Directory

1827 CE

In Laos, King Anouvong of Vientiane leads the Laotian Rebellion against Siam and successfully attacks Nakhon Ratchasima (the Siamese later invade Vientiane and nearly destroy the whole city). Greek War of Independence: Battle of Navarino – British, French and Russian naval forces destroy the Turko-Egyptian fleet in Greece. This is the last naval action to be fought under sail alone. The term "socialist" is coined by Robert Owen in his London periodical, The Co-operative Magazine and Monthly Herald.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 30 – The first public theatre in Norway, the Christiania Offentlige Theater, is inaugurated in Christiania (modern-day Oslo).source
  • April 10 – George Canning succeeds Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
  • May 21 – The Maryland Democratic Party is founded by supporters of Andrew Jackson in Baltimore, and hosts its first meeting at the Baltimore Atheneum.source
  • July 6 – Greek War of Independence: The Treaty of London between France, Britain and Russia, demands that the Turks agree to an armistice in Greece.source
  • November 24 – Voting is completed in elections for France's 430 member Chamber of Deputies. The Ultraroyalistes, supporters of King Charles X, lose their 233-seat majority and finish with 180 seats, the same number as the opposition Doctrinaires.source
  • December 20 – Mexico passes its first "expulsion law", providing for citizens of Spain to be expelled within the next six months, and to remain barred from re-entry until the Kingdom of Spain recognizes Mexico's 1810 declaration of independence. Ultimately, because of all the exemptions within the expulsion act, only 1,779 of the 6,610 Spaniards are required to leave.source

Conflict & Security

  • January – In Laos, King Anouvong of Vientiane leads the Laotian Rebellion against Siam and successfully attacks Nakhon Ratchasima (the Siamese later invade Vientiane and nearly destroy the whole city).source
  • February 20 – Battle of Ituzaingó (Passo do Rosário): A Brazilian Imperial Army force is tactically defeated on the border of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata by Argentine and Uruguayan troops.source
  • March 7 – Brazilian marines sail up the Rio Negro and attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina; they are defeated by the local citizens.source
  • April 8 – Battle of Monte Santiago: A squadron of the Brazilian Imperial Navy defeats Argentine vessels after a two-day naval battle.source
  • April 24 – Greek War of Independence: Battle of Phaleron – Ottoman troops defeat the Greek rebels.source
  • April 29 – The Fly Whisk Incident in Ottoman Algeria: Hussein Dey slaps French consul Pierre Deval on the face, eventually leading to the Invasion of Algiers in 1830.source
  • June 7 – Greek defenders in Athens surrender to Egyptian forces under the command of General Rashid Pasha.source
  • September 30 – Greek War of Independence: Battle of Itea, a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Corinth.source
  • October 1 – Russo-Persian War, 1826–1828: The Russians under Ivan Paskevich storm Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.source
  • October 20 – Greek War of Independence: Battle of Navarino – British, French and Russian naval forces destroy the Turko-Egyptian fleet in Greece. This is the last naval action to be fought under sail alone.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 5 – The first regatta in Australia is held, taking place in Tasmania (called at the time Van Diemen's Land), on the River Derwent at Hobart.source
  • April 23 – Scottish-born novelist John Galt founds the town of Guelph in Upper Canada.source
  • April 26 – The Royal Netherlands Navy's British-built paddle steamer Curaçao sets off on the first transatlantic crossing by steam, departing from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to Paramaribo in the Netherlands South American colony of Dutch Guiana. The ship arrives after a voyage of four weeks.source
  • May 20 – Zarafa, the first giraffe to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, arrives in Marseille as a gift from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha, to King Charles X of France. The giraffe then begins a 50-day journey to Paris, walking with its handlers toward Paris where it will arrive on July 9.source
  • May 24 – The Royal Netherlands Navy's British-built paddle steamer Curaçao completes the first transatlantic crossing by steam, arriving in Paramaribo in Dutch Guiana (now Suriname) four weeks after its April 26 departure from the Netherlands.source

Religion & Belief

  • July 14 – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu is founded in the Kingdom of Hawaii.source
  • September 22 – Joseph Smith will claim in 1838 that on this day he took the golden plates from the place where they had been stored, and that he began writing down the Book of Mormon from them the following December.source
  • The missionary ship Messenger of Peace is built on Rarotonga by English Congregationalist John Williams to spread Christianity to Samoa and the Society Islands on behalf of the London Missionary Society.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 28 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in the United States offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.source
  • May 25 – Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru receives a French patent for the invention of the first fountain pen.source
  • September 20 – A petition for a land grant for 215 acres on the north bank of Rio Grande, just across from Paso del Norte (modern-day Ciudad Juárez), is approved; the first residence is built on what is modern-day El Paso, Texas.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 27 – Author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe first elaborates on his vision of Weltliteratur (world literature), in a letter to Johann Peter Eckermann, declaring his belief that "poetry is the universal possession of mankind", and that "the epoch of world literature is at hand, and each must work to hasten its coming."source
  • April 7 – John Walker begins selling his invention, the "Lucifer" friction match, in England.source
  • May 1 – Georg Ohm publishes Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet (tr., The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically) in which Ohm's law appears for the first time.source
  • June 4 – French inventor Joseph Niépce sends a package to Louis Daguerre revealing the existence of his invention, "heliography", where an image can be reproduced onto a pewter plate and then reprinted. In 1829, the two will begin a partnership, and Daguerre will perfect Niépce's photographic process to reproduce images more quickly.source
  • Between June 4–July 18 – In Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France, Nicéphore Niépce makes the first photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras.source
  • John James Audubon begins publication of the 10-volume The Birds of America, in the United Kingdom.source

Health & Medicine

  • March 11 – The predecessor of Qasr El Eyni Hospital and Cairo University School of Medicine is established in Egypt under the direction of Antoine Clot as the first medical school in the region.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • September 4 – The Great Fire of Turku destroys three-quarters of the city (at this time Finland's largest), with 27 human casualties.source

Culture & Society

  • January 15 – Furman University, founded in 1826, begins its first classes with 10 students, as the Furman Academy and Theological Institution, located in Edgefield, South Carolina. By the end of 2016, it will have 2,800 students at its main campus in Greenville, South Carolina.source
  • March 15 – The University of Toronto is established by royal charter as King's College at York. It is the first institution of higher education in Upper Canada.source
  • March 16 – Freedom's Journal, the first African-American owned and published newspaper in the United States, is founded in New York City by John Russwurm.source
  • March 29 — Thousands crowd the streets of Vienna to attend the funeral of Beethoven after his March 26 death. His contemporaries Franz Schubert, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Carl Czerny serve as torchbearers and Chancellor Metternich speaks.source
  • July 9 – Zarafa, the giraffe given by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt to King Charles X of France, arrives at the royal palace in Paris.source
  • November – The term "socialist" is coined by Robert Owen in his London periodical, The Co-operative Magazine and Monthly Herald.source

Births

  • January 7 – Sir Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian engineer, inventor (d. 1915)source
  • April 2 – William Holman Hunt, British Pre-Raphaelite painter (d. 1910)source
  • April 5 – Joseph Lister, English surgeon, medical pioneer (d. 1912)source
  • April 8 – Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican politician, medical doctor and diplomat (d. 1898)source
  • May 31 – Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, British general (d. 1905)source
  • June 13 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer, businessman (d. 1882)source
  • June 24 – Louis Brière de l'Isle, French general (d. 1897)source
  • June 26 – Amédée Courbet, French admiral (d. 1885)source
  • August 5 – Deodoro da Fonseca, 1st President of Brazil (d. 1892)source
  • August 28 – Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia, granddaughter of Tsar Paul I (d. 1894)source
  • November 18 – Mehmed Ali Pasha, Prussian-born Ottoman military leader (d. 1878)source
  • November 26 – Ellen G. White, American religious leader, cofounder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (d. 1915)source
  • November 29 – William Crichton, Scottish engineer and shipbuilder (d. 1889)source
  • December 17 – Baron Alexander Wassilko von Serecki, Governor of the Duchy of Bucovina, member of the Herrenhaus (d. 1893)source

Deaths

  • January 5 – Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, heir-presumptive to the British throne (b. 1763)source
  • February 13 – Caleb Brewster, Patriot spy during the American Revolutionary War (b. 1747)source
  • February 17 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss pedagogue (b. 1746)source
  • February 19 – Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general, diplomat (b. 1773)source
  • March 5 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician (b. 1749)source
  • March 5 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (b. 1745)source
  • April 29 – Deborah Sampson, first American female soldier (b. 1760)source
  • April 29 – Rufus King, American lawyer, politician and diplomat (b. 1755)source
  • July 14 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist (b. 1788)source
  • August 8 – George Canning, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1770)source
  • August 12 – William Blake, English poet and artist (b. 1757)source
  • August 31 – F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the death of George Canning.source
  • September 10 – Ugo Foscolo, Greek-born Italian writer, revolutionary and poet (b. 1778)source
  • November 10 – St. George Tucker, United States federal judge (b. 1752)source