1819

Events

January–March

• January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, begins.
• January 25 – Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia.
• January 29 – Sir Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.
• February 2 – Dartmouth College v. Woodward: The Supreme Court of the United States under John Marshall rules in favor of Dartmouth College, allowing Dartmouth to keep its charter and remain a private institution.
• February 6 – A formal treaty, between Hussein Shah of Johor and the British Sir Stamford Raffles, establishes a trading settlement in Singapore.
• 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).
• February 19 – Captain William Smith in British merchant brig Williams sights Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, the first land discovered south of latitude 60° S.
• February 22 – Adams–Onís Treaty: Spain cedes Florida to the United States, in exchange for the American renunciation of any claims on Texas that it might have from the Louisiana Purchase, and $5 million.
• March 1 – U.S. naval vessel USS Columbus is launched in Washington, D.C.
• March 6 – McCulloch v. Maryland: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Bank of the United States is constitutional.
• March 20 – Burlington Arcade opens in London.
• March 23 – In Mannheim, Duchy of Baden, German dramatist August von Kotzebue is assassinated by Karl Ludwig Sand.

April–June

• April 6–June 21 – 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 thirty slaves are thrown overboard as a consequence.^[1]
• April 7 (N.S.) (March 26 O.S.) – The Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire emancipates its peasants from serfdom.
• May 22 – The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, although only a fraction of the trip will be made under steam. The ship arrives at Liverpool, England on June 20.
• May 22 – Memphis, Tennessee was founded.
• June 16 – The 7.7–8.2 M_w Rann of Kutch earthquake kills at least 1,543 people in the modern-day Indian state of Gujarat at the Arabian Sea, causing a 80–150 km (50–93 mi) stretch of land to be raised as much as 6 m (20 ft), creating a natural dam, the Allahbund.

July–September

• July 1 – German astronomer Johann Georg Tralles discovers what will be called the Great Comet of 1819.^[2]
• 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.^[3]
• July 24 – A cabinet meeting is convened by British Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson to discuss an investigative report of an adulterous affair, involving the wife of George, Prince of Wales and regent for his ailing father. 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.^[4]
• July 30 – At Edwardsville, Illinois, the United States concludes a treaty with the Kickapoo tribe, receiving their lands in return for their relocation to Missouri.^[5]
• August 6 – Norwich University is founded by Captain Alden Partridge in Vermont, as the first private military school in the United States.
• August 7 – Battle of Boyacá: Simón Bolívar is victorious over the Royalist Army in Colombia. Colombia acquires its definitive independence from Spanish rule.
• August 16 – Peterloo Massacre: The cavalry charges into a crowd of protesters in Manchester, UK, resulting in 15 deaths and over 600 injuries.
• September 20 – The Carlsbad Decrees are issued throughout the German Confederation.

October–December

• October 13 – Treaty between the Raja of Cutch Deshalji II, and East India Company. Cutch State entered in rule of East India Company.^[6]
• October 15 – Desolation Island, in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic, is discovered by Captain William Smith, in the Williams.
• November 2 – Bagyidaw is crowned as Emperor of Burma, at the imperial capital of Inwa.
• November 3 – The USS Congress, commanded by Captain John D. Henley, becomes the first American warship to visit China, landing at Lintin Island, off of the coast of Canton.^[7]
• November 19 – The Museo del Prado, one of the world's great art galleries, opens in Madrid.^[8] Initially, it has only 311 significant paintings.^[9]
• 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.
• December 14 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.
• December 17
  • The Republic of Gran Colombia is formally established, with Simón Bolívar as its first president.
  • The new astronomical observatory of Capodimonte in Naples starts operating. The astronomer Carlo Brioschi made the first observation by measuring the position of ⍺ Cassiopeiae.

Date unknown

• The ʻAi Noa Movement takes power in Hawaii.
• The city of Fernandina de Jagua (later Cienfuegos) is founded in Cuba.
• 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.^[10]
• The African Slave Trade Patrol is founded, to stop the slave trade on the coast of West Africa.