The [Common Era] Year of 1817, part of the [19th Century]

[1816] 1817 [1818]

Born in 1817:

February 14 (date and year uncertain): [Frederick Douglass], "The Great Emancipator", son of a slave and a white man, who bought his freedom and began a career as [abolitionist] writer and [1846] publisher of the abolitionist newspaper [The North Star], is born in [Maryland], [U.S.] (Several sources indicate the subsequent year to be more correct.) (d. February 20 [1895], aged ca. 78)
February 19: [William III], who is to become King of the [Netherlands], is born in [Brussels], [Belgium]. (d. November 23 [1890], aged 73)
April 18: [George Henry Lewes], English scientist, philosophical writer and critic as well as founder and editor of [Fortnightly Review] is born in [London], [England]. (d. November 28 [1878], aged 61)
July 12: [Henry David Thoreau], American political philosopher, poet and writer of [Walden] and [Civil Disobedience], is born in [Concord], [Massachusetts], [U.S.] (d. May 6 [1862], aged 44)
July 29: (July 17 Old Style) [Ivan Aivazovsky], Russian painter, is born in [Theodosia], [Crimea], present-day [Ukraine]. (d. May 2 (April 19 Old Style) [1900], aged 82)
October 19: [Tom Taylor], British playwright, writer of [Our American Cousin], which [U.S.] President [Abraham Lincoln] was watching in [Ford's Theatre] when assassinated by [John Wilkes Booth], is born near [Sunderland], [England]. (d. July 12 [1880], aged 62)
October 23: [Pierre Larousse], French lexicographer, is born in [Yonne], [France]. (d. January 3 [1875], aged 57)

Passed away in 1817:

January 1: [Martin Heinrich Klaproth], German chemist, dies in [Berlin], present-day [Germany]. (b. December 1 [1743], aged 73)
April 12: [Charles Messier], French astronomer and publisher of the first [nebula] catalogue, dies. (b. June 26 [1730], aged 86)
July 18: [Jane Austen], English novelist, dies in [Winchester], [Hampshire], [England]. (b. December 16 [1775], aged 41)
August 6: [Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours], French economist, philosopher and politician, dies in exile in [Wilmington], [Delaware], [U.S.] (b. December 14 [1739], aged 77)
August 10: [Francis Lowell], American industrialist, dies in [Boston], [Massachusetts], [U.S.] (b. April 7 [1775], aged 42.
December 7: [William Bligh], British naval officer on the [Bounty], dies in [London], [England]. (b. September 9 [1754], aged 63)

These (and other) things happened in 1817:

[Africa]:

Italian engineer and explorer [Giovanni Battista Belzoni] discovers the tomb of [Seti I], son of [Ramses I], in [Egypt].

[Asia]:

In August, the [Cholera Pandemic of 1817]-[1823] breaks out in the town of [Jessore], [India].
The Third and last of the [Anglo-Maratha wars] begins in [India] and lasts for two years until won in [1819] by the British, who take control of all of India except [Punjab], [Sindh], and [Kashmir].

[Europe]:

Italian composer [Gioacchino Rossini] writes the opera [La Cenerentola] as written exclusively by librettist [Jacopo Ferretti], based on the [Cinderella] story, and it is first performed in [Teatro Valle], [Rome], [Italy] on January 25 of the same year.
In June in [England], a state infiltrator convinces [Derbyshire] workers to march to [London] to demonstrate against low wages. The workers walk into a trap of two mounted magistrates and a company of soldiers. Three workers are executed, fourteen are deported to [Australia], and nine are imprisoned. The event largely marks the end of [Luddite] activism.
[Karaðorðe] ([Black George]), the leader of a rebellion against the Turkish leadership, is murdered in [Radovanje] on July 13, and his head is stuffed and sent to [Turkey].
[John Bradbury], Scottish naturalist, completes [Travels in the Interior of America in the Years 1809, 1810 and 1811] on August 1 in [Liverpool], [England].
[Great Britain] and [Spain] sign a treaty abolishing slave trade on September 23, formally ending Spanish slave trade north of the equator immediately, and south of the equator in [1820]. British naval vessels are granted permission to search suspected offenders, but due to loopholes a British precedent forbids the search of foreign vessels unless permitted by their respective countries.
In October, 500 students celebrate the 300th anniversary of the [Reformation] at [Wartburg], present-day [Germany], where [Martin Luther] lived and worked.
In [Sweden], [Johan August Arfwedson] discovers a mysterious new [alkali]. His mentor [Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Jöns Jacob Berzelius] suggests that the substance be called lithia after the [Greek] word lithos for stone, a reference to the mineral [petalite] from which it is derived. Later, British chemist [Sir Humphry Davy] renames it [lithium]. Berzelius also discovers [selenium] later the same year.
A [typhus] epidemic rages, fueled by famine following the Mt. [Tambora] [volcano] eruption in [1815].
[Queen Elizabeth's College] is built in [Greenwich], [England].

[North America]:

In [Baltimore], [Maryland], the first public gas street light is lit with gas from the nation's first gas company, now named [Baltimore Gas and Electric] on February 7.
On March 3, The [Alabama] territory is created with a temporary capital at [St. Stephens].
On March 5 (since the traditional March 4 is a Sunday this year), [James Monroe] is sworn into office as the 5th [U.S.] [President], the first President to take the oath outdoors. [Daniel D. Tompkins] becomes [Vice President].
The New York Stock and Exchange Board, [NYS&EB], renamed [NYSE] in 1863, residing in a rented room at 40 [Wall Street], is formally established on March 8.
Spanish expatriate and filibuster [Francisco Xavier Mina] launches an attack on the Spanish rule in [Mexico] from [Galveston Island], [Texas] in April. He is captured in [Venadito] in October, taken to [Mexico City], and executed in [Fort San Gregorio] in November.
The first American school for the deaf opens in [Hartford, CT|Hartford], [Connecticut] on April 15. It is here that [American Sign Language], [ASL] is developed, and the school becomes the first educational facility to receive aid from the state.
The [Harvard] Corporation adopts a resolution on May 14 to formally establish [Harvard Law School].
The [White House] restoration and enlargement after having been burnt by the British during the [War of 1812] is completed, and in October President [James Monroe] and the [First Lady] move in.
[William Wirt] is appointed as [Attorney General] in November and serves for 11 years and 3 months under both [James Monroe] and later [John Quincy Adams].
Infamous pirate [Jean Laffite] occupies [Galveston Island], [Texas] and uses it as a base for his operations.
The first of the [Seminole Wars] begins on the border between [Georgia] and [Florida] in December.
[Mississippi] is admitted as the 20th state of the Union on December 10 under the [1817 Constitution of the State of Mississippi].
Engineers finalize a plan to be proposed by [New York] governor [Dewitt Clinton], and work begins on a project to supplement natural water systems by a 363-mile canal connecting the [Hudson River] and [Lake Erie] in the shape of the beautiful [Erie Canal], which will open in [1825] with the inaugural run of the Seneca Chief.
[John Jacob Astor]'s [American Fur Company] gains a monopoly on fur trade in the [Mississippi Valley].
The institution today known as the [University of Michigan] is founded in [Detroit], present-day [Michigan]. It will later move to [Ann Arbor].

[Oceania]:

Governor [Lachlan Macquarie] recommends the adoption of the name [Australia] for the entire continent instead of [New Holland]. He also opens the [Bank of New South Wales], thus commencing the production of pre-Federation bank notes, which will continue until [1901].

[South America]:

[Simon Bolivar] becomes president of [Gran Columbia].
The [War of Independence in Latin America] rages on. Led by [Bernardo O'Higgins] and with help from [Argentine], [Chile] wins its independence from Spain on February 12. O'Higgins becomes head of state five days later.

[1816] 1817 [1818]
[19th Century]

1817 (idea)