Chronology of World History

Copyright © 2007-2008 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: kpolsson@islandnet.com
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URL: http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/

References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 April 30.


1785

January 1
  • "Daily Universal Register" (Times of London) publishes first issue. [1]
January 6
  • Haym Salomon dies in Philadelphia Pennsylvania at 44, helped finance the revolution. [1]
January 7
  • First balloon flight across English Channel (Blanchard and Jeffries). [1]
January 10
  • Death of Heinrich Wilhelm Stiegel in Charming Forge, Pennsylvania, USA; built two ironworks, manufactured of window glass and bottles, founded American Flint Glassworks. [37]
January 11
  • Continental Congress convenes in New York City, New York. [1]
January 13
  • John Walter publishes first issue of London Times. [1]
January 14
  • Mozart completes "Dissonantenkwartet" (opus 10). [1]
January 15
  • Mozarts string quartet opus 10 premieres. [1]
January 20
  • Samuel Ellis advertises to sell Oyster Island (Ellis Island), no takers. [1]
January 27
  • First US state university chartered, Athens GA. [1]
February 6
  • Iman Willem Falck Dutch governor of Ceylon (1765-83), dies at 48. [1]
February 19
  • Johann Christoph Richter composer, dies at 84. [1]
February 24
  • Carlo Bonaparte Corsican attorney, dies at 39. [1]
March 1
  • Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture organized. [1]
March 7
  • France gives Sweden the island of St. Bartholomew in the West Indies. [7]
April 21
  • Russian tsarina Catharina II ends noble privileges. [1]
April 26
  • Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff composer, dies at 40. [1]
April 30
  • Frederick Philipse III land owner (Bronx, Westch and Putnam), dies at 65. [1]
May 8
  • Pietro Longhi painter, dies. [1]
May 9
  • Franz Xaver Schnitzer composer, dies at 44. [1]
  • Joseph Bramah receives British patent for beer pump handles. [1]
May 10
  • Etienne Joseph Floquet composer, dies at 36. [1]
May 15
  • Karel Blazej Kopriva composer, dies at 29. [1]
May 23
  • Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals. [1]
  • William Woollett engraver, dies. [1]
June 15
  • Two French balloonists die in world's first fatal aviation accident. [1]
July 6
  • The dollar is unanimously chosen byUS Congress as the monetary unit for the United States. [1] [5]
September 29
  • Chaidic sect is excommunicated in Cracow Poland. [1]
December 8
  • Antonio Maria Mazzoni composer, dies at 68. [1]

December 29
  • Johann Heinrich Rolle composer, dies at 69. [1]

1786

January 4
  • Moses Mendelssohn Jewish/German philosopher (Haksalah), dies at 56. [1] [37]
February 13
  • Abraham Baldwin selected president of University of Georgia. [1]
February 20
  • Johann Wolfgang Kleinknecht composer, dies at 70. [1]
February 24
  • Charles Cornwallis appointed Governor-General of India. [1]
March 7
  • Frantisek Benda composer, dies at 76. [1]
March 11
  • Jacobus Bellamy [Zelandus], Dutch/Swiss poet, dies at 28. [1]
March 23
  • Patience Wright first US woman pro artist, dies (birth date unknown). [1]
April 20
  • John Goodricke English deaf and dumb astronomer, dies at 21. [1]
April 23
  • Alexander Cozens English water colors painter, dies at about 68. [1]
May 1
  • Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Wien (Vienna). [1]
May 5
  • Pedro III King of Portugal, dies. [1]
May 19
  • John Stanley composer, dies at 74. [1]
May 21
  • Carl W Scheele Swedish pharmacist/chemist, dies at 43. [1]
June 8
  • First commercially-made ice cream sold (New York). [1]
July 29
  • First newspaper published west of Alleghenies, Pittsburgh Gazette. [1]
August 9
  • First ascent of Mount Blanc. [1]
August 29
  • Shay's Rebellion in Springfield, Massachusetts [1]
September 11
  • Annapolis Convention to determine interstate commerce. [1]

1787

January 1
  • Arthur Middleton US farmer (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 44. [1]
January 11
  • William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus. [1] [5]
January 25
  • Shays' Rebellion suffers a setback when debt-ridden farmers, led by Captain Daniel Shays, fail to capture an arsenal at Springfield Massachusetts. [1]
January 28
  • Philadelphia's Free Africa Society organizes. [1]
February 4
  • First Anglican bishops of New York and Pennsylvania consecrated in London. [1]
  • Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails. [1]
February 12
  • Ruggiero Boscovich Italian physicist/astronomer/philosopher, dies at 75. [1]
February 18
  • Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under eight from labor. [1]
March 2
  • Jean Allamand French theologist/natural philosopher, dies at 73. [1]
March 11
  • Maximilian JLP Gardel French ballet dancer/choreographer, dies at 45. [1]
April 12
  • Philadelphia's Free African Society forms. [1]
April 16
  • First American comedy, "The Contrast", makes its debut in New York City. [1]
May 6
  • First Black Masonic Lodge (African #459) forms at Prince Hall, Boston. [1]
May 10
  • Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings. [1]
May 13
  • Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay. [1]
  • Johann Michael Malzat composer, dies at 38. [1]
May 14
  • Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution. [1]
May 17
  • English slave ship Sisters, from Africa to Cuba, capsizes. [1]
May 25
  • Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia, George Washington presiding. [1]
May 28
  • Johann Georg Leopold Mozart Austrian composer, dies at 67. [1]
May 29
  • "Virginia Plan" proposed. [1]
June 12
  • Law passes providing a senator must be at least 30 years old. [1]
July 2
  • de Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered. [1]
July 13
  • US Congress establishes Northwest Territory (excludes slavery). [1]
  • Ordinance of 1787: a territory can become three to five states at 60,000 population. [1]
August 6
  • Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia begans debate. [1]
August 17
  • Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups. [1]
August 19
  • W Herschel discovers Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. [1]
August 22
  • John Fitch's steamboat completes its tests, years before Fulton. [1]
September 17
  • US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention. [1]
September 27
  • Constitution submitted to the states for ratification. [1]
September 28
  • US Congress sends Constitution to state legislatures for their approval. [1]
October 17
  • Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities. [1]
October 27
  • Federalist letters start appearing in New York newspapers. [1]
October 29
  • The opera "Don Giovanni" is produced (Prague). [1]
November 1
  • First free school in New York City (African Free School) opens. [1]
November 18
  • First Unitarian minister in US ordained, Boston. [1]
November 21
  • Andrew Jackson admitted to the bar. [1]
December 6
  • Laurens Pieter van de Speigel appointed Dutch pension advisor. [1]
December 7
  • Delaware becomes first state to ratify constitution. [1]
December 12
  • Pennsylvania becomes second state to ratify US constitution. [1]
December 18
  • New Jersey becomes third state to ratify constitution. [1]

1788

January 1
  • London's Daily Universal Register becomes the Times. [1]
  • Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves. [1]
January 2
  • Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution. [1]
January 5
  • Johann Schneider composer, dies at 85. [1]
January 9
  • Connecticut becomes 5th state. [1]
January 15
  • Gaetano Latilla composer, dies at 77. [1]
January 17
  • Alessio Prati composer, dies at 37. [1]
January 20
  • Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah GA. [1]
January 26
  • Captain Arthur Phillip forms English colony at Sydney, Botany Bay New South Wales as a penal colony. [1]
January 28
  • Lord Gordon found guilty of libel of queen of France. [1]
January 29
  • Australia Day. [1]
January 31
  • Charles E Stuart English pretender to the throne, dies at 67. [1]
  • Francesco Zannetti composer, dies at 50. [1]
  • [Bonnie Prince] Charles E Stuart English pretender, dies at 67. [1]
February 1
  • First US steamboat patent issued, by Georgia to Briggs and Longstreet. [1]
February 6
  • Massachusetts becomes 6th state to ratify constitution. [1]
February 9
  • Austria declares war on Russia. [1]
February 20
  • Gijsbert John van Hardenbroeck Dutch regent (Utrecht), dies at 68. [1]
February 22
  • Franz Joseph Oehlschlagel composer, dies at 63. [1]
March 1
  • Orazio Mei composer, dies at 56. [1]
March 21
  • Fire destroyed 856 buildings in New Orleans Louisiana. [1]
  • Gustavus Vassa petitions Queen Charlotte, to free enslaved Africans. [1]
March 29
  • Charles Wesley hymn writer, dies. [1]
April 7
  • First settlement in Ohio, at Marietta. [1]
April 12
  • Carl Joseph Toeschi composer, dies at 56. [1]
  • Carlo Antonio Campioni composer, dies at 67. [1]
April 15
  • England, Netherlands and Prussia sign peace treaty. [1]
  • Giuseppi Bonno composer, dies at 77. [1]
April 22
  • Zacharias H Alewijn Dutch poet, dies 46. [1]
April 28
  • Maryland becomes the 7th state to ratify the constitution. [1]
May 9
  • English parliament accepts abolishing of slave trade. [1]
May 12
  • Louis E van Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Austrian duke, dies at 69. [1]
May 23
  • South Carolina becomes 8th state to ratify US constitution. [1]
May 26
  • Mary Clark of England gives birth to a baby without a brain. [1]
May 29
  • Jacques Aliamet French etcher/engraver, dies at 61. [1]
June 11
  • First British ship built on Pacific coast begun at Nootka Sound, British Columbia, Canada. [1]
June 21
  • US Constitution goes into effect as New Hampshire is 9th to ratify. [1]
June 25
  • Virginia becomes 10th state to ratify US constitution. [1]
July 26
  • New York becomes 11th state to ratify constitution. [1]
September 13
  • New York City becomes capital of the United States. [1]
December 12
  • Joseph Gibbs composer, dies at 88. [1]
December 14
  • Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach German composer, dies at 74. [1]
  • Carlos III King of Naples/Spain (1759-88), dies at 72. [1]
December 17
  • Russian army of Grigorij Potemkin occupies Ochárov. [1]
December 19
  • Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam. [1]
December 21
  • Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam. [1]
December 23
  • Maryland votes to cede a 10 square mile area for District of Columbia. [1]
December 25
  • John Logan Scottish conductor (Ode to the Cuckoo), dies at about 40. [1]
December 30
  • Francesco Zuccarelli Italian rococo painter/etcher, dies at 86. [1]

1789

January 1
  • Christleib Siegmund Binder composer, dies at 65. [1]
January 2
  • Franz Joseph Leonti Meyer von Schavensee composer, dies at 68. [1]
January 7
  • First national (Presidential) election in US. [1]
January 10
  • Pierre Lyonet Dutch zoologist/cryptologist, dies at 82. [1]
January 20
  • Johann Christoph Oley composer, dies at 50. [1]
January 21
  • First American novel, WH Brown's "The Power of Sympathy", is published. [1]
January 23
  • Georgetown, first US Catholic college, founded. [1]
January 26
  • John Odell signs contract for £336 to build Saint Peter's church (Bronx). [1]
February 1
  • Chinese troops driven out of Vietnam capital Thang Long. [1]
February 2
  • Armand-Louis Couperin French composer/organist (Notre Dame), dies at 63. [1]
February 4
  • First electoral college chooses Washington and Adams as President and Vice President. [1]
March 2
  • Pennsylvania ends prohibition of theatrical performances. [1]
March 4
  • FirstUS Congress declares constitution in effect (9 senators, 13 representatives). [1]
March 10
  • Franklin College founded (1787?). [1]
March 11
  • Benjamin Banneker with L'Enfant begin to lay out Washington DC. [1]
March 12
  • US Post Office established. [1]
April 1
  • House of Representatives first full meeting, New York City, New York, F Muhlenberg first speaker. [1]
April 6
  • First US Congress begins regular sessions, Federal Hall, New York City, New York. [1]
April 7
  • Abdül-Hamid I 27th sultan of Turkey (1774-89), dies at 64. [1]
  • Peter Camper anatomist/animal scholar, dies at 66. [1]
April 8
  • House of Representives first meeting. [1]
April 16
  • George Washington heads for first presidential inauguration. [1]
April 21
  • John Adams sworn in as first US Vice President (9 days before Washington). [1]
April 23
  • President-elect George Washington moves into Franklin House, New York. [1]
April 26
  • Peter I Panin Russian General (Pugatshov-uprising), dies at about 67. [1]
April 28
  • Fletcher Christian leads Mutiny on HMS Bounty and Captain William Bligh. [1]
April 30
  • George Washington inaugurated as first President of US. [1]
May 5
  • French States-General for It first since 1614 together. [1]
May 7
  • First inaugural ball (for George Washington in New York City, New York). [1]
May 10
  • Guillaume Gommaire Kennis composer, dies at 72. [1]
May 12
  • Society of Saint Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers - It later becomes an infamous group of New York City political bosses. [1]
June 1
  • First US congressional act becomes law (on administering oaths). [1]
June 3
  • Alex Mackenzie explores Mackenzie River (Canada). [1]
June 9
  • Spanish capture British schooner Northwest America near Vancouver I. [1]
June 13
  • Mrs Alexander Hamilton serves ice cream for dessert to Washington. [1]
June 17
  • Third Estate in France declared itself a national assembly. [1]
July 4
  • First US tariff act. [1]
July 14
  • Bastille Day-citizens of Paris storm Bastille prison. [1]
July 27
  • US Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept). [1]
August 1
  • US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act. [1]
August 7
  • US War Department established. [1]
August 25
  • Mary Ball Washington mother of George, dies. [1]
August 27
  • French National Assembly issues "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen". [1]
August 28
  • Sir William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Enceladus. [1]
September 2
  • US Treasury Department established by Congress. [1]
September 11
  • Alexander Hamilton appointed Secretary of the Treasury. [1]
September 13
  • First loan to US Govt (from New York City banks). [1]
September 15
  • Dept of Foreign Affairs, renamed the Dept of State. [1]
September 17
  • William Herschel discovers Mimas, satellite of Saturn. [1]
September 22
  • Office of Postmaster General of the US established by Congress. [1]
September 24
  • US Congress creates the Post Office. [1]
  • US Congress' first Judiciary Act, Attorney General and Supreme Court. [1]
September 25
  • US Congress proposes Bill of Rights (10 of 12 will ratify). [1]
September 26
  • Jefferson appointed first Secretary of State; John Jay first chief justice; Samuel Osgood first Postmaster and Edmund J Randolph first Attorney Genl. [1]
September 29
  • First congress adjourns. [1]
  • US War Dept established a regular army. [1]
October 3
  • Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26. [1]
October 15
  • First presidental tour-George Washington in New England. [1]
November 8
  • Bourbon Whiskey, first distilled from corn (by Elijah Craig, Bourbon KY). [1]
November 13
  • Ben Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death and taxes". [1]
November 20
  • New Jersey becomes first state to ratify Bill of Rights. [1]
November 21
  • North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state. [1]
November 26
  • First national thanksgiving. [1]
December 3
  • Claude-Joseph Vernet French seascape painter, dies. [1]
December 23
  • Charles-Michel abbé de l'Epéé (school for the deaf), dies at 77. [1]

End of 1785-1789. Next: 1790.
The complete timeline can be purchased in a PDF file for US$10 from the author.

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start-302 303-599 600-799 800-999 1000-1099 1100-1199 1200-1299 1300-1401 1402-1449 1450-1474
1475-1499 1500-1524 1525-1539 1540-1559 1560-1574 1575-1599 1600-1619 1620-1629 1630-1639 1640-1649
1650-1659 1660-1669 1670-1679 1680-1699 1700-1719 1720-1739 1740-1749 1750-1759 1760-1769 1770-1779
1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1794 1795-1799 1800-1804 1805-1809 1810-1814 1815-1819 1820-1824 1825-1829
1830-1834 1835-1839 1840-1844 1845-1849 1850-1854 1855-1859 1860-1861 1862-1864 1865-1867 1868-1869
1870-1871 1872-1874 1875-1877 1878-1879 1880-1882 1883-1884 1885-1887 1888-1889 1890-1892 1893-1894
1895-1897 1898-1899 1900-1901 1902-1904 1905-1907 1908-1909 1910-1911 1912 1913 1914
1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920-1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008


A list of references to all source material is available.

Other web pages of interest:

  • This Day in History
  • Chronology of Sports
  • Chronology of Gambling
  • Chronology of Extreme Weather
  • Chronology of World War II
  • Chronology of Space Exploration
  • Chronology of Sweden
  • Chronology of Personal Computers
  • Chronology of Notable Births
  • Chronology of Notable Deaths
  • Last updated: 2008 April 30.
    Copyright © 2007-2008 Ken Polsson (email: kpolsson@islandnet.com).
    URL: http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/
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