1808

Events
 March 13 – Frederick VI becomes king of Denmark. The next day, Denmark declares war on Sweden.
 March 19 – Charles IV of Spain leaves the throne for his son, Ferdinand VII.
 November 15 – Mahmud II (1808–1839) succeeds Mustafa IV (1807–1808) as  sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
 Goethe's Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy is published.
 Barium, calcium, magnesium and strontium are isolated by Humphry Davy in England.

 December 29 – Andrew Johnson, seventeenth President of the United States (d. 1875)