1741 CE

Sir Robert Walpole, the prime minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a speech in Parliament. Nader Shah, Emperor of Persia, narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. Raja Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeats the Dutch East India Company in the Battle of Colachel, ending the Dutch colonial rule in India and marking the first "major" defeat of a European colonial military power in India.

In the 1740s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township.source
  • February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the prime minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a speech in Parliament.source
  • 13 February – Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister, introduces the term "balance of power" in a speech in Parliament.United Kingdomsource
  • June 11 – 1741 British general election, begun on April 30, concludes with Prime Minister Robert Walpole's Whigs retaining their majority in the House of Commons but losing 44 seats to candidates who have defected to the new Patriot Whigs to oppose his policies.source
  • 11 June – 1741 British general election, begun on 30 April, concludes with Prime Minister Robert Walpole's Whigs retaining their majority in the House of Commons but losing control of a number of rotten and pocket boroughs with 44 seats lost to candidates who have defected to the new Patriot Whigs to oppose Walpole's policies.United Kingdomsource
  • October 12 – George II, as Elector of Hanover, signs the Neustadt Protocol with France, but fails to inform his British government until after his return from Germany.source
  • 12 October – George II, as Elector of Hanover, signs the Neustadt Protocol with France, but fails to inform his British government until after his return from Germany.United Kingdomsource
  • 6 December (N.S.) / 25 November (O.S.) – Elizabeth Petrovna stages a bloodless coup with the Preobrazhensky Regiment, deposes Ivan VI and Anna Leopoldovna, and is proclaimed Empress of Russia.Russiasource
  • December 7 – War of the Austrian Succession: Charles Albert of Bavaria has himself proclaimed King of Bohemia.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 9 – War of the Austrian Succession: Prussian troops bring down the Austrian fortress of Glogau (modern-day Głogów in Poland).source
  • March 13 – The British Royal Navy takes 180 warships, frigates and transport vessels, led by Admiral Edward Vernon, to threaten Cartagena, Colombia, with more than 27,000 crew against the 3,600 defenders.source
  • April 6 – The New York Slave Insurrection, a plot to set fire to New York City, is discovered.source
  • April 10 – War of the Austrian Succession: An Austrian army is defeated by Prussian troops of Frederick the Great in the Battle of Mollwitz.source
  • May 9 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Cartagena de Indias – Spain's defenders in New Grenada, under the command of General Blas de Lezo, defeat Edward Vernon's Royal Navy force, leading to a British retreat to Jamaica.source
  • 9 May – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Cartagena de Indias – Spain's defenders in New Grenada, under the command of General Blas de Lezo, defeat Vernon's Royal Navy force, leading to a British retreat to Jamaica.United Kingdomsource
  • May 15 – Nader Shah, Emperor of Persia, narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.source
  • May 21 – War of the Austrian Succession: King George II of Great Britain orders the British Army to prepare for an invasion of Prussia to defend his Electorate of Hanover.source
  • 28 July - Russo-Swedish War (1741–43)Swedensource
  • August 4–5 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Invasion of Cuba – British Admiral Edward Vernon captures Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, which he renames Cumberland Bay, but which his forces are forced to abandon on December 9.source
  • August 10 – Raja Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeats the Dutch East India Company in the Battle of Colachel, ending the Dutch colonial rule in India and marking the first "major" defeat of a European colonial military power in India.source
  • 23 August – At the Battle of Villmanstrand, Russian forces under Field Marshal Peter von Lacy defeat the Swedish army at present-day Lappeenranta, Finland.Russiasource
  • September 11 – War of the Austrian Succession: Linz falls to the Bavarian Army.source
  • November 25–26 – War of the Austrian Succession: Franco-Bavarian troops commanded by Maurice of Saxony storm in Battle of Prague city Prague.source
  • December 6 (November 25, O.S.) – Elizabeth of Russia becomes czarina after a palace coup.source
  • The Battle of Mollwitz began on 10 April 1741, part of the larger War of the Austrian Succession.Austriasource
  • The Prussian Army took control of Breslau from the Austro-Hungarian Army in 2 January and a fortress in Ohlau on 9 January. Within the month, the entire Silesian area was captured.Austriasource
  • François-Josué de la Corne Dubreuil appointed commandant at Fort Kaministiquia.Canadasource
  • The cavalry unit Régiment des Hussards de Saxe formedFrancesource
  • Late July – France-backed Sweden declares war on Russia, initiating the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), aiming to recover territories lost in the Great Northern War.Russiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 4 – Vitus Bering sets out from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to map the coasts of Siberia and Alaska.source
  • 15 May - Carl Linnaeus travel to Öland.Swedensource
  • July 15 – Alexei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska, and sends some men aboard his ship ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.source
  • December 7 – Aleksei Chirikov of Russia presents the first written description of the northwest coast of North America.source
  • The lives of early Alaskans remained basically unchanged for thousands of years, until Russian sailors, led by Danish-born Russian explorer Vitus Bering, sighted Alaska's mainland in 1741.Canadasource
  • Vitus Bering, in service of Russia, reaches Alaska; Russians soon trade with natives for sea otter pelts.Canadasource
  • The Russians were soon followed by British, Spanish, and American adventurers. But it was the Russians who stayed to trade for the pelts of sea otters and other fur-bearing animals, interjecting their own culture and staking a strong claim on Alaska. Once the fur trade declined, however, the Russians lost interest in this beautiful though largely unexplored land.Canadasource
  • Fort Bourbon established near present-day Grand Rapids, Manitoba.Canadasource
  • Alexei Chirikof, with Bering expedition, sights land on July 15; the Europeans had found Alaska.Canadasource
  • The guild membership requirement for innkeepers are dropped. This makes the profession considerably more accessible for women and makes it one of the most common for women.Swedensource
  • Lewis Morris resumes his survey of Welsh ports on behalf of the Navy Office.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • January 13 – Conventicle Act of 1741 is introduced in Denmark-Norway.source
  • 13 January – The Conventicle Act of 1741 is enacted.Denmarksource
  • 13 January - Conventicle Act of 1741 is introduced.Norwaysource
  • July 8 – Jonathan Edwards repeats his Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God sermon at Enfield, Connecticut.source
  • Morgan John Lewis – Hymnau Duwiol o Gasgliad Gwyr Eglwysig M.J. ac E.W.Walessource
  • Evan Davies – Newyddion Mawr Oddiwrth y Ser (vol. 3)Walessource
  • Carpenter Siarl Marc is converted and quickly becomes the most important Calvinistic Methodist exhorter in the Llyn peninsula.Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • The Royal Order of Scotland in freemasonry is founded.source
  • Robert Foulis sets up a publishing business in Glasgow.Scotlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Summer – Upper Priory Cotton Mill is opened in Birmingham, England, as the world's first mechanised cotton mill by Lewis Paul and John Wyatt; although this is not a commercial success, other Paul-Wyatt cotton mills follow.source
  • First Fort Dauphin, was built near Winnipegosis, Manitoba.Canadasource
  • Completion of rebuilding of Powerscourt House in County Wicklow by the architect Richard Cassels.Irelandsource
  • Earliest known record of the Royal Order of Scotland within British Freemasonry.Scotlandsource
  • Leadhills Miners' Library set up.Scotlandsource
  • Summer – Upper Priory Cotton Mill is opened in Birmingham as the world's first mechanised cotton mill by Lewis Paul and John Wyatt; although this is not a commercial success, other Paul-Wyatt cotton mills follow.United Kingdomsource
  • Henry Hoare begins to lay out the landscape gardens at Stourhead, Wiltshire.United Kingdomsource

Science & Discovery

  • 31 March - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is given its rules.Swedensource
  • 6 May – HDMS Elephanten is launched at the Royal Danish Dockyard.Denmarksource
  • December 25 – Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale, Centigrade, the predecessor of the Celsius scale.source
  • Uppsala Astronomical Observatory is inaugurated.Swedensource
  • Et ankommit bref om såningsmachinen under namn af Lotta Triven by Charlotta Frölich (who thereby becomes the first woman to be published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences).Swedensource

Health & Medicine

  • 17 May – George Watson's College opens in Edinburgh as George Watson's Hospital.Scotlandsource
  • Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh moves to a new building designed by William Adam.Scotlandsource
  • The punishment of Uppenbar kyrkoplikt (Public Church Duty), a form of public humiliation were criminals are pilloried by being placed on a stool during sermon and repent their criminal act, are abolished for sexual crimes, such as having sex outside marriage, in order to spare unmarried mothers the social stigma which are viewed as a contributing factor of infanticide. The reason is to spare unmarried mothers the social stigma which results in infanticide, as the Uppenbar kyrkoplikt in practice exposed them and makes their indiscretion impossible to hide.Swedensource

Crime & Justice

  • 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot raised in Scotland as General John Mordaunt's Regiment of Foot.Scotlandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • May 14 – HMS Wager, one of the vessels of George Anson's voyage around the world, is wrecked on the coast of Chile, killing most of the crew who have survived scurvy.source
  • 14 May – HMS Wager, one of the vessels of George Anson's voyage around the world is wrecked on the coast of Chile, killing most of the surviving crew.United Kingdomsource

Climate & Environment

  • January–April – Great Irish Famine (1740–1741) at its height.Irelandsource
  • June–August – hot summer. The harvest is improved, but disease encouraged.Irelandsource
  • August 23 – At least 2,000 die along the shores of the Sea of Japan after a volcanic eruption on an island generated the Kampo Tsunami.source

Culture & Society

  • February 14 – Irish-born actor Charles Macklin makes his London stage debut as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, pioneering a psychologically realistic style with Shakespeare's text revived, replacing George Granville's melodramatic adaptation The Jew of Venice. Kitty Clive plays the travesti role of Portia.source
  • June 25 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen Regnant of Hungary in Bratislava.source
  • June – In the general election, the seat of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet at Denbighshire is targeted by the government. Sir Watkin wins by 1352 to 933, but the sheriff, a member of the Salusbury family, disallows 594 of his votes and returns a cousin of Salusbury, John Myddelton of Chirk. Sir Watkin is elected for Montgomeryshire instead.Walessource
  • 22 August–14 September – George Frideric Handel composes the oratorio Messiah in London to a libretto compiled by Charles Jennens, completing the "Hallelujah Chorus" on 6 September. It receives a private rehearsal in Chester in November while Handel is en route to Dublin.United Kingdomsource
  • 2 October – the Bull's Head Musical Society opens a Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin.Irelandsource
  • 12 December – The deposed regent Anna Leopoldovna, her husband Anthony Ulrich, and their children are imprisoned, initially at Riga and later at Dünamünde fortress.Russiasource
  • Stemmatographia by Hristofor Zhefarovich, regarded as the first Serbian and Bulgarian secular printed book, is printed in Vienna.source
  • Ludvig Holberg's Niels Klim's Underground Travels is published.Denmarksource
  • Ludvig Harboe, began a four-year stay (1741–1745) to monitor and support religious and social changes in Iceland.Icelandsource
  • Ludvig Holbergs satirical science-fiction/fantasy novel «Niels Klim's Underground Travels» is first published.Norwaysource
  • David Owen composes Dafydd y Garreg Wen on his deathbed, according to traditionWalessource

Births

Deaths

  • February 13 – Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer (born 1660)source
  • 13 February - Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer (b 1660).Austriasource
  • February 21 – Jethro Tull, British agriculturist (born 1674)source
  • March 31 – Pieter Burmann the Elder, Dutch classical scholar (born 1668)source
  • April 10 – Celia Fiennes, English travel writer (born 1662)source
  • May 24 – Lord Augustus FitzRoy, Royal Navy officer during the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (born 1716)source
  • July 3 – Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Sardinian queen consort (born 1711)source
  • July 28 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer (born 1678)source
  • August 4 – Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer (born 1676)source
  • August – David Owen, 29 ("David of the White Rock"), harpistWalessource
  • September 7 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (born 1689)source
  • November 18 – Stephen Delancey, major colonial New York figure (born 1663)source
  • November 24 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (b.1688)source
  • 8 December – Vitus Bering, Danish-born explorer; died on Bering Island after his ship was wrecked. Modern research suggests he died of heart failure rather than scurvy.Russiasource
  • December 19 – Vitus Bering, Danish-born Russian explorer (born 1681)source
  • December 19 – Vitus Bering dies during his expedition, east of Siberia.source
  • December 21 – Bernard de Montfaucon, French Benedictine monk (born 1655)source
  • Russians Vitus Bering and Aleksi Cherikov 'discover' Alaska and bring back fur skins (Bering shipwrecked on return and died); the Fur Rush is on.Canadasource