Directory

1810 CE

25 – May Revolution: Armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy and establish a provincial government for Argentina (the Primera Junta). Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros is removed. Grito de Dolores: Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest from Guanajuato, incites the revolt that becomes the Mexican War of Independence. A peace treaty in Haiti confirms its division between the northern State of Haiti, ruled autocratically by the gen de couleur Henri Christophe, and the southern Republic, ruled by mulatto Alexandre Pétion.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.source
  • February 17 – Napoleon I decrees that Rome would become the second capital of the French Empire.source
  • April 19 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, is removed by the people of Caracas, and Supreme Junta is installed. Venezuela is the first South American state to proclaim independence from Spain.source
  • April – Kaumualii receives an assurance of the continued independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii.source
  • June 7 – Argentina's new junta publishes the country's first newspaper, the Gazeta de Buenos-Ayres, edited by Mariano Moreno.source
  • July 9 – Russia acquires Sukhumi through a treaty with the Abkhazian dukes, and declares a protectorate over the whole of Abkhazia.source
  • July 20 – First Republic of New Granada: Patria Boba: A junta of seven patriots, led by José Acevedo y Gómez, assemble in Bogotá in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (modern-day Colombia), to declare its independence from the Spanish Empire, the first South American nation to break away from Spain as the third oldest independent republic state after Haiti.source
  • August 6 – The city of Santa Cruz de Mompox, in modern-day Colombia, declares independence from the Spanish Empire.source
  • September 18 – Chile forms its First National Junta, which is the country's first step towards its independence.source
  • September 23 – The Republic of West Florida declares independence from Spain.source
  • September 26 – A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.source
  • October 27 – The United States annexes the Republic of West Florida.source
  • November 2 – A peace treaty in Haiti confirms its division between the northern State of Haiti, ruled autocratically by the gen de couleur Henri Christophe, and the southern Republic, ruled by mulatto Alexandre Pétion.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 13 – After seizing Jaén, Córdoba, Seville and Granada, Napoleonic troops enter Málaga under the command of General Horace Sebastiani.source
  • February 20 – Tyrolean rebel leader Andreas Hofer is executed.source
  • May 1 – Macon's Bill Number 2 becomes law in the United States, intending to motivate Britain and France to stop seizing American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars.source
  • July 9 – Napoleon I dissolves the Kingdom of Holland, ruled by his younger brother Louis Bonaparte, and annexes the country into the French Empire.source
  • July 10 - Peninsular War: Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo: French forces (28,000 men) under Marshal André Masséna take the fortified city of Ciudad Rodrigo on route into Portugal.source
  • July 24 – Paraguay governor Bernardo de Velasco and the Cabildo of Asunción declare their loyalty to Ferdinand VII of Spain and break up their relationship with Buenos Aires.source
  • August 2 – In Quito, Ecuador, 200 citizens are slaughtered in the Royal barracks and the surrounding streets by royalist troops.source
  • August 20–27 – Battle of Grand Port: The French defeat a Royal Navy frigate squadron attempting to blockade a harbour on Isle de France (Mauritius).source
  • August 27 – Peninsular War: Siege of Almeida: French forces under André Masséna capture the fortified city of Almeida before the advance toward Lisbon.source
  • September 16 – Grito de Dolores: Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest from Guanajuato, incites the revolt that becomes the Mexican War of Independence.source
  • September 22 – Manuel Belgrano prepares his invasion to the Provincia del Paraguay.source
  • September 27 - Peninsular War: Battle of Bussaco: Anglo-Portuguese forces under General Arthur Wellington repel several attacks of the French invasion force (65,000 men) under André Masséna at Bussaco. Wellington is forced to withdraw to the Lines of Torres Vedras after Masséna's troops outflank his positions. The French lose 522 dead and 3,612 wounded. The allied losses are 200 dead and 1,001 wounded.source
  • November 17 – Anglo-Swedish War (1810–12): Sweden declares war on the United Kingdom.source
  • November 29–December 3 – Invasion of Isle de France: British forces force the French to surrender Isle de France (Mauritius).source
  • December 20 – Manuel Belgrano crosses the Paraná River to Itapúa Department, starting his invasion of Paraguay.source
  • Ching Shih and Cheung Po Tsai surrender their pirate fleet to the Chinese government.source
  • Amadou Lobbo initiates his jihad, in present-day Mali.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 4 – Australian seal hunter Frederick Hasselborough discovers Campbell Island, in the Subantarctic.source
  • May 3 – Lord Byron swims across the Hellespont in Turkey.source
  • July 11 – Frederick Hasselborough discovers Macquarie Island, in the subantarctic.source
  • September 8 – The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor, with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrives at the mouth of the Columbia River, and Astor's men establish the fur-trading town of Astoria.source

Economy & Finance

  • June 23 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • May 10 – Rev. Henry Duncan opens the world's first commercial savings bank, in Ruthwell, Scotland.source

Science & Discovery

  • June – Nicolas Appert publishes L'art de conserver pendant plusieurs années toutes les substances animales ou végétales, the first description of modern food preservation using airtight containers.source

Health & Medicine

  • October – King George III of the United Kingdom is deemed permanently insane.source

Crime & Justice

  • 4,500 chests of opium are sold in China.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • December 22 – British ship of the line is wrecked on Texel in the West Frisian Islands with the loss of 500 lives.source
  • December 27 – Chartered British East Indiaman Elizabeth is wrecked off Dunkirk with the loss of more than 360 lives, many of them lascar seamen.source

Culture & Society

  • January 12 – The marriage of Napoleon I and Joséphine is annulled.source
  • March 11 – Napoleon I marries Marie-Louise of Austria by proxy in Vienna.source
  • April 2 – Emperor Napoleon I of France marries Marie-Louise of Austria in person in Paris.source
  • April 27 – Beethoven composes his famous piano piece, Für Elise.source
  • May 16 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe publishes his book Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Colours).source
  • May 18–25 – May Revolution: Armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy and establish a provincial government for Argentina (the Primera Junta). Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros is removed.source
  • August 21 – Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden, by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.source
  • October 12 – First Oktoberfest: Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.source

Births

  • January 3 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, Irish-French geographer (d. 1897)source
  • March 1 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish composer, pianist (d. 1849)source
  • March 28 – Alexandre Herculano, Portuguese writer and historian (d. 1877)source
  • May 23 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist, literary critic and feminist (d. 1850)source
  • May 24 – Abraham Geiger, German rabbi, founder of European Reform Judaism (d. 1874)source
  • May 31 – Horatio Seymour, 18th Governor of New York, 1868 Democratic Party Presidential Nominee (d. 1886)source
  • June 8 – Robert Schumann, German composer and pianist (d. 1856)source
  • June 14 – Ward Hunt, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1886)source
  • July 20 – Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, Prussian field marshal (d. 1900)source
  • August 24 – Theodore Parker, American preacher, Transcendentalist, and abolitionist (d. 1860)source
  • August 29 – Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentinian politician, writer and Constitution main promoter (d. 1884)source
  • September 29 – Elizabeth Gaskell, British novelist (d. 1865)source
  • November 26 – William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, English engineer, inventor of the Hydraulic accumulator (d. 1900)source
  • December 4 – Barbara Bronisława Czarnowska, Polish noblewoman, independence fighter and soldier (d. 1891)source

Deaths

  • January 15 – Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova, Russian princess, courtier and patron of the arts and sciences, first woman to head a scientific academy (b. 1743)source
  • January 20 – Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (b. 1722)source
  • February 20 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero (executed) (b. 1767)source
  • February 22 – Charles Brockden Brown, American novelist (b. 1771; tuberculosis)source
  • March 7 – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, British admiral (b. 1750)source
  • May 9 – Benjamin Lincoln, major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (b. 1733)source
  • May 21 – Chevalier d'Eon, French-born diplomat, spy, soldier and transvestite (b. 1728)source
  • July 6 – Andrianampoinimerina, ruler of Madagascar (b. 1745)source
  • July 19 – Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia (b. 1776)source
  • August 26 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, French officer in Spanish colonial military service (executed) (b. 1753)source
  • September 13 – William Cushing, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1732)source
  • September 17 – Ulla von Höpken, Swedish courtier, influential socialite (b. 1749)source
  • November 2 – Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom, Member of the British Royal Family (b. 1783)source
  • December 14 – Cyrus Griffin, last President of the Continental Congress (b. 1749)source