What Happened First in 1800? Trivia Quiz

The trading company, the Dutch East India Company, was founded on March 20, 1602, in the Netherlands. It was one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. It is also considered to be one of the first international corporations. Most of the time it was in existence, the company had a monopoly on trade in Asia.

In Dutch, the name was "Vereenigde Nederlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie", and was abbreviated VOC. On December 31, 1799, the company's charter expired. On January 1, 1800, it was officially dissolved after almost 200 years.

Sir William Hershel was an astronomer and a composer. In 1774, he created his first telescope. He then spent almost a decade studying double stars and nebulae. He also discovered the planet Uranus in 1781.

Hershel was also one of the first to use astronomical spectrophotometry to look at wavelength distributions. It was during this time that he discovered infrared radiation on February 11, 1800. In a paper he wrote, Hershel explained he felt "radiant heat." The term "infrared," which comes from the Latin "infra," meaning below, did not get used until the 1880s. It is unknown, however, who coined the term.

Braulio Evaristo Carrillo Colina was born on March 20, 1800, in Cartago, Costa Rica. When he was 28 years old, he was elected to the legislature at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Leon, Nicaragua. He held the position for two years. During that time, he was also briefly the president.

In 1835, Jose Rafael Gallegos resigned as head of state in Costa Rica. Carrillo was elected to finish Gallegos's term. When that term was up, Carrillo ran for reelection in 1837, but lost to Manuel Aguilar. In a "cuartelazo" (Spanish version of "coup d'etat") Aguilar was overthrown. Carrillo became the head of state again. During this time, Costa Rica left the Federal Republic of Central America. It became a sovereign country.

In 1841, Carrillo made himself the head of state for life under the Guarantee Law. While president, he fought against crime and created order in the Civil Service, among other things. A national park was renamed in his honor because of his efforts. A year later, the former federal President of Central America, Francisco Morazán, invaded Costa Rica. He also seized power, and Carrillo went into exile in El Salvador. He was killed in 1845.

Ludwig Van Beethoven is believed to have been born on December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany.

In 1783, he published his first work, which was keyboard variations. At the time, he was a student under Christian Gottlob Neefe. Neefe was a German composer and conductor. He studied composition with Joseph Haydn in Vienna when he was 21.

Beethoven dedicated "Symphony No.1" to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who patronized Beethoven early on. He first premiered the piece, showcasing his use of the "sforzandi" or accented notes, on April 2, 1800, at the K. Hoftheater nachst der Burg. The Holy Roman Emperor Francis II was said to have been there, and to have said, "There is something revolutionary in that music!"

The Library of Congress was founded on April 24, 1800. It is the oldest cultural institution in the United States of America. It has over 170 million items in over 400 languages.

James Madison tried in 1783 to get a congressional library, but there was not enough support back then. But when John Adams, the second president, was in office in 1800, he signed an Act of Congress to get $5000 to be used for a building and books. When Thomas Jefferson became president, he appointed a librarian and a Joint Committee on the Library to oversee it.

Jean-Baptiste Kleber was born on March 9, 1753, in Strasbourg, France. He briefly joined the French Royal Navy, but left to study architecture. During this time, he helped two German nobles who were in a bar brawl, which helped him get into the military school of Munich. This got him a position in the Kaunitz Infantry Regiment NR. 38 of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Kleber served for seven years with the Austrian Army, but realizing his humble birth was preventing him from getting promoted, he left the army in 1783. He returned to France and designed several buildings, including the Hotel de Ville. Originally, it was meant to be a hospital, but it was changed to an administrative building before it was finished. The Musee historique de Strasbourg has a room that exhibits Kleber's sketches and designs.

In 1792, the French Revolutionary Wars began. Kleber enlisted in the 4th Battalion of Volunteers of Haut-Rhin. Because of his experience, he was quickly promoted to lieutenant-colonel. Then in 1798, he went with Napoleon Bonaparte on the expedition to Egypt, where he received a head wound. In 1799, Bonaparte left Kleber in charge of the French forces, but left without telling Kleber first.

In Egypt, in 1800, Kleber opened a masonic temple. While walking in the garden of the palace of Alfi Bika, Kleber was stabbed to death by Suleiman al-Halabi. He was stabbed in the heart, stomach, left arm, and right cheek. Bika was caught and executed for the assassination. Kleber died on June 14, 1800.

John Rutledge Jr was born on September 17, 1739, in Charleston, South Carolina. His brother, Edward Rutledge, was the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. Like his brother, Rutledge was one of the founding fathers (although he did not sign the Declaration of Independence). In 1765, Rutledge was a delegate for the Stamp Act Congress, as well as serving as a delegate for the Continental Congress.

As a youth, he was interested in law. He studied under his uncle and attorney Andrew Rutledge. After his uncle died, he studied under James Parsons for another two years. He then went to England to study at London's Middle Temple. While a student in London, he won several cases. He was called to the bar of England in 1760. In 1761, he returned to South Carolina and was admitted to the bar there.

Rutledge was a successful lawyer. He preferred law to politics, even though he was a delegate. However, in 1774, both Rutledge brothers were elected to the First Continental Congress. Only their last name was used, so no one knows for sure which brother did what.

On March 26, 1776, he was made the president of South Carolina. He then worked to organize the government in SC as well as prepare to defend it against the British. He remained president of SC until 1778, when their state legislature created a new constitution. Rutledge vetoed it, but his veto was overturned. Rutledge then resigned.

In 1779, the South Carolina constitution was revised, and Rutledge was elected the first governor of the state. He was the first governor after the US achieved independence, but many historians and the state of South Carolina consider him the 31st governor, going back to the colonial governors.

On June 28, 1795, he was selected to replace John Jay on the Supreme Court. On August 12th that year, he took the judicial oath. During this time, his mental health greatly declined. He tried to kill himself, but was saved by two slaves.
He mostly withdrew from public life after that. Rutledge died on June 21, 1800, from natural causes. He was 60 years old.

The Quasi-War (1798-1800) was an undeclared Naval War between the United States and France. In 1793, the United States Congress suspended repayment of the French loans from the American Revolutionary War. In 1794, they signed the Jay Treaty with Britain. The treaty was named after John Jay, who negotiated it, and it included Britain's withdrawal from forts in the Northwest Territory of the United States, which, despite the Treaty of Paris, it had not yet given up. From 1792 to 1797, other countries in Europe fought France in the War of the First Coalition. The United States remained neutral.

France retaliated against the United States for not supporting them by seizing the United States' ships that were used for trading with Great Britain. As a result, the United States Navy, which was formed in 1794 but had been disbanded briefly, was reconstructed to fight back. The war ended in 1800, with the Convention of 1800. Also known as the Treaty of Mortefontaine, it was signed on September 30, 1800, by the United States and France.

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts, USA. On March 4, 1797, he became the second president of the United States of America. The electoral votes were 71 for Adams and 68 for Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson became Adams's vice president. Much of the time, Adams lived at his home, "Peacefield" in Massachusetts.

Preparing to move the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington, DC, James Hoban designed the White House, which was completed in 1800. An Irishman, Hoban, based his design on Leinster House in Dublin, Ireland. Fittingly, the White House was originally called the "President's Mansion." John Adams moved in on November 1, 1800.

The War of the Second Coalition was fought by European countries against France from about 1798 to 1801. On Christmas Day in 1800, the Armistice of Steyr (also spelled Steyer) was signed between the Holy Roman Empire and the French Republic. It was signed in Steyr, Austria, by Archduke Charles of Austria and French commander Jean Victor Moreau. The treaty was only a thirty-day treaty and applied only to Germany.