the encyclopedic entry of 1809

1809

Year 1809 (MDCCCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1809

January - March

January 5 - The Treaty of the Dardanelles between Britain and the Ottoman Empire is concluded.
January 10 - French Marshal Jean Lannes begins the Siege of Zaragoza.
January 16 - Peninsular War - Battle of Corunna: The French defeat the British.
February 3 - The Illinois Territory is created.
February 8 - Franz I of Austria declares war on France.
February 11 - Robert Fulton patents the steamboat.
February 17 - Miami University (Ohio) is established on the township of land required to be set aside for it under the conditions of the Miami Purchase in 1794.
February 20 - A decision by the Supreme Court of the United States states that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.
February 20 - The Siege of Zaragoza grinds to a halt as Jose Palafox surrenders. Over 60,000 had been killed on both sides in 41 days of street fighting.
February 25 - Battle of Valls: Spanish forces are defeated in Catalonia by Marshal Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr.
March 1 - Embargo Act repealed, Non-Intercourse Act replaces it.
March 4 - James Madison succeeds Thomas Jefferson as the President of the United States.
March 13 - A military coup ousts Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden; he is confined in the Gripsholm Castle.
March 29 - At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden. King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état and is later exiled.
March 29 - First Battle of Porto: 18,000 Portuguese soldiers are drowned in a rout after defeat by the French under Marshal Soult and the Battle of Medellín results in massive Spanish casualties in Extremadura, when Marshal Victor's cavalry routs their army.

April - June

April 9 - Tyroleans rise against French and Bavarian occupation (the most notable militia is led by Andreas Hofer.
April 14 - Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria: Napoleon I defeats Austrians in the
April 19 - Battle of Raszyn: The armies of Austria are defeated by the Duchy of Warsaw as a part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition (1809).
April 22 - Battle of Eckmühl: French troops under Napoleon I and Marshal Davout defeat the Austrians under Archduke Charles.
May 5 - Mary Kies is the first American woman to be awarded a patent.
May 5 - The Swiss canton of Aargau denies Jews citizenship.
May 17 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. When he announces that the Pope's secular power has ended, the Pope excommunicates him.
May 21 - Battle of Aspern-Essling: Austrian troops under Archduke Karl beat the French under Napoleon in a hard fought battle.
May 24 - Dartmoor Prison opens, the first to house French prisoners of war.
June 6 - Sweden promulgates a new Instrument of Government, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after authoritarian rule since 1772.
June 7 - Shoja Shah of Afghanistan signs a treaty with the British. Only weeks later, he is succeeded by Mahmud Shah.

July - September

July 5-6 - Battle of Wagram: Napoleon defeats the Austrians.
July 6 - French troops arrest Pope Pius VII and take him to Liguria.
July 10 - French Marshal Marmont engages in the inconclusive Battle of Znaim against the Austrians.
July 16 - The city of La Paz (current Bolivia) declares its independence from theSpanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
July 28 - Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force.
July 30 - A British invasion army lands in Walcheren.
August 8 - 70 disciples of Gaon of Vilnius arrive in Palestine.
August 10 - Ecuador declares independence from Spain.
August 11 - Severe earthquakes strike the Azores and sinks the village of São Miguel.
August 11 - Battle of Almonacid de Toledo: A poorly-led Spanish army is defeated by King Joseph Bonaparte's French army.
September 17 - The Peace of Hamina is signed between Russia and Sweden in the Finnish War. The territory to become the Grand Duchy of Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
September 18 - A new theatre to hold the Royal Opera House opens in London to replace the first, burnt down in a fire in 1808. The price increases lead to the Old Price Riots which last for 64 days.

October - December

October 11 - Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
October 14 - The Treaty of Schoenbrunn cedes the Illyrian provinces to France.
November 19 - Battle of Ocana: A Spanish army is ridden down and 20,000 are killed by French forces.
November 25 - Benjamin Bathurst, a British diplomat, mysteriously disappears (possibly murdered) in Perleberg.
December 26 - A British invasion force leaves Vlissingen.
December 30 - Wearing masks at balls is forbidden in Boston, Massachusetts.

Undated

The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) is recommissioned as the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron.
Louis Poinsot describes the two remaining Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck publishes Philosophie Zoologique, outlining the concept of evolution.
The 2,000 Guineas Stakes horse race has its first run in England.
Nicolas François Appert develops a method to preserve food by means of canning.
Prince Klemens von Metternich becomes Austrian foreign minister.
British recruits to the British East India Company and subsequently to the Indian Civil Service are required to learn at least one Indian language fluently.