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{{Year dab|1783}}
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[[File:Montgolfier brothers flight.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[November 21]]: The first manned hot-air balloon, designed by France's [[Montgolfier brothers]], lifts off from the [[Bois de Boulogne]].]]
[[File:United States land claims and cessions 1782-1802.png|upright=1.2|thumb|[[September 3]]: Great Britain recognizes independence of the American nation, signs [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]].]]
{{C18 year in topic}}
{{Year article header|1783}}

== Events ==
<onlyinclude>

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 20]] &ndash; At [[Versailles]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Parliamentary History of England: From the Earliest Period to Year 1803, Vol. '''XXIII''': The Parliamentary Debates, 10 May 1782 to 1 December 1783|editor=Cobbett, William|editor-link=William Cobbett|publisher=T. C. Hansard|location=London|year=1814|pages=346–354}}</ref>
* [[January 23]] &ndash; The Confederation Congress ratifies two October 8, 1782, treaties signed by the United States with the United Netherlands.<ref>{{cite book|title=Laws of the United States of America; from the 4th of March, 1789, to the 4th of March, 1815, Vol. '''1'''|publisher=Weightman|year=1815|page=708}}</ref>
* [[February 3]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] acknowledges the independence of the United States of America. At this time, the Spanish government does not grant diplomatic recognition.
* [[February 4]] &ndash; American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States.
* [[February 5]] &ndash; [[1783 Calabrian earthquakes]]: The first of a sequence of five earthquakes strikes [[Calabria]], Italy (February 5&ndash;7, March 1 & 28), leaving 50,000 dead.
* [[February 7]] &ndash; The [[Great Siege of Gibraltar]] is abandoned.
* [[February 26]] &ndash; The United States [[Continental Army]]'s [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] is disbanded.
* [[March 5]] &ndash; The last celebration of [[Massacre Day]] is held in [[Boston]], Massachusetts.
* [[March 15]] &ndash; [[Newburgh Conspiracy]]: A potential uprising in the [[Continental Army]] stationed at [[Newburgh (city), New York|Newburgh, New York]], is defused, when [[George Washington]] asks the officers to support the supremacy of the [[United States Congress]].

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April]] &ndash; General [[George Washington]] sends a letter to the 13 governors of the Confederation of the United States, regarding the needs of the nation.<ref name="Harper1783"/>
* [[April 3]] &ndash; A [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Sweden)|Peace and Commercial Treaty]] is signed between the newly-formed [[United States]] and [[Sweden]] in Paris, among the first acts of state concluded between the U.S. and a foreign power.<ref>{{cite book|first=Anne|last=Klerkäng|title=Sweden – America's First Friend|location=[[Örebro]]|year=1958}} Includes fascimile reproduction of treaty text.</ref>
* [[April 8]] &ndash; The [[Crimean Khanate]], which has existed since [[1441]] and is a late remnant of the Mongol [[Golden Horde]], is annexed by the [[Russian Empire]] of [[Catherine the Great]].
* [[April 9]]–[[April 28|28]] &ndash; [[Second Anglo-Mysore War]]: [[Siege of Bednore]] &ndash; [[Tipu Sultan]] of Mysore with 100,000 troops besieges 1600 British [[East India Company]] troops who are obliged to surrender with [[honours of war]]. 
* [[April 15]] &ndash; Preliminary articles of peace ending the [[American Revolutionary War]] are ratified by the [[Congress of the Confederation]] in the United States.
* [[April 17]] &ndash; American Revolutionary War: [[Colbert raid|Colbert's Raid]]: A [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] [[garrison]] under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeat [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] [[Irregular military|irregular]]s at [[Arkansas Post]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Coleman |first=Roger E. |date=1987 |chapter=Chapter 11: Colbert's Raid |title=The Arkansas Post Story: Arkansas Post National Monument |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/arpo/history.pdf |number=Southwest Culteral Resources Center Professional Papers No. 12 |location=Santa Fe, New Mexico |publisher=[[Eastern National]] |pages=65–67 |access-date=May 17, 2025}}</ref>
* [[April 18]] &ndash; [[Three-Fifths Compromise]]: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), is included in a resolution of the [[Congress of the Confederation]] (this is later adopted in the 1787 Constitution).
* [[May 13]] &ndash; The [[Society of the Cincinnati]], a fraternal organization for American veterans of the American Revolution, is formed in [[Newburgh, New York]].<ref name="Harper1783">''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and [[Woodrow Wilson]] (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p167</ref>
* [[May 18]] &ndash; The first [[United Empire Loyalist]]s, fleeing the new United States, reach Parrtown in [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], Canada.
* [[May 26]] &ndash; [[A Great Jubilee Day]], celebrating the end of the [[American Revolution]], is held in [[Trumbull, Connecticut]].
* [[June 4]] or [[June 5]] &ndash; The [[Montgolfier brothers]] publicly demonstrate their [[hot air balloon]] at [[Annonay]], France.
* [[June 8]] &ndash; The [[volcano]] [[Laki]] in [[Iceland]] begins an 8-month eruption, starting the chain of natural disasters known as the [[Móðuharðindin]], killing tens of thousands throughout Europe, including up to 33% of Iceland's population, and causing widespread famine. It has been described as one of "the greatest environmental catastrophes in [[European history]]".<ref>{{cite web|first=David|last=Bressan|title=8, June 1783: The Laki eruptions|url= http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/06/8-june-1783-laki-eruptions.html|access-date=30 April 2012}}</ref>

=== July&ndash;September ===
* [[July 16]] &ndash; Grants of land in Canada to [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|American Loyalists]] are announced.
* [[July 24]] &ndash; The [[Treaty of Georgievsk]] is signed between [[Imperial Russia]] and the [[Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti]], making [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] a [[protectorate]] of Russia.
* [[August 4]] &ndash; [[Mount Asama]], the most active [[volcano]] in [[Japan]], begins a climactic eruption, killing roughly 1,400 people directly and exacerbating a famine, resulting in another 20,000 deaths ([[Tenmei eruption]]).
* [[August 10]] &ndash; The British [[East India Company]] packet ship [[Antelope (1781 EIC packet ship)|''Antelope'' (1781)]] is wrecked off [[Ulong Island]] in the [[Palau]] (Pelew) group, resulting in the first sustained European contact with those islands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Palau.htm|title=Palau|access-date=2016-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226211421/http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Palau.htm |archive-date=2007-12-26|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[August 18]] &ndash; The [[1783 Great Meteor]] passes on a 1,000-mile track across the [[North Sea]], Great Britain and France, prompting scientific discussion.
* [[August 27]] &ndash; [[Jacques Charles]] and [[Les Frères Robert]] launch the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon, ''[[Robert brothers#First hydrogen balloon|Le Globe]]'', in Paris.
* [[September 3]] &ndash; [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Peace of Paris]]: A treaty between the United States and Great Britain is signed in Paris, formally ending the [[American Revolutionary War]], in which Britain recognizes the independence of the United States; and treaties are signed between Britain, France, and Spain at [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]], ending hostilities with the Franco-Spanish Alliance.
* [[September 9]] &ndash; [[Dickinson College]] is chartered in [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]].

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 3]] &ndash; The first [[Waterford Crystal]] [[glassmaking]] business begins production in [[Waterford]], Ireland.
* [[October 17]] &ndash; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[Great Mass in C minor, K. 427|Great Mass]]'' is first performed, in [[Salzburg]], [[Austria]].
* [[November 2]] &ndash; In [[Rocky Hill, New Jersey]], [[General (United States)|United States General]] [[George Washington]] gives his ''Farewell Address to the Army''.
* [[November 3]] &ndash; The American [[Continental Army]] is disbanded as the first act of business by the [[Confederation Congress]], after [[Thomas Mifflin]] is elected the new President to succeed Elias Boudinot.<ref name="Harper1783"/>
* [[November 21]] &ndash; In Paris, [[Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier]] and [[François Laurent, marquis d'Arlandes]], make the first untethered [[hot air balloon]] flight (flight time: 25 minutes, Maximum height: 900 m).
* [[November 24]] &ndash; In Spain, the ''[[Cedula of Population]]'' is signed, stating that anyone who will swear fealty to Spain and is of the [[Roman Catholic]] faith is welcome to populate [[Trinidad and Tobago]].
* [[November 25]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: The last British troops [[Evacuation Day (New York)|leave New York City]] and George Washington triumphantly returns, three months after the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]].
* [[November 27]] &ndash; English rector [[John Michell]] concludes that some stars might have enough gravity force to prevent light escaping from them, so he calls them "[[Black hole|dark star]]s".
* [[November 29]] &ndash; [[1783 New Jersey earthquake]]: An [[earthquake]] of 5.3 magnitude strikes [[New Jersey]].
* [[December 1]] &ndash; [[Jacques Charles]] and [[Robert brothers|Nicolas-Louis Robert]] make the first manned flight in a hydrogen-filled [[gas balloon]] in Paris.
* [[December 4]] &ndash; At [[Fraunces Tavern]] in New York City, [[General (United States)|U.S. General]] [[George Washington]] formally bids his officers farewell.
* [[December 19]] &ndash; [[William Pitt the Younger]] becomes [[Prime Minister of Great Britain]].
[[File:General George Washington Resigning his Commission.jpg|thumb|right|[[December 23]]: [[General George Washington Resigning His Commission]]]]
* [[December 23]] &ndash; [[George Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief|General George Washington resigns his commission as commander-in-chief]] of the [[Continental Army]] to the [[Congress of the Confederation]] in the [[Maryland State House]] in Annapolis, Maryland, and retires to his home at [[Mount Vernon]]. Washington's resignation, described by historian [[Thomas Fleming (historian)|Thomas Fleming]] as "the most important moment in American history,"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/42438|title=The Most Important Moment in American History|first=Thomas|last=Fleming|work=History News Network|date=15 October 2007 |access-date=2016-05-17}}</ref> affirms the [[United States]]' commitment to the principle of [[civilian control of the military]], and prompts [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] to call Washington "the greatest character of the age."<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Richard Brookhiser|year=1996|title=Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington|first=Richard|last=Brookhiser|location=Newark, NJ|publisher=Free Press|isbn=9780684822914|page=[https://archive.org/details/foundingfatherre00broo/page/103 103]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/foundingfatherre00broo/page/103}}</ref>
* [[December 31]] &ndash; [[Louis-Sébastien Lenormand]] makes the first ever recorded public demonstration of a [[parachute]] descent, by jumping from the tower of the [[Montpellier]] Observatory in France, using his rigid-framed model, which he intends as a form of fire escape.

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] from New York settle [[Great Abaco]] in the [[Bahamas]].
* The city of [[Sevastopol]] is founded on the [[Crimean Peninsula]] of the [[Russian Empire]], by Rear Admiral [[Thomas MacKenzie (Russian admiral)|Thomas MacKenzie]].
* Princess [[Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova]] is elected an honorary member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]], the first female foreign member and its second female member, after [[Eva Ekeblad]].
* The [[Evan Williams (bourbon)]] distillery is founded in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]].
* [[Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa]], the Emir of Zubarah conquers and rules Bahrain. Shaikh Ahmed restores Arab independence and sovereignty over Bahrain and makes the islands his summer residence.</onlyinclude>

== Births ==
* [[January 20]] &ndash; [[Friedrich Dotzauer]], German cellist, composer (d. [[1860]])
* [[January 23]] &ndash; [[Stendhal]], French writer (d. [[1842]])
* [[February 8]] &ndash; [[Charles-Marie Denys de Damrémont]], French general, governor-general of [[French Algeria]] (d. [[1837]])
* [[February 16]] &ndash; [[Stephen Cassin]], United States Navy officer (d. [[1857]])
* [[March 8]] &ndash; [[Hannah Van Buren]], née Hoes, American wife of Martin Van Buren (d. [[1819]])
[[File:Portrait of Washington Irving attr. to Charles Robert Leslie.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Washington Irving]]]]
* [[April 3]] &ndash; [[Washington Irving]], American author (d. [[1859]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Washington Irving – American author|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Washington-Irving|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>
* [[April 21]] &ndash; [[Reginald Heber]], English priest (d. 1821)<ref> {{cite book |last=Montefiore |first=Arthur |url=https://archive.org/stream/reginaldheberbis00bric#page/n5/mode/2up |title=Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta |publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company |year=1902 |location=New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois and Toronto, Canada |pages=9&ndash;10 |oclc=155604573}}; re-printed 2015 by Facsimile Publisher and distributed by Gyan Books, New Delhi, India. </ref>
* [[May 1]] &ndash; [[Vicente Rocafuerte]], Ecuadorian politician, 2nd President of Ecuador (d. [[1847]])
* [[May 3]] &ndash; [[José de la Riva Agüero]], Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (d. [[1858]])
* [[May 25]] &ndash; [[Philip P. Barbour]], American politician, [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] (d. [[1841]])
[[File:John Crawfurd.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[John Crawfurd]]]]
* [[May 27]] &ndash; [[John Crawfurd]], Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat and author. Last British Resident of Singapore (d. [[1868]])
* [[May 29]] &ndash; [[Benedetto Pistrucci]], Italian engraver and medalist (d. [[1855]])
* [[June 19]] &ndash; [[Friedrich Sertürner]], German pharmacist who discovered morphine in [[1804]] (d. [[1841]]) 
* [[June 21]] &ndash; [[Theodosia Burr Alston|Theodosia Burr]], [[First Lady]] of [[South Carolina]] during [[War of 1812]], daughter of [[Aaron Burr]] (d. [[1813]]) 
[[File:Portrait of Simón Bolívar by Arturo Michelena.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Simón Bolívar]]]]
* [[July 24]] &ndash; [[Simón Bolívar]], Venezuelan patriot, revolutionary leader and statesman (d. [[1830]])
* [[July 28]] &ndash; [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck]], German army officer and writer (d. [[1860]])
* [[August 7]] &ndash; [[Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom]], member of the British Royal Family (d. [[1810]])
* [[August 26]] &ndash; [[Federigo Zuccari]], astronomer, director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples (d. [[1817]])
* [[September 17]] 
** [[Samuel Prout]], English painter (d. [[1852]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://artuk.org/discover/artists/prout-samuel-17831852|title=Samuel Prout (1783–1852)|website=artuk.org|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>
** [[Nadezhda Durova]], first female Russian army officer (d. [[1866]])
* [[October 31]] &ndash; [[Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner]], German chemist (d. [[1857]])
* Date unknown:
**The [[Two-Headed Boy of Bengal]], sufferer from the rare condition [[Craniopagus parasiticus]] (d. [[1787]])
** [[Mary Anne Whitby]], English scientist (d. [[1850]])

== Deaths ==
* [[January 2]] &ndash; [[Johann Jakob Bodmer]], Swiss author (b. [[1698]])
* [[January 7]] &ndash; [[William Tans'ur]], English hymnist (b. [[1706]])
* [[January 15]] &ndash; [[William Alexander, Lord Stirling]], American major-general in the [[Continental Army]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] (b. [[1726]])
* [[January 18]] &ndash; [[Jeanne Quinault]], French actress, playwright (b. [[1699]])
[[File:Lancelot ('Capability') Brown by Nathaniel Dance, (later Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Bt) cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Capability Brown]]]]
* [[February 6]] &ndash; [[Capability Brown]], English landscape gardener (b. [[1716]])
* [[February 10]] &ndash; [[James Nares (composer)|James Nares]], English composer of mostly sacred vocal works (b. [[1715]])
* [[March 2]] &ndash; [[Francisco Salzillo]], Spanish sculptor (b. [[1707]])
* [[March 19]] &ndash; [[Frederick Cornwallis]], Archbishop of Canterbury (b. [[1713]])
* [[March 23]] &ndash; [[Charles Carroll (barrister)|Charles Carroll]], American lawyer, delegate to the Continental Congress (b. [[1723]])
* [[March 26]] &ndash; [[Anna Rosina de Gasc]], German portrait painter (b. [[1713]])
* [[March 30]] &ndash; [[William Hunter (anatomist)|William Hunter]], Scottish anatomist (b. [[1718]])
* [[March 31]] &ndash; [[Nikita Ivanovich Panin]], Russian statesman (b. [[1718]])
* [[April 7]] &ndash; [[Ignaz Holzbauer]], German composer (b. [[1711]])
* [[April 16]]
** [[Benedict Joseph Labre]], French Catholic saint (b. [[1745]])
** [[Christian Mayer (astronomer)|Christian Mayer]], Czech astronomer (b. [[1719]])
* [[May 11]] &ndash; [[Juliane Reichardt]], German-born Bohemian pianist, singer and composer (b. [[1752]])
* [[May 23]] &ndash; [[James Otis, Jr.|James Otis]], American lawyer, patriot (b. [[1725]])
* [[June 2]] &ndash; [[Charles Spalding]], Scottish inventor and underwater diver, killed in diving bell accident (b. [[1738]])
* [[September 14]] &ndash; [[James Grenville]], British Member of Parliament (b. [[1715]])
[[File:Leonhard Euler.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Leonhard Euler]]]]
* [[September 18]]
** [[Leonhard Euler]], Swiss mathematician, physicist (b. [[1707]])
** [[Benjamin Kennicott]], English churchman, Hebrew scholar (b. [[1718]])
* [[September 28]] &ndash; [[Marguerite Gourdan]], French procurer (b. c. [[1730]])  
* [[October 2]] &ndash; [[Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown]], Irish politician (b. [[1701]])
* [[October 29]] &ndash; [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]], French mathematician (b. [[1717]])
* [[November 1]] &ndash; [[Carl Linnaeus the Younger]], Swedish naturalist (b. [[1741]])
* [[November 3]] &ndash; [[Charles Collé]], French dramatist (b. [[1709]])
* [[November 15]] &ndash; [[John Hanson]], American [[President of the Continental Congress]] (b. [[1721]])
* [[November 23]] &ndash; [[Yoriyuki Arima]], Japanese mathematician (b. [[1714]])
* [[December 13]] &ndash; [[Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin]], Swedish astronomer (b. [[1717]])
* [[December 15]] &ndash; [[Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi]], first ruler of [[Oman]] of the [[Al Said]] dynasty (b. [[1710]])
* [[December 16]] 
** [[Johann Adolph Hasse]], German composer (b. [[1699]])
** [[William James (naval commander)|William James]], British naval commander (b. [[1720]])
* Date unknown:
** [[Thomas Calcraft]], English politician and Lieutenant-Colonel (b. [[1738]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=CALCRAFT, Thomas (1738-83), of Ancaster, Lincs. {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/calcraft-thomas-1738-83 |access-date=2021-09-28 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>
** [[Adolf Friedrich von Reinhard]], jurist and publicist (b. [[1726]])<ref>[[Rudolf Vierhaus]], ed., ''Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie'', p. 289.</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Blair's Chronological Tables|author1=John Blair|author-link=John Blair (priest)|author2=J. Willoughby Rosse|location=London |publisher=[[Henry George Bohn|H.G. Bohn]]|year=1856|via=Hathi Trust|chapter-url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6349vh5n?urlappend=%3Bseq=697|chapter=1783|hdl=2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6349vh5n?urlappend=%3Bseq=697}}

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