1826 - Political Events

Political Events

Portugal's João VI dies at his native Lisbon March 10 at age 56 after a 10-year reign of which half was spent in Brazil. His son Dom Pedro of Brazil succeeds to the Portuguese throne as Pedro IV, draws up a charter giving Portugal a moderate British-style parliamentary government, but refuses to leave Brazil. He celebrates his 28th birthday in October by granting patents of nobility to the father, brothers, and a distant cousin of his mistress, Domitila (see 1824). Pedro's empress, Leopoldina, asks the Austrian minister to convey news of her situation to her father, the emperor Franz, in Vienna, and orders Pedro to send Domitila away. Pedro refuses, she suffers a miscarriage December 2, and he dies of puerperal fever December 11 at age 29, survived by four of her six children, including a year-old son who will rule Brazil from 1841 to 1889 as Pedro II.

Pedro I abdicates the Portuguese throne to his infant daughter, Maria da Gloria, and she will reign until 1853, with her uncle Dom Miguel, 24, as regent (see 1828).

Russia and Norway establish a border that supersedes the arrangement made 500 years ago in the Treaty of Novgorod.

Constantinople receives a Russian ultimatum April 5 demanding a return to the status quo in the Danubian principalities. The sultan Mahmud II yields on the advice of Austria and France.

Ottoman Janissaries revolt in May following a decree by Mahmud II ordering formation of a new military corps to replace them. A small corps loyal to the sultan bombards the barracks at Constantinople, the city's mob joins in the attack, and 6,000 to 10,000 Janissaries are massacred.

The Afghan capital Kabul falls to Ghazni's ruler Dost Mohammed, 33, who deposes the Afghan king Shah Shujah al-Moolk and will reign until his death in 1863 as Dost Mohammed Khan, establishing the Barakzai dynasty; Dost Mohammed begins to extend his sphere of influence (see 1835; Harlan, 1827).

Persian troops invade Russia's transcaucasian territories as Fath Ali Shah tries to regain lands lost in the war that ended in 1813, hoping to take advantage of the death late last year of Czar Aleksandr I, but a Russian army sent by Nicholas I under the command of Ivan Feodorovich Paskevich, 44, defeats the invaders September 26 at the Battle of Ganja. A 3-year war begins (see 1827).

A British siege of Bharatpur 75 miles south of Delhi ends January 18 after weeks of bombardment that have left the "impregnable" Jat fortress little damaged. Sir Stapleton Cotton, 53, 1st Viscount Combermere, explodes two mines, the fort's defenders crowd its walls to meet the British attack, a mine containing 10,000 pounds of gunpowder is then detonated beneath them, and the British storm the breach with one cavalry and two infantry divisions. The British have intervened in a dispute over succession to Jat rule, and they lose about 1,000 killed and wounded; Indian losses are about 8,000 killed and wounded (many are burned to death when their quilted armor catches fire), and the effect on the native population is immense.

The Treaty of Yandabu February 24 ends the 2-year Anglo-Burmese War. Britain acquires Assam, Arakan, and Tenasserim. The Laotian king Anouvong (Chao Anou) sees an opportunity in the British success against Burma to mobilize his forces against Siam (see 1827).

Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles dies of apoplexy in England July 5 at age 45, 7 years after establishing the British crown colony (see 1823; Raffles Hotel, 1886). John Crawfurd gives up his position as resident of Singapore, which combines with Malacca and Penang to form the Straits Settlements (see 1867).

British forces crush the Ashanti August 7 at Dodowa near Accra (see 1824), but hostilities will continue until 1831 (see 1874).

Britain's Cape Colony extends her borders north to the Orange River (see 1820; 1834).

Bolivian independence gains recognition from Peru (see 1825). Simón Bolívar organizes a government for the new mountain republic, whose territory initially covers 1,917,236 square miles (2,376,258 square kilometers); José de Sucre becomes Bolivia's first president at Bolívar's invitation, and he will serve until 1828 before resigning in the face of opposition from native Bolivians (see 1830). Bolívar departs for New Granada and the Pan American Congress at Panama in June; no U.S. representative attends (one delegate sent by Washington dies en route, the other arrives too late). Bolívar decides to keep Venezuela as part of Gran Colombia despite opposition from Francisco de Santander, with whom he has had increasing political differences (see 1828; Venezuela, 1823; 1829).

Former U.S. president Thomas Jefferson dies bankrupt and heavily in debt at Monticello July 4 at age 83 on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that he wrote in 1776; former president John Adams dies at Quincy, Massachusetts, a few hours later at age 90.