I therefore dare hope that the mathematicians will receive this memoir with good will, for its purpose is to fill this gap in the theory of
algebraic equations.
-Niels Abel, 1824
Born in 1824:
Died in 1824:
- French Gothic horror novelist Charles Robert Maturin.
- English poet and politician George Gordon, Lord Byron.
- English anti-mathematician Francis Maseres.
- Japanese printmaker Kitao Masayoshi.
- French physician and naturalist Pierre Joseph Amoreaux.
- Austrian composer Maria Theresia von Paradis.
- French King Louis XVIII, survivor of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror, and the Napoleonic Wars. Once a Jacobin firebrand, he dies
an arch-reactionary. Louis's son succeeds him as Charles X.
- Sir Charles MacCarthy, British governor of Sierra Leone, at the Battle of Nsamankow, along with most of his soldiers.
- Ašanti king Osei Bonsu, in his bed, succeeded by Osei Yaw Akoto.
Art and science:
Politics and war:
- Ottoman sultan Mehmed II calls on Mehmed Ali, his pasha (viceroy) of Egypt, to suppress the Greek rebels fighting for independence. Lord Byron
lands in Missolonghi with great fanfare, and starts helping to pay for the revolt. Greek leaders raise an army on the assumption that Byron will pay for
them, but this is a surprise to him. In April, Byron catches a fever while out riding and dies.
- The United States has essentially been a one-party state during the administration of James Monroe. With a presidential
election on the horizon, the various factions of the Democratic-Republican Party fall out and the party essentially dissolves. This is the first
presidential election with a popular vote, with the following results:
Since no-one has enough electoral votes, the vote moves to the
House of Representatives, which chooses Adams
the following year. When Adams
appoints Clay Secretary of State, Jackson supporters accuse the two of making a 'corrupt bargain' to steal the Presidency. Nevertheless, the giant wheel of
cheese will have to be kept in its box for another four years.
Congress creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and carves the 'Indian Territory' (most of what will eventially become Oklahoma) from the Arkansas
Territory.
Russia renounces all claim to territory south of 54° 40" latitude, which would come to be called the 'Oregon Country'.
Kapiolani, wife of the Kona District chief in the island of Hawai'i, is the highest-ranking Hawaiian that missionaries have managed to covert to
Christianity. On brink of Kilauea's crater, Kapiolani declares that Pele does not exist. Pele does not rise up and punish Kapiolani, her party returns
to Hilo safely. Many Hawaiians convert to Christianity after this.
The Marquis de Lafayette visits the United States
Sir Charles MacCarthy takes the Ašante execution of a Fante (a member of an African tribe allied to the British) as an excuse to invade the
Ašante Empire. But superior numbers and superior tactics allow the Ašante to defeat the British at the Battle of Nsamankow near Accra. This is
the outbreak of what would come to be called the First Ashanti War.
Zulu king Shaka cedes a strip of South African coast to the British. They establish Port Natal, around which the city of Durban will grow
later.
The last Spanish army in South America is defeated by forces under Antonio José de Sucre at the Battle of Ayacucho. Perú, the last part of the
continent under Spanish control, is now independent, and Simon Bolívar is made dictator.
México adopts a constitution, making it a federal republic with Guadalupe Victoria as its first president.
Five separate revolts against the British raj break out in India.
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica join to form the United States of Central America.
Also:
1823 - 1824 - 1825
How they Were Made - 19th Century