Editing 1808 (section)

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 6]] &ndash; English chemist [[Humphry Davy]] electrochemically isolates [[potassium]] from [[potash]].<ref>"England's Greatest Chemist, Sir Humphry Davy", by John A. Bowes, in ''Young England'' magazine (Sunday School Union, 1883) p63</ref>
* [[October 12]] &ndash; [[Banco do Brasil]], a major [[Financial|financial group]] in [[South America]], founded in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Banco do Brasil {{!}} Company Overview & News |url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/banco-do-brasil/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>
* [[November 8]] &ndash; [[1808 United States presidential election]]: [[James Madison]] defeats [[Charles C. Pinckney]], winning 122 electoral votes to Pinckney's 47. Ten of the 17 states choose their electors by popular vote, the rest choose through state legislatures. [[George Clinton (vice president)|George Clinton]], who is separately elected as vice president, gets six electoral votes for president.<ref>Thomas Hudson McKee, ''The National Conventions and Platforms of All Political Parties'' (Friedenwald, 1901) p18</ref>
* [[November 12]] &ndash; Four large French frigates under the command of [[Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin]], including the ''Venus'', are sent to operate from [[Isle de France (Mauritius)]] against British trade in the [[Indian Ocean]], triggering the [[Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811]].<ref>William James and Frederick Chamier, ''The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 5'' (Macmillan and Company, 1902) p53</ref>
* [[November 15]] &ndash; [[Mahmud II]] (1808–[[1839]]) succeeds [[Mustafa IV]] ([[1807]]–1808), as [[sultan]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]].
* [[November 19]] &ndash; A new truce at Olkijoki ends fighting in Finland, and Swedish troops concede that area to Russia.<ref name=Stefansson>Jón Stefánsson, ''Denmark and Sweden: With Iceland and Finland'' (T.F. Unwin, Ltd., 1916) p332</ref>
* [[November 23]] &ndash; [[Battle of Tudela]]: French [[Marshal Lannes]] defeats a Spanish army.
* [[December 1]] &ndash; [[Tsar]] [[Alexander I of Russia]] proclaims [[Finland]] a part of Russia.<ref>Edward C. Thaden, ''Russia's Western Borderlands, 1710–1870'' (Princeton University Press, 2014) p85</ref>
* [[December 4]] &ndash; [[Napoleon]] joins his army in Spain.<ref>James Harvey Robinson and Charles A. Beard, eds., ''Outlines of European History: From the opening of the eighteenth century to the present day'' (Ginn and Company, 1912) p214</ref>
* [[December 9]] &ndash; At 20:34 UTC, [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] [[occultation|occults]] [[Saturn]] (there are no observation records).
* [[December 20]]
** [[Peninsular War]]: [[Second siege of Zaragoza]] begins.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shand |first=Alexander Innes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=62M2AAAAMAAJ |title=The War in the Peninsula, 1808-1814 |date=1898 |publisher=Seeley |pages=vi,52 |language=en}}</ref>
** The original [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden Theatre]] in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.
* [[December 22]] &ndash; [[Beethoven concert of 22 December 1808]]: [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] conducts and plays piano in a marathon [[benefit concert]], at the [[Theater an der Wien]] in [[Vienna]], consisting entirely of first public performances of works by him, including [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Symphony No. 5]], [[Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)|Symphony No. 6]], [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto No. 4]] and ''[[Choral Fantasy (Beethoven)|Choral Fantasy]]''.