1797
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 17th century – 18th century – 19th century |
| Decades: | 1760s 1770s 1780s – 1790s – 1800s 1810s 1820s |
| Years: | 1794 1795 1796 – 1797 – 1798 1799 1800 |
Events
- January 3 – The Treaty of Tripoli (a peace treaty between the United States and Tripoli) is signed at Algiers.
- January 7 – The parliament of the Cisalpine Republic adopts the Italian green-white-red tricolour as official flag. It is the birthday of the flag of Italy.
- February 14 – The Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797), part of the Wars of the French Revolution.
- February 18 – Spanish Governor Chacon peacefully surrenders the colony of Trinidad and Tobago to a British naval force.
- February 22 – Attempted invasion of Britain at Fishguard in Wales by French forces
- February 26 – The Bank of England (national bank of Britain) issues the first one-pound note (discontinued March 11, 1988).
- March 4 – John Adams succeeds George Washington as the President of the United States of America.
- May 12 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice, ending the 1100 years of independence of the city. Last doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin, steps down.
- July 24 – Horatio Nelson is wounded at Tenerife, causing a loss of one arm.
- September 7 – Treaty of Campo Formio ends the War of the First Coalition.
- October 21 – In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli.
- December 17 – Napoleon leads a successful French charge against Fort l'Aiguilette to secure Toulon for French
- Large-scale mutinies in Royal Navy
- Joseph Haydn composes the music to "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser," the tune of which also became the music to the German national anthem, "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit."
Births
- Date unknown – Mahmud Bayazidi, Kurdish polymath
- August 30 – Mary Shelley, British writer of Frankenstein
Deaths
- September 10 – Mary Wollstonecraft, female philosopher (b. 1759)