1819 CE

An informal agreement was written between the Temenggong and the British and the Union Jack is raised with a little ceremony. June 21 – The French slave ship Le Rodeur sails from Bonny in West Africa to Guadeloupe in the West Indies. In the course of the transatlantic voyage many onboard become blind, and 30 slaves are thrown overboard as a consequence. The Rann of Kutch earthquake, estimated at at least 7.7 Mw kills at least 1,543 people in India in what is now the state of Gujarat at the Arabian Sea, causing an 80 - 150 km stretch of land to be raised as much as 6 m and creating a natural dam, the Allahbund.

In the 1810s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

30 January – An informal agreement was written between the Temenggong and the British and the Union Jack is raised with a little ceremony.Singapore source
February 6 – The Treaty of Singapore, is signed between Hussein Shah of Johor and Sir Stamford Raffles of Britain, to create a trading settlement in Singapore.source
February 15 – The United States House of Representatives agrees to the Tallmadge Amendment, barring slaves from the new state of Missouri (the opening vote in a controversy that leads to the Missouri Compromise).source
February 22 – Adams–Onís Treaty: Agreement is reached for Spain to cede Florida (already under USA's domination) to the United States in exchange for renunciation of American claims on Texas arising from the Louisiana Purchase, American payment of $5 million to settle citizens' claims regarding Florida, and definition of international borders. Following ratification, the treaty takes effect in 1821.source
April 7 (N.S.) (March 26 O.S.) – The Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire emancipates its peasants from serfdom.source
22 June – Act of Parliament to abolish private appeals following acquittals in criminal cases and to abolish trial by combat, in the aftermath of Ashford v Thornton (1818).England source
24 July – Governor Macquarie appoints Butler a justice of the peace for New Zealand.New Zealand source
20 September – Carlsbad Decrees are issued throughout the German ConfederationGermany source
October 13 – A treaty is entered between the Raja of Cutch Deshalji II, and East India Company, placing the Cutch State under Company rule.source
December 14 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.source
December 17 – The Republic of Gran Colombia is formally established, with Simón Bolívar as its first president.source
Cape Breton Island is annexed to Nova Scotia.Canada source
Ehrenreich Christopher Ludvig Moltke takes over the role of Governor of Iceland, replacing Johan Carl Thuerecht von Castenschiold.Iceland source
The 5th Cape Frontier War endsSouth Africa source

Conflict & Security

1 February – Sultan Hussein (then known as Tungku Long) arrives from Riau.Singapore source
23 February - Battle of MesamávidaChile source
12 May – Trial begins in Paris of Marie André Cantillon and Joseph Stanislas Marinet accused of involvement in the plot to assassinate the Duke of Wellington the previous February. Both men are ultimately acquitted.France source
August 2 – The first Hep-Hep riots, communal pogroms against Ashkenazi Jews in the German Federation begin at Würzburg in Bavaria. They continue until October with many Jews killed.source
August 7 – Battle of Boyacá: Simón Bolívar is victorious over the Royalist Army in Colombia. Colombia acquires its definitive independence from Spanish rule.source
August 16 – Peterloo Massacre: A yeomanry unit charges into a crowd of radical protesters in Manchester, England, resulting in 15 deaths and over 600 injuries.source
16 August – Peterloo Massacre in St. Peter's Field, Manchester: a cavalry charge into a crowd of radical protesters results in eleven deaths and over 400 injuries.England source
September 20 – The Carlsbad Decrees are issued throughout the German Confederation in response to the March assassination of August von Kotzebue, suppressing liberal and nationalist views.source
September – Antisemitic riots in Copenhagen.Denmark source
November 2 – Bagyidaw is crowned as Emperor of Burma, at the imperial capital of Inwa.source
November 3 – The USS Congress becomes the first American warship to visit China, landing at Lintin Island, off of the coast of Canton.source
November 3 – The USS Congress, commanded by Captain John D. Henley, becomes the first U.S. warship to visit China, landing at Lintin Island off of the coast of Canton.United States source
November 25 – A British expeditionary force reaches Ras Al Khaimah in the Persian Gulf, preparatory to the bombardment and invasion of the town, which led to the signing of the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 between the British and what were to become known as the Trucial States.source
Te Rauparaha joins a Ngāpuhi attack on Ngāti Maru in Taranaki. The Ngāpuhi have enough muskets to soon win several battles (the Ngāti Maru have never seen muskets before) and capture a number of pa before continuing on to Cook Strait. When they pass through Kawhia on their return the Ngāpuhi give the Ngāti Toa some muskets. Later in the year Ngāti Toa (possibly led by Te Rauparaha) return to the Cook Strait region looking for a new place to settle as they are under severe pressure from Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto at Kawhia.New Zealand source
AmaZulu under Shaka defeat AmaNdwandwe at Gqokoli Hill.South Africa source

Exploration & Expansion

27 January – The Indiana, together with the Discover and the Investigator with William Farquhar surveying the possibility of the Karimun Islands as a new British site. After a discussion, they decided that it was not suitable.Singapore source
February 19 – Captain William Smith sights Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, the first land discovered south of latitude 60° S.source
19 February – William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic.England source
April 6–June 21 – The French slave ship Le Rodeur sails from Bonny in West Africa to Guadeloupe in the West Indies. In the course of the transatlantic voyage many onboard become blind, and 30 slaves are thrown overboard as a consequence.source
6 April–21 June - French slave ship Le Rodeur sails from Bonny in West Africa to Guadeloupe in the West Indies; in the course of the transatlantic voyage all onboard become blind, and slaves are thrown overboard as a consequence.France source
May 22 – The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrives at Liverpool, England, nearly a month later, on June 20, although only a fraction of the trip is made under steam.source
May 22 – The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrives at Liverpool, England on June 20.United States source
17 June – Leigh returns to New South Wales. While in New Zealand he has conceived the idea of establishing a Wesleyan mission to the Māori. He returns to England before the end of the year with this proposition in mind. His report to Marsden leads to the appointment of John Gare Butler to head the second Church Missionary Society mission.New Zealand source
July 21 – Explorer William Parry, sailing in the Arctic in a quest for the Northwest Passage through North America, guides the ships HMS Hecla and HMS Griper through an iceberg-laden passage that will later be named the Parry Channel.source
August – three ships set out from Oban carrying migrants to Canada.Scotland source
October 15 – Desolation Island, in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic, is discovered by Captain William Smith.source
The United States African Slave Trade Patrol is founded to stop the slave trade on the coast of West Africa.source
A British Arctic expedition under William Parry, comprising HMS Hecla and HMS Griper, reaches longitude 112°51' W in the Northwest Passage, the furthest west which will be attained by any single-season voyage for 150 years.source
Denmark's first steamship, SS Caledonia, a paddle steamer bought used in England, begins operations as a mail steamer between Copenhagen and Kiel.Denmark source
Scottish-born London India merchant John Christie purchases a substantial tract of the Great Forest of Brecknock from the Crown.Wales source

Religion & Belief

12 August – Marsden arrives in New Zealand on the General Gates on his second visit accompanied by Butler and James Kemp and their families. Marsden accepts the offer of land at Kerikeri from Hongi Hika to start the second Church Missionary Society mission. Butler will be in charge. He is the first resident ordained clergyman in New Zealand.New Zealand source
September – Thomas Chalmers becomes first minister of St John's Parish Church in Glasgow where he puts into practice his model evangelical ideas for alleviating the material and spiritual poverty generated by industrialisation by fostering independence through personal contact, parochial care and the establishment of schools.Scotland source
Publication of William Parnell's Maurice and Berghetta, or, the priest of Rahery: a tale anonymously in London.Ireland source
Brora distillery is established as "Clynelish" by the Marquess of Stafford at Brora.Scotland source
The publisher Collins is founded as a printer of religious literature in Glasgow by William Collins.Scotland source
Dutch Reformed Church congregations are founded in Beaufort West and Somerset WestSouth Africa source
William Owen Pughe – Coll Gwynfa (translation of Milton's Paradise Lost)Wales source

Economy & Finance

January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, begins.source
January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major financial crisis in the United States, begins.United States source

Technology & Infrastructure

20 March – Burlington Arcade opens in London.England source
13 April – The Mansfield and Pinxton Railway, a wagonway, opens for coal traffic.England source
14 May – the first all iron-hulled vessel, the barge Vulcan, is launched on the Monkland Canal at Faskine, Airdrie for use as a horse-drawn passenger boat between Edinburgh and Glasgow on the Forth and Clyde Canal.Scotland source
2 July – Cotton Mills and Factories Act passed, a first attempt to regulate employment of young children in textile mills.England source
17 August–1 October – English poet Robert Southey joins civil engineer Thomas Telford on a tour of his Scottish projects. A replacement Highbridge near Spean Bridge, designed by Telford, is built this year.Scotland source
August 25 – Salon of 1819 opens in Paris. Amongst the exhibits is The Raft of the Medusa.source
August – Thomas Telford begins construction of the Menai Suspension Bridge.Wales source
The city of Fernandina de Jagua (later Cienfuegos) is founded in Cuba.source
Robert Bamford Hesketh begins construction of Gwrych Castle.Wales source
The embankment on Telford's Holyhead Road through the Nant Ffrancon Pass is completed.Wales source

Science & Discovery

January 29 – Sir Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.source
March 1 – The U.S. naval vessel USS Columbus is launched in Washington, D.C.United States source
July 1 – German astronomer Johann Georg Tralles discovers what will be called the Great Comet of 1819.source
1 July – German astronomer Johann Georg Tralles discovers what will be called the Great Comet of 1819Germany source
9 November – Marsden leaves at the end of his second visit.New Zealand source
December 17 – The new astronomical observatory of Capodimonte in Naples starts operating. The astronomer Carlo Brioschi made the first observation by measuring the position of ⍺ Cassiopeiae.source

Health & Medicine

9 April – 7 June: Select Committee of the House of Commons inquires into the state of disease and condition of the poor in Ireland. Typhus epidemic continues.Ireland source
5 May – Samuel Leigh arrives on the Active to recuperate from ill-health at Samuel Marsden's invitation.New Zealand source

Crime & Justice

Early – Denis Johnson of London markets his "pedestrian curricle", a form of dandy horse, velocipede or kick scooter.source
Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa (Le Radeau de la Méduse) is first exhibited at Salon of 1819 in Paris.France source
13/14 July – uxoricide of Ellen Scanlan (née Hanley, the "Colleen Bawn") and dumping of her body in the River Shannon.Ireland source

Climate & Environment

June 16 – The Rann of Kutch earthquake, estimated at at least 7.7 Mw kills at least 1,543 people in India in what is now the state of Gujarat at the Arabian Sea, causing an 80 - 150 km stretch of land to be raised as much as 6 m and creating a natural dam, the Allahbund.source
31 August – A significant earthquake (estimated M5.9±0.2) struck near Lurøy in Northern Norway.Norway source
Ngqika-Cape alliance collapses as Gov. Somerset claims land between Fish & Keiskamma Rivers as a buffer zone.South Africa source

Culture & Society

January 25 – Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia.source
February 2 – The Supreme Court under John Marshall rules in favor of Dartmouth College in the famous Dartmouth College v. Woodward case, allowing Dartmouth to keep its charter and remain a private institution.United States source
April 21 – In a period of about a month starting today during his "Living Year", English poet John Keats writes "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and most of his major odes.source
May 22 – The city of Memphis, Tennessee, is founded.source
May: enactment of the Serre laws, which governed press freedom for much of the nineteenth centuryFrance source
13 June – Highland Clearances: Strathnaver clearances resume on the estates of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, enforced by factor Patrick Sellar with burning of crofts.Scotland source
July 24 – A cabinet meeting is convened by British Prime Minister Lord Liverpool to discuss a report of an adulterous affair involving the wife of George, Prince of Wales, the regent for his ailing father King George III. Despite reports that Princess Caroline is involved with her servant, Bartolomeo Pergami, the cabinet concludes that the trial of Caroline for adultery would be an embarrassment to the nation.source
24 July – A cabinet meeting convened by Prime Minister Lord Liverpool discusses an investigative report of an adulterous affair involving Caroline of Brunswick (wife of the regent George, Prince of Wales) and her servant Bartolomeo Pergami; the cabinet concludes that the trial of Caroline for adultery would be an embarrassment to the nation.England source
August 6 – Norwich University is founded by Captain Alden Partridge in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.source
5 September - Hans Christian Andersen arrives in Copenhagen for the first time.Denmark source
November 19 – The Museo del Prado opens in Madrid. Initially, it has 311 significant paintings.source
Printing of Klausturpósturinn, Iceland's first monthly publication moves moves from Beitistaðir to the Viðey printing house.Iceland source
Morgenbladet, the first Norwegian daily newspaper, was released for the first time.Norway source
Major eisteddfodau are held at Carmarthen and Denbigh. The Gorsedd tradition (begun by Iolo Morganwg) becomes formally linked with the eisteddfod at Carmarthen.Wales source

Births

February 8 – John Ruskin, English writer, artist, and social critic (died 1900)source
February 22 – James Russell Lowell, American poet, essayist (died 1891)source
April 4 – Queen Maria II of Portugal (died 1853)source
April 4 - Maria II, Queen of PortugalBrazil source
19 April - Hermógenes Irisarri (died 1886)Chile source
May 24 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (died 1901)source
May 27 – Julia Ward Howe, American abolitionist and poet (died 1910)source
May 31 – Walt Whitman, American poet (died 1892)source
June 10 – Gustave Courbet, French painter (died 1877)source
June 20 – Jacques Offenbach, German-born French composer (died 1880)source
August 1 – Herman Melville, American novelist (died 1891)source
August 13 – Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Irish mathematician, physicist (died 1903)source
August 26 – Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Consort to Queen Victoria (died 1861)source
September 13 – Clara Schumann, German composer, pianist (died 1896)source
17 September - Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, the first president of the South African Republic and founder of Pretoria, is born on the farm Pretoriuskloof in the Graaff-Reinet district of the Cape ColonySouth Africa source
October 20 – The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábi Faith (died 1850)source
November 22 – George Eliot, British novelist (died 1880)source
? – Báb, founder of Bábism and, according to the Baháʼís, predecessor of Baháʼu'lláh.Iran source

Deaths

January 20 – King Charles IV of Spain (born 1748)source
March 10 – Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, German philosopher (born 1743)source
March 23 – In Mannheim, Duchy of Baden, German dramatist August von Kotzebue is assassinated by Karl Ludwig Sand.source
23 March – In Mannheim, Duchy of Baden, German dramatist August von Kotzebue is assassinated by Karl Ludwig Sand.Germany source
March – Nonosabasut, Beothuk (indigenous Canadian) leadersource
April 15 – Oliver Evans, American inventor, engineer and businessman (born 1755)source
April 15 – Oliver Evans, inventor and pioneer in the fields of automation and steam power (born 1755)United States source
May 8 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (born 1738)source
13 May - Margaret Catchpole, Adventuress and chronicler.Australia source
July 1 – the Public Universal Friend, American preacher (born 1752)source
July 6 – Sophie Blanchard, French aeronaut (born 1778)source
August 23 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer (born 1785)source
August 25 – James Watt, Scottish inventor (born 1736)source
September 12 – Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian general (born 1742)source
September 18 – John Langdon, American Founding Father (born 1741)source
October 26 – Thomas Johnson, American politician and jurist (born 1732)source
November 7 – Caleb Strong, American politician (born 1745)source
Date unknown - Ignacio de la CarreraChile source