1711 CE

French settlers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile (Alabama), by parading a large papier-mache ox head on a cart (the first Mardi Gras parade in America). King Louis XIV becomes the longest-reigning monarch in the world, surpassing the previous record of 68 years set by Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal in 683. As of 2022, Louis XIV still holds this record. Panic kills 241 people in the stampede on the Guillottière bridge in France near Lyon. Revelers returning from a festival on the other side of the Rhône river are blocked by from crossing after a collision between a carriage and a cart. At least 25 fall off the bridge and into the river, while 216 are trampled by people behind them.

In the 1710s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

April 13 – The Treaty of the Lutsk, a secret agreement between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Protectorate of Moldavia is signed in Lutsk, Poland-Lithuania (modern-day Ukraine).source
June 18 – King Louis XIV becomes the longest-reigning monarch in the world, surpassing the previous record of 68 years set by Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal in 683. As of 2022, Louis XIV still holds this record.source
July 11 – The town of São Paulo, Brazil, is elevated to city status.source
July 21 – The Treaty of the Pruth is signed between the Ottoman Empire and Russia, ending the Pruth River Campaign.source
December 7 – In the Parliament of Great Britain the Earl of Nottingham successfully proposes a "No Peace Without Spain" amendment.source
7 December - The Earl of Nottingham successfully proposes an amendment in the House of Lords calling for "No Peace Without Spain".United Kingdom source
December 12 – A constitution is approved for the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna, which had been founded in 1690.source
Establishment of the Governing SenateRussia source

Conflict & Security

January – Cary's Rebellion: The Lords Proprietor appoint Edward Hyde to replace Thomas Cary, as the governor of the North Carolina portion of the Province of Carolina. Hyde's policies are deemed hostile to Quaker interests, leading former governor Cary and his Quaker allies to take up arms against the province.source
February 24 – Thomas Cary, after declaring himself Governor of North Carolina, sails an armed brigantine up the Chowan River, to attack Governor Hyde's forces fortified at Colonel Thomas Pollock's plantation. The attack fails, and Cary's forces retreat.source
April 29 – A rabid wolf fatally injures two shepherds in Roncà, North Italy; it also attacks livestock.source
July 2 – Cary's Rebellion: Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia dispatches a company of Royal Marines to assist Governor Hyde. After hearing of this, Cary's troops abandon all of their fortifications along the Pamlico River. Cary and many of his supporters are soon caught and sent to England as prisoners, ending Cary's Rebellion.source
August 7 – Capture of the galleon San Joaquin: Spanish galleon San Joaquin in a treasure fleet sailing from Cartagena de Indias (modern-day Colombia) to Spain surrenders after an engagement with five British ships.source
7 August – capture of the galleon San Joaquin: Spanish galleon San Joaquin in a treasure fleet sailing from Cartagena de Indias (modern-day Colombia) to Spain surrenders after an engagement with five British ships.United Kingdom source
August 9 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough with an army of 30,000 besieges Bouchain in the War of the Spanish Succession. The siege lasts 34 days and results in the last major victory for Churchill.source
9 August–12 September – Siege of Bouchain (War of the Spanish Succession): the Duke of Marlborough breaks through the French lines.France source
12 September – Siege of Bouchain in the War of the Spanish Succession concludes with the last major victory for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.United Kingdom source
September 22 – The Tuscarora War begins when Tuscarora natives under the command of Chief Hancock raid settlements along the south bank of the Pamlico River, within the Province of Carolina (modern-day North Carolina), killing around 130 people.source
December 5 – Great Northern War: the Battle of Wismar results in a Danish victory over Swedish forces.source
31 December – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough is replaced by James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde as the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.United Kingdom source
1711-13 - Tuscarora War on North Carolina frontier fought between British settlers and Tuscarora Indians. Under the English Col. John Barnwell, then Col. James Moore, the Tuscarora Nation was repeatedly attacked, its chiefs tortured, its people sold (10 pounds sterling each) into slavery. The survivors fled northward and settled among the Haudenosee (Iroquois) 5 Nations.Canada source

Exploration & Expansion

April 3 – Clipperton Island is rediscovered by Frenchmen Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage, who draws up the first map and claims the island for France. The island had been discovered by Alvaro Saavedra Cedrón in 1528.source
3 April – Clipperton Island in the Pacific is rediscovered by Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage, who claim it for France and map it.France source
August 1 – The Dutch East India Company trading ship Zuytdorp leaves the Netherlands on an ill-fated voyage to Indonesia bearing a load of freshly minted silver coins. The wreck site remains unknown until the mid-20th century, on a remote part of the Western Australian coast between Kalbarri and Shark Bay.source
August 22 – The Quebec Expedition, a British attempt to attack Quebec as part of Queen Anne's War, fails when 8 of its ships are wrecked in the Saint Lawrence River and 890 people, mostly soldiers, drown.source
22 August – the Quebec Expedition, a British attempt to attack the city of Quebec as part of Queen Anne's War, fails when 8 of its ships are wrecked in the Saint Lawrence River and 850 soldiers drown, one of the worst disasters in British history up to this date.United Kingdom source
September 10 (also dated September 12) – John Lawson, Christoph von Graffenried, two African American slaves and two Native Americans leave on an exploration expedition from New Bern, North Carolina, and travel north by canoe up the Neuse River.source
September 14 (approximate date) – Tuscarora natives capture John Lawson, Christoph von Graffenried and their expeditionary party, and bring them to Catechna.source
The Houghers began a campaign of agrarian unrest spanning five western counties. This constituted an isolated period, with Ireland not experiencing regular agrarian unrest until the 1760s.Ireland source
Newtown Square Friends Meeting House is founded by Welsh immigrants in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania.Wales source

Religion & Belief

April 5 (Easter Sunday) – The central tower of Elgin Cathedral in northeast Scotland collapses.source
5 April (Easter Sunday) – Elgin Cathedral's central tower collapses.Scotland source
5 April (Easter Sunday) – the central tower of Elgin Cathedral in northeast Scotland collapses.United Kingdom source
May – Alexander Pope publishes the poem An Essay on Criticism in London.source
August 14 – The inauguration of the newly built Cathedral of the Assumption takes place in Gozo, Malta.source
September 18 – Bishop Bogusław Gosiewski sells the town of Maladzyechna in the Minsk Region of Belarus to the mighty Ogiński family.source
23 September - Christmas Samuel is ordained at the request of his congregation at Panteg.Wales source
December 8 – The Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Comayagua in Honduras, one of the oldest cathedrals in Central America, is inaugurated.source
December 15 – The Old Pummerin, a massive bell cast from 208 captured cannons, is consecrated by Bishop Franz Ferdinand Freiherr von Rummel in preparation for its installation in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna (the Stephansdom).source
15 December – Penal Laws (Ireland): the Occasional Conformity Act ("An Act for preserving the Protestant Religion"), passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, bars Roman Catholics from public office.Ireland source
15 December – Occasional Conformity Act, intending to bar nonconformists and Roman Catholics from public office.United Kingdom source
December 25 – The rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral in London to a design by Sir Christopher Wren is declared complete by Parliament; Old St Paul's had been destroyed by the 1666 Great Fire of London.source
The short-lived County of Friderichsholm is established by Frederick IV for his mistress Charlotte Helene von Schindel from the manors of Næsbyholm and Bavelse but dissolved again in 1716.Denmark source
Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 (becoming law 3 March 1712) tolerates the right of the Scottish Episcopal Church to continue its Anglican form of liturgy and communion.Scotland source
Y Llyfr Gweddi Gyffredin y Cydymaith Goreu: Yn y Tŷ a'r StafellWales source

Economy & Finance

22 May – Company of Blanket Weavers of Witney in Oxfordshire incorporated by royal charter to regulate the trade.United Kingdom source
September 8 – The South Sea Company receives a Royal Charter in Britain.source
8 September – the South Sea Company receives a Royal Charter.United Kingdom source
December 13 – Wall Street in New York City becomes the city's first official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans and Indians.source

Technology & Infrastructure

Weir constructed at Forestmill on the Black Devon by George Sorocold to feed Gartmorn Dam reservoir.Scotland source
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company founded at Greenock.Scotland source
Blast furnace for the production of charcoal iron erected at Backbarrow in the north west of England; it will be in production until the 1960s.United Kingdom source

Science & Discovery

February 3 – A total lunar eclipse occurs, at 12:31 UT.source
July 29 – Total lunar eclipse at 17:50 UT.source
Luigi Ferdinando Marsili shows that coral is an animal rather than a plant as previously thought.source
John Shore invents the tuning fork.source
Publication of Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems edited by James Watson concludes in Edinburgh.Scotland source
William Jones - Analysis per quantitatum series, fluxiones ac differentiasWales source
Thomas Durston begins printing Welsh language books at Shrewsbury.Wales source
Jonathan Edwards - A Vindication of the Doctrine of Original Sin from the exceptions of Dr. Daniel WhitbyWales source

Health & Medicine

January – An outbreak of plaque his Helsingør.Denmark source
May 25 – Helsingør is put under military blockade to prevent an outbreak of plague from spreading to Copenhagen. A total of 1,809, about one third of Helsingør's population, are killed by the disease in 1711. The efforts to keep the disease from spreading fail and a total of 40,000 people in Copenhagen and northern Zealand are killed by the disease during the outbreak. The blockade of Helsingør is not lifted until 25 July 1712.Denmark source
October 14 – Yostos kills Tewoflos, becoming Emperor of Ethiopia.source
Great Northern War plague outbreakSweden source
The profession of midwifery is regulated and all future midwives are to be licensed by the Collegium Medicum after having been tutored by an already licensed midwife for a period of two years and passed the examination of a doctor before being allowed to practice their trade (until 1777, this applied only to the capital): the midwives are also banned from using instruments.Sweden source

Crime & Justice

September 16 (approximate date) – Tuscarora natives kill Lawson. Von Graffenried and one African American slave are known to have been set free.source
October 14 – Woodes Rogers returns to England after a successful round-the-world privateering cruise against Spain, carrying loot worth £150,000.source
14 October – Woodes Rogers returns to England after a successful round-the-world privateering cruise against Spain, carrying loot worth £150,000.United Kingdom source
Conclusion of Islandmagee witch trials: Eight women from Islandmagee are convicted in the last known witch trial in Ireland.Ireland source
Price Devereux, 9th Viscount Hereford, becomes Custos Rotulorum of Montgomeryshire.Wales source

Disasters & Accidents

October 7 – HMS Feversham is wrecked on Scaterie Island, Nova Scotia with the loss of 102 lives.source
October 11 – Panic kills 241 people in the stampede on the Guillottière bridge in France near Lyon. Revelers returning from a festival on the other side of the Rhône river are blocked by from crossing after a collision between a carriage and a cart. At least 25 fall off the bridge and into the river, while 216 are trampled by people behind them.source
November 5 – The southwest spire of Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire, England is struck by lightning, resulting in a fire that spreads to the nave and tower, destroying roofs, bells, clock and organ.source
5 November – the southwest spire of Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire is struck by lightning, resulting in a fire that spreads to the nave and tower, destroying roofs, bells, clock and organ.United Kingdom source
November 7 – The Dutch East India Company ship Liefde runs aground and sinks off Out Skerries, Shetland, with the loss of all but one of her 300 crew.source
7 November – Dutch East Indiaman Liefde runs aground and sinks off Out Skerries, Shetland with the loss of all but one of her 300 crew.Scotland source

Culture & Society

January 24 – The first performance of Francesco Gasparini's most famous opera Tamerlano takes place at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice.source
February 24 – Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, premieres at the Queen's Theatre, Haymarket.source
24 February – premiere of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, at the Queen's Theatre, Haymarket.United Kingdom source
February – French settlers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile (Alabama), by parading a large papier-mache ox head on a cart (the first Mardi Gras parade in America).source
March 1 – The Spectator is founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in London.source
1 March – first edition of the magazine The Spectator published in London, edited by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.United Kingdom source
23 May – Robert Harley made Earl of Oxford.United Kingdom source
29 May – Harley made Lord High Treasurer.United Kingdom source
August 11 – The first horse race is held at the newly founded Ascot Racecourse, which becomes one of the leading racecourses in England.source
11 August – the first race meeting is held at Ascot Racecourse, "Her Majesty's Plate", attended by Queen Anne.United Kingdom source
August 13 – Tamachi Raisinhji becomes Jam Sahib (ruling prince) of Nawanagar State in Gujarat, India.source
23 August - Baptist minister Rev Abel Morgan is seen off by his congregation at Rhydwilim prior to embarking for a future in America.Wales source
October 16 – Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts is established in Brussels.source
Establishment of the Arsenal Design BureauRussia source

Births

February 2 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, Austrian diplomat and chancellor (died 1794)source
February 25 – John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, British politician with Irish connections (died 1770)source
April 26 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian (died 1776)source
April 26 – Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, French writer (died 1780)source
7 May – David Hume, philosopher (died 1776)United Kingdom source
May 18 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian-Italian priest and mathematician (died 1787)source
June 23 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Italian luthier (died 1786)source
27 July – Christian Ancher, merchant, timber trader and ship owner (died 1765).Norway source
August 19 – Edward Boscawen, British Royal Navy admiral (died 1761)source
August 19 – Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu, Canadian officer during the Seven Years' War (died 1755)Canada source
September 6 – Henry Muhlenberg, Lutheran clergyman and missionary (died 1787)source
September 9 – Thomas Hutchinson, historian and last civilian Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (died 1780)source
September 25 – Qianlong Emperor, sixth Emperor of the Qing dynasty in China (died 1799)source
October 31 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and academic (died 1778)source
November 5 – Kitty Clive, British actor (died 1785)source
November 10 – Robert Hay Drummond, Archbishop of York (died 1776)source
November 19 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian polymath (died 1765)source
Daniel Rowland, Methodist leader (died 1790)Wales source

Deaths

January 10 – John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland, English nobleman and politician (born 1638)source
January 16 – Blessed Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (born 1651)source
March 13 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (born 1636)source
March 15 – Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary (born 1645)source
March 19 – Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (born 1637)source
April 9 – Charles Duncombe, British politician (born 1648)source
April 14 – Louis, Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV (born 1661)source
April 17 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1678)source
April 17 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor dies, opening the way for the succession of his brother Charles VI. This complicates the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession as Charles is one of the two candidates for the Spanish throne, backed by the Grand Alliance.source
May 2 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English statesman (born 1641)source
2 May – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, statesman (born 1641)United Kingdom source
17 May – Johann Gottfried Becker, pharmacist (born 1639)Denmark source
May 25 – In Denmark, Helsingør is put under military blockade to prevent an outbreak of plague from spreading to Copenhagen; this year about one third of Helsingør's population is killed by the disease.source
July 6 – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (born 1662)source
6 July – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, politician (born 1662; died in London)Scotland source
July 15 – John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, England (born 1662)source
October 30 – Wilhelmus à Brakel, Dutch theologian (born 1635)source
December - unnamed wife and son of Rev Abel Morgan (see Events), both of whom died on board ship during the voyage from Wales to Pennsylvania.Wales source