1796
| Years: 1793 1794 1795 – 1796 – 1797 1798 1799 | |
| Decades: 1760s 1770s 1780s – 1790s – 1800s 1810s 1820s | |
| Centuries: 17th century – 18th century – 19th century 1796 in topic: Lists of leaders: | |
1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. (see link for calendar)
Table of contents |
Events
- February 1 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York
- March 9 – Widow Joséphine de Beauharnais marries General Napoléon Bonaparte.
- March 30 – Carl Gauss obtained conditions for the constructibility by ruler and compass of regular polygons and was able to announce that the regular 17-gon was constructible by ruler and compasses.
- April 2 – The only night of would-be Shakespearean play of Vortigern and Rowena (actually written by William Henry Ireland)
- May 10 – First Coalition: Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte wins a decisive victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the River Adda in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
- May 14 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.
- May 15 – Napoleon's troops take Milan
- June 1 – Tennessee is admitted as the 16th U.S. state.
- July 11 – The U.S. takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
- July 22 – Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party.
- September 8 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Bassano – French forces defeat Austrian troops at Bassano.
- November: John Adams defeats Thomas Jefferson in U.S. presidential election
- November 4 – The Treaty of Tripoli (between the United States and Tripoli) is signed at Tripoli (see also 1797)
- November 17 November 6 Old Style – Catherine II of Russia called Catherine "The Great" dies and is succeeded by her son Paul I of Russia. His wife Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg becomes Empress consort.
- November 17 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Arcole – French forces defeat the Austrians in Italy.
- December 7 – U.S. Electoral College meets to elect John Adams president
- British government purchase a 40 acre (162,000 m²) site at Norman Cross the first purposely built prisoner of war camp in England at that time.
- Mungo Park visits Segu kingdom
- The Qianlong Emperor abdicates at age 84 to make way for his son, the Jiaqing Emperor.
- The British seize Ceylon from the Dutch.
Ongoing events
Births
- January 25 – William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (d. 1852)
- February 22 – Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1874)
- March 18 – Jakob Steiner, Swiss mathematician (d. 1863)
- May 1 – Junius Brutus Booth, English actor (d. 1852)
- May 4 – Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (d. 1859)
- July 6 – Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (d. 1855)
- July 16 – Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875)
- July 23 – Franz Berwald, Swedish composer (d. 1868)
- August 15 – John Torrey, American botanist (d. 1873)
- August 25 – James Lick, American land speculator (d. 1876)
- September 19 – Hartley Coleridge, British poet (d. 1849)
- October 23 – Stefano Franscini, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1857)
- November 30 – Carl Loewe, German composer (d. 1869)
Deaths
- February 23 – Jean-Nicolas Stofflet, French royalist general (executed) (b. 1751)
- July 21 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b. 1759)
- September 21 – François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French royalist general (killed in battle) (b. 1769)
- November 6 – Catherine the Great of Russia (b, 1729)
Categories: 1796