Year '1817' ('
MDCCCXVII') was a
common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar (or a
common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower
Julian calendar).
Events of 1817
January - March
★
January 19 - An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by
General José de San MartÃn,
starts crossing the Andes from
Argentina to liberate
Chile and then
Peru.
★
February 12 - The
Argentine/
Chilean patriotic army defeats the Spanish in the
Battle of Chacabuco.
★
March 3
★
★ The
Alabama Territory is created by splitting the
Mississippi Territory in half, 9 months before
Mississippi becomes a
U.S. state.
★
★
★ President
James Madison vetoes
John C. Calhoun's
Bonus Bill.
★
March 4 -
James Monroe succeeds
James Madison as the
President of the United States of America.
April - June
★
April -
Earthquake in
Palermo, Italy
★
April 3 -
Princess Caraboo appears in
Almondsbury in
Gloucestershire, England.
★
April 15 - The first American school for the
deaf opens in
Hartford, Connecticut.
★
April 17 - Martin Van Buren passes
Erie Canal bill.
★
April 28 -
Rush-Bagot Treaty is signed.
★
May - The
General Convention of the
Episcopal Church founded
General Theological Seminary while meeting in
New York City.
★
June 5 - First
Great Lakes steamer, the ''
Frontenac'', is launched.
★
June 25 - Large prison riot in
Copenhagen prison - army is sent for to quell it.
July - September
★
July 4 - At
Rome, New York, construction on the
Erie Canal begins.
★
August 22 - City of
Araraquara,
Brazil founded.
★
August 23 - Earthquake near the site of the ancient Greek city of
Helike results in 65 deaths.
October - December
★ October - President and Mrs.
James Monroe move back into the
White House, after restoration repairs.
★
October 31 -
Emperor NinkÅ accedes to the throne of
Japan.
★
November 20 - The first
Seminole War begins in
Florida.
★
November 22 - Fredric Cailliaud discovers the old Roman
emerald mines at Sikait,
Egypt.
★
December 10 -
Mississippi is admitted as the 20th
U.S. state, separated from the
Alabama Territory.
Undated
★
Elgin Marbles are displayed in the
British Museum.
★
John Kidd extracts
naphthalene from
coal tar.
★
Samuel Taylor Coleridge publishes ''
Biographia Literaria''.
★ A
Typhus epidemic occurs in
Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
★ Outbreak of the
Pernambucan Revolt.
Births
January - June
★
January 6 -
J. J. McCarthy, Irish architect (d.
1882)
★
January 8 - Sir
Theophilus Shepstone, British-born South African statesman (d.
1893)
★
February 19 - King
William III of the Netherlands (d.
1890)
★
February 22 -
Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d.
1880)
★
March 6 -
Clémentine of Orléans, daughter of King
Louis-Philippe of France and mother of Tsar
Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (d.
1907)
★
March 22 -
Braxton Bragg, American Confederate general (d.
1876)
★
May 15 -
Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher (d.
1905)
★
June 30 -
Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist (d.
1911)
July - December
★
July 12 -
Henry David Thoreau, American philosopher (d.
1862)
★
July 24 -
Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d.
1905)
★
August 3 -
Archduke Albert, Austrian general (d.
1895)
★
August 14 -
Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (d.
1874)
★
August 24 -
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d.
1875)
★
October 17 -
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Bahadaur) Founder of the Two Nation Theory for a future Pakistan (d.
1898)
★
November 3 -
Leonard Jerome, American entrepreneur and grandfather of
Sir Winston Churchill (d.
1891)
★
November 12 -
Bahá'u'lláh, Persian founder of the Bahá'à Faith (d.
1892)
★
November 17 -
Benjamin Champney, American painter (d.
1907)
★
November 30 -
Theodor Mommsen, German writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1903)
: ''See also .''
Deaths
January - June
★
January 12 -
Juan Andres, Spanish Jesuit (b.
1740)
★
January 16 -
Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (b.
1759)
★
April 4 -
André Masséna, French marshal (b.
1758)
★
April 12 -
Charles Messier, French astronomer (b.
1730)
★
June 24 -
Thomas McKean, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (b.
1734)
July - December
★
July 14 -
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, French writer (b.
1766)
★
July 18 -
Jane Austen, English novelist (b.
1775)
★
July 19 -
John Palmer, Bath architect (b. c. 1738)
★
October 16 -
Manuel Piar, Venezuelan military leader (b.
1774)
★
November 14 -
Policarpa Salavarrieta, Colombian spy and revolutionary who worked for the Independence of Colombia (b.
1795
★
November 30 -
Jean-Baptiste-Melchior Hertel de Rouville, Canadian politician (b.
1748)
: ''See also .''