1750 CE

Various sources, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, use the year 1750 as a baseline year for the end of the pre-industrial era.

In the 1750s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 13 – The Treaty of Madrid between Spain and Portugal authorizes a larger Brazil than had the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which originally established the boundaries of the Portuguese and Spanish territories in South America.source
  • 31 March – The County of Bregentved is established by Adam Gottlob Moltke from the manors of Bregentved, Turebyholm, Juellinge, Alslevgård, Tryggevælde and Sophiendal.Denmarksource
  • April 14 – A group of enslaved West African, bound for the Americas, successfully overpowers the crew of the British slaver ship Snow Ann, imprisons the survivors, and then navigates the vessel back to Cape Lopez in Gabon. Upon regaining their freedom, the rebels leave the survivors on the Gabonese coast.source
  • June 24 – Parliament passes Britain's Iron Act, designed to restrict American manufactured goods by prohibiting additional ironworking businesses from producing finished goods. At the same time, import taxes on raw iron from America are lifted in order to give British manufacturers additional material for production. By 1775, the North American colonies have surpassed England and Wales in iron production and have become the world's third largest producer of iron.source
  • 24 June – Iron Act, passed by Parliament, comes into effect, restricting manufacture of iron products in the American colonies.United Kingdomsource
  • July 31 – José I takes over the throne of Portugal from his deceased father, João V. King José Manuel appoints the Marquis of Pombal as his Chief Minister, who then strips the Inquisition of its power.source
  • August 8 – In advance of the Province of Georgia changing in status from a corporate-owned American settlement to a British colony, Royal Assent is given to an act that lifts the province's ban on slavery; effective January 1, "it shall and may be lawful to import or bring Black Slaves or Negroes in to the Province of Georgia of America and to keep and to use the same therein".source
  • September 9: Otto von Rantzau replaces Henrik Ochsen as Governor of Iceland due to Ochsen's death in Denmark.Icelandsource
  • October 5 – Treaty of Madrid: Spain and Great Britain sign a treaty temporarily eliminating their hostility over their colonies in North and South America. In addition to both sides dropping their claims for damages against each other, Spain agrees to pay the South Sea Company £100,000 for damage claims.source
  • 5 October – Treaty of Madrid, a commercial treaty with Spain, is signed.United Kingdomsource
  • December 25 – Prussia and Russia break off diplomatic relations after the Russians refuse to stop assisting the Electorate of Saxony. Five years later, the two Empires fight the Seven Years' War.source
  • Galley slavery is abolished in Europe.source
  • c. 1750: The Ojibwa begin to emerge as a distinct tribal amalgamation of smaller independent bands.Canadasource

Conflict & Security

  • April 7 – Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone, a polygar in Tamil Nadu, raises slogans and launches a rebellion against Company rule in India due to his opposition to the East India Company's tax collection policies.source
  • 11 April – Jack Slack (a butcher of Norwich) defeats Jack Broughton to become bare-knuckle boxing Champion of EnglandUnited Kingdomsource
  • April 25 – The Acadian settlement in Beaubassin, Nova Scotia, is burnt by the French army, and the population is forcibly relocated, after France and Great Britain agree that the Missaguash River should be the new boundary between peninsular British Nova Scotia and the mainland remnant of French Acadia (now New Brunswick).source
  • June 29 – An attempt in Lima to begin a native uprising against Spanish colonial authorities in the Viceroyalty of Peru is discovered and thwarted. One of the conspirators, Francisco Garcia Jimenez, escapes to Huarochirí and kills dozens of Spaniards on July 25.source
  • 11 September - Jacob Benzon is appointed Vice Steward of Norway.Norwaysource
  • September 30 – Crispus Attucks, an enslaved African-American who will later become the first person killed in the Boston Massacre of 1770, escapes from the Framingham, Massachusetts estate of slaveowner William Brown. In an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the fugitive, Brown runs an advertisement on October 2 in the Boston Gazette, but Attucks eludes recapture.source
  • December 29 – Two physicians in Jamaica, Dr. John Williams and Dr. Parker Bennet, fight a duel "with swords and pistols" after having had an argument the day before about the treatment of bilious fever. Both are mortally wounded during the fight.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 15 – After Spain and Portugal agree that the Uruguay River will be the boundary line between the two kingdoms' territory in South America, the Spanish Governor orders the Jesuits to vacate seven Indian missions along the river (San Angel, San Nicolas, San Luis, San Lorenzo, San Miguel, San Juan and San Borja).source
  • April 13 – Dr. Thomas Walker and five other men (Ambrose Powell, Colby Chew, William Tomlinson, Henry Lawless and John Hughes) cross through the Cumberland Gap, a mountain pass through the Appalachian Mountains, to become the first white people to venture into territories that had been inhabited exclusively by various Native American tribes. On April 17, Walker's party continues through what is now Kentucky and locates the Cumberland River, which Walker names in honor of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.source
  • June 20: Eggert Ólafsson and Bjarni Pálsson are recorded as the first people to climb of Hekla.Icelandsource
  • July 9 – Traveller Jonas Hanway leaves St. Petersburg to return home, via Germany and the Netherlands. Later the same year, Hanway reputedly becomes the first Englishman to use an umbrella (a French fashion).source
  • The King of Dahomey has income of 250,000 pounds from the overseas export of enslaved people.source
  • Hidatsa villages, site of ancient trading fair, now with both French and Hudson's Bay representatives present each summer.Canadasource
  • 1750s: Hudson's Bay Company Saskatchewan River region, reached by trade drummers sent out with goods to tempt the Indians to York.Canadasource
  • The oldest written account of Selma, a legendary sea serpent in Lake Seljord.Norwaysource
  • Approximate date – Alexander Stephen begins shipbuilding at Burghead on the Moray Firth, origin of Alexander Stephen and Sons.Scotlandsource

Religion & Belief

  • April 14 – The Viceroy of New Spain, Juan Francisco de Güemes, issues a notice to the missionaries in Nuevo Santander (which includes parts of what are now the U.S. state of Texas, including San Antonio, and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas) to work peacefully to convert the indigenous Karankawa people to Roman Catholicism.source
  • Daniel Rowland - Ymddiddan rhwng Methodist Uniawngred ac un CyfeiliornusWalessource
  • "Disruption of 1750": Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland quarrel, resulting in a lasting split in the Welsh Methodist movement.Walessource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • November 18 – Westminster Bridge is officially opened in London.source
  • 18 November – Westminster Bridge is officially opened for the general public to use, the only fixed crossing of the River Thames between London Bridge and Putney.United Kingdomsource
  • Britain produces c. 2% of the entire world's output of industrial goods, before the Industrial Revolution begins.source
  • German immigrants begin to arrive in numbers at Halifax.Canadasource
  • The construction of Fredriksvern naval base was finished.Norwaysource
  • The construction of Frogner Manor is finished.Norwaysource
  • Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen, opens.Scotlandsource
  • William Thomas begins his diary.Walessource

Science & Discovery

  • 17 January – John Canton reads a paper in the presence of the Royal Society of London on a method of making artificial magnets.United Kingdomsource
  • March 20 – The first number of Samuel Johnson's The Rambler appears.source
  • 20 March – Samuel Johnson begins publication of the periodical The Rambler.United Kingdomsource
  • August 20 – French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, by way of the Foreign Minister, the Marquis de Puisieulx and Netherlands ambassador to Paris Mattheus Lestevenon, sends a letter that ultimately persuades the States-General of the Dutch Republic to allow and partially finance Lacaille's stellar trigonometry mission to the Cape of Good Hope. The expedition departs Lorient on October 21.source
  • 20 August – French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, by way of the Foreign Minister, the Marquis de Puisieulx and Netherlands ambassador to Paris Mattheus Lestevenon, sends a letter that ultimately persuades the States-General of the Dutch Republic to allow and partially finance Lacaille's stellar trigonometry mission to the Cape of Good Hope. The expedition departs Lorient on 21 October.Francesource
  • Captain Henry Delamain takes over the World's End Pottery in Dublin, bringing his expertise in the manufacture of Delftware.Irelandsource
  • James Short's Gregorian telescope (38 cm (14″) aperture reflector), the world's largest at this date, is constructed.Scotlandsource
  • Griffith Hughes - Natural History of BarbadosWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • March 5 – The Murray-Kean Company, a troupe of actors from Philadelphia, gives the first performance of a play announced in advance in a newspaper, presenting Richard III at New York City's Nassau Street Theatre.source

Crime & Justice

  • May 16 – Two weeks after police in Paris arrest six teenagers for gambling in the suburb of Saint-Laurent, rioting breaks out when a rumor spreads that plainclothes policemen are hauling off small children between the ages of five and ten years old, in order to provide blood to an ailing aristocrat. Over the next two weeks, rioting breaks out in other sections of Paris. Police are attacked, including one who is beaten to death by the mob, until order is restored and police reforms are announced.source
  • 16 May – Two weeks after police in Paris arrest six teenagers for gambling in the suburb of Saint-Laurent, rioting breaks out when a rumor spreads that plainclothes policemen are hauling off small children between the ages of five and ten years old, in order to provide blood to an ailing aristocrat. Over the next two weeks, rioting breaks out in other sections of the city. Police are attacked, including one who is beaten to death by the mob, until order is restored and police reforms are announced.Francesource
  • November 11 – A riot breaks out in Lhasa after the murder of the regent of Tibet.source
  • Thomas Gainsborough's painting Mr and Mrs Andrews.United Kingdomsource

Disasters & Accidents

Climate & Environment

  • 8 February – an earthquake is felt in London.United Kingdomsource
  • 8 March – a second more powerful earthquake is felt in London.United Kingdomsource
  • June 19 – At a time when mountain climbing is still relatively uncommon, Eggert Ólafsson and Bjarni Pálsson scale their first peak, the 4,892 foot high Icelandic volcano, Hekla.source

Culture & Society

  • 9 January – At the age of 25, Henry Herbert the younger succeeds to his father's earldom of Pembroke.Walessource
  • October 14 – The Louvre Museum is created in Paris four years after art critic Lafond de Saint-Yenne calls on the King to allow the display of the royal art collection to the general public. Abel-François Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny, arranges for the display of 110 of the Crown's paintings at the Palais du Luxembourg.source
  • 14 October – Display of 110 paintings from the royal art collection at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris is arranged by Abel-François Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny, origin of both the Louvre museum and Musée du Luxembourg.Francesource
  • December 3 – What is described later as "The first documented presentation of a musical in New York" takes place one block east of Broadway, at the Nassau Street Theatre, when a resident company of actors stages The Beggar's Opera.source
  • 16 December - The Norwegian Military Academy is founded.Norwaysource
  • Hannah Snell reveals her sex to her Royal Marines compatriots.source
  • Maruyama Okyo paints The Ghost of Oyuki.source
  • The learned society Académie de Stanislas founded.Francesource
  • At about this date, a chocolate house, the predecessor of Daly's Club, is established in Dublin.Irelandsource
  • Establishment of the Jockey Club and the Pytchley Hunt.United Kingdomsource

Births

  • March 16 – Caroline Herschel, German astronomer (died 1848)source
  • April – Joanna Southcott, British religious fanatic (died 1814)source
  • May 2 – John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War (died 1780)source
  • 15 May - Christian Jensen Lofthuus, revolutionary peasant leader (died 1797)Norwaysource
  • May 20 – Stephen Girard, French-American banker, fourth richest American of all time (died 1831)source
  • May 23 – Adamson Tannehill, American general and politician (died 1820)source
  • May 31 – Karl August von Hardenberg, Prussian politician (died 1822)source
  • July 9 – Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans, last princess of Condé (d.1822)source
  • July 25 – Henry Knox, military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, 1st United States Secretary of War (died 1806)source
  • August 18 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (died 1825)source
  • September 26 – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, British admiral (died 1810)source
  • 26 September – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, admiral (died 1810)United Kingdomsource
  • October 7 – Abraham Woodhull, Patriot spy during the American Revolutionary War (died 1826)source
  • October 31 – Leonor de Almeida Portugal, 4th Marquise of Alorna, Portuguese painter and poet (died 1839)source
  • November 10 – Tipu Sultan, Sultan of Mysore (died 1799)source
  • 11 December - Isaac Shelby, Welsh-descended American politician (born in US; died 1826)Walessource
  • December 23 – Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (died 1827)source
  • Simon McTavish, fur trader and dealer in furs, militia officer, office holder, landowner, seigneur, and businessman (d.1804)Canadasource

Deaths

  • January 23 – Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Italian historian and scholar (born 1672)source
  • February 7 – Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (born 1684)source
  • March 5 - Franz Anton Khaltprunner - He was a Roman Catholic priest of Lend, St. Gilgen, Taxenbach, and Piesendorf.Austriasource
  • March 6 – Domenico Montagnana, Italian luthier (born 1686)source
  • March 29 – James Jurin, British mathematician, doctor (born 1684)source
  • May 28 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (born 1720)source
  • July 15 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian statesman, ethnographer (born 1686)source
  • July 28 – Conyers Middleton, English minister (born 1683)source
  • July 28 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (born 1685)source
  • July 31 – King John V of Portugal (born 1689)source
  • August 8 – Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, English aristocrat, philanthropist and cricket patron (born 1701)source
  • August 12 – Rachel Ruysch, Dutch painter (born 1664)source
  • October 3 – James MacLaine, Irish highwayman (born 1724)source
  • 3 October – 'Captain' James MacLaine (or Maclean), gentleman highwayman (born 1724) (hanged at Tyburn)United Kingdomsource
  • October 14: Richard Philipps, military officer, governor of Nova Scotia (b.1661)Canadasource
  • October 16 – Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German composer, lutenist (born 1687)source
  • November 1 – Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff, Dutch Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (born 1705)source
  • 29 November - Bussy Mansel, 4th Baron ManselWalessource