1812

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1760s 1770s 1780s 1790s 1800s - 1810s - 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s

Years: 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 - 1812 - 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817

• February 2 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California[?]
• February 11 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry invents gerrymandering
• March 26 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela
• April 30 - Louisiana is admitted as the 18th U.S. state.
• May 11 - Prime Minster Spencer Perceval is assassinated by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the British House of Commons .
• June 18 - The War of 1812 begins between the United States and the United Kingdom.
• September 14 Napoleon's invasion of Russia is thwarted by the burning of Moscow.
• October-December - Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.
• November - James Madison defeats De Witt Clinton in U.S. presidential election
• Spanish Cortes refugeed at Cadiz create the first modern Spanish constitution.

Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy

• 1812 in literature:

Births

• February 7 - Charles Dickens, English novelist.
• February 11 - Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President (Confederate States of America).
• February 11 - Benjamin Franklin Sands[?], Commander (Union Navy).
• February 15 - Charles Louis Tiffany[?], jeweler (+ 1902)
• March 22 - Stephen Pearl Andrews Anarchist Abolitionist
• May 7 - Robert Browning, English poet
• May 12 - Edward Lear, English artist and writer, famed for his nonsense verse
• December 24 - Karl Eduard Zachariae Expert on Byzantine Law.

Deaths

• May 11 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of Great Britain (assassination)