1755 CE

Spanish missionary Tomas Sanchez and three families establish a settlement on the north side of the Rio Grande in New Spain. Sanchez names it Villa de Laredo. The new settlement is the northernmost part of the colony of Nuevo Santander, founded by José de Escandón, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda, which now comprises parts of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and the U.S. state of Texas. The portion of Villa de Laredo north of the river later becomes Laredo, Texas; the remaining portion south of the river is later renamed Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. In a convoy of ships from Great Britain, returning to India for the East India Company, the lead ship Doddington (on her third voyage) wrecks in Algoa Bay near modern-day Port Elizabeth in South Africa, losing 247 of its 270 passengers and crew, together with a chest of gold coins from Robert Clive worth £33,000. In 1998, 1,400 coins from the wreck site are offered for sale, and in 2002 a portion is given to the South African government. Around twenty survivors of the wreck are eventually able to make safety after an open boat voyage. Two slaves, Mark and Phyllis, are publicly executed for the poisoning murder of their master, John Codman in front of a large crowd outside the Middlesex County Courthouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Phyllis is burned to death. Mark's execution by hanging is made as an example to other African slaves in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His body is transported to Charlestown Common in what is now Somerville and displayed on a gibbet for more than 20 years. In 1798, Paul Revere mentions in his memoir that his famous ride of April 18, 1775, started when he first spotted British Army officers at a site "nearly opposite where Mark was hung in chains", I saw two men on Horse back, under a Tree".

In the 1750s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

February 13 – Treaty of Giyanti: The kingdom of Mataram on Java is divided in two, creating the sultanate of Yogyakarta and the sunanate of Surakarta.source
March 22 – Britain's House of Commons votes in favor of £1,000,000 of appropriations to expand the British Army and Royal Navy operations in North America.source
June 27 – Iyoas I becomes the new Emperor of Ethiopia upon the death of his father, Iyasu IIsource
July 25 – The decision to deport the Acadians is made, during meetings of the Nova Scotia Council meeting in Halifax. From September 1755-June 1763, the vast majority of Acadians are deported to one of the following British Colonies in America: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Contrary to popular belief, no Acadians are sent to Louisiana. Those sent to Virginia are refused and then sent on to Liverpool, Bristol, Southampton and Penryn in England. In 1758 the Fortress of Louisbourg falls and all of the civilian population of Isle Royal (Cape Breton Island) and Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward Island) are repatriated to France. Among them were several thousand Acadians, who had escaped the deportation by fleeing into those areas. Very few Acadians successfully escape the deportation and do so only by fleeing into some of the northern sections of present day New Brunswick. The event inspires Longfellow to write the epic poem Evangeline.source
July: Seven British Colonial Governors form a Treaty with the Iroquois, and project a federal union for carrying on war, under a president to be named by the King.Canada source
August 10 – The Expulsion of the Acadians begins, with the Bay of Fundy Campaign.source
October 11 – In west Africa, officials of the Dutch West India Company sign a peace agreement with officials of the Ashanti Empire at Elmina. In return for an annual tribute in gold, the Ashanti maintain peaceful relations with the Europeans in the Dutch Gold Coast colony and the Dutch maintain their settlement at Fort Coenraadsburg. The area is now part of the Central Region of Ghana.source
October 12 – Having completed the Expulsion of the Acadians from St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island), the British colonial Governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, issues a proclamation that his office will receive proposals from English settlers "for the peopling and cultivating as well of the lands vacated by the French, as every other part of this valuable province."source
November 18 – The Corsican Constitution is adopted by Corsican representatives, at the Consulta generale di Corte.source
For his success at Fort George, Col. Johnson is made a baronet, with a grant of 5,000 pounds.Canada source
The Great Expulsion begins. English Expulsion of the French Acadians—who lived and intermarried with Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Mi'kmaqs (many of whom were also taken). Forcibly loaded into ships and deposited randomly along the southern (now American) coasts, many (probably 1/3 to 1/2) died. Some are ancestors of the Cajuns of Louisiana, and a few made their ways back home. Acadians were idealists, hostile to King and Church authority, who lived in peace with the Mi'kmaqs. Neither the French rulers nor the English wanted them.Canada source
1755-75 - William Johnson, British superintendent of Indian affairs in the northern colonies, persuades the Iroquois League to break its neutrality and side with England against France.Canada source
The Nizam of Hyderabad (virtually independent of the Moghuls since 1748) cedes the Circars to the French.India source

Conflict & Security

20 February – General Edward Braddock lands in Virginia to take command of the British forces against the French in North America.United Kingdom source
March 26 – General Edward Braddock and 1,600 British sailors and soldiers arrive at Alexandria, Virginia on transport ships that have sailed up the Potomac River. Braddock, sent to take command of the British forces against the French in North America, commandeers taverns and private homes to feed and house the troops.source
April 2 – A naval fleet, led by Commodore William James of the East India Company, captures Tulaji Angre's fortress Suvarnadurg from the Marathas.source
May 3 – France dispatches 3,600 troops to protect its Canadian colonies in Quebec from a British invasion, dispatching 2,400 to Quebec city and 1,200 to Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, unaware that a squadron of 11 fully armed warships from Britain's Royal Navy had sailed toward Canada on April 27.source
May 22 – The Province of Massachusetts Bay sends 2,000 troops to supplement other British Army and colonial forces in Acadia; the troops anchor at Chignecto Bay on June 1.source
May 24 – France completes the construction of Fort Duquesne, its new base to the west of the British colony of Pennsylvania. The British capture the fort during the French and Indian War and rename it Fort Pitt. The site, at the junction of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, is now Pittsburgh.source
May 30 – General Braddock's troops begin a difficult trek across the heavily wooded Allegheny Mountains from western Maryland into the Ohio country.source
June 5 – At the entrance of the Saint Lawrence River, a squadron of Royal Navy ships, under the command of British Admiral Edward Boscawen, intercepts the nine French ships dispatched to save Canada; seven of the nine ships are concealed by fog and are able to reach their destination; another of the transports escapes.source
June 16 – After a two-week siege, the French commander of Fort Beauséjour in North America surrenders to the British, marking the end of "Father Le Loutre's War".source
June 16 - Fort Beausejour, garrisoned by 400 Frenchmen, is surrendered to Col. Winslow, of Massachusetts, commanding 2,300, of whom 300 are regulars.Canada source
June 23 – Most of the French troops dispatched to Canada arrive at Quebec, along with the new Governor General of New France, Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial.source
July 15 - Announcement, in England, of the capture of French troops on their way to Canada.Canada source
September 8 – French and Indian War – Battle of Lake George: French Army troops, led by Jean Erdman, Baron Dieskau, and Canadian colonists, led by Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, drive south into Britain's New York province. They are met by British Army troops under General William Johnson being supplemented by 200 Mohawk troops led by the Mohawk war chief, Theyanoguin. After Theyanouguin and other Mohawks are killed in the battle, the clan matrons of the Mohawk nation forbid the men from participating in the war against the French until a French defeat seems certain.source
September 8 - Baron Dieskay, with 1,500 French and Indian troops, overcomes Col. Williams, with 1,400 English and Indians, near Fort George. Immediately afterwards, the French attack Col. Johnson's force, barricaded at Fort George, but are repelled, with heavy loss. The two commanders are wounded, and the two opposing Indian chiefs are killed. Baron Dieskay is captured by the English, who dress his wounds and earn his lifelong gratitude by their kindness.Canada source
September 16 – Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams, the new British Minister to Russia, secures an alliance signed by Empress Catherine the Great. The Russian Empire agrees to provide up to 55,000 troops to defend the Electorate of Hanover against invasion by Prussia. At the time, King George II of Great Britain is also the ruler of the German duchy; the Russian troops are provided in return for an annual payment of £600,000.source
October 16 – The Penn's Creek massacre is carried out against white settlers who have moved into the Susquehanna Valley in the Pennsylvania colony, in territory also claimed by the Delaware Indians. The Delawares attack the Penn's Creek village, located near what is now Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and kill 25 of the 26 men, women and children living there.source
20 November – William Pitt the Elder is dismissed from the position of Paymaster of the Forces while Henry Bilson Legge resigns as Chancellor of the Exchequer and George Grenville as Treasurer of the Navy in protest over payments made to Russia to protect Hanover.United Kingdom source
Following the death of his wife in this year, Griffith Jones (Llanddowror) goes to live at the home of Madam Bridget Bevan.Wales source

Exploration & Expansion

May 17 – Spanish missionary Tomas Sanchez and three families establish a settlement on the north side of the Rio Grande in New Spain. Sanchez names it Villa de Laredo. The new settlement is the northernmost part of the colony of Nuevo Santander, founded by José de Escandón, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda, which now comprises parts of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and the U.S. state of Texas. The portion of Villa de Laredo north of the river later becomes Laredo, Texas; the remaining portion south of the river is later renamed Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.source
May 19 – General Braddock hosts Iroquois leaders Scaroyady, Kaghswaghtaniunt and Silver Heels at Fort Cumberland, the British Army base in the colony of Maryland. The three chiefs pledge their alliance with the British in advance of Braddock's expedition into the Ohio Country.source
July 9 – French and Indian War – Braddock Expedition: British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat inflicted by French and Indian forces. During the battle, British General Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives.source
9 July – French and Indian War: Braddock Expedition – British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat inflicted by French and Indian forces. During the battle, British General Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives.United Kingdom source
The Commissioners of Inland Navigation order commencement of work on making the River Shannon navigable.Ireland source
Work on William Roy's survey of Scotland concludes.Scotland source

Religion & Belief

November 25 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain grants the Religious of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines royal protection.source
December 17 – Anton, Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, is dismissed by his opponents on the Ecclesiastical Council and briefly imprisoned for 18 months before being allowed to move to Russia; in 1764, Anton is again made the Georgian Orthodox Church's leader.source
Construction of St Ninian's Church, Tynet, Scotland, the country's oldest surviving post-Reformation Roman Catholic clandestine church, is completed.source
Construction of the Puning Temple complex in Chengde, China is completed, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.source
Kilwarlin Moravian Church is founded in County Down by the evangelist John Cennick.Ireland source
Construction of St Ninian's Church, Tynet, the country's oldest surviving post-Reformation Roman Catholic clandestine church.Scotland source
David Dalrymple, as editor, publishes Edom of Gordon: an ancient Scottish poem.Scotland source
Building of St Ninian's Church, Tynet, Scotland, the country's oldest surviving post-Reformation Roman Catholic clandestine church.United Kingdom source
Rules of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion are published.Wales source
Morgan Rhys – Golwg o Ben Nebo, ar Wlad yr Addewid (collection of hymns)Wales source

Economy & Finance

24 November – The company now known as Iver C. Weilbach & Co. A/S is founded when flag, sail and compass maker Iver Jensen Borger sets up his own maritime supplier business in CopenhagenDenmark source
National income - ₹9,140 millionIndia source
The Artillery Company of Ireland, predecessor of the Royal Irish Artillery, is formed.Ireland source
The Brecknockshire Agricultural Society is formed.Wales source

Technology & Infrastructure

March 12 – A steam engine is used in the American colonies for the first time as New Jersey copper mine owner Arent Schuyler installs a Newcomen atmospheric engine to pump water out of a mineshaft.source
10 April – Essex Bridge across the river Liffey in Dublin is opened to carriage traffic.Ireland source
September 17 – Jean-Marc Vacheron founds his watch-making company Vacheron Constantin. To this day, Vacheron Constantin is the oldest watchmaker in the world with an uninterrupted watchmaking history since its foundation. 'Treasures of Vacheron Constantin: A Legacy of Watchmaking since 1755'source
Wolsey, the clothes manufacturer, is established in Leicester, England; the business celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2005.source
Hurdal glassverk is established in Hurdal.Norway source
Ironworks established at Furnace, Argyll.Scotland source

Science & Discovery

June – Joseph Black's discovery of carbon dioxide and magnesium is communicated in a paper to the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh.Scotland source
September 6 – The Russian Academy of Sciences awards its prize for "the best explanation of the true causes of electricity including their theory" to Switzerland's Johann Euler for his paper Disquisitio de causa physica electricitatis.source
The brine shrimp Artemia salina is first described, in Linnaeus' Systema Naturæ.source

Health & Medicine

Demographic history of Scotland: First reliable national census conducted by Rev. Alexander Webster, showing the country's population as 1,265,380. Four towns have populations of over 10,000, with Edinburgh the largest with 57,000 inhabitants.Scotland source

Crime & Justice

25 February – 11-year-old David Allan begins to study painting at the new Foulis Academy in Glasgow.Scotland source
24 June – Thomas Whitty originates Axminster Carpets.United Kingdom source
September 18 – Two slaves, Mark and Phyllis, are publicly executed for the poisoning murder of their master, John Codman in front of a large crowd outside the Middlesex County Courthouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Phyllis is burned to death. Mark's execution by hanging is made as an example to other African slaves in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His body is transported to Charlestown Common in what is now Somerville and displayed on a gibbet for more than 20 years. In 1798, Paul Revere mentions in his memoir that his famous ride of April 18, 1775, started when he first spotted British Army officers at a site "nearly opposite where Mark was hung in chains", I saw two men on Horse back, under a Tree".source
The Wolsey hosiery business is established in Leicester by Henry Wood; it will still be trading in the 21st century.United Kingdom source

Disasters & Accidents

July 17 – In a convoy of ships from Great Britain, returning to India for the East India Company, the lead ship Doddington (on her third voyage) wrecks in Algoa Bay near modern-day Port Elizabeth in South Africa, losing 247 of its 270 passengers and crew, together with a chest of gold coins from Robert Clive worth £33,000. In 1998, 1,400 coins from the wreck site are offered for sale, and in 2002 a portion is given to the South African government. Around twenty survivors of the wreck are eventually able to make safety after an open boat voyage.source
December 2 – The second Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of England is destroyed by fire.source
2 December – the second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.United Kingdom source

Climate & Environment

25 March – Landslip at Whitestone Cliff in the Hambleton Hills of North Yorkshire.United Kingdom source
September 2 – A powerful hurricane strikes the east coast of the British colony of North Carolina, killing 150 people and sinking five British and colonial merchant ships at Portsmouth Island.source
September 11: A major earthquake strikes Skjálfandi in Northern Iceland, causing damage in the area.Iceland source
October 17 – The Mount Katla volcano erupts in Iceland and continues ejecting ash for the next 120 days, finally ceasing on February 13. An estimated 1.5 cubic kilometers (1.5 billion cubic meters or 53 billion cubic feet) of tephra is discharged by the volcano.source
1 November – the Spanish Arch in Galway is partially destroyed by a tsunami generated by the Lisbon earthquake which is felt across Munster.Ireland source
1 November – Lisbon earthquake felt in Scotland.Scotland source
November 18 – The 1755 Cape Ann earthquake occurs in the vicinity of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, causing extensive damage.source

Culture & Society

January 23 (O. S. January 12, Tatiana Day, nowadays celebrated on January 25) – Moscow University is established.source
23 January (O.S. 12 January) - Empress Elizabeth signs a decree establishing Moscow University, the first university in Russia, on the initiative of Mikhail Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalov.Russia source
April 15 – A Dictionary of the English Language is published by Samuel Johnson (he had begun the work nine years earlier, in 1746).source
June 5 – Scottish chemist Joseph Black describes his discovery of carbon dioxide (fixed air) and magnesium, in a paper to the Medical Society of Edinburgh. The paper is published in 1756 with the title Experiments upon Magnesia alba, Quicklime, and some other alkaline Substances.source
October 25 – Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pasha becomes the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, the fifth person to serve as the Empire's Vizier in 1755.source
19 December – Bredo Munthe of Bekkeskov was ennobled, and given the noble family name Munthe af Morgenstierne.Norway source
December – formation of 23rd Regiment of Foot, predecessor of the 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot and earliest constituent of The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.United Kingdom source
Opéra national de Montpellier establishedFrance source
Completion of Russborough House, County Wicklow, designed in the Palladian style by Richard Cassels for Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown.Ireland source

Births

February 21 – Anne Grant, Scottish poet (died 1838)source
22 February – Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny (died 1843)Wales source
March 24 – Rufus King, American lawyer, politician and diplomat (died 1827)source
April 10 – Samuel Hahnemann, German founder of homeopathy (died 1843)source
April 11 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist and political activist (died 1824)source
April 16 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (died 1842)source
June 6 – Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary War captain, writer and patriot (died 1776)source
June 15 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (died 1809)source
25 June – Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt), Tsarevna of Russia (died 1776)Russia source
June 30 – Paul Barras, French politician (died 1829)source
5 July – Sarah Siddons, Welsh-born actress (died 1831)United Kingdom source
September 13 – Oliver Evans, American inventor, engineer and businessman (died 1819)source
October 2 – Hannah Adams, American author (died 1831)source
17 October (in Copenhagen, Denmark) - Envold de Falsen, lawyer, poet, actor and statesman (died 1808).Norway source
November 2 – Marie Antoinette, Queen Consort of France (died 1793)source
November 12 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (died 1813)source
November 17 – Louis XVIII of France, brother of King Louis XVI (died 1824)source
December 3 – Gilbert Stuart, American painter from Rhode Island (died 1828)source

Deaths

February 10 – Montesquieu, French writer (born 1689)source
February 11 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist (born 1675)source
March 2 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (born 1675)source
March 7 – Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man (born 1663)source
April 30 – Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter (born 1686)source
June 26 – Iyasu II, Emperor of Ethiopia (born c. 1723)source
12 July – Zachariah Williams, inventor, 81Wales source
July 13 – Edward Braddock, British general (born c. 1695)source
13 July – Edward Braddock, British general (born c. 1695)United Kingdom source
September 2 – Princess Marie Zéphyrine of France, sister of Louis XVI (born 1750)source
September 8 – Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, Canadian military commander (born 1701)source
September 8 – Hendrick Theyanoguin, Mohawk Council leader killed in the Battle of Lake George (born c. 1691)source
September 13 - Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye, explorer (born 1714)Canada source
October 16 – Gerard Majella, Italian Roman Catholic lay brother and saint (born 1725)source
October 28 – Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (born 1689)source
November 1 – More than 40,000 people are killed by the 8.5 magnitude earthquake in Lisbon, Portuguese Empire. The tremor begins at 9:40 in the morning local time off of the Atlantic coast of Portugal and sends a tsunami that strikes the coasts of Portugal, Spain and Morocco.source
December 5 – William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (born 1698)source
Anastasija Trubetskaya, courtier (born 1700)Russia source