1730 CE
The establishment by Thomas Cresap of Wright's Ferry under the authority of the Province of Pennsylvania becomes the basis for Cresap's War, a nine-year-long conflict also known as the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary dispute; the conflict mainly centers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and York County, Pennsylvania on either bank of the Susquehanna River. The first documented notice in North America about freemasonry is published in The Pennsylvania Gazette in an article by its publisher, Benjamin Franklin. The Dutch East India Company ends an almost 11-year effort of trying to maintain a colony around Delagoa Bay in southern Africa in modern-day Mozambique. The entire population of the settlement, Fort Lydzammheid (near modern-day Maputo) is evacuated by the ships Snuffelaar, Zeepost and Feyenoord and the group returns to Cape Town.
In the 1730s, the 18th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- May 15 – Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, retires from his role in the government of Great Britain, leaving Robert Walpole as sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet (i.e., prime minister). In the new Walpole ministry, Sir William Strickland, 4th Baronet, becomes Secretary at War, and Henry Pelham is Paymaster of the Forces; Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington briefly becomes Lord Privy Seal.source
- September 17 – Mahmud I (died 1754) succeeds Ahmed III (ruled since 1703) as Ottoman Emperor.source
- Seven Cherokee chiefs visit London and form an alliance, The Articles of Agreement, with King George II.Canadasource
Conflict & Security
- March 9 – General Nader Khan of Persia opens the first campaign of the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1735), guiding the Persian Army from Shiraz and starting the Western Persia Campaign against the Ottoman Empire.source
- March 16 – The establishment by Thomas Cresap of Wright's Ferry under the authority of the Province of Pennsylvania becomes the basis for Cresap's War, a nine-year-long conflict also known as the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary dispute; the conflict mainly centers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and York County, Pennsylvania on either bank of the Susquehanna River.source
- 15 May – Walpole–Townshend ministry dissolved when Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend resigns as Secretary of State for the Northern Department after a dispute with Robert Walpole.United Kingdomsource
- August 5 – Prince Frederick of Prussia, the eldest son of King Frederick William and a high-ranking officer, attempts to flee to England after deserting the Prussian Army and is captured along with his fellow officer Hans Hermann von Katte. Katte is executed, and Crown Prince Frederick is imprisoned at Küstrin (modern-day Kostrzyn nad Odrą in Poland) for a year before being forgiven by his father. Prince Frederick later succeeds his father as King and will be remembered as Frederick the Great.source
- August 12 – General Nader Khan of Persia captures Tabriz from the Ottoman Empire, bringing an end to the Western Persia Campaign, the first major action in the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1735). Tabriz becomes a permanent part of Iran. Nader leaves the city four days later to begin the Herat Campaign of 1731.source
- December 27 – The Dutch East India Company ends an almost 11-year effort of trying to maintain a colony around Delagoa Bay in southern Africa in modern-day Mozambique. The entire population of the settlement, Fort Lydzammheid (near modern-day Maputo) is evacuated by the ships Snuffelaar, Zeepost and Feyenoord and the group returns to Cape Town.source
Exploration & Expansion
- February 28 – Vitus Bering returns to the Russian capital of Saint Petersburg after completing the First Kamchatka expedition.source
- June 27 – French explorer Alphonse de Pontevez, commanding the frigate Le Lys, claims an Indian Ocean atoll for France and names it after himself as the Alphonse Atoll. The next day, he claims and names the St. François Atoll.source
- 26 October – Cron Printz Christian departs from Copenhagen, bound for Canton. It is the first Danish expedition to China. She arrives back in Copenhagen on 27 June 1732.Denmarksource
- 1730s: The Mississauga drive the Seneca Iroquois south of Lake Erie.Canadasource
- Edward Lovett Pearce succeeds Thomas Burgh as Surveyor General of Ireland.Irelandsource
- Lebanon cedar tree introduced to Scotland.Scotlandsource
- Joseph Harris - A Treatise on NavigationWalessource
Religion & Belief
- March 5 – The 1730 papal conclave to elect a new Pope for the Roman Catholic church begins with 30 Cardinals, 12 days after the death of Pope Benedict XIII. By the time his successor is elected on July 12, there are 56 Cardinals.source
- March 12 – John Glas is deposed from the Church of Scotland; the Glasite sect forms around him.source
- 12 March – John Glas deposed from the Church of Scotland; the Glasite sect forms around him.Scotlandsource
- April 8 – Congregation Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.source
- July 12 – The papal conclave selects Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini over Cardinal Pietro Marcellino Corradini as the successor to Pope Benedict XIII. Corsini becomes Pope Clement XII as the 246th pope.source
- 12 October – Christian VI becomes King of Denmark and NorwayDenmarksource
- Francis Hutcheson takes office as Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, where he will lecture in English rather than Latin.Scotlandsource
- The first issue of the paper Sedo-lärande Mercurius.Swedensource
- William Wotton (ed.) - Cyfreithieu Hywel Dda ac eraill, seu Leges Wallicae (Laws of Hywel Dda)Walessource
Technology & Infrastructure
- First bridge across the River Foyle linking Lifford and Strabane is built.Irelandsource
- First turnpike act for Ireland, for improvement of the road from Dublin to Kilcullen Bridge.Irelandsource
- Iron smelting at Abernethy using ore from Tomintoul.Scotlandsource
- Perth–Dunkeld–Inverness road completed.Scotlandsource
- Construction work is carried out on the north-east wing of Bodysgallen Hall.Walessource
Science & Discovery
Health & Medicine
- June 19 – At the urging of Sir William Gooch, the Virginia House of Burgesses passes the Virginia Tobacco Inspection Act to regulate the quality of tobacco in Virginia, 46 to 5.source
- Utrecht sodomy trials, a purge of homosexuals issued by the States of HollandNetherlandssource
- The population of the UK exceeds 10 million for the first time.United Kingdomsource
Crime & Justice
- June 1 – Enslaved woman Sally Basset is put on trial for murder in Bermuda; she will eventually be convicted and burned at the stake.source
- August 25 – French Protestant Marie Durand is imprisoned in the Tower of Constance at Aigues-Mortes for her defiance of the Roman Catholic government, and is kept captive for the next 38 years. During her incarceration, she continues to resist converting to Catholicism as a condition of release. She is finally set free on April 14, 1768 and lives 8 more years.source
- Siri Jørgensdatters witch trail, one of the last witch trials in Scandinavia.Norwaysource
- William Hogarth is commissioned by Robert Jones of Fonmon Castle to paint The Jones Family Conversation Piece.Walessource
Climate & Environment
- July 8 – 1730 Valparaíso earthquake: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.1 strikes Valparaíso, in modern-day Chile but at this time in the Viceroyalty of Peru.source
- September 1 – A volcano erupts on Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands and threatens the Spanish inhabitants. On Gran Canaria, the regent of the islands reports to Madrid that the flames are visible even from 130 mi away.source
- Naval shipworms damaged wooden dike supports, threatened the Netherlands' flood defense and prompted engineering improvements.Netherlandssource
Culture & Society
- 3 February – The Daily Advertiser is founded in London as the first newspaper funded by advertising.United Kingdomsource
- February 26 (February 15 O.S.) – Anna of Russia (Anna Ioannovna) becomes reigning Empress of Russia following the death of her cousin Emperor Peter II.source
- 23 March - Personal union between Sweden and Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel until 1751.Swedensource
- May 9 (April 28 O.S.) – The coronation of Anna of Russia as Empress of Russia takes place in Saint Petersburg.source
- August - Sir John Glynne succeeds to the family baronetcy, following the deaths of his father and elder brother in successive years.Walessource
- December 9 – The first documented notice in North America about freemasonry is published in The Pennsylvania Gazette in an article by its publisher, Benjamin Franklin.source
- Adam Gottlob Moltke was made chamberlain to crown prince Frederick, later King Frederick V.Denmarksource
- The Glasgow Linen Society is formed.Scotlandsource
- James Thomson's poem cycle The Seasons is first published complete.Scotlandsource
Births
- March 7 – Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, last prime minister of the French monarchy (died 1807)source
- April 16 – Henry Clinton, British general (died 1795)source
- May 13 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1782)source
- June 21 – Motoori Norinaga, Japanese philologist, scholar of the kokugaku school (died 1801)source
- July 12 – Josiah Wedgwood, English pottery manufacturer and abolitionist (died 1795)source
- 12 July – Josiah Wedgwood, pottery manufacturer and abolitionist (died 1795)United Kingdomsource
- July 26 – Charles Messier, French astronomer (died 1817)source
- August 1 – Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, English Anglican prelate (died 1803)source
- August 27 – Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher (died 1788)source
- September 7 – Elisabetta de Gambarini, English composer (died 1765)source
- September 17 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (died 1794)source
- November 23 – William Moultrie, American general (died 1805)source
- 24 November - Alexander Suvorov, Russian military leader, considered a national hero. (died 1800)Russiasource
- December 8 - Jan Ingenhousz, physiologist, biologist and chemistNetherlandssource
- December 14 – James Bruce, Scottish explorer (died 1794)source
- December 25 – Filippo Mazzei, Italian physician, friend of Thomas Jefferson (died 1816)source
- December 30 – William Hamilton, British diplomat, antiquary (died 1803)source
- Samuel Levi Phillips, banker (died 1812)Walessource
Deaths
- January 1 – Samuel Sewall, English-born judge (born 1652)source
- January 1 – Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, English politician (born 1647)source
- 1 January – Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, politician (born 1647)United Kingdomsource
- January 30 – Emperor Peter II of Russia (born 1715)source
- January 30 (January 19 O.S.) – At dawn, Emperor Peter II of Russia dies of smallpox, aged 14 in Moscow, on the eve of his projected marriage.source
- 30 January - Peter II of Russia, Emperor. (born 1715)Russiasource
- February 21 – Pope Benedict XIII, Italian pontiff (born 1649)source
- 16 May – John Evans, clergyman, 50?Walessource
- July 7 – Olivier Levasseur, French piratesource
- July 9 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, Court Jew in Hanover (born 1661)source
- August 4 – Maria Madlener becomes the last person to be executed after the Galgeninsel witch trials in Bavaria, and is beheaded by sword.source
- August 10 – Sébastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist (born 1655)source
- October 12 – Frederick IV, King of Denmark and Norway (born 1671)source
- October 16 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, French explorer (born 1658)source
- October 23 – Anne Oldfield, English actress (born 1683)source
- November 1 – Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Italian soldier and naturalist (born 1658)source
- November 6 – After being convicted of treason for attempting to desert the Prussian Army with Crown Prince Frederick, Hans Hermann von Katte is beheaded at the Küstrin Prison. Frederick's father, King Frederick William, forces the prince to watch the execution.source
- Antoine Laumet Cadillac, founder of Detroit.Canadasource