracium, which is eventually called boron. This year he also isolates magnesium and strontium.source
  • 30 June – Chemist Humphry Davy informs the Royal Society of London of his isolation and discovery of two elements by electrolysis. From lime, he has produced calcium and established that lime is calcium oxide; by heating boric acid and potassium in a copper tube, he creates a substance he calls boracium, and which is eventually called boron. This year he also isolates magnesium and strontium.United Kingdomsource
  • 19 November - The naval frigate HMS Owen Glendower is launched.Walessource
  • December 9 – At 20:34 UTC, Mercury occults Saturn (there are no observation records).source
  • German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss publishes Theorematis arithmetici demonstratio nova, introducing Gauss's lemma in the third proof of quadratic reciprocity.Germanysource
  • Mary Leadbeater's Poems published.Irelandsource
  • William Blackwood begins publication of the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, edited by David Brewster.Scotlandsource
  • John Dalton begins publication of A New System of Chemical Philosophy, explaining his atomic theory of chemistry.United Kingdomsource

Health & Medicine

  • 10 July – The Commerce arrives in Port Jackson. Te Pahi arrives ill and is unable to meet Governor Bligh formally in any case as the latter is under house arrest.New Zealandsource
  • The Perseverance Tavern opens in Cape Town, becoming South Africa's oldest pub by the time it closes in 2020.South Africasource

Crime & Justice

  • 12 January – John Rennie's scheme to defend St Mary's Church, Reculver in south east England, founded in 669, from coastal erosion is abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture.United Kingdomsource
  • 26 January – John Macarthur is arrested sparking the Rum Rebellion. Military officers supporting Macarthur arrest Governor Bligh.Australiasource
  • 29 February – A French column, disguised as a convoy of wounded, takes Barcelona by convincing the authorities to open the city's gates.Francesource
  • August - Jämtland Campaign of 1808Swedensource
  • 31 December – The Saksebøl Slaughter.Norwaysource
  • The Rijksmuseum moves from The Hague to Amsterdam, where it is located temporarily at the Royal Palace.source
  • Late May/June – Te Pahi, with three of his sons, travels to Port Jackson on the Commerce to complain to Governor of New South Wales Bligh about the kidnapping of his daughter and her husband by Captain Dalrymple.New Zealandsource
  • By John Heathcoat for a bobbinet lace machine.United Kingdomsource
  • Robert Davies (Bardd Nantglyn) - Ieithiadur neu Ramadeg CymraegWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 11 – In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Jesse Fell becomes the first known person to burn anthracite coal as residential heating fuel.source
  • May(?) – The schooner Parramatta, Captain John Glenn, calls at the Bay of Islands in distress. When local Māori ask for payment for the food they have supplied to the ship they are thrown overboard and fired upon. On leaving the Bay the ship is wrecked on rocks near Cape Brett. All the crew are killed and the ship plundered.New Zealandsource
  • 20 September – The original Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London is destroyed by fire along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts. Rebuilding begins in December.United Kingdomsource
  • 20 September - The White Book of Hergest is destroyed in a fire at Covent Garden.Walessource
  • December 20 – The original Covent Garden Theatre in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.source
  • The Ruabon Brook Tramway is extended from Acrefair to the Plas Madoc Colliery in Plasbennion.Walessource

Climate & Environment

  • A volcano erupts from an unknown location in the western Pacific. This causes a localized drop in marine air temperatures during this year and a worldwide drop in marine air temperature for the following decade.source

Culture & Society

  • 5 January - The first issue of The North Wales Gazette is printed at Bangor.Walessource
  • 22 January – The Bragança Portuguese Royal Family arrives in Brazil, having fled the French army.Francesource
  • 28 January – The first issue of the newspaper Tiden was published in Christiania (now Oslo).Norwaysource
  • March 2 – The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh (preliminary meeting January 12).source
  • 2 March – inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society is held in Edinburgh under the presidency of Prof. Robert Jameson.Scotlandsource
  • 2 March – Inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a Scottish learned society, held in Edinburgh.United Kingdomsource
  • 13 March: Frederick VI becomes King, following the death of his father Christian VII.Icelandsource
  • September 27 - October 14: Congress of ErfurtRussiasource
  • December 22 – Beethoven concert of 22 December 1808: Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and plays piano in a marathon benefit concert, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, consisting entirely of first public performances of works by him, including Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 6, Piano Concerto No. 4 and Choral Fantasy.source
  • 22 December – Beethoven concert of 22 December 1808: Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and plays piano in a marathon benefit concert, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, consisting entirely of first public performances of works by him, including Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 6, Piano Concerto No. 4 and Choral Fantasy.Germanysource
  • Goethe's Faust, Part One (Faust. Eine Tragödie, erster Teil) is published in full in Tübingen.source
  • Prussian philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte publishes his Addresses to the German Nation, having delivered them over the winter at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin before crowded audiences.source
  • The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich is given the title of Royal Academy of Fine Arts by King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.source

Births

  • January 5 – Mohammad Shah Qajar, third king of Qajar dynasty, was born in Tabriz, Iran.Iransource
  • January 13 – Salmon P. Chase, American politician, Chief Justice of the United States (died 1873)source
  • January 19 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (died 1887)source
  • 31 January - Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff, the 2nd president of the Orange Free State from 1855 to 1859, is born in Kogmanskloof, Montagu.South Africasource
  • February 26 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator and sculptor (died 1879)source
  • April 13 – Antonio Meucci, Italian-born inventor (died 1889)source
  • April 20 – Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (died 1873)source
  • May 9 – John Scott Russell, Scottish civil engineer (died 1882)source
  • May 22 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer (died 1855)source
  • June 3 – Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States (died 1889)source
  • June 13 – Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, French general and politician, first president of the Third Republic (1875–1879) (died 1893)source
  • June 17 – Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian author (died 1845)source
  • June 20 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (died 1888)source
  • 20 June – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (died 1888)Germanysource
  • 26 July (In England): Frederic Carrington, surveyor and politician.New Zealandsource
  • October 6 – King Frederick VII of Denmark (died 1863)source
  • November 1 – John Taylor, American Mormon leader (died 1887)source
  • December 29 – Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (died 1875)source

Deaths

  • January 4 – Prince Benedetto, Duke of Chablais, Italian general in the French Revolution (born 1741)source
  • January 5 – Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, Russian soldier and statesman (born 1737)source
  • February 14 – John Dickinson, American lawyer, governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (born 1732)source
  • March 13 – King Christian VII of Denmark (born 1749)source
  • May 2 - Pedro Velarde y Santillán and Luis Daoíz y TorresSpainsource
  • May 3 – The Madrid rebels who rose on May 2 are executed near the hill of Príncipe Pío (Goya paints the fight and the execution in 1814).source
  • May 18 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor (born 1738)source
  • May 28 – Richard Hurd, English bishop, writer (born 1720)source
  • 19 June – Alexander Dalrymple, who had strongly opposed the establishment of New South Wales in A Serious Admonition to the Public on the Intended Thief-Colony at Botany Bay (London, 1786).Australiasource
  • September 5 – John Home, Scottish writer (born 1722)source
  • September 13 – Saverio Bettinelli, Italian writer (born 1718)source
  • September 17 – Benjamin Bourne, American politician (born 1755)source
  • September/October – The King George, Captain Richard Siddons, visits the Bounty Islands and finds the sealing gang, including Ruatara, left there by the Santa Anna the previous year. 3 of the gang have died from hunger and thirst. The King George provides some provisions.New Zealandsource
  • October 1 – Carl Gotthard Langhans, German architect (born 1732)source
  • 1 October – Carl Gotthard Langhans, German architect (born 1732)Germanysource
  • November 3 – Theophilus Lindsey, English theologian (born 1723)source
  • November 10 – Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, British soldier, governor of Quebec (born 1724)source
  • November 17 – David Zeisberger, Moravian missionary (born 1721)source