Historical Context:

- 1768: King Carlos III of Spain sends Father Junipero Serra to California

1. -1770: Captain Cook first sights Australia
   

2. -1775 - 1783: Revolutionary War (USA)
   

3. -1776: US Declaration of Independence
   

4. -1777: El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe (San Jose CA) is founded as the first town in Neuva California
   

5. -1778: Captain Cook discovers Maui
   

6. -1783: Molson Breweries founded in Montreal
   

7. -1789: French Revolution
   

8. -1793: France declares war on Netherlands
   

9. -1794: Napoleon’s armies capture Maastricht
   

10. -1795: Willem V flees to England and the Dutch Republic falls (to France)
    

- 1800: Population figures:

    ..World - estimated at 900 M

    ..Europe - estimated at 132 M

    ..Netherlands - estimated at 2 M

1. -1801: Napoleon imposes new constitution on The Netherlands
   

2. -1801: London Stock Exchange formed
   

3. -1811: Civil record keeping begins
   

4. -1812: War of 1812 (North America)
   

5. -1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow (inspiring the 1812 Overture/Tchaikovsky)
   

6. -1813: Hendrik Lindhout (b 1792), eldest son of Pieter Lindhout, dies in Koniggratz Bohemia (now Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic). Hendrik had been conscripted into Napoleon’s Grande Armee and participated in the ill fated, infamous march on Moscow (French Invasion of Russia)
   

7. -1813: Willem I lands at Scheveningen and the  Kingdom of the Netherlands formed
   

8. -1814: White House (Washington) is burned by British and Canadian forces.
   

9. -1815: Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo
   

10. -1815: Willem I proclaimed King
    

11. -1816: Year without a Summer (due to 1815 volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora)
    

12. -1816: Argentina declares independence (Spain)
    

13. -1819: First steam propelled vessel crosses the Atlantic Ocean
    

14. -1822: Brazil declares its independence from Portugal
    

15. -1824: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
    

16. -1825 February: Great Flood - 800 people die in Gronigen, Friesland and Overijssel
    

17. -1840: Abdication of Willem I
    

18. -1840: Willem II crowned king
    

- 1842: work resumes on Cologne cathedral

- 1843: Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” opera premieres

- 1845/46: Potato Famine

1. -1848: Constitution of The Netherlands:Ministerial Responsibility/Constitutional Monarchy
   

- 1849: Willem II dies, Willem III is crowned king

    Thorbecke: First Prime Minister

Willem of Orange

comes ashore at Scheveningen

(30 November 1813)

Willem I