1719 CE

The Principality of Liechtenstein is created, within the Holy Roman Empire. Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal Emperor of India since 1713, is deposed by the Sayyid brothers, who install Rafi ud-Darajat in his place. In prison, Farrukhsiyar is strangled by assassins on April 19. Captain John Perry fixes the Dagenham Breach of the River Thames in England.

In the 1710s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 23 January - The Riksdag of the Estates refuse the recognize Queen Ulrika Eleonora as monarch by inheritance, but agree to recognize her as monarch by election after she agrees to ratify a new constitution, Instrument of Government (1719), introducing a parliamentary system and a constitutional monarchy.Swedensource
  • February 3 (January 23 Old Style) – The Riksdag of the Estates (the parliament of Sweden) recognizes Ulrika Eleonora's claim to the Swedish throne, after she has agreed to sign a new Swedish constitution. Thus, she is recognized as queen regnant of Sweden.source
  • 19 February - Queen Ulrika Eleonora signs the new constitution.Swedensource
  • February 21 – The Riksdag of the Estates in Sweden adopts the Instrument of Government (1719), a constitution which (with slight amendment in 1720) introduces the "Age of Liberty" in the country; it includes limited women's suffrage.source
  • 21 February - The new constitution is applied and the absolute monarchy is thereby abolished.Swedensource
  • March 26 Old Style (1720 New Style) – the Dependency of Ireland on Great Britain Act 1719 is passed by the Parliament of Great Britain.Irelandsource
  • 10 April - Arvid Horn steps down as Privy Council Chancellery.Swedensource
  • 28 April – A Peerage Bill, proposed by Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, to prevent the creation of peers in the House of Lords, is defeated in the House of Commons by the eloquence of Robert Walpole.United Kingdomsource
  • October 28 – Sweden and Denmark-Norway sign an armistice, halting combat in the Great Northern War between them, with final terms agreed to in the Treaty of Frederiksborg on July 3, 1720.source
  • November 2 – the Toleration Act ("For exempting the Protestant Dissenters of this kingdom from certain penalties to which they are now subject"), passed by the Parliament of Ireland, receives Royal Assent.Irelandsource
  • November 9 – Treaties of Stockholm (Great Northern War): In a treaty with Hanover, Sweden cedes the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (in northern Germany) to Hanover.source
  • 9 November – Peace between Sweden and Hannover.Swedensource

Conflict & Security

  • February 28 – Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal Emperor of India since 1713, is deposed by the Sayyid brothers, who install Rafi ud-Darajat in his place. In prison, Farrukhsiyar is strangled by assassins on April 19.source
  • March – The 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot is raised by Colonel Edmund Fielding as Edmund Fielding's Regiment of Foot.Walessource
  • April 4 – The French army under James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, invades the Basque provinces of Spain, with 20,000 troops crossing into Navarre.source
  • April 19 – In Louisiana (New France), Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville's brother Serigny arrives on a French man-of-war, bringing news that war had been declared between France and Spain (since December 1718).source
  • April 26 – King Philip V of Spain departs Madrid and leads 15,000 men of the Spanish Army into Navare to fight the French under Berwick.source
  • 10 May – Capture of Eilean Donan Castle: A British naval force capture Eilean Donan from occupying Spanish troops.Scotlandsource
  • May 14 – In Louisiana (New France), Bienville, from Mobile, captures Pensacola, but Pensacola is later recaptured by the Spanish, and again re-taken by Bienville.source
  • June 4 – Battle of Ösel Island: A Russian naval force defeats the Swedish fleet.source
  • June 10 – Battle of Glen Shiel: British forces defeat the Jacobites and their Spanish allies in Scotland.source
  • 10 June – Battle of Glen Shiel: British Government troops defeat an alliance of Jacobite and Spanish forces. Spanish forces had supported the Jacobites, under the command of Major General Wightman, in an effort to strain the British Government's resources.Scotlandsource
  • 10 June – British Government forces defeat an alliance of Jacobite and Spanish forces at the Battle of Glen Shiel in Scotland.United Kingdomsource
  • June 20 – Battle of Francavilla: The Austrians are defeated by the Spanish.source
  • June 30 – French forces under the Duke of Berwick, open the Siege of San Sebastian.source
  • July 16 – Attack on Marstrand: the Carlsten fortress in Sweden surrenders to a Danish and Norwegian force after a siege of seven days. Colonel Henrich Danckwardt, who surrendered the fortress to Peter Tordenskjold after being away from it while it was still defensible, is beheaded on September 16.source
  • July to August - The Russian Pillage of 1719-1721.Swedensource
  • August 13 – In the Battle of Stäket, Crown Prince Frederick I of Sweden leads the successful defense of Stockholm from Russian Admiral Fyodor Apraksin's Baltic Fleet during the Russian Pillage.source
  • 13 August - The Russian unsuccessfully attacks Stockholm in the Battle of Stäket during the Russian Pillage of 1719–1721.Swedensource
  • August 19 – Siege of San Sebastian: The Spanish garrison surrenders to the Duke of Berwick.source
  • August 19 – San Sebastian surrenders to Berwick. Local leaders petition for the surrounding province to be annexed to France, but is later returned to Spain at the Treaty of The HagueFrancesource
  • October 14 – The British Army, under the command of Major General George Wade, invades and captures the forts of Vigo on the Atlantic coast of Spain.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • 5 February — The Saint-Joseph sets sail from Ostend for Canton.Belgiumsource
  • 13 April – A Jacobite force under George Keith reaches Loch Alsh in the Scottish Highlands and disembarks, launching the Jacobite rising of 1719United Kingdomsource
  • 18 June – Stopping Dagenham Breach by Capt. John Perry is completed.United Kingdomsource
  • July 11 – Russia's Baltic Sea fleet is first spotted from the Swedish coast, starting the Russian Pillage of 1719–21 as part of the Great Northern War.source
  • 10 October – British expedition under Lord Cobham captures Vigo during the War of the Quadruple Alliance.United Kingdomsource
  • 27 November — The Saint-Joseph, from Ostend, sets sail from Canton laden with tea, porcelain, silk, and Chinese roots.Belgiumsource

Religion & Belief

  • 15 January — Pope Clement IX issues the breve Pietatis vestrae in response to a letter from the bishops of the Austrian Netherlands protesting their adherence to the 1713 bull Unigenitus.Belgiumsource
  • January 23 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created, within the Holy Roman Empire.source
  • 15 May - Gustav Cronhielm appointed Privy Council Chancellery.Swedensource
  • 3 August — The Saint-Joseph from Ostend arrives in Canton.Belgiumsource
  • September 29 – Muhammad Shah is crowned as the 12th Mughal Emperor of India at Shahjahanabad (modern-day Delhi), 12 days after the death of Shah Jahan II from tuberculosis.source
  • Cornelius Nary publishes a new Roman Catholic New Testament Bible translation into English, probably in Dublin.Irelandsource
  • First service held in the rebuilt St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin (Church of Ireland), designed by Colonel Thomas Burgh, M.P., Surveyor General of Ireland.Irelandsource
  • Allan Ramsay publishes Content and a new volume of Scots Songs.Scotlandsource
  • Christmas Samuel – Catecism o'r ScrythurWalessource
  • The first permanent legal printing press in Wales is established at Adpar by Isaac Carter of Carmarthenshire. It is believed that its first two publications are Cân o Senn i’w hen Feistr Tobacco by Alban Thomas and Cân ar Fesur Triban ynghylch Cydwybod a’i Chynheddfau.Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • April – Bank rate set at 5%, at which it will remain for more than a century.United Kingdomsource
  • May 23 – Mississippi Company becomes the Compagnie Perpétuelle des IndesFrancesource
  • The South Sea Company proposes a scheme by which it would buy more than half the national debt of Britain in exchange for concessions.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • June 18 – Captain John Perry fixes the Dagenham Breach of the River Thames in England.source
  • October 21 – The Red Canal is opened in the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, after seven years of construction, at a ceremony in the presence of the Tsar Peter the Great.source
  • December – 1719 Establishment lays down the technical specifications for construction of warships for the Royal Navy.United Kingdomsource
  • Construction of Fortress Louisbourg by the French begins on Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island).Canadasource
  • Postvesenet became state owned.Norwaysource
  • Earliest known Newcomen atmospheric engines in Scotland at Stevenston (north Ayrshire) and at Elphinstone, East Lothian (near Tranent).Scotlandsource
  • The Davies brothers of Bersham begin work on the wrought-iron gates at Chirk Castle.Walessource

Science & Discovery

Health & Medicine

  • Europe's first systematic population census is taken in the Kingdom of Prussia's Margraviate of Brandenburg.source

Crime & Justice

  • 19 February - The execution of Georg Heinrich von Görtz.Swedensource
  • 19 September — Frans Anneessens beheaded in Brussels.Belgiumsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 24 July - Nyköping is burned during the Russian Pillage of 1719–1721.Swedensource
  • 19 August - Norrtälje is burned during the Russian Pillage of 1719-1721Swedensource
  • December 2 – Workers in Falun Mine, Sweden, find the apparently petrified body of "Fet-Mats" Israelsson (died 1677), in a flooded part of the copper workings.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish-Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydalen mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,700 men and cripples a further 600 for life.source
  • March 6 – A serious earthquake (estimated magnitude >7) in El Salvador results in large fractures, liquefaction zones, and a sulphuric gas leak. It destroys houses, churches and monasteries.source
  • May 25 – An earthquake in Turkey damages İzmit and Istanbul, damaging some city walls and ruining mosques and palaces.source
  • Earliest known record of Belhaven Brewery near Dunbar.Scotlandsource

Culture & Society

  • January – The Carolean Death March.Norwaysource
  • February – The Royal Academy of Music is founded, establishing a London opera company that commissions new works from Handel, Bononcini and others.United Kingdomsource
  • March 17 – The coronation of Ulrika Eleonora as Queen of Sweden takes place in Stockholm.source
  • April 25 – Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is published in London. Initially anonymous, by the end of the year it will have run through four editions and is significant in establishing extended realistic fiction as a literary genre.source
  • August 20 – Princess Maria Josepha of Austria, at one time the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria's Habsburg Empire, marries Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony ten days after renouncing any claim to the Austrian throne.source
  • 1 September – Marriage ceremony of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart ("Old Pretender" to the Scottish throne) and Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska at Montefiascone in Italy.Scotlandsource
  • September 3 – The three-story tall Opernhaus am Zwinger, one of the largest opera houses in the world at the time, opens in Dresden by staging Antonio Lotti's Giovi in Argo.source
  • 16 November — Oratorian College, Mechelen, celebrates a former student, Henricus van Gaemeren, graduating from Leuven University as first in his year.Belgiumsource
  • 9 December - Arvid Horn replace Gustav Cronhielm as Privy Council Chancellery.Swedensource
  • December 22 – Andrew Bradford publishes the American Weekly Mercury, Pennsylvania's first newspaper.source
  • James Figg opens one of the first indoor venues for combat sports, adjoining the City of Oxford tavern in Oxford Road.source
  • Raine's Foundation School, Bethnal Green (founded by Henry Raine), opens in Wapping (closed 2020).source
  • The first lottery in Denmark is held. The prizes are royal land lots.Denmarksource
  • On the death without heirs of Sir John Wynne, the Wynnstay estate passes to Jane Thelwall, the great-granddaughter of Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet.Walessource
  • The Welsh Charity School in London moves to Ailesbury Chapel, Clerkenwell, where it remains until about 1721.Walessource

Births

  • January 17 – William Vernon, American merchant (died 1806)source
  • 13 February – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney (died 1792)United Kingdomsource
  • 22 February – Joshua Thomas, writer and Particular Baptist minister (died 1797)Walessource
  • March 4 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (died 1777)source
  • March 13 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British nobleman and soldier (died 1797)source
  • April 5 – Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar, prince of Persia (died 1747)source
  • 11 June — François-Charles de Velbrück, prince-bishop of Liège (died 1784)Belgiumsource
  • June 28 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general, diplomat, statesman (died 1785)source
  • August 23 – Pierre Poivre, French horticulturalist (died 1786)source
  • September 17 – James Smith, signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence (died 1806)source
  • September 21 – Johann Friedrich Mayer, agriculturalist (died 1798)source
  • November 14 – Leopold Mozart, German/Austrian composer, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (died 1787)source
  • November 30 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (died 1772)source
  • December 13 – Thomas Gillespie, North Carolina planter (died 1797)source
  • December 25 – George Campbell, figure of the Scottish Enlightenment (died 1796)source
  • December 28 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French diplomat (died 1787)source
  • Thomas Elfe, furniture craftsman in Charleston, South Carolina (died 1775)source
  • Ivan Ivanovich Belsky, Russian painterRussiasource

Deaths

  • February 23 – Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, German Lutheran clergy (born 1682)source
  • March 13 – Johann Friedrich Böttger, Saxon alchemist (born 1682)source
  • 4 April – Thomas Powys, judge, 70/71Walessource
  • April 7 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest, education reformer, saint in the Catholic Church (born 1651)source
  • April 15 – Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, mistress and later secret wife of King Louis XIV of France (born 1635)source
  • April 28 – Farrukhsiyar, Mughal Emperor (born 1685)source
  • May 3 – Pierre Le Gros the Younger, sculptor from France (born 1666)source
  • June 17 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright and politician (born 1672)source
  • 17 June – Joseph Addison, writer and politician (born 1672)United Kingdomsource
  • July 21 – Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, French princess (born 1695)source
  • July 22 – Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole, Italian painter and engraver (born 1654)source
  • July 28 – Arp Schnitger, German organ builder (born 1648)source
  • October 11 – Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, is assassinated in a bloody coup d'etat by supporters of the Archbishop of Manila, whom Bustamante had imprisoned.source
  • 3 December — Adriaen Frans Boudewijns (born 1644), painterBelgiumsource
  • December 15 – Mitford Crowe, English politician (born 1669)source
  • December 31 – John Flamsteed, English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal (born 1646)source
  • Benjamin Hornigold, English pirate (born 1680)source
  • Boris Sheremetev, Russian nobleRussiasource