1733 CE

First performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Orlando, at the His Majesty's Theatre in London. The Danish West India Company buys the island of Saint Croix from France for 750,000 livres. In Warsaw as Stanislas Leszczynski appears to be on the verge of being elected King of Poland, Russia, Austria and Saxony sign Löwenwolde's Treaty (named for Russian diplomat Karl Gustav von Löwenwolde), pledging to go to war to place Frederick Augustus, son of the late King Augustus II, on the throne.

In the 1730s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 13 – Borommarachathirat V becomes King of Siam (now Thailand) upon the death of King Sanphet IX.source
  • April 6 – Royal Colony of North Carolina Commissioners John Watson, Joshua Grainger, Michael Higgins and James Wimble begin selling lots for the town of New Carthage (which is later renamed and is now Wilmington, North Carolina), on the east side of the Cape Fear River.source
  • May 1 – The canton system is first introduced in Prussia.source
  • May 17 – The Molasses Act receives royal assent and begins to go into effect on June 24.source
  • 17 May – the Molasses Act becomes law: intended to regulate the colonial molasses trade in favour of the British West Indies, it causes resentment in British North America.United Kingdomsource
  • May 29 – The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec.source
  • June 15 – The Danish West India Company buys the island of Saint Croix from France for 750,000 livres.source
  • July 30 – The first Freemasons lodge, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, opens in what will become the United States of America.source
  • August 19 – In Warsaw as Stanislas Leszczynski appears to be on the verge of being elected King of Poland, Russia, Austria and Saxony sign Löwenwolde's Treaty (named for Russian diplomat Karl Gustav von Löwenwolde), pledging to go to war to place Frederick Augustus, son of the late King Augustus II, on the throne.source
  • September 12 – Stanislas Leszczynski, who had been King of Poland from 1704 to 1709 until being driven from the throne by King Augustus II, is returned to office by the vote of the Sejm. Russia and Austria protest the election, since King Stanislaus is backed by France and Sweden.source
  • September 26 – The Treaty of Turin is signed in Turin as a secret agreement between King Louis XV of France and King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia.source
  • 7 November – France and Spain sign the treaty of Escurial and form an alliance against Britain.United Kingdomsource
  • November 23 – The 1733 slave insurrection on St. John begins: Slaves from Akwamu rebel against their owners in the Danish West Indies.source
  • 29 November - Charles Talbot is appointed Lord Chancellor.Walessource
  • December 19 – Unsuccessful in capturing Baghdad from the Ottoman Empire, Persia's ruler Nader Shah signs the Treaty of Baghdad with the Ottoman Governor, Ahmad Khan Pasha, with the Turks and the Iranians agreeing to restore the boundary between the two empires to the lines before the 1732 Ottoman invasion of Iran.source
  • The introduction of the Stavnsbånd, a serfdom-like institution later abolished on 20 June 1798.Denmarksource

Conflict & Security

  • 21 June - The post of Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire is combined with that of Custos Rotulorum of Denbighshire.Walessource
  • October 5 – The election of Augustus III, to succeed his father as King of Poland, sparks the War of the Polish Succession.source
  • October 10 – France declares war on Austria and Saxony.source
  • October 24 – The Battle of Kirkuk starts which will lead to the defeat of the Ottoman army under general Topal Osman Pasha.source
  • The Commanding Major Generals South of Dovre is dissolved, and the leadership of the Norwegian Army is once again unified under a single commanding general (Patroclus Rømeling).Norwaysource

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 12 – British colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia.source
  • 12 February – British colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia.United Kingdomsource
  • March 21 – The Molasses Act is passed by British House of Commons, which reinforces the negative opinions of the British by American colonists. The Act then goes to the House of Lords, which consents to it on May 4 and it receives royal assent on May 17.source
  • Vitus Bering's second expedition, with George Wilhelm Steller aboard, the first naturalist to visit Alaska.Canadasource

Religion & Belief

  • March 25 – English replaces Latin and Law French as the official language of English and Scottish courts following the enforcement of the Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730.source
  • 25 March – English replaces Latin and Law French as the official language of English and Scottish courts on coming into effect of the Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730.United Kingdomsource
  • May–December – First Secession from the Church of Scotland.Scotlandsource
  • 18 July – Christian VI travelled to Trondheim. A poem/speech by Peter Höyer was performed in his honor when he visited the city.Norwaysource
  • 5 December - Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, is raised to the peerage.Walessource
  • Peter and Paul Cathedral was completedRussiasource
  • Legal proceedings in the Welsh courts to be conducted in the English language.Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • April 6 – After British Prime Minister Robert Walpole's proposed excise tax bill results in rioting over the imposition of additional taxes and the use of government agents to collect them, Walpole informs the House of Commons that he will withdraw the legislation.source
  • 6 April – after Prime Minister Robert Walpole's proposed excise tax bill to replace tariffs on wine and tobacco results in rioting over the imposition of additional taxes and the use of government agents to collect them, Walpole informs the House of Commons that he will withdraw the legislation.United Kingdomsource
  • 25 June – Ben and Samuel Burton's Dublin bank failure.Irelandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 23 April–end of October – Wade's Bridge, Aberfeldy, designed by William Adam, built.Scotlandsource
  • May 26 – The introduction of John Kay's Flying Shuttle which revolutionized the textile industry and marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.source
  • 26 May – John Kay patents the flying shuttle.United Kingdomsource
  • 27 August - The first vessel of the Swedish East India Company return to Gothenburg in Sweden from China.Swedensource
  • Construction of Bygdøy Royal Estates main building is complete.Norwaysource

Science & Discovery

  • William Thomson publishes Orpheus caledonius: or, A collection of Scots songs.Scotlandsource

Health & Medicine

Crime & Justice

Climate & Environment

  • July 15 – A hurricane off of the coast of the Florida Keys wrecks at least 17 Spanish ships.source
  • Undated – with an average Central England temperature of 10.50 °C, this is the hottest calendar year for which reliable records exist until being exceeded in 1834.United Kingdomsource

Culture & Society

  • 23 January – first performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Orlando, at the His Majesty's Theatre in London.United Kingdomsource
  • January 27 – George Frideric Handel's classic opera, Orlando is performed for the first time, making its debut at the King's Theatre in London.source
  • June 12 – At Schloss Salzdahlum, Prince Frederick of Prussia, the 21-year-old heir to the throne reluctantly marries Duchess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern in order to avoid prosecution for desertion from the Prussian Army and to be guaranteed the throne. Despite the unhappy marriage Frederick and Elisabeth later reign as King and Queen Consort of Prussia.source
  • 24 October – Incorporated Society in Dublin for Promoting English Protestant Schools is established to open Irish Charter Schools.Irelandsource
  • Samuel Madden publishes Memoirs of the Twentieth Century.Irelandsource
  • William Wynn writes his first poem, while a student at Oxford.Walessource
  • John Myddelton, politician, inherits the estates of his brother Robert, including Chirk Castle.Walessource

Births

  • January 22 – Philip Carteret, Jersey-born British naval officer and circumnavigator (died 1796)source
  • January 24 – Benjamin Lincoln, major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and politician (died 1810)source
  • March 13 – Joseph Priestley, English scientist and minister (died 1804)source
  • 13 March – Joseph Priestley, scientist and minister (died 1804)United Kingdomsource
  • March - John Lloyd, Rector of Caerwys, antiquary (died 1793)Walessource
  • May 4 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (died 1799)source
  • July 27 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (died 1779)source
  • September 5 – Christoph Martin Wieland, German poet and writer (died 1813)source
  • September 18 – George Read, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (died 1798)source
  • October 14 – François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (died 1798)source
  • October 15 – Lisa Eriksdotter, Finnish visionarysource
  • November 16 – Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent ruler of Bengal of undivided India (died 1757)source
  • November 20 – Philip Schuyler, general in the American Revolution, United States Senator from New York, father of Angelica Schuyler Church and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (died 1804)source
  • undated – Johanna Löfblad, Swedish actor and singer (died 1811)source
  • Marie-Josephte Corriveau, criminal (died 1763)Canadasource
  • Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopherRussiasource

Deaths

  • January 17 – George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, English Royal Navy admiral (born 1663)source
  • January 21 – Bernard Mandeville, Dutch-born English economic philosopher (born 1670)source
  • 21 January – Bernard Mandeville, economic philosopher (born 1670 in the Dutch Republic)United Kingdomsource
  • January 22 – Lovisa von Burghausen, Swedish memoirist (born 1698)source
  • January 25 – Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London (born 1652)source
  • February 1 – King Augustus II the Strong of Poland (born 1670)source
  • February 16 – Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar, Swedish officer (born 1683)source
  • 28 February - John Morgan, poet, 45Walessource
  • April 14 – Ippolito Desideri, Italian tibetologist (born 1684)source
  • April 30 – Rodrigo Anes de Sá Almeida e Meneses, 1st Marquis of Abrantes, Portuguese diplomat (born 1676)source
  • May 3 – Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet, England (born 1650)source
  • June 23 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (born 1672)source
  • July 12 – Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles, French salon holder (born 1647)source
  • August 24 – Pierre-Étienne Monnot, French artist (born 1657)source
  • September 12 – François Couperin, French composer (born 1668)source
  • October 25 – Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri, Italian mathematician (born 1667)source
  • Ragnhild Abelset, merchant, landowner and lensmann (born 1660).Norwaysource
  • Catherine Ivanovna of Russia, Tsarevna of RussiaRussiasource