1831

Year 1831 (MDCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1831

* January 1 - William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing "The Liberator", an antislavery newspaper, in Boston, Massachusetts.
* February-March - Revolts in Modena, Parma and the Papal States are put down by Austrian troops.
* February 2 - Pope Gregory XVI succeeds Pope Pius VIII as the 254th pope.
* February 14 - Battle of Debre Abbay: Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills the warlord Sabagadis.
* February 20 - Battle of Grochow: Polish rebel forces divide a Russian army.
* March 10 - The French Foreign Legion is founded.
* March 29 - The Great Bosnian uprising against the Ottoman Empire breaks out.
* April 7 - Pedro I of Brazil abdicates as emperor of Brazil in favor of his son Pedro II of Brazil.
* May 26 - Battle of Ostroleka: The Poles fight another indecisive battle.
* May-June - Merthyr Rising 1831: Coal miners and others riot in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales for improved working conditions.
* July 21 - Léopold I of Belgium is inaugurated as first king of the Belgians.
* August 2 - The Dutch invasion of Belgium is repelled by a French army ten-day campaign.
* August 7 - American Baptist minister William Miller preaches his first sermon on the Second Advent of Christ in Dresden, New York, launching the Advent Movement in the United States.
* August 21 - USA: Nat Turner's slave rebellion breaks out in Southampton County, Virginia.
* September 6-8 - Battle of Warsaw: The Russians take the Polish capital and crush resistance.
* November 7 - Slave trading is forbidden in Brazil.
* December 27 - Charles Darwin embarks on his historic journey aboard the HMS "Beagle".
* December 31 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.

Undated

*"The Sydney Morning Herald" newspaper is first published.
*Muhammad Ali of Egypt's French-trained forces occupy Syria.
*Founding of:
**Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut
**Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio (as "The Athenaeum")

Births

* January 7 - Heinrich von Stephan, German postal union organizer (d. 1897)
* February 24 - Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1899)
* March 3 - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1897)
* March 12 - Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer (d. 1901)
* March 20 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (d. 1881)
* June 1 - John Bell Hood, American Confederate general (d. 1879)
* June 2 - Jan Gerard Palm, composer (d. 1906)
* June 13 - James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (d. 1879)
* June 28 - Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist (d. 1907)
* July 22 - Emperor Kōmei of Japan (d. 1867)
* 12 August - Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Russian-born author and theosophist (d. 1891)
* September 18 - Siegfried Marcus, German-born automobile pioneer (d. 1898)
* October 6 - Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (d. 1916)
* October 18 - Emperor Frederick III of Germany (d. 1888)
* October 31 - Romualdo Pacheco, Governor of California (d. 1899)

Deaths

* January 21 - Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
* February 14
** Vicente Guerrero, President of Mexico, Independence War hero (b. 1782)
** Marye of Yejju, Ethiopian Ras
** Sabagadis, Ethiopian warlord
* February 17 - Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (b. 1785)
* February 25 - Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (b. 1752)
* April 5 - Dmitry Senyavin, Russian admiral (b. 1763)
* April 20 - John Abernethy (surgeon) (b. 1764)
* April 27 - Charles Felix of Savoy, King of Sardinia (b. 1765)
* June 27 - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (b. 1776)
* July 4 - James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
* July 16 - Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (b. 1763)
* August 24 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
* November 11 - Nat Turner, American slave rebel (b. 1800)
* November 14 - Georg Hegel, German philosopher (b. 1770)
* November 16 - Carl von Clausewitz, German military strategist (b. 1780)