1718 CE

August – the first ships carrying Scotch-Irish emigrants from Ulster to North America arrive in Boston, Massachusetts. In Tibet, forces of the Tibetan Dzungar Khanate destroys an advancing expedition of the Chinese Imperial Army, under the command of General Erentei, in the Battle of the Salween River. Citing violations of the amnesty agreement with Blackbeard, Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood sends a Royal Navy contingent to North Carolina, where they battle Blackbeard and his crew in Ocracoke Inlet. Blackbeard is killed in action, after receiving five musketball wounds and twenty sword lacerations.

In the 1710s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

April 4 – Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic agree on the phasing out of the authority of the House of Medici over the semi-independent Grand Duchy of Tuscany by declaring that Gian Gastone de' Medici will be the last of the Medici family to rule the Italian duchy and that Spain's House of Borbón will eventually control the Tuscan monarchy. Don Carlos of Spain, the two-year old son of King Philip V, is designated as the eventual heir, despite the objections of the 75-year old Grand Duke, Cosimo III de' Medici.source
May 7 – New Orleans is founded.France source
May – Charles XII issue peace negotiations with Russia on Åland, handled by Georg Heinrich von Görtz, in a hope to conquer the Danish province of Norway with Russian help.Sweden source
June 16 – The Treaty of Baden is signed, ending the Toggenburg War.source
July 21 – The Treaty of Passarowitz, ending the Austro-Turkish War, is signed.source
2 August – Quadruple Alliance formed between Britain, the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic.United Kingdom source
October 31 – The Mughal Emperor of India, Farrukhsiyar, restores the titles and responsibilities of his chief adviser, Mir Jumla III, almost three years after dismissing him.source
November 12 – Georg Heinrich von Görtz leaves the negotiations with Russia with a proposed peace treaty.Sweden source
12 December - The Admiralty Board is establishedRussia source
December 17 – The Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Great Britain and Dutch Republic join the Kingdom of France in formally declaring war on Spain, launching the War of the Quadruple Alliance.source
Ifan Gruffudd & Samuel Williams - Pedwar o GanuauWales source

Conflict & Security

January – France declares war on Spain, leading to the 2-year War of the Quadruple Alliance.France source
February 14 – The reign of Victor Amadeus over the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg (within the modern-day state of Saxony-Anhalt in northeastern Germany) ends after 61 years and 7 months. He had ascended the throne on September 22, 1656. He is succeeded by his son Karl Frederick.source
June 3 – Pirates Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet accidentally run aground in the ship Queen Anne's Revenge after sailing into Topsail Inlet in the British colony of North Carolina. Learning of the royal pardon available to all pirates who surrender before September 5, Teach negotiates a settlement with Colonial Governor Charles Eden for a pardon for himself, Bonnet and the rest of his crew in return for the Governor receiving some of the pirates' plunder.source
August 11 – Battle of Cape Passaro: a Spanish fleet is defeated by the British Royal Navy under Admiral George Byng, off Capo Passero, Sicily, a prelude to the War of the Quadruple Alliance.source
11 August – a British fleet under Admiral Byng defeats a Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Passaro, a prelude to the War of the Quadruple Alliance.United Kingdom source
29 August - 10,000 men under the command of Lieutenant-general Carl Gustaf Armfeldt attacked Trøndelag from Jemtland.Norway source
September 10 – In France, Armande Félice de La Porte Mazarin and the Vicomtesse de Polignac, both mistresses of the Duc de Richelieu, fight a duel with pistols at the Bois de Boulogne near Paris. Lady Mazarin, who had initiated the duel, is wounded in the shoulder and both survive. Richelieu, though impressed by the willingness of the ladies to fight over his affections, comments Je ne sacrifierai pas un de mes cheveux, ni à l’une, ni à l’autre ("I will not sacrifice anything, not to one, nor to the other.")source
September 27 – The Battle of Cape Fear River begins as pirate Stede Bonnet and his crew on the Royal James are confronted in North Carolina by Colonel William Rhett and the ships Henry and Sea Nymph.source
September – In Tibet, forces of the Tibetan Dzungar Khanate destroys an advancing expedition of the Chinese Imperial Army, under the command of General Erentei, in the Battle of the Salween River.source
October 30 – Charles XII attacks Norway.Sweden source
November 11 – Lightning strikes the powder magazine at the Old Fortress, Corfu, causing an explosion that kills a large number of people on the island.source
November 22 – Citing violations of the amnesty agreement with Blackbeard, Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood sends a Royal Navy contingent to North Carolina, where they battle Blackbeard and his crew in Ocracoke Inlet. Blackbeard is killed in action, after receiving five musketball wounds and twenty sword lacerations.source
30 November - King Karl XII was shot and killed at the Siege of Fredriksten fortress.Norway source
December 1 – The brother-in-law of Charles XII and spouse of Princess Ulrika Eleonora, Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, discontinue the siege of Fredrikshald.Sweden source
17 December – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Britain, the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic declare war on Spain.United Kingdom source
Islamization of Sudan: The Funj warrior aristocracy deposes the reigning mek and places one of their own ranks on the throne of Sennar.source

Exploration & Expansion

March 13 – Daniel Overbeek becomes the new Dutch Governor of Ceylon (the modern-day nation of Sri Lanka), arriving after a 10-month sea voyage from the Netherlands.source
May 7 – The settlement of New Orleans is founded in New France.source
May 22 – Sailing the Queen Anne's Revenge English pirate Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, leads 400 sailors in four ships, and blockades the port of Charleston, South Carolina for an entire week, plundering all arriving ships. After their departure, Queen Anne's Revenge and Adventure are both lost at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina; a week later. Blackbeard allows Stede Bonnet to command the Revenge (which is renamed the Royal James) once again. Bonnet rescues 25 sailors abandoned by Blackbeard on a sandbar and continues his life of piracy.source
July–August – the first ships carrying Scotch-Irish emigrants from Ulster to North America arrive in Boston, Massachusetts.Ireland source
October 28 – Ashkenazi Jews lease the site for Ballybough Cemetery in Fairview, Dublin, Ireland's first Jewish cemetery.Ireland source
Old Calton Burial Ground established on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, by the Society of the Incorporated Trades of Calton.Scotland source
Damask linen industry established at Dunfermline by James Blake and at Drumsheugh.Scotland source
The Hovering Act makes it illegal for vessels under 50 tons to linger offshore, in an attempt to prevent smuggling.United Kingdom source

Religion & Belief

7 January – Religious Worship Act 1718 repeals the Occasional Conformity Act 1711 and Schism Act 1714, restoring some freedoms to dissenters.United Kingdom source
January 17 – Jeremias III reclaims his role as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, chief leader within the Eastern Orthodox Church, 16 days after the Metropolitan Cyril IV of Pruoza had engineered an election to become the Patriarch.source
March 20 – The Privy Council of the United Kingdom is reorganized, forming the Second Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. Secretary of State for the Northern Department Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland succeeds James Stanhope as the new First Lord of the Treasury, and Stanhope takes Sunderland's job.source
May 1 – San Antonio in what later becomes Texas is founded by Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares with the construction of the initial Mission San Antonio de Valero.source
May 2 – the scholar William Nicolson is appointed Bishop of Derry.Ireland source
May 10 – the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Emly is united with the Archbishopric of Cashel.Ireland source
9 November - Theophilus Evans is ordained by the Bishop of St David's.Wales source
Marrow Controversy, an ecclesiastical dispute.Scotland source

Technology & Infrastructure

15 May – James Puckle patents the Puckle Gun.United Kingdom source
Coffee is grown in Surinam (Dutch colony).source
First passage to America of a ship built on the Clyde, and belonging to Glasgow.Scotland source

Science & Discovery

30 April – the proper motion of stars is demonstrated by Edmond Halley.United Kingdom source
The white potato reaches New England from England.source
The Speigelberg Company perform in Denmark.Denmark source

Health & Medicine

February - Prince George William of Wales falls ill (later diagnosed as a heart disease); his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, are allowed by King George I to visit him at Kensington Palace, despite having been banished from the royal presence a few months earlier.Wales source
March 18 – Edward Wortley Montagu, the four-year-old son of the British Ambassador to Turkey, becomes the first British person to be inoculated with the smallpox vaccine, administered by Dr. Charles Maitland at the request of Edward's mother, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.source
Jervis Street Hospital, is founded by six surgeons as the Charitable Infirmary in Cook Street, the first public voluntary hospital in the British Isles.Ireland source
Greenwich Hospital receives a Royal Charter (revoked in 1829).United Kingdom source

Crime & Justice

21 March – Piracy Act 1717 receives royal assent, providing the punishment of penal transportation (to British North America) as an alternative to a death sentence for lesser crimes.United Kingdom source
11 July - Howell Davis, mate of the Cadogan, is captured by Edward England and decides join the pirates. Davis would subsequently capture another Welsh sailor, Bartholomew Roberts, and turn him to piracy.Wales source
October 3 – Stede Bonnet and his crew are captured near the mouth of the Cape Fear River and taken to Charleston, South Carolina, where they are tried for piracy. All but four are found guilty and sentenced to death (with 22 hanged on November 8), but Bonnet escapes from prison on October 24.source
December 2 – Georg Heinrich von Görtz is arrested by Frederick of Hesse for supporting Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the rival of Ulrika Eleonora to the throne.Sweden source
December 10 – Pirate Stede Bonnet is hanged at Charleston, after being recaptured.source
Alban Thomas - Cân o Senn i'w hen Feistr TobaccoWales source

Climate & Environment

June 19 – A 7.5 earthquake shakes Tongwei County in China, killing 73,000 people.source

Culture & Society

March 12 – Anton Florian becomes the new Prince of Liechtenstein, succeeding Joseph Wenzelsource
12 April - The Neva Yacht Club is foundedRussia source
July 25 – At the behest of Tsar Peter the Great, the construction of Kadriorg Palace, dedicated to his wife Catherine, began in Tallinn.source
November 18 – Voltaire's first play, Oedipus, premières at the Comédie-Française in Paris. This is his first use of the pseudonym.source
December 6 – Following the death of Charles XII on November 30, his sister Ulrika Eleonora proclaims herself Queen regnant of Sweden, as the news of her brother's death reaches Stockholm.Sweden source
Edinburgh Evening Courant newspaper launched.Scotland source
Regius Chair of Anatomy and Botany at the University of Glasgow established.Scotland source
Marrow Controversy, an ecclesiastical dispute in Scotland, begins.United Kingdom source
date unknown - The first permanent printing press in Wales is established at Adpar, Cardiganshire.Wales source
Thomas Taylor - The Principality of Wales exactly described... (the first atlas of Wales to be published)Wales source

Births

January 7 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (died 1790)source
March 31 – Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, queen regent of Portugal (died 1781)source
April 7 – Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (died 1800)source
April 20 – David Brainerd, American missionary (died 1747)source
April 26 – Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral (died 1802)source
May 16 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician (died 1799)source
May 23 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (died 1783)source
May 30 – Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, English politician (died 1793)source
June 5 – Thomas Chippendale, English furniture maker (died 1779)source
July 5 – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, Viceroy of Ireland (died 1794)source
July 18 – Saverio Bettinelli, Italian writer (died 1808)source
July - William Jones, Methodist exhorter (died c.1773)Wales source
August 11 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-born British colonial governor (died 1791)source
September 8 - Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, military officer. (died 1754)Canada source
November 3 – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English statesman (died 1792)source
3 November – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, statesman (died 1792)United Kingdom source
November 28 – Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht, Swedish writer (died 1763)source
18 December - Anna Leopoldovna, briefly regent of Russia (died 1746)Russia source

Deaths

January 7 – In India, Sufi rebel leader Shah Inayat Shaheed from Sindh who had led attacks against the Mughal Empire, is beheaded days after being tricked into meeting with the Mughals to discuss peace.source
February 1 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician (born 1660)source
February 17 – Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield, illegitimate daughter of King Charles II of England (born 1664)source
February 21 – Manuel II (Mpanzu a Nimi) becomes the new monarch of the Kingdom of Kongo (located in western Africa in modern-day Angola) when King Pedro IV (Nusamu a Mvemba) dies after a reign of 22 years. Manuel reigns until 1743.source
1 May - Robert Daniell, coloniser of The Carolinas, 71 or 72Wales source
May 7 – Mary of Modena, queen of James II of England (born 1658)source
May 24 – Jeremiah Dummer, American silversmith (born 1643)source
26 June - Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia (born 1690)Russia source
July 30 – William Penn, American settler, founder of Pennsylvania (born 1644)source
30 July – William Penn, Quaker and founder of the Pennsylvania colony (born 1644)United Kingdom source
August 4 - René Lepage de Sainte-Claire, landlord.Canada source
October 9 – Richard Cumberland, English philosopher (born 1631)source
November 22 – Blackbeard, English pirate (killed) (born 1680)source
December 4 – Fifty people are killed, and 150 houses burned, when a fire breaks out in Wapping, London. The blaze comes two days after a fire at the Spring Gardens at St. James's, London, which destroyed the French Chapel there and which was put out by several rescuers, including the future King George II.source
December 6 – Nicholas Rowe, English poet and dramatist (born 1674)source
December 10 – Stede Bonnet, Barbadian "gentleman pirate" (hanged) (born 1688)source
December 11 (November 30 Old Style) – King Charles XII of Sweden is killed at the Siege of Fredriksten in the Great Northern War, the last European monarch to die on a battlefield. His death ends the first era of absolute monarchy in Sweden. Five days later, when the news reaches Stockholm, his sister Princess Ulrika Eleonora proclaims herself Queen regnant of Sweden.source
December 11 (November 30 Old Style) – King Charles XII of Sweden (shot during siege) (born 1682)source