Directory

1809 CE

Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. When he announces that the Pope's secular power has ended, the Pope excommunicates him. The city of La Paz (in modern-day Bolivia) declares its independence from the Spanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo. Prince Klemens von Metternich becomes foreign minister of the Austrian Empire.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 5 – The Treaty of the Dardanelles, between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Ottoman Empire, is concluded.source
  • January 14 – The Apodaca–Canning treaty is signed in London between Britain and Spainsource
  • February 3 – The Illinois Territory is created from the western part of the Indiana Territory.source
  • February 20 – United States v. Peters: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.source
  • March 29 – At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the future Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden. The Emperor, in return, promises to retain and uphold former laws and privileges, as well as the dominant Lutheran religion. His pledge is later interpreted by the Finns as a confirmation of constitutional laws, which had, effectively, established Finland as a separate state in real union with Russia.source
  • March 29 – King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after the Coup of 1809 and is later exiled.source
  • May 5 – The Swiss canton of Aargau declares Jews citizens.source
  • May 10 – Gustav IV Adolf is officially deposed from the Swedish throne, by the Riksdag of the Estates.source
  • June 6 – Sweden promulgates a new Instrument of Government, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates, after authoritarian rule since 1772. On the same day, Duke Charles (uncle of the deposed king Gustav IV Adolf) is elected King, under the name Charles XIII. In November he is affected by a heart attack and will be largely incapacitated for the remainder of his reign (until 1818).source
  • June 7 – Shoja Shah of the Durrani Empire signs a treaty with the British; only weeks later, he is succeeded by Mahmud Shah.source
  • June 26 – Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen deposes Count Frederich Trampe as governor of Iceland in the Revolution of 1809 and declares himself "Protector of Iceland".source
  • July 16 – The city of La Paz (in modern-day Bolivia) declares its independence from the Spanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.source
  • August 10 – Ecuador declares independence from Spain.source
  • September 17 – Finnish War: The Peace of Hamina is signed between Russia and Sweden. The future Grand Duchy of Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.source
  • October 8 – Prince Klemens von Metternich becomes foreign minister of the Austrian Empire.source
  • October 14 – The Treaty of Schönbrunn cedes the Illyrian Provinces to France, and ensures peace between The First French Empire, and The Austrian Empire.source
  • British recruits to the British East India Company (and subsequently to the Indian Civil Service) are required to learn at least one Indian language fluently.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 10 – Peninsular War – French Marshal Jean Lannes begins the Siege of Zaragoza.source
  • January 16 – Peninsular War – Battle of Corunna in Galicia (Spain): The British (under General Sir John Moore, who is killed) resist an attempt by the French (under Marshal Soult) to prevent them from embarking.source
  • February 25 – Battle of Valls: Spanish forces are defeated in Catalonia by Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr.source
  • March 13 – A military coup ousts Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden; he is confined in Gripsholm Castle.source
  • March 28 – Battle of Medellín at Extremadura: Massive casualties are suffered, in a rout by French cavalry, under Marshal Victor.source
  • March 29 – Peninsular War – First Battle of Porto: 8,000 Portuguese soldiers are killed in a rout after defeat by the French under Marshal Soult. In the Porto Boat Bridge disaster, 4,000 fleeing civilians drown when a pontoon bridge collapses.source
  • April 9 – Tiroleans rise, under the command of Andreas Hofer, against French and Bavarian occupation.source
  • April 10 – Napoleonic Wars – The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.source
  • April 11–15 – Napoleonic Wars – Battle of the Basque Roads: The British Royal Navy defeats the French fleet in the mouth of the Charente, although officers on both sides face subsequent courts-martial.source
  • April 20 – Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria: Napoleon defeats Austria.source
  • April 23 – Battle of Ratisbon: Napoleon I fights his last battle during the Bavarian phase of the War of the Fifth Coalitionsource
  • May 3 – Battle of Ebelsberg: André Masséna defeats Austrian General Johann von Hiller, forcing him to retreat.source
  • May 10–11 – Peninsular War – Battle of Grijó: the Anglo-Portuguese Army, commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, defeats the French army, commanded by Marshal Soult, in Portugal.source
  • May 12 – Peninsular War – Second Battle of Porto: The Anglo-Portuguese Army, commanded by Wellesley, drives the French army, commanded by Marshal Soult, out of Porto, and forces them to retreat from the country.source
  • May 22 – Battle of Aspern-Essling: Austrian troops under Archduke Karl beat the French under Napoleon, in a hard-fought battle.source
  • June 14 – A French victory, in the battle of Raab, prevents archduke John of Austria from bringing any significant force to the Battle of Wagram.source
  • July 5 – Battle of Wagram begins.source
  • July 6 – Napoleon defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram.source
  • July 8–9 – Finnish War – Naval Battle of Porkala: The Swedish archipelago fleet defeats the Russians.source
  • July 28 – Peninsula War – Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force.source
  • July 30 – Walcheren Campaign: A British invasion army lands on Walcheren.source
  • September 21 – British Secretary of War Lord Castlereagh and Foreign Secretary George Canning meet in a duel on Putney Heath, with Castlereagh wounding Canning in the thigh.source
  • November 18 – Napoleonic Wars: Action of 18 November 1809 – In the Bay of Bengal, a French frigate squadron captures three British East Indiamen mainly carrying recruits for the presidency armies in India.source
  • December – Boyd massacre: Whangaroa Māori people kill and eat 66 crew and passengers of the brigantine Boyd in New Zealand.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 31 – Mauritius campaign of 1809–11 – Action of 31 May 1809 in the Bay of Bengal: The French frigate Caroline, operating from Isle de France (Mauritius), captures most of a British East India Company fleetsource
  • August 8 – Seventy disciples of Vilna Gaon arrive in Palestine.source
  • August – The ("Old Ironsides") is recommissioned as the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron.source
  • Arorae an atoll of the Gilbert Islands was sighted by Captain John Patterson, on British brig Elizabeth.source

Religion & Belief

  • May 17 – Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. When he announces that the Pope's secular power has ended, the Pope excommunicates him.source
  • July 6 – French troops arrest Pope Pius VII, and take him to Liguria.source

Economy & Finance

  • March 1 – The Embargo Act of 1807 is repealed in the United States; the Non-Intercourse Act replaces it.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 11 – Robert Fulton patents the steamboat in the United States.source
  • May 5 – Mary Kies is the first American woman to be awarded a patent (for a technique of weaving straw hats with silk and thread).source
  • November 21 – First stone laid of first 'guided bus' passenger wagonway Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad.source

Science & Discovery

  • Louis Poinsot describes the two remaining Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra.source
  • Jean-Baptiste Lamarck publishes Philosophie Zoologique, outlining a (wrong) concept of evolution, by acquisition or loss of inherited characteristics, through use or disuse.source

Health & Medicine

  • December 25 – American physician Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor.source
  • December 30 – Wearing masks at balls is forbidden in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • William Combe begins publication of the verse Tour of Dr. Syntax in search of the Picturesque in Ackermann's Political Magazine (London), illustrated with cartoons by Thomas Rowlandson, depicting comic and ridiculous scenes involving a hapless country physician, and coming to represent British Regency humour.source

Crime & Justice

  • November 25 – Benjamin Bathurst, a British diplomat, mysteriously disappears (possibly murdered) in Perleberg, west of Berlin.source

Culture & Society

  • February 17 – Miami University (Ohio) is established (by Act of February 2) on the township of land required to be set aside for it, under the conditions of the Miami Purchase in 1794.source
  • April 18 – The 2,000 Guineas Stakes horse race is first run in England.source
  • September 18 – A new theatre for the Royal Opera House opens in London to replace the first, burnt down in a fire in 1808. The price increases lead to the Old Price Riots, which last for 64 days.source
  • October 25 – The Golden Jubilee of George III is celebrated in commemoration of the forty-ninth anniversary of the accession of King George III and his entrance into the 50th year of his reign.source

Births

  • January 4 – Louis Braille, French teacher, inventor of braille (d. 1852)source
  • January 15 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1864)source
  • January 15 – Cornelia Connelly, American founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus (d. 1879)source
  • February 24 – Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1885)source
  • March 15 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, 2-time President of Liberia (d. 1876)source
  • April 1 – Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer (d. 1852)source
  • June 4 – Columbus Delano, American statesman (d. 1896)source
  • June 27 – François Certain de Canrobert, French general, Marshal of France (d. 1895)source
  • August 29 – Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., American physician, writer (d. 1894)source
  • November 4 – Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1874)source
  • November 20 – Gustav Koerner, German-born revolutionary, journalist, lawyer, politician, statesman of Illinois and Germany, Colonel of the U.S. Army (d. 1896)source
  • November 27 – Fanny Kemble, British-born American actress, writer (d. 1893)source
  • December 24 – Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)source
  • December 29 – George Washington Baines, American politician, journalist and educator (d. 1882)source

Deaths

  • February 25 – John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (Lord Dunmore)(b. 1730)source
  • March 20 – Mary Bateman, English woman executed for murder, known as the Yorkshire Witchsource
  • March 25 – Anna Seward, English writer (b. 1747)source
  • May 13 – Beilby Porteus, English bishop, abolitionist (b. 1731)source
  • May 31 – The famous composer Joseph Haydn dies in Vienna at age 77 following Napoleon's second siege of Viennasource
  • June 21 – Daniel Lambert, English jail keeper and animal breeder, famous for his unusually large size (b. 1770)source
  • July 6 – Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle, French cavalry general (killed in battle) (b. 1775)source
  • August 18 – Matthew Boulton, English manufacturer, engineer (b. 1728)source
  • September 7 – Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I), King of Siam, founder of the Chakri dynasty of Thailand (b. 1737)source
  • October 11 – Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (suicide) (b. 1774)source
  • October 11 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.source
  • October 30 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)source
  • November 28 – Jakob Heinrich Laspeyres, German lepidopterist (b. 1769)source
  • December 16 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (b. 1755)source