1737 CE
In Britain, the Theatrical Licensing Act requires plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for censorship. Russo-Turkish War, 1735-1739: Russian forces under Field Marshal Munnich storm the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov, and take prisoner 4,000 Turks. At least 300,000 people are killed when a tropical cyclone strikes the Bay of Bengal in India and modern-day Bangladesh. The storm sends 12 m high waves over the Sundarbans delta, and overflows the Hooghly River.
In the 1730s, the 18th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 5 – Spain and the Holy Roman Empire sign instruments of cession at Pontremoli in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in Italy, with the Empire receiving control of Tuscany and the Grand Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, in return for Don Carlos of Spain being recognized as King of Naples and King of Sicily.source
- January 9 – The Empires of Austria and Russia enter into a secret military alliance that leads to Austria's disastrous entry into the Russo-Turkish War.source
- January 18 – In Manila, a peace treaty is signed between Spain's Governor-General of the Philippines, Fernándo Valdés y Tamon, and the Sultan Azim ud-Din I of Sulu, recognizing Azim's authority over the islands of the Sulu Archipelago.source
- 14 February – William Talbot, MP for Glamorganshire, succeeds his father as Baron Talbot.Walessource
- February 20 – France's Foreign Minister, Germain Louis Chauvelin, is dismissed by King Louis XV's Chief Minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleurysource
- February – The House of Commons debates whether to increase the Prince of Wales's Civil List allowance after his father, the king, turns down his request. Parliament decides to reject the idea of an increase.Walessource
- 21 June – the Licensing Act requires plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for censorship and reduces the number of legitimate theatres.United Kingdomsource
- 4 October - The first professional Swedish language theatre is inaugurated at Bollhuset in Stockholm by the first group of professional Swedish stage actors, playing a translated French play.Swedensource
- December – John Wesley leaves Savannah, Georgia, and returns to England.source
Conflict & Security
- March 16 – In Paris, representatives of Spain and Portugal sign an armistice bringing an end to the Spanish–Portuguese War over the area now occupied by the nation of Uruguay and the area now occupied by the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The news does not reach the fighting parties until five months later.source
- March 16 – In Paris, representatives sign an armistice bringing an end to the Spanish–Portuguese War (1735–1737).Francesource
- March 28 – The Battle of Delhi takes place between the Maratha Empire and the Mughals.source
- April 22 – In Afghanistan, Persian shah Nader Shah begins the 11-month Siege of Kandahar against the Pashtun Emir of Afghanistan, Hussain Hotak. The surviving Afghanis surrender on March 24, 1738.source
- June 30 – Russo-Turkish War, 1735-1739: Russian forces under Field Marshal Munnich storm the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov, and take prisoner 4,000 Turks.source
- July 12 – Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War as an ally of Russia against the Ottoman Empire.source
- August 4 – Austria's army is defeated by the Ottoman Army and Bosnian defenders in the Battle of Banja Luka.source
- December 24 – General Baji Rao I of the Maratha Empire in India defeats the armies of the rulers of Hyderabad, Oudh, Bhopal and Jaipur in the Battle of Bhopal.source
- Benjamin Franklin creates the Philadelphia Police Force – the first city-paid force.source
- Lancaster County Prison, Lancaster, Pennsylvania is first constructed, in response to the seven preceding violent years of the ongoing Cresap's War in the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary dispute and war.source
Exploration & Expansion
- April – The "New Cut" is excavated, in the Dee Estuary, to improve access to Chester. It diverts the river's course to the Welsh side of the estuary, but fails to prevent further silting up of the river.Walessource
- August 15 – The Portuguese frigate Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem arrives at Maldonado (now in Uruguay) as Captain Duarte Pereira brings the news that the Spanish–Portuguese War ended by an agreement signed on March 16.source
- September 20 – Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase, forcing the cession of 1,200,000 acres of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Province of Pennsylvania.source
- Georg Schmidt, a Moravian missionary, receives permission from the VOC to establish a mission for landless Khoikhoi.South Africasource
- Welsh settlers establish their first settlement in the vicinity of Marlboro County, South Carolina, called Welsh Neck.Walessource
Religion & Belief
- January – John Potter appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury (installed 28 February).United Kingdomsource
- April 5 – French Jesuit priest Jean-François Régis is canonized as Saint Regis by the Roman Catholic Church under the reign of Pope Clement XII.source
- April 5 – Jesuit priest Jean-François Régis is canonized as Saint Regis by the Roman Catholic Church under the reign of Pope Clement XII.Francesource
- 28 November – Vallø Stift is established.Denmarksource
- Our Lady of Guadalupe is designated the patron saint of Mexico City.source
- The first Moravian Church congregations in Norway is established in Christiania.Norwaysource
- Georg Schmidt sets up his mission at Zoetemelksvlei, a military outpost near Caledon, marking the start of Protestant missionary activity in South Africa.South Africasource
- Welsh Methodist revival: Religious conversion of William Williams Pantycelyn after hearing Howel Harris preach in Talgarth churchyard.United Kingdomsource
- Conversion of William Williams Pantycelyn to Methodism, after hearing Howel Harris preach in Talgarth churchyard.Walessource
- Isaac Maddox, Bishop of St Asaph – The love of our country recommended: [for] the Societies for Reformation of Manners.Walessource
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
- April 22 – Lots are first advertised for sale in the new town of Richmond, Virginia, by the placement of a notice by William Byrd in the Virginia Gazette. According to the paper, "... on the North Side of James River, near the Uppermost Landing, and a little below the Falls, is lately laid off by Major Mayo, a Town, called Richmond, with Streets 65 Feet wide, in a pleasant and healthy Situation, and well supply'd with Springs of good Water. It lies near the Publick Warehouse at Shoccoe's, and in the midst of great Quantities of Grain, and all kind of Provisions. The Lots will be granted in Fee Simple, on Condition only of building a House in Three Years Time, of 24 by 16 Feet, fronting within 5 Feet of the Street. The Lots to be rated according to the Convenience of their Situation, and to be sold after this April General Court, by me, William Byrd."source
- 1 December – The newly erected lighthouse on Flat Holm is lit for the first time.Walessource
- Andrew Rodger, a farmer on the estate of Cavers, south Roxburghshire, develops a winnowing machine for corn, called a 'fanner'.Scotlandsource
- Kilmichael Bridge in Argyll built.Scotlandsource
- Construction of a new Glasgow town hall begins.Scotlandsource
- Tinplate manufacture at Kidwelly begins.Walessource
Science & Discovery
- February 27 – French scientists Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau and Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon publish the first study correlating past weather conditions with an examination of tree rings.source
- February 27 – Scientists Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau and Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon publish the first study on dendrochronology.Francesource
- 2 March – Samuel Johnson and his former pupil David Garrick leave Lichfield to seek their fortunes in London.United Kingdomsource
- May 28 – The planet Venus passes in front of Mercury. The event is witnessed during the evening hours, by the amateur astronomer John Bevis, at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. As of 2006, it is still the only such planet/planet occultation that has been directly observed.source
- 28 May – the planet Venus passes in front of Mercury. The event is witnessed during the evening by amateur astronomer John Bevis at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. As of 2006, it is the only such planet/planet occultation to be directly observed.United Kingdomsource
- Allan Ramsay co-writes and edits the last volume of The Tea-Table Miscellany, a collection of Scots songs.Scotlandsource
Health & Medicine
- June 21 – In Britain, the Theatrical Licensing Act requires plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for censorship.source
- July 9 – The direct male line of the Medici family becomes extinct, with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.source
- 10 October – King George II expels Frederick, Prince of Wales from the royal court for criticising the government.United Kingdomsource
- December – Bristol Infirmary admits its first patients. This year, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was founded.United Kingdomsource
- Aberdeen Royal Infirmary founded as Woolmanhill Hospital.Scotlandsource
Crime & Justice
Disasters & Accidents
Climate & Environment
- February 20 – Foreign Minister Germain Louis Chauvelin is dismissed by Louis XV's Chief Minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury.Francesource
- October 16 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.3 occurs off the shore of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Tsunamis up to 60 m high follow in the Pacific ocean.source
Culture & Society
- April 9 – William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in succession to Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset (sworn 7 September).Irelandsource
- 17 May – construction of the circular Radcliffe Library at the University of Oxford begins.United Kingdomsource
- 13 August – Howel Harris and Daniel Rowland meet for the first time, at Defynnog.Walessource
- 31 August – The Prince and Princess of Wales have their first child, Princess Augusta. The birth takes place at St James's Palace, the royal couple having absconded from Hampton Court Palace in the middle of the night to avoid the King and Queen being present.Walessource
- September 1 – The oldest existing English language newspaper in the world, The News Letter, is founded in Belfast, Ireland.source
- September 1 – The News Letter is first published in Belfast by Francis Joy, making it the world's oldest existing English language newspaper.Irelandsource
- October 11 – The first national stage in Sweden opens, when Carl Gyllenborg's play Den svenska sprätthöken is performed in the Swedish language, by the first native actors, on the stage of Bollhuset in Stockholm.source
- October - The first Swedish satire play, Svenska Sprätthöken by Carl Gyllenborg, is performed at the Swedish theatre at Bollhuset with Beata Sabina Straas and Peter Lindahl.Swedensource
- November 4 – The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated in Naples, Italy.source
- The Georg August University of Göttingen in Lower Saxony is opened to students.source
- Royal Society of Edinburgh formed as the Edinburgh Society for Improving Arts and Sciences and particularly Natural Knowledge.Scotlandsource
- The Whole Duty of a Woman "by a lady" includes a recipe for "a dripping pudding", the first record of Yorkshire pudding.United Kingdomsource
Births
- January 4 – Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, French chemist, politician (died 1816)source
- January 23 – John Hancock, American politician and revolutionary (died 1793)source
- January 29 – Thomas Paine, British-born American patriot and pamphleteer (died 1809)source
- 29 January – Thomas Paine, pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, and intellectual (died 1809, New York)United Kingdomsource
- March 23 – Arthur St. Clair, American soldier and politician (died 1818)source
- April 27 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (died 1794)source
- May 2 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1805)source
- August 5 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, Danish royal physician (died 1772)source
- August 12 – Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, French agronomist (died 1813)source
- August 14 – Charles Hutton, English mathematician (died 1823)source
- August 29 – John Hunter, second governor of New South Wales (died 1821)source
- 31 August – Princess Augusta, eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (died 1813)Walessource
- September 9 – Luigi Galvani, Italian physician and physicist (died 1798)source
- September 14 – Michael Haydn, Austrian composer (died 1806)source
- September 19 – Charles Carroll of Carrollton, only Roman Catholic signer of the American Declaration of Independence (died 1832)source
- December 26 – Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (died 1815)source
- Matonabbee, leading Indian (d.1782)Canadasource
- Vasily Bazhenov, Russian neoclassical architectRussiasource
Deaths
- January 29 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (born 1666)source
- March 12 – Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, regent of the Kingdom of Serbia (1720–1733) (born 1684)source
- March 26 – Vakhtang VI, king of the Kingdom of Kartli under the Bagrationi dynasty (born 1675)source
- May 3 – James Johnston (secretary of state), diplomat, Secretary of State for Scotland (born 1655)source
- May 10 – Emperor Nakamikado of Japan (born 1702)source
- May 10 - Emperor Nakamikado (born 1702)Japansource
- July 9 – Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1671)source
- July 26 – Johan Cronman, Swedish general (born 1662)source
- July 27 – Maria Maddalena Martinengo, Italian nun (born 1687)source
- October 7 – At least 300,000 people are killed when a tropical cyclone strikes the Bay of Bengal in India and modern-day Bangladesh. The storm sends 12 m high waves over the Sundarbans delta, and overflows the Hooghly River.source
- November 20 – Caroline of Ansbach, queen of George II of Great Britain (born 1683)source
- December 11 – John Strype, English historian and biographer (born 1643)source
- December 18 – Antonio Stradivari, Italian luthier (born 1644)source
- December 19 – James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (born 1667)source
- December 21 – Alessandro Galilei, Italian architect, mathematician (born 1691)source
- Marguerite d'Youville (Born Varennes, France October 15, 1701 Died December 28, 1771) and some friends in Montreal, begin taking in the poor and educating abandoned children.Canadasource
- Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn the Elder, Russian aristocratRussiasource
- After only three weeks of serving as the Governor of the Cape Colony, Adriaan van Kervel dies.South Africasource