1818 - Political Events

Political Events

Sweden's Karl XIII dies at his native Stockholm February 5 at age 69 after a 9-year reign and is succeeded by Prince Bernadotte, now 55, who will reign until 1844 as Karl XIV Johan, founding a new Swedish dynasty.

Russian army commander in chief Mikhail Bogdanovich, Knyaz (Prince) Barclay de Tolly, dies at Insterburg (later Chernyakhovsk), East Prussia, May 26 (May 14 Old Style) at age 56. Polish national hero Jan Dabrowski dies at Winnogóra June 6 at age 62, having helped Napoleon defeat the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians in numerous engagements, including those at Danzig, Friedland, and Leipzig, which paved the way for the reestablishment of the kingdom of Poland 3 years ago.

Bavaria adopts a constitution that is more liberal than those of other German duchies, kingdoms, and city-states; it will survive until 1918.

Britain's Queen (Sophia) Charlotte dies in September at age 74, having borne 15 children to George III, who has been deranged for the past decade.

Allied occupation troops leave France after 3 years of peace keeping in the wake of the Napoleonic wars.

The Portuguese princess Maria Leopoldina gives birth at Rio April 4 to a girl, Maria da Glória, who will grow up to rule Portugal as Maria II (see 1817). Maria Leopoldina suffers a miscarriage in December (see 1821).

Egyptian forces arrive in April at the Wahhabi capital ad-Diriyah together with allies from the Harb, Unayzah, Mutayr, and Banu Khalid tribes under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, a son of the viceroy (vizier) Muhammad Ali Pasha (see 1815). Fighting ensues off and on until September 9, when the Wahhabi leader Abdallah ibn Saud surrenders. A great-grandson of the Saudi state's founder, he is sent to Constantinople, where he is beheaded after the Ottoman Empire's highest sharia court has found him guilty of brigandage and heresy (his severed head is pounded to a pulp, his body displayed on a long pole); ad-Diriyah is leveled, Egyptian garrisons are posted to the chief central Arabian towns, and although some members of the Saud family managed to escape before Abdallah's surrender the others are taken to Egypt and imprisoned. The Saud family will nevertheless control much of central Arabia until 1880 (see 1891).

The third Anglo-Maratha War ends in India as British troops snuff out all resistance (see 1817). Having destroyed the Maratha confederacy, the British provide the peshwa Baji Rao II with a pension and annex his territories. Former governor general of India Warren Hastings dies at his ancestral seat of Daylesford, Worcestershire, August 22 at age 85 (defending himself in court from 1788 to 1795 consumed his fortune, but the East India Company has provided him with a generous pension). India's Rajput states (Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur), Poona, and the Holkar family of Indore come under British control, ending the independent kingdom of the Maharashtra that was established in 1674.

Hawaii's Kamehameha dies May 8 at age 82 after a 24-year reign that has consolidated the Sandwich Island kingdom. His favorite wife, Kaahumanu, an Amazonian warrior who will survive until 1832, succeeds as co-ruler with the new king, a youth of 22, and his mother, Keopuloani. The two widows persuade the new king to dine publicly with them at Kailua and to permit food for both sexes to be cooked in the same oven, defying traditional taboos. The new king will welcome Hawaii's first missionaries next year and reign until 1824 as Kamehameha II, overthrowing the ancient Hawaiian taboo system and religion (see religion, 1824).

Frontier leader George Rogers Clark dies at Louisville February 13 at age 65, having undergone a leg amputation; Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee dies at Cumberland Island, Georgia, March 25 at age 62; Paul Revere at Boston May 10 at age 83; former president's wife Abigail Adams of typhoid fever at Braintree, Massachusetts, October 28 at age 73; Commodore Joshua Barney, U.S. Navy, at Pittsburgh December 1 at age 59.

The U.S.-Canadian border is established by a convention signed October 20, making the 49th parallel the boundary from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains as David Thompson continues his survey (see 1816). Washington and London agree to a joint occupation of the Pacific Northwest territories for a 10-year period (see 1828; Drake, 1579; Cook, 1778; Gray, 1791).

The Seminole War ends in Florida Territory, setting the stage for U.S. acquisition of Florida from Spain (see 1819).

Congress adopts a flag with 13 alternate red and white stripes and with a blue square containing a white star for each state of the union.

Illinois enters the Union December 3 as the 21st state.

Simón Bolívar secures control of the lower Orinoco basin from the Spanish (see 1815). Bolívar returned to the region in 1816 and has gained support from José Paez, 28 (see 1819).

Chile proclaims independence from Spain February 12, José de San Martín defeats a royal army from Peru April 5 at Maipu, and he gains support from rebels at Buenos Aires; he also obtains support from former Royal Navy commander Thomas Cochrane, now 43, who last year accepted an invitation to command the Chilean fleet and captures the Spanish flagship Esmeralda in Callao harbor (see Cochrane, 1814; 1823).

Southern Haiti's president-for-life Alexandre Sabès Pétion dies at his native Port-au-Prince March 29 at age 47 after an 11-year regime in which he has struggled against Henri Christophe and his own dissident generals. His name will survive in the hilltop community of Pétionville outside the capital. Pétion is succeeded as president by his colleague Jean-Pierre Boyer, 41, who will unify the country in 1821, serve until 1843, but fail in his efforts to stem the decline in Haiti's economy (see 1822). French commissioner Leger Félicité Sonthonax dies at his native Oyonnax estate July 28 at age 55, having been exiled from Saint Domingue in 1799 and again in 1803, the second time for criticizing the appointment of General Rochambeau as commander-in-chief of French forces there.

The Peul Diallo dynasty that has ruled on Africa's Niger River since the 15th century ends in a coup d'état by the Muslim usurper Marabout Cheikou Ahmadou. He will organize the movement of nomads in the region and establish patterns designed to conserve grass and water.