Wednesday, October 17, 2007

1824 to 1827

Literature
The Adventures of Hajii Baba of Ispahan. James Morier. British(?). 1824. Romance. Picaresque romance. Life in Persia. Roguery takes hero into all spheres of Persian society.

Society
1825. Bolivia (the republic of Bolivar) is proclaimed an independent nation.

1825. The Erie Canal opens October 26 to link the Great Lakes with the Hudson River and the Atlantic. The canal makes boom towns of Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Chicago and Syracuse.

Literature
The Talisman. Sir Walter Scott. British. 1825. Novel. Knight in disguise in the Holy Land under Richard I. Richard and Saladin are leading figures. Talisman is a healing amulet used by Saladin to cure Richard's illness.

Canto A Bolivar: La Victoria de Junin. Jose Joaquin Olmeda. Ecuador. 1825. Poetry. Dedicated to Simon Bolivar. Forerunner of the Romantic movement in South America.

Boris Godunov. Aleksandr Pushkin. Russian. 1825. Play. Former Czar of Russia. Tortured by guilt for his murder of a prince.

Society
1826. Former U.S. presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson die July 4, aged 90 and 83, respectively, on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

1826. The first overland journey to Southern California begins August 22 as Jedediah Strong Smith leaves Great Salt Lake at the head of an expedition that reaches the lower Colorado River, crosses the Mojave Desert, and arrives November 27 at San Diego.

1826. The lyceum movement in U.S. adult education is spurred by New Englander Josiah Holbrook, who publishes recommendations that will be adopted by associations of villagers and urban workers who have had little formal education but who seek learning. The National American Lyceum will coordinate the activities of member groups beginning in 1831, and by 1839 there will be 137 lyceums in Massachusetts alone, drawing 33,000 to lectures on the arts, sciences and public issues. By 1860, some 3,000lyceums will be operating in New England, New York, and the upper Mississippi Valley.

Literature
The Last of the Mohicans. James F. Cooper. American. 1826. Novel. Magua, evil Indian vs. Uncas, last of the Mohicans. Cora killed by Magua. Uncas dies trying to save her.

Society
1827. New York's first public transit facility begins operations. Entrepreneur Abraham Bower runs a horse-drawn bus with seats for 12, but the city's population of 200,000 depends chiefly on private carts and carriages for transportation.

1827. New Orleans has its first Mardi Gras celebration in February. Students from Paris introduce the Shrove Tuesday event.

1827. The "Lucifer," invented by English chemist John Walker, is the first friction match.

Literature
The Betrothed. Alessandro Manzoni. Italian. 1827. Novel. Greatest Italian novel of modern times? Remarkable scene: plague in Milan. Peasant lovers try to marry in spite of obstacles posed by evil doers. Shows working of God in our daily lives. Characters are personifications.

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