1821 CE

Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824): King Badi VII of Sennar surrenders his throne and realm without a fight to Ismail Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of the Funj Sultanate in Sudan. Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state (see History of Missouri). History of the Dominican Republic: On the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, General José Núñez de Cáceres ends the España Boba era of Spanish rule in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo by establishing the Republic of Spanish Haiti. It will last for three months before being invaded by Haiti.

In the 1820s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January - General Extraordinary and Constituent Courts of the Portuguese NationPortugalsource
  • 3 February – Sir Thomas Brisbane is commissioned as Governor to succeed Macquarie. He replaces Macquarie on 1 December of the same year.Australiasource
  • May 12 – Congress of Laibach finally ends having overseen the successful Austrian intervention in Italy. A planned Congress of Verona in 1822 is agreed as the next meeting.source
  • July 4 – Return of John VI from Brazil to Portugal who approves on that day the Bases da Constituição.source
  • 20 July – Grass is sown for the first time in New Zealand, on land cleared from fern at Kerikeri.New Zealandsource
  • 27 July – Sir Thomas Phillipps is created a baronet.Walessource
  • July 28 – Argentine general José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire.source
  • August 10 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.source
  • August 10 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state (see History of Missouri).United Statessource
  • August 24 – The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico, ratifying the Plan of Iguala of February 24 for Mexico's independence from Spain and, although not recognised by the latter, effectively concludes the Mexican War of Independence.source
  • August 30 – At the Congress of Cúcuta, the Republic of Gran Colombia (a federation covering much of present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) is established, with Simón Bolívar as the founding President, and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president.source
  • September 4 (O.S.)/September 16 (N.S.) – Ukase of 1821: Russia proclaims territorial sovereignty over Northwestern North America, modern-day Alaska.source
  • September 15 – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica gain independence from Spain by the Act of Independence of Central America. On October 29, the newly independent First Mexican Empire proposes that Guatemala should be annexed with it.source
  • September 27 – The Army of the Three Guarantees enters Mexico City, and the following day the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain is proclaimed, following the Mexican War of Independence.source
  • September 28 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is ratified.Mexicosource
  • November 28 – Panama declares independence from Spain, joining Gran Colombia.source
  • No foreigners allowed in Russian-American waters, except at regular ports of call.Canadasource
  • The town of Lillesand is founded.Norwaysource

Conflict & Security

  • 2 February – Cinderloo Uprising: Shropshire Yeomanry fire on a crowd of miners striking over a pay cut in the Coalbrookdale Coalfield, killing three.United Kingdomsource
  • February 10 – In Mexico, the Embrace of Acatempan takes place between Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero, which seals the peace between the viceroyalty troops and the insurgents.source
  • 16 February – John Scott, editor of The London Magazine, is fatally wounded in a duel fought over a literary dispute near the Chalk Farm Tavern just outside London.United Kingdomsource
  • February 24 – Army of the Three Guarantees formedMexicosource
  • February 28 – Congress of Laibach formally comes to an end. However the leading participants remain as fresh uprisings break out in Northern Italy and Greece.source
  • March 7 – The Battle of Rieti is fought in Italy between intervening Austrian forces and Neapolitan rebels.source
  • March 21 – Austrian forces under Johann Frimont enter Naples and restore the authority of Ferdinand I.source
  • May 8 – Greek War of Independence: At the Battle of Gravia Inn, a 120-man Greek force led by Odysseas Androutsos repulses an Ottoman army of 8,000.source
  • June 7 (O.S.)/June 19 (N.S.) – Battle of Drăgășani, Wallachia: The Filiki Eteria are decisively defeated by the Ottomans.source
  • June 14 – Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824): King Badi VII of Sennar surrenders his throne and realm without a fight to Ismail Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of the Funj Sultanate in Sudan.source
  • June 24 – Battle of Carabobo: Simón Bolívar wins Venezuela's independence from Spain.source
  • August 7 (O.S.)/August 19 (N.S.) – Navarino massacre: Greek rebels massacre 3,000 inhabitants of the city of Navarino.source
  • 5 September – Hongi Hika and 2000 Ngā Puhi, armed with 1000 muskets, lay siege to Mauinaina pā at Tamaki. The pā is taken and the inhabitants massacred.New Zealandsource
  • September 23 (O.S.)/October 5 (N.S.) – The Siege of Tripolitsa ends when Greek rebels capture the city of Tripoli, Greece; the massacre of 8,000 civilians follows. (Greek forces under the command of General Theodoros Kolokotronis have besieged the city for several months during the Greek War of Independence from Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.)source
  • 9-10 October - Battle of las Vegas de SaldíasChilesource
  • December 1 – History of the Dominican Republic: On the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, General José Núñez de Cáceres ends the España Boba era of Spanish rule in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo by establishing the Republic of Spanish Haiti. It will last for three months before being invaded by Haiti.source
  • Prince Ludwig I of Bavaria, wishing to build a monument to German unity and heroism (and the defeat of Napoleon), commissions Leo von Klenze to build a replica of the Parthenon on a bluff overlooking the Danube River near Regensburg, the Walhalla memorial.Germanysource
  • Late in the year Hongi Hika and Ngā Puhi lay siege to the Ngāti Maru pā at Te Totara (Thames), but after 2 days they make peace with the defenders and withdraw. They return that night and take the pā without difficulty.New Zealandsource
  • Te Rauparaha and Ngāti Toa move south from Kawhia to resettle in Taranaki after several defeats by Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto.New Zealandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 28 – Alexander Island, the largest in Antarctica, is first discovered by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.source
  • 12 July – Thomas Kendall, Hongi Hika and Waikato arrive back in the Bay of Islands from their trip to England. While in England they have helped to compile a Maori dictionary, met King George IV who gave Hongi a suit of armour, and Hongi has acquired a number of muskets (his primary purpose).New Zealandsource
  • August 21 – Jarvis Island is discovered in the Pacific by the crew of the Eliza Frances.source
  • 6 October - Cochrane sails to California.Chilesource
  • October 8 (O.S.)/October 20 (N.S.) – Tsar Alexander I of Russia issues an imperial ukase guaranteeing freedom of commerce in Russia by merchants from Persia.source
  • November 16 – American Old West: The Santa Fe Trail is first used by William Becknell.source
  • November 16 – American Old West: The Santa Fe Trail is used for the first time by a White American, William Becknell.United Statessource
  • December 6 – The South Orkney Islands are discovered by seal hunters George Powell and Nathaniel Palmer.source
  • Wool export in Australia - 75,400 pounds.Australiasource
  • History of Liberia – The first groups of freed slaves from the U.S. arrive in modern-day Liberia and found Monrovia.United Statessource

Religion & Belief

  • March 25 (O.S.)/April 6 (N.S.) – Metropolitan bishop Germanos of Patras raises the revolutionary flag of Greece at the Monastery of Agia Lavra (according to oral tradition), symbolically marking the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire; later celebrated as Greece's traditional Independence Day.source
  • April 10 (O.S.)/April 22 (N.S.) – Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is blamed by the Ottoman government for being unable to suppress Greek independence, and is hanged outside the main gate of the Patriarchal Cathedral immediately after the celebration of Pascha.source
  • 29 October – Governor Macquarie lays foundation stone for first Catholic church in Australia, St Mary's.Australiasource
  • 9 December - The Cementerio General de Santiago is established.Chilesource
  • The only two issues of Der Bibel'sche Orient appear in Munich (April 24 and August 12).Germanysource
  • Loreto Abbey established by Sisters of Loreto at Rathfarnham.Irelandsource
  • The London Missionary Society mission station at Kuruman, Northern Cape is started by Robert MoffatSouth Africasource
  • Joseph Harris (Gomer) – Casgliad o Hymnau (collection of hymns)Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • 7 May – Bank of England returns to the gold standard.United Kingdomsource
  • July – The Hudson's Bay Company merges with archrivals, the Montreal-based North West Company, creating unemployment for a substantial proportion of their Métis workforce.Canadasource
  • Parramatta Marist High School, Australia's first private school, founded by John Joseph Therry.Australiasource
  • Whitely Stokes publishes a critique of Thomas Malthus's reflections on Ireland: Observations on the population and resources of Ireland, Dublin, Joshua PorterIrelandsource
  • Elizabeth Fry and others establish the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners, an early example of a national women's organisation.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 15 January – Sumburgh Head Lighthouse in Shetland, designed by Robert Stevenson, is first illuminated.Scotlandsource
  • 1 March – The first gas street lighting in Wales is installed at Swansea.Walessource
  • July 17 – Construction of the Lachine Canal in Montreal begins.Canadasource
  • 31 July – Opening of the Eau Brink Cut, improving the outfall of the River Great Ouse at King's Lynn in Norfolk. Engineers working on the project included John Rennie the Elder, Thomas Telford and Thomas Hyde Page.United Kingdomsource
  • 14 August – Trinity Chain Pier opens at Trinity, Edinburgh.Scotlandsource
  • The town of Al-Ubayyid, Sudan is established.source
  • The Female Factory, for women convicts, is separated from the Parramatta Gaol. Many women are selected as brides or for domestic service.Australiasource
  • Metal Man seamark erected at Rosses Point.Irelandsource
  • Construction of the Kerikeri Mission House is started.New Zealandsource

Science & Discovery

  • January 21 – Peter I Island in the Antarctic is first sighted, by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.source
  • The publisher T&T Clark is established in Edinburgh by Thomas Clark.Scotlandsource
  • William Hooker (botanist) publishes Flora Scotica; or, A description of Scottish plants.Scotlandsource
  • Benjamin Lundy publishes the first issue of his abolitionist newspaper, Genius of Universal Emancipation.United Statessource

Health & Medicine

  • January 26 – Congress of Laibach convenes to deal with outstanding international issues, particularly the outbreak of a revolution in southern Italy.source
  • 28 May – The national census is the first to measure age distribution and reveals that almost half of the population is under twenty years old. Over the preceding decade in England and Wales the population has increased by 18%.United Kingdomsource

Crime & Justice

  • March – Port Macquarie, a penal settlement, was established for convicts that had committed secondary crimes in New South Wales.Australiasource
  • 18 July – thief David Haggart is hanged in Edinburgh, aged 20, for the murder of a Dumfries tolbooth keeper in 1820, leaving an autobiography, The life of David Haggart, and phrenologist George Combe's Phrenological observations on the cerebral development of David Haggart.Scotlandsource
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 31Germanysource
  • Thomas Fasting became the first individual ever convicted in an impeachment trial by the Norwegian Constitutional Court of the Realm (Riksrett).Norwaysource
  • David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr) – Cywydd y DilywWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 28 December – Sandycove lifeboat disaster – four lifeboatmen drown attempting to rescue Ellen of Liverpool.Irelandsource

Climate & Environment

Culture & Society

  • February 9 – Columbian College in the District of Columbia is chartered by President James Monroe (it becomes George Washington University).source
  • February 9 – The George Washington University is chartered as The Columbian College of the District of Columbia by President James Monroe.United Statessource
  • May 5 – The first edition of the Manchester Guardian newspaper (from 1959 simply The Guardian) is published in England.source
  • 21 May – The so-called Copenhagen Mythological Competition is announced via advertisements in several Copenhagen newspapers.Denmarksource
  • 27 June – The Philosophical Society of Australasia is established. It would be renamed as the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1866 at the request of Queen Victoria.Australiasource
  • July 19 – George IV is crowned King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. His estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick, is turned away from the ceremony.source
  • 1 August - The Nobility of Norway is abolished.Norwaysource
  • 13 September – King George IV of the United Kingdom visits Brecon on his return from Ireland.Walessource
  • September 18 – Amherst College is founded in Massachusetts.source
  • 16 October – the School of Arts of Edinburgh, a predecessor of Heriot-Watt University, is established by Leonard Horner for the education of working men.Scotlandsource
  • December 15 – The world's first geographical society, the Société de géographie, is established in Paris.source
  • Widener University is founded in Wilmington, Delaware, as The Bullock School for Boys.source
  • Ruan Yuan, Governor General of Liangguang, expanded the Guangdong Gong Yuan examination hall to more than seven thousand six hundred examination cellsChinasource
  • Carl Maria von Weber – Konzertstück in F minor, for piano and orchestra, Op. 79Germanysource

Births

  • January 8 – James Longstreet, American Confederate general (died 1904)source
  • February 3 – Elizabeth Blackwell, first American female physician (died 1910)source
  • February 17 – Lola Montez, Irish-Spanish dancer, royal mistress (died 1861)source
  • April 9 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet, writer (died 1867)source
  • June 26 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentine statesman, military figure, and author, 6th President of Argentina (died 1906)source
  • July 2 – Sir Charles Tupper, 6th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1915)source
  • July 13 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate Civil War General, first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (died 1877)source
  • July 13 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate Civil War General, first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (died 1877)United Statessource
  • July 16 – Mary Baker Eddy, American founder of Christian Science (died 1910)source
  • August 31 – Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist (died 1894)source
  • September 28 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, African-American minister, politician (died 1874)source
  • October 13 – Rudolf Virchow, German physician, pathologist, biologist, and politician (died 1902)source
  • 13 October – Rudolf Virchow, German physician, pathologist, biologist, and politician (died 1902)Germanysource
  • 2 November (in Ireland): George Bowen, 5th Governor of New Zealand.New Zealandsource
  • November 11 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian writer (died 1881)source
  • December 24 – Gabriel García Moreno, former President of Ecuador (died 1875)source
  • December 25 – Clara Barton, first president of American Red Cross (died 1912)source
  • date unknown - Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez (died 1891)Chilesource

Deaths

  • January 4 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (born 1774)source
  • February 23 – John Keats, British poet (born 1795)source
  • February 26 – Joseph de Maistre, French-Savoyard philosopher (born 1753)source
  • March 4 – Princess Elizabeth of Clarence, daughter of William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) (born 1820)source
  • March 13 – John Hunter, second Governor of New South Wales (born 1737)source
  • 20 April– Franz Karl Achard, German chemist, physicist and biologist (born 1753)Germanysource
  • May 2 – Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist and friend of Dr Johnson (born 1741)source
  • May 5 – Napoleon Bonaparte, French Emperor and general (born 1769)source
  • May 5 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on Saint Helena of stomach cancer.source
  • June 23 – Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Duchess of Orléans, heiress, wife of Philippe Égalité (born 1753)source
  • August 7 – Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of the United Kingdom (born 1768)source
  • August 24 – John William Polidori, English physician, writer (born 1795) (suicide)source
  • September 4 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general, founding father (born 1785)source
  • September 4 – Chilean general José Miguel Carrera is executed by an Argentinian military tribunal, in the city of Mendoza.source
  • 4 September - José Miguel Carrera (born 1785)Chilesource
  • December 7 – King Pōmare II of Tahiti (born 1782)source
  • Sæmundur Hólm, clergyman and poet.Icelandsource
  • Maria Fermina Rivera, Heroine of Mexican War of Independence (exact date unknown)Mexicosource