1826 CE

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke, destined to open as the world's first purpose-built passenger railway operated by steam locomotives in 1830, receives authorisation by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. 15 – The Auspicious Incident: Mahmud II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, crushes the last mutiny of janissaries in Istanbul. The Burney Treaty is signed in Bangkok between the United Kingdom and the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Siam, securing British power in southeast Asia.

In the 1820s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 24 – Treaty of Washington between the United States government and the Creek National Council, in which they cede much of their land in the State of Georgia.United States source
February 8 – Unitarian Bernardino Rivadavia becomes the first President of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, now Argentina.source
February 24 – The Treaty of Yandabo ends the First Anglo-Burmese War. Britain gains Assam, Manipur, Rakhine and Tanintharyi.source
May 2: D. Pedro I abdicates the Portuguese throne in favor of his daughter Dona Maria II.Brazil source
25 May – The General Constituent Congress convenes in Chuquisaca.Bolivia source
May 28 – The Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates as King of Portugal.source
May - The agreement from 1825 between Norway and Russia, making Paatsjoki (Pasvikelva) and Jakobselva border between the two countries, is ratifiedNorway source
June 20 – The Burney Treaty is signed in Bangkok between the United Kingdom and the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Siam, securing British power in southeast Asia.source
June 22 – The Pan-American Congress of Panama is opened in Panama City by Simon Bolivar as an attempt to unify the republics of the Americas that have recently declared independence from Spain, or to at least make a federation to agree on a common defense policy and create a common military. The Congress lasts for 23 days without an agreement.source
9 July - Ramon Freire resigns, handing over power to Manuel Blanco Encalada.Chile source
July 15 – The Congress of Panama adjourns after 24 days without an agreement on creating a federation of Latin American nations.source
December 16 – Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas, and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.source
December 25 – Major Edmund Lockyer arrives at King George Sound to take possession of the western part of Australia, establishing a settlement near Albany.source
25 December - Major Edmund Lockyer arrives at King George Sound to take possession of the western part of the continent, establishing a settlement near Albany.Australia source
The British East India Company colony of the Straits Settlements is established.source
Establishment of the Second Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery and the Third Section by imperial decree.Russia source
Cape Colony passes legislation to reform the justice system, instituting the Cape Charter of Justice and introducing trial by jury.South Africa source

Conflict & Security

13 January – The Army Secretariat is divided into two: one of the government and finance sections and the other military.Bolivia source
January 18 – In India, the Siege of Bharatpur ends in British victory as Lord Combermere and Michael Childers defeat the princely state of Bharatpur, part of the modern-day Indian state of Rajasthan.source
18 January: The Siege of Bharatpur concluded with a British victory.India source
April 10 – The Third Siege of Missolonghi ends and is followed by the massacre of thousands of Greek defenders by the Ottoman besiegers.source
June 8 – A mob of the ruling party, the Family Compact, destroy the Colonial Advocate's press at York. Wilton, Carol. William Lyon Mackenzie, publisher, prosecutes and is awarded £625 in damages.Canada source
June 14–15 – The Auspicious Incident: Mahmud II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, crushes the last mutiny of janissaries in Istanbul.source
20 June – Burney Treaty increases British control over south-east Asia.United Kingdom source
June 21 – Greek War of Independence: The attempted Ottoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani begins.source
July 4 – Former U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.source
8 July - Start of the Russo-Persian WarRussia source
July 25 (O.S.: July 13) – Five leaders of the Decembrist revolt of 1825 in Russia (Pyotr Kakhovsky, Pavel Pestel, poet Kondraty Ryleyev, Sergey Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin) are hanged in Senate Square, Saint Petersburg, where they had launched their attempted coup d'état. Other conspirators begin their journey into exile in Siberia.source
December 21 – American settlers in Mexican Texas begin the Fredonian Rebellion, making the first attempt to secede from Mexico. The Republic of Fredonia will survive for less than six weeks.source
December 21 – Fredonian Rebellion: American settlers in Mexican Texas make the first attempt to secede from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Fredonia, which will survive for just over a month.United States source
December 25 – The Eggnog Riot breaks out at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York during the early morning hours.source
Russo-Persian War (1826–28) started.Iran source
Construction of the National Monument, Edinburgh on Calton Hill (to the dead of the Napoleonic Wars) is commenced; it will never be completed.Scotland source

Exploration & Expansion

25 March - William Williams, missionary brother of Henry Williams, arrives in the Bay of Islands on the Brampton with his wife and daughter.New Zealand source
10 August – The first Cowes Regatta is held on the Isle of Wight.United Kingdom source
September 3 – The USS Vincennes, commanded by William Finch, leaves New York City to become the first U.S. warship to circumnavigate the globe.United States source
23 September – The New Zealand Company agents aboard the Rosanna complete the purchase of 'Pakatu' (Pakatoa), 'Taratora' (Rotoroa), 'Ponue' (Ponui) and 'Pake' (Pakihi) Islands in the Hauraki Gulf. They then become frightened of the local Māori, change their minds almost immediately, sell up and leave for the Bay of Islands.New Zealand source
William Stewart establishes a timber, flax and trading settlement at Port Pegasus on Stewart Island.New Zealand source
Jules Dumont d'Urville arrives in New Zealand on the Astrolabe during his circumnavigation. He charts much of New Zealand that Cook did not, in particular the Marlborough Sounds. (see also 1827).New Zealand source
Straits Settlements established as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company.United Kingdom source
Daniel Evans (Daniel Ddu o Geredigion) - Golwg ar Gyflwr yr Iddewon, CerddWales source

Religion & Belief

February 11 – Swaminarayan writes the Shikshapatri, an important text within Swaminarayan Hinduism.source
Mahmud II's council orders the janissaries to drill in the European manner.source
Gold coins denominated as "Frederiks d'Or" (later as "Christians d'Or") are introduced.Denmark source
The Bishop of Iceland establishes residency at Laugarnes near Reykjavík.Iceland source
Establishment of the Chief of the GendarmesRussia source
The Calvinistic Methodist "connexion" produces its Constitutional Deed. It incorporates all property (such as chapels) as the property of the connexion as a whole.Wales source

Economy & Finance

5 January – Irish currency assimilated to that of Great Britain under terms of the Currency Act 1825.Ireland source
26 May – Country Bankers Act 1826 permits joint-stock banks outside the London area, which may issue banknotes.United Kingdom source
23 August – last fatal duel in Scotland fought near Kirkcaldy: linen manufacturer David Landale shoots banker George Morgan.Scotland source
November 3 – The Paris Stock Exchange opens at the Palais de la Bourse.source
3 November - The Paris Stock Exchange opens at the Palais de la Bourse.France source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 30 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford as the first major suspension bridge in world history, is opened between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.source
30 January - Opening of the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford.Wales source
25 March – The 1825 New Zealand Company vessels Rosanna, Captain James Herd, and Lambton, Captain Barnett, arrive at Stewart Island and undergo refitting for a month.New Zealand source
April 1 – In the U.S., Samuel Morey patents an internal combustion engine.source
April 1 – Samuel Morey patents an internal combustion engine.United States source
7 April – Australia's first street lamp erected in Macquarie Place, Sydney – it burned whale oil.Australia source
May 5 – The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke, destined to open as the world's first purpose-built passenger railway operated by steam locomotives in 1830, receives authorisation by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.source
5 May – The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke, which in 1830 is to become the world's first purpose-built passenger railway operated by steam locomotives to be opened, is authorised by Parliament.United Kingdom source
26 May – the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway and Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway are authorised.Scotland source
September 21 – Construction of the Rideau Canal begins in Canada.source
September 21 – Construction of the Rideau Canal begins.Canada source
October 1 – The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway opens in Scotland.source
October 7 – The first train operates over the Granite Railway in Massachusetts.source
December – The paddle steamer SS Constitutionen, the first steam ship of Norway, arrives. The ship was built in England for the State of Norway.Norway source

Science & Discovery

February 23 – Russian mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky develops non-Euclidean geometry (independently of János Bolyai).source
April – A number of leading scientists form the Zoological Society of London.United Kingdom source
Aniline is first isolated, from the destructive distillation of indigo, by Otto Unverdorben.source
Christian Isobel Johnstone, as 'Margaret Dods', publishes The Cook and Housewife's Manual.Scotland source
Possible date – Discovery of the Hunterston Brooch.Scotland source
James Humphreys - Observations on the Actual State of the English Laws of Real Property, with the outlines of a CodeWales source

Health & Medicine

Convict Hospital built in Brisbane, it is replaced as Brisbane General Hospital in 1867.Australia source
Wrexham Maelor Hospital's predecessor founded.Wales source

Crime & Justice

March 7 – Ellen Turner, a wealthy 15-year-old heiress from Cheshire in England, is kidnapped by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. On May 14, Wakefield, his brother and a servant are sentenced to three years' imprisonment for the crime. Wakefield later becomes politically active in the colonisation of New Zealand.source
March – Aged eight, future orator and memoirist Frederick Douglass is lent by his master to the Aulds of Fell's Point, Baltimore. He will remain their house servant, and later their regular slave, for 12 years until he escapes.United States source
June - Photography: Nicéphore Niépce makes a true photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras.France source
July 26 – Cayetano Ripoll becomes the last person to be executed by the Spanish Inquisition's successor at its last auto-da-fé, held in Valencia.source
September 11 – William Morgan is arrested in Batavia, New York, for debt after declaring that he would publish The Mysteries of Free Masonry, a book against Freemasonry. This sets into motion the events that led to his mysterious disappearance.United States source
September 13 – William Morgan (anti-Mason) of Batavia, New York, disappears mysteriously after being released from the jail in Canandaigua and agreeing to accompany his benefactor, a Mr. Loton Lawson.He is never seen in public again, and a number of witnesses will indicate later that on September 20, a man resembling Morgan was tied up and thrown into the Niagara River following a meeting of the Masonic Society.source
18 October – The last English state lottery is drawn in a series run since 1769, the next National Lottery will be in 1994.United Kingdom source
October – James Drew begins in practice as a solicitor in Glasgow, a predecessor of McClure Naismith.Scotland source
Wilhelm Bendz paints A Young Artist Examining a Sketch in a Mirror-Denmark source
The Assam Police was established in the state of Assam.India source
Slave owners protest against Ordinance 19.South Africa source

Disasters & Accidents

January 17 – The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining novelist Sir Walter Scott as a principal investor. He undertakes to repay his creditors from his writings. His publisher, Archibald Constable, also fails.source
First life-boat stationed in Ireland by the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, at Arklow.Ireland source

Climate & Environment

1 June–31 August – A three-month heat wave and drought grips the country. With a mean temperature of 17.60 °C, it is the hottest summer on CET records since 1659, until 1976 and 2025, meaning that it is the third hottest summer in the CET records.United Kingdom source
August 28 – The town of Crawford Notch, New Hampshire suffers a landslide; those killed include all seven members of the Willey Family, after whom Mount Willey is named.source
August – The town of Crawford Notch, New Hampshire suffers a landslide; those killed include the Willey Family, after whom Mount Willey is named.United States source

Culture & Society

January 15 – The French newspaper Le Figaro begins publication in Paris, initially as a satirical weekly.source
February 4 – James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans is first printed, by a publisher in Philadelphia.source
February 6 – First printing of James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans, in Philadelphia.United States source
February 11 – University College London is founded, under the name University of London.source
February 13 – The American Temperance Society is founded.source
16 March - The Australian Subscription Library, the forerunner of the State Library of New South Wales, is founded; it opens, 1 December 1827.Australia source
March – Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 in B♭ major, Op. 130 is first performed and is premiered by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. In its original form, the piece has Grosse Fuge (later Op. 133) as the final movement.source
24 May - John Parry (Bardd Alaw) is given a benefit concert by the Society of Cymmrodorion.Wales source
19 June – Tories under Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool win a substantial increased majority over the Whigs in the general election.United Kingdom source
8 July - Chilean presidential election, 1826Chile source
July – Ludwig van Beethoven puts the finishing touches on the String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 131, the jewel in the crown of his late string quartets.source
July – Ludwig van Beethoven puts the finishing touches on the String Quartet in C sharp Minor, Opus 131, the jewel in the crown of his late string quartets.Germany source
August 6 — The 17 year old composer Felix Mendelssohn completes the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream.source
August 10 – The first Cowes Regatta is held in the Isle of Wight, in the U.K.source
19 August - Louis Christophe François Hachette purchases the Brédif bookshop on rue Pierre-Sarrazin, Paris, origin of the Hachette publishing business.France source
17 October – Thomas Carlyle and Jane Welsh marry in Templand and set up home in Edinburgh.Scotland source

Births

10 January: Francisco Paulo de Almeida, bankerBrazil source
January 27 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (died 1889)source
January 27 – Richard Taylor, American Confederate general (died 1879)source
February 9 – John A. Logan, American soldier, political leader (died 1886)source
February 16- Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet (died 1888)Germany source
March 3 – Joseph Wharton, American industrialist (died 1909)source
March 24 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American feminist (died 1898)source
March 29 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German journalist, politician (died 1900)source
April 3 – Reginald Heber, English priest (born 1783)source
April 6 – Gustave Moreau, French painter (died 1898)source
April 23 – Victoriano Sánchez Barcáiztegui, Spanish Navy officer and hero (died 1875)source
May 4 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (died 1900)source
May 7 – Varina Davis, First Lady of the Confederate States of America (died 1906)source
8 May – Miguel Ângelo Lupi, painter (died 1883)Portugal source
2 June - Erasmo Escala (died 1884)Chile source
July 4 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter, poet (died 1864)source
July 31 – William S. Clark, American chemist, 3rd President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (died 1886)source
December 3 – George B. McClellan, American general, politician (died 1885)source

Deaths

January 3 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French marshal (born 1770)source
March 1 – A male Indian elephant, Chunee, which was brought to London in 1811, is killed at a menagerie after running amok the week before, killing one of his keepers. After arsenic and shooting fail, the animal is stabbed to death.source
March 10 – Dom João VI, King of Portugal and former Emperor of Brazil, dies six days after he had been served dinner while visiting Jerónimos Monastery. An investigative autopsy 174 years later will discover that he had been killed by arsenic poisoning. King João's, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, sails back to Portugal and briefly reigns as King Pedro IV of Portugal, before turning over the Portuguese throne to his daughter, Maria.source
March 10 – King John VI of Portugal (born 1767)source
10 March – John VI of Portugal, king (born 1767).Portugal source
March - José Cortés de Madariaga (born 1766)Chile source
May 4 – Thomas Jeffrey, English-born bushranger, serial killer and cannibal in Van Diemen's Land, hanged (born c.1791)source
4 May - Bushranger Matthew Brady is hanged.Australia source
June 3 – Nikolay Karamzin, Russian language reformer (born 1766)source
June 5 – Carl Maria von Weber, German composer (born 1786)source
June 7 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician (born 1787)source
July 4 – Thomas Jefferson, 83, 3rd President of the United States (born 1743), at 12:50 p.m. at his home near Charlottesville, Virginia.source
July 5 – Stamford Raffles, British colonial governor, founder of Singapore (born 1781)source
August 18 – Scottish explorer Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach Timbuktu but is murdered there on September 26.source
August 28 – Józef Zajączek, Polish general, politician (born 1752)source
October 25 – Philippe Pinel, French physician (born 1745)source
December 11 – Queen-Empress Maria Leopoldina, consort of Pedro IV of Portugal & I of Brazil (born 1797)source
11 December: Maria Leopoldina of Austria, first Empress of BrazilBrazil source