November 1
1755 – In Portugal, Lisbon is totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 people.
1765 – The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies to help pay for British military operations in North America.
1790 – Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in disaster.
1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
1805 – Napoleon Bonaparte invades Austria during the War of the Third Coalition.
1814 – Congress of Vienna opens to redraw the European political map after the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars.
November 2
1707 – Four British naval vessels ran aground on the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation. In response, the first Longitude Act was enacted in 1714.
1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.
November 3
1783 – The American Continental Army is disbanded.
1791 – The University of Vermont, the oldest university in Vermont and fifth-oldest in New England, is chartered.
1793 – French playwright, journalist, and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.
1812 – Napoleon's armies are defeated at the Battle of Vyazma.
1817 – The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal.
1838 – The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper, is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
November 4
1737 – The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated in Naples, Italy.
1780 – The Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II against Spanish rule in the Viceroyalty of Peru begins.
1783 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.
1791 – Northwest Indian War: The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash.
1798 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu begins.
1839 – Newport Rising: The last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.
November 5
1757 – Seven Years' War: Frederick the Great defeats the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Rossbach.
1768 – The Treaty of Fort Stanwix is signed, the purpose of which is to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements outlined in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in the Thirteen Colonies.
1780 – French-American forces under Colonel LaBalme are defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.
1811 – Salvadoran priest José Matías Delgado rings the bells of La Merced church in San Salvador, calling for insurrection and launching the 1811 Independence Movement.
1828 – Greek War of Independence: The French Morea expedition to recapture Morea (now the Peloponnese) ends when the last Ottoman forces depart the peninsula.
1834 – Founding of the Free University of Brussels by Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen.
November 6
1792 – Battle of Jemappes in the French Revolutionary Wars.
November 7
1723 – O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60, a dialogue cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach for Leipzig, was first performed.
1775 – John Murray (also known as Lord Dunmore), the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British.
1786 – The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
1811 – Tecumseh's War: The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana, United States.
1837 – In Alton, Illinois, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy is shot dead by a mob while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time.
November 8
1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of approximately 5,000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.
1837 – Mary Lyon founded Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later became Mount Holyoke College.
November 9
1719 – In a treaty between Sweden and Hanover at the close of the Great Northern War, Sweden cedes the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (in northern Germany) to Hanover.
1720 – The synagogue of Judah HeHasid is burned down by Arab creditors, leading to the expulsion of the Ashkenazim from Jerusalem.
1729 – Spain, France, and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Fishdam Ford, a force of British and Loyalist troops fails in a surprise attack against the South Carolina Patriot militia under Brigadier General Thomas Sumter.
1791 – The Dublin Society of United Irishmen is founded.
1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads the Coup of 18 Brumaire, ending the Directory government, and becoming First Consul of the successor Consulate Government.
November 10
1702 – English colonists under the command of James Moore besiege Spanish St. Augustine during Queen Anne's War.
1766 – The last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen's College (later renamed Rutgers University).
1775 – The United States Marine Corps is founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia by Samuel Nicholas.
1793 – A Goddess of Reason is proclaimed by the French Convention at the suggestion of Pierre Gaspard Chaumette.
1821 – Cry of Independence by Rufina Alfaro at La Villa de Los Santos, Panama, setting into motion a revolt which led to Panama's independence from Spain and to it immediately becoming part of Colombia.
November 11
1724 – Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, a highwayman known for attacking "Thief-Taker General" (and thief) Jonathan Wild at the Old Bailey, is hanged in London.
1750 – Riots break out in Lhasa after the murder of the Tibetan regent.
1750 – The F.H.C. Society, also known as the Flat Hat Club, is formed at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the first college fraternity.
1778 – Cherry Valley massacre: Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces attack a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War, killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Dürenstein: Eight thousand French troops attempt to slow the retreat of a vastly superior Russian and Austrian force.
1813 – War of 1812: Battle of Crysler's Farm: British and Canadian forces defeat a larger American force, causing the Americans to abandon their Saint Lawrence campaign.
1831 – In Jerusalem, Virginia, Nat Turner is hanged after inciting a violent slave uprising.
1839 – The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.
November 12
1835 – Construction is completed on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull.
November 13
1715 – Jacobite rising in Scotland: Battle of Sheriffmuir: The forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain halt the Jacobite advance, although the action is inconclusive.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot revolutionary forces under Gen. Richard Montgomery occupy Montreal.
1833 – Great Meteor Storm of 1833.
November 14
1770 – James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: At the Battle of Smoliani, French Marshals Victor and Oudinot are defeated by the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein
November 15
1705 – Rákoczi's War of Independence: The Habsburg Empire and Denmark win a military victory over the Kurucs from Hungary in the Battle of Zsibó.
1760 – The secondly-built Castellania in Valletta is officially inaugurated with the blessing of the interior Chapel of Sorrows.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.
1806 – Pike Expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike spots a mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was later named Pikes Peak in his honor.
November 16
1776 – American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units capture Fort Washington from the Patriots.
1793 – French Revolution: Ninety dissident Roman Catholic priests are executed by drowning at Nantes.
1797 – The Prussian heir apparent, Frederick William, becomes King of Prussia as Frederick William III.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Schongrabern: Russian forces under Pyotr Bagration delay the pursuit by French troops under Joachim Murat.
1822 – American Old West: Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.
1828 – Greek War of Independence: The London Protocol entails the creation of an autonomous Greek state under Ottoman suzerainty, encompassing the Morea and the Cyclades.
November 17
1775 – The city of Kuopio, Finland (belonging to Sweden at this time), is founded by King Gustav III of Sweden.
1777 – Articles of Confederation (United States) are submitted to the states for ratification.
1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Bridge of Arcole: French forces defeat the Austrians in Italy.
1800 – The United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C.
1810 – Sweden declares war on all, by the United Kingdom begins the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever takes place.
1811 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean founding father, is sworn in as President of the executive Junta of the government of Chile.
1820 – Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica. (The Palmer Peninsula is later named after him.)
1831 – Ecuador and Venezuela are separated from Gran Colombia.
November 18
1730 – The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement.
1760 – The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners.
1803 – The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.
1809 – Napoleonic Wars: In a naval action, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".
November 19
1794 – The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
1802 – The Garinagu arrive at British Honduras (present-day Belize).
1808 – Finnish War: The Convention of Olkijoki in Raahe ends hostilities in Finland.
1816 – Warsaw University is established.
November 20
1695 – Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed by the forces of Portuguese bandeirante Domingos Jorge Velho.
1739 – Start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at the Palisades and then attack Fort Lee. The Continental Army starts to retreat across New Jersey.
1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1805 – Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, premieres in Vienna.
1815 – The Second Treaty of Paris is signed, returning the French frontiers to their 1790 extent, imposing large indemnities, and prolonging the occupation by troops of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia for several more years.
1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacks and sinks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) from the western coast of South America. (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this incident.)
November 21
1783 – In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes made the first untethered hot air balloon flight.
1789 – North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.
November 22
1718 – Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard attacks and boards the vessels of the British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") off the coast of North Carolina. The casualties on both sides include Maynard's first officer, Mister Hyde, and Teach himself.
1837 – Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie calls for a rebellion against the United Kingdom in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution.
November 23
1733 – The start of the 1733 slave insurrection on St. John in what was then the Danish West Indies.
1808 – French and Poles defeat the Spanish at the Battle of Tudela.
November 24
1750 – Tarabai, regent of the Maratha Empire, imprisons Rajaram II of Satara for refusing to remove Balaji Baji Rao from the post of peshwa.
1832 – South Carolina passes the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring that the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were null and void in the state, beginning the Nullification Crisis.
1835 – The Texas Provincial Government authorizes the creation of a horse-mounted police force called the Texas Rangers (which is now the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety).
November 25
1755 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain grants royal protection to the Beaterio de la Compañia de Jesús, now known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.
1758 – French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. Later, Fort Pitt will be built nearby and grow into modern Pittsburgh.
1759 – An earthquake hits the Mediterranean, destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000–40,000.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City, three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
1795 – Partitions of Poland: Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.
1826 – The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy.
1833 – A massive undersea earthquake, estimated magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, rocks Sumatra, producing a massive tsunami along the Indonesian coast.
1839 – A cyclone slams into south-eastern India. An estimated 300,000 deaths resulted from the disaster.
November 26
1778 – In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui.
1789 – A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as proclaimed by President George Washington at the request of Congress.
1805 – Official opening of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
1812 – The Battle of Berezina begins during Napoleon's retreat from Russia.
November 27
1727 – The foundation stone to the Jerusalem Church in Berlin is laid.
1755 – An earthquake in northern Morocco devastates the cities of Fes and Meknes.
1809 – The Berners Street hoax is perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London.
1815 – Adoption of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland.
1830 – Saint Catherine Labouré experiences a Marian apparition.
1835 – James Pratt and John Smith are hanged in London; they are the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.
1839 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded.
November 28
1785 – The first Treaty of Hopewell is signed, by which the United States acknowledges Cherokee lands in what is now East Tennessee.
1798 – Trade between the United States and modern-day Uruguay begins when John Leamy's frigate John arrives in Montevideo.
1811 – Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op.73, premieres at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
1814 – The Times of London becomes the first newspaper to be produced on a steam-powered printing press, built by the German team of Koenig & Bauer.
1821 – Panama Independence Day: Panama separates from Spain and joins Gran Colombia.
November 29
1729 – Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.
1732 – The magnitude 6.6 Irpinia earthquake causes 1,940 deaths in the former Kingdom of Naples, southern Italy.
1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, comes to an end with the arrival of British reinforcements.
1777 – San Jose, California, is founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe by José Joaquín Moraga. It is the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California.
1781 – The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 54 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance, beginning the Zong massacre.
1783 – A 5.3 magnitude earthquake strikes New Jersey.
1807 – John VI of Portugal flees Lisbon from advancing Napoleonic forces during the Peninsular War, transferring the Portuguese court to Brazil.
1830 – An armed rebellion against Russia's rule in Poland begins.
November 30
1707 – Queen Anne's War: The second Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British Empire and their Creek allies to capture Pensacola, Spanish Florida.
1718 – Great Northern War: King Charles XII of Sweden dies during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten in Norway.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris: In Paris, representatives from the United States and Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
1786 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under Pietro Leopoldo I, becomes the first modern state to abolish the death penalty (later commemorated as Cities for Life Day).
1803 – The Balmis Expedition starts in Spain, intending to vaccinate millions against smallpox in Spanish America and the Philippines.
1803 – In New Orleans, Spanish representatives officially transferred the Louisiana Territory to the French First Republic.