| 1799–1825 | [maths] | The French mathematician and physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace publishes the five-volume Traité de mécanique céleste/Celestial Mechanics, which applies calculus to the motions of celestial bodies and Isaac Newton's theories of the Solar System to show how its stability is implicit in the law of gravitation. |
| 1800–1850 | USA [consumer products] | A revolution in retail and wholesale trade occurs: specialization transforms the urban retail market, replacing the general store with individual stores for hardware, groceries, dry goods, furnishing, books, tobacco, and so on. Cash-only sales policies are instituted around 1806. |
| 1810–1859 | USA [agriculture] | US cotton production, the vast majority of which is grown in the southern states, rises from 171,000 bales in 1810 to just under 5.4 million in 1859. |
| 1819–1826 | UK [other structures] | Scottish engineer Thomas Telford constructs the 177 m/580 ft Menai suspension bridge over the Menai Straits between Bangor, Wales and the island of Anglesey. The first modern suspension bridge, it uses chains of wrought-iron links suspended from masonry towers at either end. Lacking stiffening girders it is vulnerable to high winds. |
| 1821–1830 | USA, UK, Ireland [statistics and demography] | Emigration to the USA from Britain is 27,489, and from Ireland, 54,338. |
| 1823 | Austrian Empire [opera] | Austrian composer Franz Schubert completes his opera Fierrabras (D 796). It is first performed in 1835, in Vienna, Austrian Empire. He also completes completes his incidental music (D 797) for the play Rosamunde, Fürstin von Cypern/Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus by Helmina von Chézy; his Piano Sonata No 12 (D 784); and his song cycle Die schöne Müllerin/The Fair Maid of the Mill (D 795). |
| 1823 | Germany [orchestral music] | The German composer Ludwig van Beethoven completes his Symphony No. 9 in D minor, the Choral (Opus 125) and his variations on a waltz theme suggested by the Austrian music publisher Anton Diabelli (Opus 120). |
| 1823 | USA [fiction] | The US writer James Fenimore Cooper publishes The Pioneers, the first of the ‘Leatherstocking’ novels. |
| 1823 | England [maths] | English mathematician Charles Babbage begins construction of the ‘difference engine’, a machine for calculating logarithms and trigonometric functions. |
| 26 January 1823 | England [births and deaths] | Edward Jenner, English surgeon who discovered and developed a smallpox vaccination, dies in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England (73). |
| 12 May 1823 | UK [Catholicism] | The Catholic Association is established in Ireland by the nationalist Daniel O'Connell to agitate for Catholic Emancipation (the removal of legal restrictions on Catholics) and independence. |
| 18 June 1823 | Portugal [political events] | King John VI annuls the Portuguese constitution of 1822 after risings against his rule and against the loss of Brazil. |
| 1 July 1823 | Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica [international organizations] | The former Spanish colonies of Guatemala, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica form the Confederation of the United Provinces of Central America. |
| 28 September 1823 | Italy [Catholicism] | After the death of Pope Pius VII on 20 August, the Italian clergyman Annibale Sermattei Della Genga is elected Pope Leo XII. He is pope until 1829. |
| 1 October 1823 | Spain [administration] | King Ferdinand VII of Spain, having been restored by the French who have crushed the Spanish rebellion, issues a decree for the execution of his enemies, and a reign of tyranny begins. |
| November 1823 | UK [rugby] | During a game of football at Rugby School, England, William Webb Ellis, a pupil, picks up the ball and runs with it. This is traditionally regarded as the origin of the game of rugby, but it is several years before football at the school becomes predominantly a handling as opposed to a kicking game. |
| 2 December 1823 | USA, Europe, South America [diplomacy] | The ‘Monroe Doctrine’ is announced by the US president James Monroe. It excludes European powers from interfering in the politics of any of the American republics and closes the entire American continent to colonial settlements by them. |
