What happened in 1831

World2

• Oct 9Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek head of state and founder of Greek independence, is assassinated in Nafplion.
• Oct 21The November Uprising ends in the defeat of Polish forces.

North America8

• Jan 1William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper, in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Apr 18The University of Alabama is founded.
• Aug 21Nat Turner's slave rebellion in the United States breaks out in Southampton County, Virginia.
• Oct 30In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.
• New York University in New York City
• Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut
• Xavier University in Cincinnati (as "The Athenaeum")
• Denison University in Granville, Ohio

Europe16

• Feb 5Dutch naval lieutenant Jan van Speyk blows up his own gunboat in Antwerp rather than strike his colours on the demand of supporters of the Belgian Revolution.
• Feb 7The Belgian Constitution of 1831 is approved by the National Congress.
• Feb 25Battle of Olszynka Grochowska (Grochów): Polish rebel forces divide a Russian army.
• Mar 10The French Foreign Legion is founded.
• Mar 16Victor Hugo's historical romantic Gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, is published in Paris.
• Apr 27Charles Albert becomes king of Sardinia after the death of King Charles Felix.
• May 26Battle of Ostrołęka: The Poles fight another indecisive battle.
• Jul 21Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is inaugurated as the first King of the Belgians, in Brussels.
• Aug 2The Dutch Ten Days' Campaign against Belgium is halted by a French army.
• AugDiscovery of electromagnetic inductionFaraday in Britain found that moving a magnet makes electricity flow in a coil. The discovery became the basis of the generator and the electric motor.
• Sep 8Battle of Warsaw: The Army of Russia takes the Polish capital after a two-day battle to crush the Polish uprising.
• Sep 22The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Great Reform Bill to expand the franchise, but this is later defeated in the House of Lords.
• Oct 29The 1831 Bristol riots ("Queen Square riots") in Bristol (England) begin, in connection with the Great Reform Bill controversy. Quelled by the authorities and the military on October 31, 100 city centre properties are destroyed, at least 120 are estimated to have been killed, 31 of the rioters will be sentenced to death and a colonel facing court-martial for failure to control the riot commits suicide.
• Dec 26Global financial services business Assicurazioni Generali is founded in Trieste (at this time in the Austrian Empire) as Imperial Regia Privilegiata Compagnia di Assicurazioni Generali Austro-Italiche.
• Dec 27Charles Darwin embarks from Plymouth on the second voyage of HMS Beagle which will be the foundation for his life of scientific study.

1 more in the app

Middle East3

• Mar 29The Bosnian uprising (1831–32) against the Ottoman Empire begins.
• Nov 26Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833): The start of the one year Siege of Akka by Egyptian forces.
• Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833): Egyptian forces under Muhammad Ali occupy Ottoman Syria.

Latin America1

• Dec 27The Baptist War (Christmas Rebellion) begins in Jamaica, with the setting afire of the Kensington House in St James Parish, inspiring thousands of black slaves to revolt against their British masters. At its peak, more than 20,000 people will be involved, and more than 500 killed.

Oceania1

• Apr 18The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper is first published, as the Sydney Herald.