- Jan 1 Official reopening of the White House
Historic Publication
Jan 1 Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is published anonymously by the small London publishing house of Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones
Mary Shelley
Event of Interest
Jan 2 Lord Byron completes "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (4th canto)
Lord Byron
Event of Interest
Jan 30 John Keats composes his sonnet "When I Have Fears"
John Keats
Victory in Battle
Mar 16 Second Battle of Cancha Rayada - Spanish forces defeat Chileans under José de San Martín
José de San Martín
- Mar 18 US Congress approves 1st pensions for government service
- Apr 4 Congress decides on the US flag: 13 red & white stripes & 20 stars
- Apr 5 In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement - led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín - win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
Victory in Battle
Apr 7 General Andrew Jackson conquers St Marks, Florida from Seminole indians
Andrew Jackson
Event of Interest
Apr 20 Napoleon Bonaparte bids emotional farewell to his old guard at Palace of Fontainebleau
Napoléon Bonaparte
- Apr 21 Franz Grillparzer's "Sappho" premieres in Vienna
Event of Interest
Apr 28 US President James Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on Great Lakes and Lake Champlain
James Monroe
- May 4 Netherlands & Britain sign treaty against illegal slave handling
- May 24 General Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola, Florida
- May 28 Walk-in-the-Water, 1st steam vessel to sail Lake Erie launched
- Jun 3 Maratha Wars between British and Maratha Confederacy in India ends
- Jul 11 English poet John Keats writes "In the Cottage Where Burns is Born", "Lines Written in the Highlands", and "Gadfly"
- Sep 7 Carl III of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim
- Sep 23 Border demarcation markers for Moresnet formally installed.
- Sep 30 Congress of Aken: Russia, Austria, Prussia, France & England
- Oct 9 Congress of Aken returns to France from Libya
- Oct 19 US Government and Chickasaw Indians sign a treaty
- Oct 20 49th parallel forms as border between US & Canada
- Oct 20 US and Britain agree to joint control of Oregon country
- Nov 21 Russia's Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine
- Dec 3 Illinois becomes 21st state USA (Admission day)
- Dec 25 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night" - "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht) sung (Austria)
- Dec 25 Handel's Messiah, premieres in the US in Boston, performed by The Handel & Haydn Society