1722 CE
Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah, the Grand Mogul of north India's Mughal Empire, names Nizam-ul-Mulk as his Grand Vizier. Three years later, the Nizam will rebel against the Grand Mogul and create his own independent nation as the Nizam of Hyderabad, reigning as Asaf Jah. Battle of Gulnabad in Persia: The Pashtun people of Afghanistan, led by Mahmud Hotak, decisively defeat forces of the Persian Safavid dynasty, precipitating its fall. General election ends, resulting in a landslide victory for the Whig government of Robert Walpole which increases its majority in the House of Commons to 220.
In the 1720s, the 18th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- February 21 – Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah, the Grand Mogul of north India's Mughal Empire, names Nizam-ul-Mulk as his Grand Vizier. Three years later, the Nizam will rebel against the Grand Mogul and create his own independent nation as the Nizam of Hyderabad, reigning as Asaf Jah.source
- May 5 – Pennsylvania colony enacts a statute, requiring all persons importing any person previously convicted of sodomy, to pay £5 for each such incoming person.source
- May 9 – The 1722 British general election (began March 19) closes with Prime Minister Robert Walpole's Whig Party increasing its majority in the House of Commons of Great Britain, capturing 48 additional seats from the Tory Party and having a 389 to 169 advantage.source
- 9 May - At the conclusion of the general election, new MPs for Welsh constituencies include Sir William Owen, 4th Baronet (Pembroke Boroughs); Francis Edwardes (Haverfordwest) and Sir William Morgan for Brecon and Monmouthshire.Walessource
- Peter the Great of Russia creates the Table of Ranks.source
- Edenton is incorporated as the county seat of Chowan County, North Carolina. The governor and assembly of North Carolina move to Edenton, making it the de facto capital of North Carolina until 1746, when the government is moved to New Bern.source
- Haudenosee League admits Tuscarora as 6th Nation. The refugee band was accepted according to the terms of the League Constitution. No other Native Nations had such a provision as this, other alliances and "confederations" were all temporary and informal.Canadasource
- The Tuscarora become the sixth tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy.Canadasource
Conflict & Security
- February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as the Royal Navy brings an end to the piracy of Bartholomew Roberts, nicknamed "Black Bart". Captained by Chaloner Ogle of the Royal Navy, HMS Swallow fires its cannons as Roberts sails his ship Royal Fortune toward the oncoming Swallow in order to gain time by forcing Swallow to turn around. Standing on the deck, Roberts and two of his crew are killed by the second wave of cannon fire. The remaining 272 pirate crew are captured.source
- 10 February – Battle of Cape Lopez: Off the coast of West Africa, HMS Swallow (captain, Chaloner Ogle) defeats and kills Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts.United Kingdomsource
- March 8 – Battle of Gulnabad in Persia: The Pashtun people of Afghanistan, led by Mahmud Hotak, decisively defeat forces of the Persian Safavid dynasty, precipitating its fall.source
- April 5 (Easter Sunday) – Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen lands on what is now Easter Island.source
- July 25 – Father Rale's War (1722–1725) begins along the Maine and Massachusetts border.source
- July 26 (July 15 O.S.) – The Russo-Persian War (1722–1723) begins with Peter the Great's Persian campaign.source
- 7 August: The Russo-Persian War begins.Russiasource
- October 23 – The six-month-long Siege of Isfahan ends, when the Safavid capital Isfahan capitulates to the Afghan rebels. Safavid Sultan Husayn abdicates, and acknowledges Mahmud Hotak as the new Shah of Persia.source
- The "Brown Bess" muzzle-loading smoothbore musket becomes the British Army's standard infantry firearm for land combat for more than a century.source
Exploration & Expansion
- November 15 (November 4 O.S.) – Russia's Emperor Peter the Great issues an order establishing the Caspian Flotilla during its war against Persia to gain complete control of the landlocked Caspian Sea.source
- November 1722: Peter I establish the Caspian FlotillaRussiasource
- A small group of Bohemian Brethren (the "Hidden Seed") from northern Moravia are allowed to settle in a new village, Herrnhut, on the Berthelsdorf estate of the pietist Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf in Upper Lusatia (Saxony), forming the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, seed of the Moravian Church's renewal.source
Religion & Belief
- April 2 – The first Silence Dogood letter, written by Benjamin Franklin, is printed.source
- June - William Wotton returns to London, where he continues to work on his Leges Wallicae, a translation of the old laws of Wales.Walessource
- 9 August – State funeral of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, takes place in London, where he is initially buried in the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey.United Kingdomsource
- First known Caslon serif typeface designed by William Caslon in London, the first original typeface of English origin.United Kingdomsource
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
- 7 May – Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway construction begins.Scotlandsource
- 7 May – Construction begins for the Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway, Scotland's first railway.United Kingdomsource
- 27 November – A consortium is granted royal permission to establish Store Kongensgade Faience Manufactury in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
- The Chiesa del Purgatorio, Venafro, Italy, Catholic Church is built.source
- Store Kongensgade Faience Manufactury opens in Copenhagen with a monopoly on production of faience with blue decorations.Denmarksource
- William Wood commences the minting (in London) of copper halfpence and farthings for circulation in Ireland.Irelandsource
- Construction begins of Senate House at the University of Cambridge, designed by James Gibbs.United Kingdomsource
Science & Discovery
Health & Medicine
Crime & Justice
- June 15 – Pirate Edward Low and his men sail the stolen ship Rebecca into Port Roseway near modern Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where 13 fishing boats from Massachusetts are anchored. Over the next few days, the pirates board the boats and lay siege to them. On June 19, Low confiscates the schooner Mary from its owner, Joseph Dolliber, outfits it with cannons and renames it the Fancy. Eight of the fishermen are taken hostage as the stolen vessel departs, including Philip Ashton.source
- 31 July – Property law case of Armory v Delamirie decided in the Court of King's Bench (England), determining that a finder has better title to lost property that they find over everyone except the true owner.United Kingdomsource
- August 24 – Francis Atterbury, Anglican Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, is arrested in his deanery and confined in the Tower of London for treason, accused of leading the Jacobite "Atterbury Plot" in support of the pretender James Francis Edward Stuart with the aim of overthrowing the House of Hanover and King George I of Great Britain and restoring the House of Stuart by installing Prince James as "King James III".source
- 24 August – Francis Atterbury, Anglican Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, is arrested in his deanery and confined in the Tower of London for treason, accused of leading the Jacobite "Atterbury Plot" in support of the pretender James Francis Edward Stuart.United Kingdomsource
- 17 October – Habeas Corpus Suspension Act passed following the discovery of the Atterbury Plot, allowing the Crown to detain suspected conspirators against the State without trial for up to six months.United Kingdomsource
- 27 November – Jacobite barrister Christopher Layer is sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for his part in the Atterbury Plot.United Kingdomsource
- Dwysfawr Rym Buchedd GrefyddolWalessource
Disasters & Accidents
- February - Jane Brereton's husband Thomas drowns in the River Dee at Saltney; following his death, she returns to live in Wrexham.Walessource
- November 20 – The Dutch East India Company cargo ship Schoonenberg runs aground in South Africa's Struis Bay and is looted by most of its 110 crew, beginning a legend and questions of whether the wreck was part of a conspiracy or simply an accident. Almost 300 years later, the event is reconstructed in detail by investigators.source
- Possible date – Burning of Janet Horne as a witch – see 1727 in Scotland.Scotlandsource
Climate & Environment
- 9 May – General election ends, resulting in a landslide victory for the Whig government of Robert Walpole which increases its majority in the House of Commons to 220.United Kingdomsource
- September 23 – La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans), recently established by France as the capital of the Louisiana Territory is hit by what is later called the "Great Hurricane of 1722", starting with 7 ft high waves, followed by winds in excess of 100 mph. By September 24, "Almost every public building in New Orleans, from the hospital to the cathedral" is "either unroofed or totally ruined."source
Culture & Society
- January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders is published anonymously in London.source
- 27 January – Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders is published anonymously in London.United Kingdomsource
- February 16 – Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia, announces that his heir to the throne will be his 4-year old grandson, Prince Pyotr Alekseivich.source
- 19 March – 1722 British general election begins, the second during the reign of George I.United Kingdomsource
- September 6 – Wälättä Giyorgis, a 16-year-old who nursed Ethiopia's Emperor Bakaffa back to health after he fell ill, marries the Emperor and begins her rise to power as the Empress Mentewab. Upon Bakaffa's death in 1730, Mentewab becomes the regent for her son by Bakaffa, Iyasu II.source
- Johann Sebastian Bach composes The Well-Tempered Clavier.source
- The first public theatre in Denmark, Lille Grønnegade Theatre, is founded in Copenhagen.source
- The Lille Grønnegade Theatre in Copenhagen, the first public theater in Denmark, is opened.Denmarksource
- University of Burgundy established in Dijon.Francesource
- Ludvig Holbergs comedy plays «Den Politiske Kandestøber», «Den vægelsindede», Jean de France eller Hans Frandsen, Jeppe på bjerget and Mester Gert Westphaler is first published.Norwaysource
- Utne Hotel in Utne is founded (Norway's oldest hotel in continuous operation).Norwaysource
- William Aikman paints a portrait of the poet Allan Ramsay.Scotlandsource
- Physician Archibald Pitcairne writes the comedy The Assembly, or Scotch Reformation.Scotlandsource
Births
- February 7 – Azar Bigdeli, Iranian anthologist and poet (died 1781)source
- February 24 – John Burgoyne, British army officer, playwright and politician (died 1792)source
- March 19 – Edmund Nelson (clergyman), English priest (died 1802)source
- March 23 - born Marguerite-Thérèse Lemoine Despins (1722–1792) the second Mother Superior of the Grey Nuns. (died 1792)Canadasource
- April 11 – Christopher Smart, English poet (died 1771)source
- 11 April – Christopher Smart, poet (died 1771)United Kingdomsource
- 9 May - Morgan Edwards, Baptist historian (died 1795)Walessource
- May 11 – Petrus Camper, Dutch scientist (died 1789)source
- May 28 – Hugh Pigot (Royal Navy officer, born 1722), British Royal Navy admiral (died 1792)source
- September 2 – William Crawford, American soldier and surveyor (died 1782)source
- September 13 – John Home, Scottish minister, soldier, author (died 1808)source
- September 27 – Samuel Adams, Boston politician, leader in the American Revolution (died 1803)source
- November 5 – William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueller (died 1798)source
- November 19 – Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (died 1810)source
- December 28 – Eliza Lucas, American agronomist (died 1793)source
- December 30 – Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (died 1770)source
- probable – Hyder Ali, Indian general, Sultan of Mysore (died 1782)source
- Anna Matyushkina, courtier (died 1804)Russiasource
Deaths
- January 21 – Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English supporter of William III of England (born 1661)source
- January 23 – Henri de Boulainvilliers, French nobleman (born 1658)source
- January 29 – Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld, Swedish military leader (born 1651)source
- February 5 – Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse, Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (born 1639)source
- February 10 – Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (born 1682)source
- 28 February – William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian, army officer (born 1661)Scotlandsource
- March 11 – John Toland, Irish philosopher (born 1670)source
- April 13 – Charles Leslie, Irish Anglican theologian (born 1650)source
- June 5 – Johann Kuhnau, German composer (born 1660)source
- June 16 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general (born 1650)source
- 16 June – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, general (born 1650)United Kingdomsource
- September 20 – John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, Scottish jurist (born 1646)source
- December 5 – Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins, politically active Spanish court official (born 1642)source
- December 8 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine, wife to Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (born 1652)source
- 16 December - Abel Morgan, Baptist minister, pastor of Pennepack Baptist Church in Philadelphia, 49Walessource
- December 20 – After the longest reign by a Chinese Emperor in history (61 years), the Kangxi Emperor dies, and is succeeded by his son Yinzhen as Yongzheng Emperor.source
- December 20 – Kangxi Emperor of China (born 1654)source
- solomondia timofeevna Dubrovskaya was a wife of Pyotr Andreyevich a Russian statesman and diplomat.Russiasource