1817 CE

The Blanketeers set out to march from Manchester to London; on 11 March, 160 are arrested at Stockport. The General Convention of the Episcopal Church founds the General Theological Seminary while meeting in New York City. Mississippi is admitted as the 20th U.S. state, formerly the Mississippi Territory. (see History of Mississippi). Then Alabama Territory is effective.

In the 1810s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

28 January - The Prince Regent addresses the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament. On leaving the Palace of Westminster, the Prince's carriage is attacked and a window broken.United Kingdom source
16 February - Bernardo O'Higgins is granted dictatorial powers.Chile source
March 3 – The U.S. Congress passes a law to split the Mississippi Territory, after Mississippi drafts a constitution, creating the Alabama Territory, effective in August.source
March 3 – On his last day in office, U.S. President James Madison vetoes John C. Calhoun's Bonus Bill as unconstitutional after it has passed both houses of the U.S. Congress. Stephen Minicucci, Internal Improvements and the Union, 1790–1860, Studies in American Political Development (2004), 18: p.160-185, (2004), Cambridge University Presssource
March 4 – James Monroe is sworn in as the fifth president of the United States, and Daniel D. Tompkins is sworn in as the sixth vice president.United States source
April 29 – The Rush–Bagot Treaty is signed between the United States and the British Empire, limiting the number of warships on the Great Lakes between the U.S. and Canada in the aftermath of settling the War of 1812.source
11 June - Concordat of 11 June 1817.France source
16 June – Poor Law Employment Act empowers the Lord Lieutenant to appoint commissioners of public works to supervise construction of public works to relieve unemployment financed by mortgages of rates.Ireland source
June 22 – King Ferdinand VII of Spain, by royal decree, makes the production and sale of tobacco a legal endeavor in Cuba, thus sparking the birth of the Cuban cigar industry.source
August 15 – By act of the U.S. Congress (March 3), the Alabama Territory is created by splitting the Mississippi Territory in half, on the day the Mississippi constitution is drafted, four months before Mississippi becomes a U.S. state.source
18 October - The Flag of Chile is adopted.Chile source
October 30 – The independent government of Venezuela is established by Simón Bolívar.source
December 10 – Mississippi is admitted as the 20th U.S. state, formerly the Mississippi Territory.source
December 10 – Mississippi is admitted as the 20th U.S. state, formerly the Mississippi Territory. (see History of Mississippi). Then Alabama Territory is effective.United States source
The Rush-Bagot Agreement limits the number of battleships on the Great Lakes to a total of eight.Canada source

Conflict & Security

January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing the Andes from Argentina, to liberate Chile and then Peru.source
January – Hongi Hika leads 800 Ngāpuhi in a fleet of 30 canoes to make peace with the North Cape tribes. He quarrels with tribes at Whangaroa on the way and immediately returns to the Bay of Islands in case they attack the Rangihoua mission in his absence.New Zealand source
February 12 – Battle of Chacabuco: Argentine and Chilean soldiers of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata defeat the Spanish royalist troops in what is now Chile, marking the turning point in the war against European rule of South America.source
12 February - The Battle of Chacabuco is fought, resulting in a Spanish defeat and the Patriot capture of Santiago.Chile source
12 February - Spanish Royal Governor of Chile Francisco Marcó del Pont is captured by Patriot forces after the Battle of Chacabuco.Chile source
4 March – Habeas corpus suspended amidst fears of insurrection (to January 1818).United Kingdom source
June 18 – Henry Perry, a former member of the Republican Army of the North, is defeated near Coleto Creek after leading a force to capture Presidio La Bahía.United States source
June 25 – A large riot breaks out in Copenhagen Prison, and the army is sent to quell it.source
September 11 – The Great Rebellion of 1817-18 begins in Sri Lanka.source
November 5 – Third Anglo-Maratha War breaks out with the Battle of Khadki.source
November 20 – The first Seminole War begins in Florida.source
November – Third Anglo-Maratha War begins and continues through to 1818.India source
Brothers-in-law Charles Gordon and William Carlisle and their wives arrive to bolster the CMS mission at Rangihoua.New Zealand source
First Seminole War (1817–1818)United States source

Exploration & Expansion

January 1 – Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island.source
19 January-13 February - Crossing of the AndesChile source
February 28 – One Goudie and others petition for a monopoly of navigation of Lake Champlain, in Canada, as like U.S. monopolists injure Canadian Commerce, by trading into Canada.Canada source
April 3 – "Princess Caraboo" appears in Almondsbury in Gloucestershire in England, and convinces the local residents that she had come to their town from a far-off island kingdom of "Javasu" in the Indian Ocean. A Portuguese sailor named Manuel Enes soon arrives and says that he speaks her mysterious language, and translates her story of an escape from pirates. After publicity, Princess Caraboo is discovered to be a servant girl from the village of Witheridge in Devon.source
15 October – school of whales seen in the Tay.Scotland source
November 22 – Frédéric Cailliaud discovers the old Mons Smaragdus emerald mines at Sikait, Egypt.source
22 December – The King expedition of 1817, to explore and make a rough survey of the northern and north-west coasts of Australia, departs Sydney.Australia source
David Thompson takes post as chief surveyor for International Boundary Commission.Canada source
Bladnoch distillery founded by John and Thomas McClelland near Wigtown.Scotland source
Approximately 200 Scottish artisan immigrants are brought to the Cape Colony by Benjamin Moodie. Among them is David Hume, who becomes an explorer and big-game hunter.South Africa source
Catherine Hutton - The Welsh MountaineerWales source

Religion & Belief

7 March – Bible Society of New South Wales is formed.Australia source
March 21 – The flag of the Pernambucan Revolt is publicly blessed by the dean of Recife Cathedral, Brazil.source
May 27 – The General Convention of the Episcopal Church founds the General Theological Seminary, while meeting in New York City.source
May – The General Convention of the Episcopal Church founds the General Theological Seminary while meeting in New York City.United States source
November – Thomas Chalmers, in a sermon, appeals for a Christian effort to deal with the social condition of Glasgow.Scotland source
6 December - Joseph Tregelles Price advertises Neath Abbey ironworks for sale.Wales source
The Icelandic Literary Society published their first book which contained Sturlunga saga together with Saga Árna biskups Þorlákssonar.Iceland source
Madras Regulation Act 1817 brings temples in Madras Presidency under East India Company.India source
St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen, opened as St Andrew's Chapel within the Episcopal Church.Scotland source
A Dutch Reformed Church is established in Uitenhage.South Africa source

Economy & Finance

March 3 – President James Madison vetoes John C. Calhoun's Bonus Bill.United States source
March - A riot breaks out in Amlwch over food prices, and a ship carrying flour is prevented from leaving the harbour.Wales source
8 April – Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales is established.Australia source
2 June - The Ministry of Finance is established.Chile source
National income - ₹11,450 millionIndia source
Teaninich distillery founded by Hugh Munro at Alness.Scotland source

Technology & Infrastructure

February 7 – Baltimore becomes the first U.S. city with public street gas lighting.United States source
February 18 – Mr. McCord reads a petition for the deepening of the St. Lawrence.Canada source
April 15 – The American School for the Deaf opens in Hartford, Connecticut.source
26 May – completion of Royal Canal throughout from Dublin to the River Shannon at Tarmonbarry.Ireland source
June 12 – German inventor Karl Drais drives his dandy horse ("Draisine" or Laufmaschine), the earliest form of bicycle, in Mannheim.source
12 June – German inventor Karl Drais drives his dandy horse ("Draisine" or Laufmaschine), the earliest form of bicycle, in Mannheim.Germany source
18 June – Waterloo Bridge opens in London.United Kingdom source
July 4 – At Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins in the U.S. to link the Hudson River to Lake Erie, with the long-range goal of making the first navigable waterway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, and reducing the amount of time and costs for transporting goods westward past the Appalachian mountains.source
10 July – David Brewster patents the kaleidoscope.Scotland source
October 17 – The frigate HMS Trincomalee is launched in Bombay for the British Royal Navy. She will still be afloat two centuries later.source
November 3 – The Bank of Montreal opens in Montreal.source
Governor Lachlan Macquarie directs that a new fort, named Fort Macquarie, be built on a site at Bennelong Point.Australia source
Approximate date - Britain's longest tramroad tunnel is opened at Pwll du near Blaenavon. The Pwll Du Tunnel is more than a mile (2400 m) in length. Begun as a mineral adit, at this time it carries a horse-drawn double track plateway of approximately 2 ft (600 mm) gauge carrying material for Blaenavon Ironworks; next summer it will be incorporated in Thomas Hill's Tramroad, connecting to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal.Wales source

Science & Discovery

January – The Black Dwarf is first published in London as a satirical radical unstamped newspaper by journalist Thomas Jonathan Wooler.United Kingdom source
22 July - Windham Sadler succeeds in crossing the Irish Sea by hot air balloon, landing near Holyhead.Wales source
21 December – Lachlan Macquarie recommends the adoption of the name Australia for the continent instead of New Holland.Australia source
The post of Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow is established by King George III.Scotland source

Health & Medicine

11 January – Hannah King Hansen (later Letheridge, then Clapham) is born at Oihi, Rangihoua Bay. She is the second female European child born in New Zealand. Her gravestone at Christ Church in Russell claims she was the first female child, and she is certainly the first female child to attain her majority and whose subsequent history is known. (see 1815)New Zealand source
June 12 – Tradesman Jeffery Sedwards establishes the Skibbereen Abstinence Society in Ireland, considered the first organisation devoted to teetotalism in Europe.source
11 July – an act to provide for the establishment of asylums for the lunatic poor in Ireland.Ireland source
30 September – national fever committee appointed to distribute government relief to victims of the typhus epidemic (October 1816–December 1819).Ireland source
The first cholera pandemic originates in Bengal, reaching Calcutta by September.source
A typhus epidemic occurs in Edinburgh and Glasgow.source
Nova Scotia population estimated at 78,345.Canada source
c. July – tradesman Jeffery Sedwards establishes the Skibbereen Abstinence Society, considered the first organisation devoted to teetotalism in Europe.Ireland source

Crime & Justice

10 March – The Blanketeers set out to march from Manchester to London; on 11 March, 160 are arrested at Stockport.United Kingdom source
10 October – Bushranger Michael Howe is caught in Van Diemen's Land, but escapes after killing his captors.Australia source
October John Gibson arrives in Rome to study sculpture with help from Antonio Canova.Wales source
20 November - O'Higgins authorizes privateers to engage as commerce raiders against the Spanish.Chile source
11 December – William Tucker (see 1815) returns to Otago Harbour from Hobart on the Sophia, Captain Kelly, with other intending settlers. They later land at Whareakeake but Tucker and 2 others are killed and eaten, probably as part of the War of the Shirt (see 1810). In retaliation Kelly fires on the Māori, killing as many as 70, and destroys the kāinga (village) at nearby Otakou. The beach is subsequently given the name Murdering Beach.New Zealand source
The school at Rangihoua has a roll of 70, half boys, half girls, ranging in age from 7 to 17.New Zealand source
Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh, demolished.Scotland source
AmaMthethwa chief Dingiswayo captured & executed by AmaNwandwe chief Zwide.South Africa source

Disasters & Accidents

1 March – suffocating fumes in the Leadhills lead mine kill seven.Scotland source

Climate & Environment

20 January – HMS Jasper is wrecked in the vicinity of Plymouth Sound by hurricane-force winds with the loss of 65 lives.United Kingdom source
April 15 – An earthquake strikes Palermo in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.source
July 4 – 1817 Santiago del Estero earthquake. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Argentina's Santiago del Estero Province.source
August 23 – An earthquake near the site of the ancient Greek city of Helike results in 65 deaths.source
Famine in Newfoundland due to poor postwar economy.Canada source

Culture & Society

January 20 – Ram Mohan Roy and David Hare found Hindu College, Calcutta, offering instructions in English on Western subjects, including other European languages.source
25 January – The Scotsman is first published in Edinburgh as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyer William Ritchie and customs official Charles Maclaren.Scotland source
16 February – Förlofningen by Dorothea Dunckel has its premier at the Aurora ordens teater.Sweden source
1 June - The Legion of Merit of Chile is established by Bernardo O'Higgins to recognize personal merit.Chile source
17 June - Gowri Parvati Bayi, regent of Travancore announces state funding for Education.India source
14 July - Robert Williams composes the famous hymn-tune Llanfair (formerly named Bethel).Wales source
August 22 – The town of Araraquara, Brazil, is founded.source
August 26 – The University of Michigan is founded in the U.S., initially near the intersection of Bates Street and Congress Street in Detroit. It will move its campus to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1837.source
October 9 – The University of Ghent opens in Belgium.source
October 31 – Emperor Ninkō accedes to the throne of Japan.source
The 300th anniversary of the Reformation is commemorated with a medal designed by Salomon Ahron Jacobson.Denmark source
The Miss Schultz School is founded. It was the first school for girls in Bergen, the biggest city in Norway in 1817.Norway source
John Neal published Keep Cool, A Novel, the first American work of fiction to use natural diction.United States source

Births

8 January – Theophilus Shepstone, British administrator in South Africa is born in Westbury-On-Trym near Bristol, England.South Africa source
February 19 – King William III of the Netherlands (died 1890)source
March 9 – Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, Dominican independence activist and founding father of the Dominican Republic (died 1861)source
March 22 – Braxton Bragg, American Confederate general (died 1876)source
April 15 – Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford (died 1893)source
13 June - Antonio Varas (died 1886)Chile source
June 30 – Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist (died 1911)source
July 12 – Henry David Thoreau, American philosopher (died 1862)source
July 29 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter (died 1900)source
August 3 – Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen, Austrian general (died 1895)source
August 4 – Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, 29th United States Secretary of State (died 1885)source
August 24 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (died 1875)source
September 6 – Mihail Kogălniceanu, 3rd Prime Minister of Romania (died 1891)source
October 17 – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Bahadaur), Indian founder of the Two Nation Theory for a future Pakistan (died 1898)source
24 October - José Luís Mena Barreto (died 1879)Brazil source
November 12 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian founder of the Bahá'í Faith (died 1892)source
November 12 – Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith.Iran source
November 30 – Theodor Mommsen, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1903)source

Deaths

January 1 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist who discovered uranium (1789), zirconium (1789), and cerium (1803) (born 1743)source
1 January – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist who discovered uranium (1789), zirconium (1789), and cerium (1803) (born 1743)Germany source
January 11 – Timothy Dwight IV, American educator, theologian (born 1752)source
12 February - Ildefonso Elorreaga (born 1782)Chile source
April 4 – André Masséna, French marshal (born 1758)source
June 18 – Leonard Neale, American Catholic bishop (born 1746)source
June 24 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence (born 1734)source
June 24 – Thomas McKean, lawyer, President of the Continental Congress, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence (born 1734)United States source
July 14 – Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, French writer (born 1766)source
July 18 – Jane Austen, English novelist (born 1775)source
July 24 – Karađorđe Petrović, Serb leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire, founder of the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty (born 1768)source
October 15 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, exiled Polish general, nationalist (born 1746)source
November 6 – Princess Charlotte of Wales, heir presumptive to the British throne (born 1796)source
November 6 – Princess Charlotte of Wales, the daughter and only child of the Prince Regent George and granddaughter of King George III, dies hours after giving birth to a stillborn son. Her death, tremendously mourned by the British, throws the succession to the British throne into doubt.source
November 14 – Policarpa Salavarrieta, Colombian spy, revolutionary who worked for the independence of Colombia (born 1795)source
November 23 – James Glenie, army officer, military engineer, businessman, office holder, and politician (b.1750)Canada source
December 7 – William Bligh, British admiral (born 1754)source
December 15 – Usman dan Fodio, founder of Sokoto caliphate (born 1754)source