1816Apr, 14
Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.
Bussa's rebellion (14–16 April 1816) was the largest slave revolt in Barbadian history. The rebellion takes its name from the African-born slave, Bussa, who led the rebellion. The rebellion, which was eventually defeated by the colonial militia, was the first of three mass slave rebellions in the British West Indies that shook public faith in slavery in the years leading up to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and emancipation of former slaves. It was followed by the Demerara rebellion of 1823 and by the Baptist War in Jamaica in 1831–1832; these are often referred to as the "late slave rebellions".
Choose Another Date
Events on 1816
- 20Feb
The Barber of Seville
Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. - 10Apr
Second Bank of the United States
The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States. - 22May
Ely and Littleport riots of 1816
A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, which spreads to Ely the next day. - 5Aug
Electrical telegraph
The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds's new invention of the first working electric telegraph as "wholly unnecessary", preferring to continue using the semaphore. - 14Aug
Cape Colony
The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.