1734 CE

Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America. Act prohibits converts from Roman Catholicism to the Church of Ireland from educating their children in the old religion or from becoming Justices of Peace. War of the Polish Succession: Russian troops take Gdańsk (German: Danzig), which had been besieged since February 1734, after the failure of a French expedition to relieve the city.

In the 1730s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 16 – The Ostend Company, established in 1722 in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) to compete for trade in the West Indies (the Caribbean islands) and the East Indies (south and southeast Asia), ceases business as part of the agreement by Austria in the Second Treaty of Vienna.source
  • 22 April to 6 June – general election results in Robert Walpole winning his third victory as Prime Minister.United Kingdomsource
  • May 27 – French and Swiss troops suppress the slave insurrection in the Danish West Indies on the island of Saint John (part of the modern-day U.S. Virgin Islands) after six months and restore control of the plantations to the Danish owners.source
  • June 6 – With the conclusion of the British general election (voting having begun in some constituencies on April 22), the Whigs, led by Prime Minister Robert Walpole, lose 85 seats but retain their majority.source
  • September 28 – Abdu'llah bin Ismail as-Samin is deposed after a 15-year reign as Sultan of Morocco.source
  • October 31 – Chief Tomochichi of the Yamacraw band of the Muscogee Nation ends a successful four and a half month visit to Great Britain, along with Georgia Governor James Oglethorpe and other Yamacraw Indians, after having signed the cession of the area of modern day Savannah, Georgia to the Georgia Company. On June 16, he and the Muscogee delegation (Senauki, Toonahowi, Hillispilli, Umpichi, Apokutchi, Santachi and Stimaletchi) had been welcomed as guests of King George II. The group departs on HMS Aldborough after completing the visit by the largest delegation of Native Americans since 1616.source
  • November 5 – The Dzików Confederation is created in Poland.source
  • Creation of the Kanem–Bornu Empire after Kanem is taken over by the Sultan of Bornu.source
  • Defense treaty between Sweden and Denmark.Swedensource
  • Brigitta Scherzenfeldt return to Sweden from her enslavement in Central Asia.Swedensource

Conflict & Security

  • 8 April – 6 August: Siege of Gaeta in the Kingdom of Naples (War of the Polish Succession) at which Charles Edward Stuart is present, his only military experience prior to the Jacobite rising of 1745.Scotlandsource
  • May 25 – Spanish forces under the command of José Carrillo de Albornoz, 1st Duke of Montemar, defeat the Austrian forces, completing the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples at the Battle of Bitonto.source
  • 29 June – Battle of San PietroFrancesource
  • July 18 – War of the Polish Succession: The Siege of Philippsburg (an Austrian fortress near Karlsruhe, Germany) by the French Army ends after eight weeks as its Austrian defenders surrender.source
  • August 6 – The armies of Spain and France, led by the Duke of Parma (and future King Charles III of Spain) storm the city of Gaeta in Naples, ending a four-month siege (War of the Polish Succession).source
  • October 23 – Jamaica's Governor John Ayscough declares martial law to fight the slave rebellion that began in 1733, then drafts 600 men into the colonial army to march into the Blue Mountains. (→ First Maroon War)source
  • 3 November – As part of the Ottoman–Persian War, Safavid Iran started laying siege to the Ottoman city of Ganja.source
  • Claude Alexandre, a French convert serving the Ottoman Empire, attempted to found a school to train officers in the usage of modern artillery, but the project was obstructed by intervention from the Janissary.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America.source
  • March 12 – Salzburgers arrive at the mouth of the Savannah River in the British Colony of Georgia.source
  • March – In a report to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, missionary Griffith Hughes claims to have travelled over 1,100 miles in the Pennsylvania region in the course of his preaching.Walessource
  • June 30 – War of the Polish Succession: Russian troops take Gdańsk (German: Danzig), which had been besieged since February 1734, after the failure of a French expedition to relieve the city.source
  • Carl Linnaeus conduct his trip to Dalarna.Swedensource
  • Simon Thomas – Athrawiaethau DifinyddawlWalessource

Religion & Belief

  • 16 April – The County of Christiansholm is established by Christian Raben from the manors of Aalholm, Bramsløkke, Egholm and Stenvængegården.Denmarksource
  • 29 April – Act prohibits converts from Roman Catholicism to the Church of Ireland from educating their children in the old religion or from becoming Justices of Peace.Irelandsource
  • 19 May – George Berkeley is consecrated as Church of Ireland Bishop of Cloyne.Irelandsource
  • November – George Faulkner begins publication of an edition of Jonathan Swift's Works in Dublin with a corrected text.Irelandsource
  • A printing press was constructed in Saint John's monastery in Khinshara, Ottoman Lebanon and started printing Christian texts in Arabic.source
  • George Sale produces a translation of the Koran into English.United Kingdomsource

Economy & Finance

  • 29 April – Act for relief of creditors of failed banks.Irelandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye establishes the first Fort Maurepas on the Red River about five leagues south of Lake Winnipeg, third of the main La Vérendrye posts. (Fort Saint Pierre on Rainy River; reactivated; Fort St. Charles on Lake of the Woods.)Canadasource
  • Construction of Holkham Hall in Norfolk begins.United Kingdomsource

Science & Discovery

  • 30 March – First entry in the diary of William Bulkeley.Walessource
  • Anton Wilhelm Amo becomes the first African to receive a doctorate in Europe and begins teaching at the University of Halle.source
  • The shorter of the two Golden Horns of Gallehus is found close to the place where the first one had been found in 1639.Denmarksource

Health & Medicine

  • 17 August – Mercer's Hospital for the sick and poor in Dublin is founded under a bequest of Mary Mercer.Irelandsource

Crime & Justice

  • A Montreal slave named Marie-Joseph Angelique learns that she is to be sold to someone else. Possibly, to obscure her attempt to escape, she may have set fire to the house of her mistress, Thérèse de Couagne. The fire could not be contained, causing damage to half of Old Montreal. She was charged, tried and hanged, bringing attention to the conditions of the slaves.Canadasource
  • The Bank of England moves to its continuing location in Threadneedle Street in London.United Kingdomsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • March – upper gallery of the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin collapses for the third time.Irelandsource
  • June 21 – In Montreal, New France, a black slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is tortured then hanged by the French authorities for allegedly setting a fire that destroyed part of the city.source
  • December 24 – A fire destroys the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, the residence of the Spanish royal family, along with more than 400 valuable paintings, 100 sculptures and thousands of documents.source
  • The first city fire in Kristiansand.Norwaysource

Culture & Society

  • April 25 – Easter occurs on the latest possible date (the next time is in 1886).source
  • May 15 – Prince Charles of Spain (later King Charles III) becomes the new King of Naples and Sicily, five days after his arrival in Naples.source
  • 25 October – The Royal Danish Nautical Charts Archive is established.Denmarksource
  • The King's mistress, Hedvig Taube, is officially acknowledged as his lover after she is granted a title and her own residence after the birth of their child, which attracts a national scandal.Swedensource
  • The Civil Code of 1734 is passed. This regulates all society, introducing numerous new laws. Among them the ban of torture (though the interpretation of this law allows for the practice to continue), restrictions of a man's right to abuse his wife, bans any other form of marriage except that conducted by the church, and bans illegitimate children from inheritance.Swedensource
  • The amateur theatrical society "Greve De la Gardies comedianter" performs in Stockholm, starring Brita Sophia De la Gardie, which cause an interest for the establishment of a professional Swedish language theater, which is realized in 1737.Swedensource
  • Society of Dilettanti founded in London.United Kingdomsource
  • Original construction (in stone) of Cilewent Farmhouse, now located at St Fagans National History Museum.Walessource
  • Edmund Curll – The Life of Robert Price ... one of the Justices of His Majesty's Court of Common-PleasWalessource
  • Daniel Rowland marries Eleanor Davies of Caer-llugest and is ordained a deacon.Walessource

Births

Deaths

  • March 21 – Robert Wodrow, Scottish historian (born 1679)source
  • April 25 – Johann Konrad Dippel, German alchemist (born 1673)source
  • May 15 – Sebastiano Ricci, Italian painter (born 1659)source
  • May 24 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German physician and chemist (born 1660)source
  • June 12 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II of England and French military commander (born 1670)source
  • June 17 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Marshal of France (born 1653)source
  • June 17 – French troops take Philippsburg, but the Duke of Berwick is killed.source
  • June 21 – Marie-Joseph Angélique, African slavesource
  • June 21: Marie-Josèphe-Angélique, accused of setting a fire in April that burned part of Montréal.Canadasource
  • September 8 – Michel Sarrazin, Canadian scientist (born 1659)source
  • November 14 – Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, French-born mistress of Charles II of England (born 1649)source
  • November 21 – Alexis Simon Belle, French portrait painter (born 1674)source
  • December 5 – Peter Tillemans, Flemish painter (born c. 1684)source
  • December 8 – James Figg, English prizefightersource
  • 26 December – Salusbury Lloyd, politician,Walessource
  • December 28 – Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish clan chief (born 1671)source
  • Ignácio Barbosa-Machado, historian (born 1686).Portugalsource
  • Johann Euler, Swiss-Russian mathematicianRussiasource