1770 CE

The College Historical Society, a debating society at Trinity College Dublin, founded by Edmund Burke, holds its first meeting when Burke's Club (founded 1747) merges with the Historical Club (1753). First voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew aboard HMS Endeavour complete the circumnavigation of New Zealand. Gaspar de Portolà and Father Junípero Serra establish Monterey, the presidio of Alta California territory for Spain from 1777–1822, United Mexican States 1824–1846, until the California Republic.

In the 1770s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

26 January - Jacob Benzon is appointed Steward of Norway.Norway source
28 January – following Grafton's resignation, Lord North forms a government and becomes Prime Minister.United Kingdom source
12 April – American Revolution: Parliament repeals the Townshend Act.United Kingdom source
15 May: The country was divided into two counties: South and West Counties (Suður- og Vesturamt) and North and East Counties (Norður- og Austuramt).Iceland source
16 May – The new Opéra royal de Versailles, designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, is inaugurated.France source
June 3 – Gaspar de Portolà and Father Junípero Serra establish Monterey, the presidio of Alta California territory for Spain from 1777–1822, United Mexican States 1824–1846, until the California Republic.source
22 August (23 August by Cook's log) – Captain Cook determines that New Holland (Australia) is not contiguous with New Guinea and claims the whole of its eastern coast for Great Britain, later naming it all New South Wales.United Kingdom source
December 7 – King Louis XV of France issues the "Edict of December", dismissing the rebellious magistrates of the Parlements of Paris and the other 13 provinces.source
7 December – Louis XV issues the Edict of December, dismissing rebellious magistrates of the Parlements of Paris and the other 13 provincesFrance source
Lauritz Andreas Thodal became the governor of Iceland, taking over from Christian von ProeckIceland source

Conflict & Security

17 January – American Revolution: British troops clash with American colonists at the Battle of Golden Hill.United Kingdom source
March 5 – Boston Massacre: Eleven American men are shot (five fatally) by British troops, in an event that helps start the American Revolutionary War five years later.source
5 March – Boston Massacre: five Americans killed by British troops in an event that helps start the American Revolutionary War five years later.United Kingdom source
April 20 – Battle of Aspindza: Georgian king Erekle II defeats the Ottoman forces, despite being abandoned by an ally, Russian General Totleben.source
June 9 – Falklands Crisis (1770): Some 1,600 Spanish marines, sent by the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires in five frigates, seize Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands. The small British force present promptly surrenders.source
9 June – Spanish troops seize Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands triggering the Falklands Crisis.United Kingdom source
July 5 – Battle of Chesma and Battle of Larga: The Russian Empire defeats the Ottoman Empire in both battles. When the news of the defeat reaches the Ottoman city of Smyrna (July 8), the crowd attacks the Greek community of the city (perceived as favourable to the Russian cause) and kills an estimated 200 Greeks and three Western Europeans (although some reports estimate the number of victims at 3,000 or even 5,000 including "3 or 4 thousands who die due to the fright").source
7 July – Battle of Larga; Russians defeat the Crimeans and Ottomans on the banks of the Larga RiverRussia source
August 1 (July 21 O.S.) – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) – Battle of Kagul: Russian commander Pyotr Rumyantsev routs 150,000 Turks.source
1 August – Battle of Kagul; In the Kagul River near Cahul, in southern Moldavia, now Moldova, Russians score a land victory against Crimea and the Ottoman Empire.Russia source
September 24 – In Hillsborough, North Carolina, the Regulator Movement riots against local authorities.source
5–7 July – Battle of Chesma; The Russian fleet defeats the Ottoman fleet in Çeşme Bay near ÇeşmeRussia source

Exploration & Expansion

February 14 – Scottish explorer James Bruce arrives at Gondar, capital of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) and is received by the Emperor Tekle Haymanot II and Ras Mikael Sehul.source
March 26 – First voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew aboard HMS Endeavour complete the circumnavigation of New Zealand.source
26 March – It is reported that it is possible to walk across the ice from Helsingør to Scania.Denmark source
April 12 – The Townshend Acts are repealed by Britain's Parliament by the efforts of Prime Minister Frederick North, with the exception of the increased duties on imported tea. The American colonists, in turn, stop their embargo on British imports.source
April 18 (April 19 by Cook's log) 18:00 – First voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to encounter the eastern coastline of the Australian continent. Land is sighted at Point Hicks, and named after Lieutenant Hicks who first observes landform at 6am.source
18 April (19 April by Cook's log) – first voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew aboard HMS Endeavour become the first recorded Europeans to encounter the eastern coastline of the Australian continent.United Kingdom source
April 29 – First voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook drops anchor on HMS Endeavour in a wide bay, about 16 km (10 mi) south of the present city of Sydney, Australia. Because the young botanist on board the ship, Joseph Banks, discovers 30,000 specimens of plant life in the area, 1,600 of them unknown to European science, Cook names the place Botany Bay on May 7.source
2 May – A Royal Danish Navy fleet bound for Algiers departs from Copenhagen to bomb the city in response to the recurrent pirate attacks in the Mediterranean Sea.Denmark source
10 June – first voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook discovers the Great Barrier Reef when HMS Endeavour runs aground on it.United Kingdom source
June 11 – First voyage of James Cook: HMS Endeavour grounds on the Great Barrier Reef.source
August 22 (August 23 by Cook's log) – First voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook determines that New Holland (Australia) is not contiguous with New Guinea, and claims the whole of its eastern coast for Great Britain, later naming it all New South Wales.source
14 November – Scottish explorer James Bruce is shown the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.Scotland source
December – Samuel Hearne departs on his third voyage of discovery.Canada source
c. September – Johann Gottfried Herder meets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Strasbourg.source
Montgomery's Entail Act remedies the system of short leases on agricultural properties.Scotland source

Religion & Belief

October 11 – Phillis Wheatley becomes the first African American woman to have her work published, after having written a poetic elegy to the late Reverend George Whitefield.source
December 24 – France's Secretary of the Navy, César Gabriel de Choiseul, is dismissed from his position by the king.source
24 December – César Gabriel de Choiseul is dismissed from his position as Secretary of the Navy by the kingFrance source
Cemetery of Saint-Louis, Versailles establishedFrance source
Emigrants from the Highland Clearances in the Hebrides migrate to Prince Edward Island, and to Glasgow where the Gaelic-speaking congregation of St Columba Church of Scotland is formed.Scotland source
Thomas Meredith - An Illustration of Several Texts of ScriptureWales source
Robert Jones (Calvinistic Methodist) - Lleferydd yr AsynWales source

Economy & Finance

The first National Committee begins its work and investigates the national economy of Iceland. The National Committee made recommendations on how the interests of the people of Iceland could be improved. Two of the committee members were Danish, and the third was Icelander Þorkell Jónsson Fjeldsted.Iceland source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 – The foundation of Fort George, Bombay is laid by Colonel Keating, principal engineer, on the site of the former Dongri Fort.source
12 April – Monkland Canal authorized.Scotland source
May – the Louth Navigation canal in Lincolnshire opens.United Kingdom source
12 July – Industrial Revolution: James Hargreaves obtains a patent for the spinning jenny.United Kingdom source
November 14 – James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile.source
December – The Library of the Sorbonne in Paris is opened to the publicFrance source
The Baron d'Holbach's (anonymous) materialist work Le Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral is produced in Neuchâtel.source
The city of Saint-Eustache, Quebec is established.Canada source
John O'Keeffe's play The Giant's Causeway.Ireland source
The construction of Eidsvollsbygningen was finished.Norway source
Approximate date - Bridge at Pontardawe built by William Edwards.Wales source

Science & Discovery

9 March – Haggis is served on board Captain James Cook's ship HMS Endeavour, anchored off New Zealand, in celebration of the birthday of a Scottish officer on board, Cook himself having a Scottish father.Scotland source
14 June–3 October – Charles Messier observes Lexell's Comet as it passes closer to Earth than any other in recorded historyFrance source
July 1 – Lexell's Comet (D/1770 L1) passes the Earth at a distance of 2,184,129 km, the closest approach by a comet in recorded history.source
Joseph-Louis Lagrange proves Bachet's conjecture.source
Daines Barrington - Some Account of Two Musical Instruments Used in WalesWales source
John Walters - A Dissertation on the Welsh LanguageWales source

Health & Medicine

January – Russian troops in Focșani witness the first signs of a plagueRussia source
18 October – Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, admits its first patients.United Kingdom source

Crime & Justice

February 22 – Christopher Seider, an 11-year-old boy in Boston in the British Province of Massachusetts Bay, is shot and killed by a colonial official, Ebenezer Richardson. The funeral sets off anti-British protests that lead to the massacre days later.source
28 April – David Hartley, leader of the Cragg Vale Coiners, is hanged near York.United Kingdom source
July – A civil action is brought against Owen Coffee, an attorney from Clonkeen, County Westmeath by Captain Andrew Armstrong of Castle Armstrong, King's County, for having employed Armstrong's runaway East Indian slave, Peter Kent, while he was still his property. Armstrong is awarded £100 damages.Ireland source
Joseph Priestley, English chemist, recommends the use of a rubber eraser to remove pencil marks.source
The chemist Joseph Priestley recommends the use of a rubber eraser to remove pencil marks.United Kingdom source

Disasters & Accidents

February 1 – Thomas Jefferson's home at Shadwell, Virginia is destroyed by fire, along with most of his books.source
May 20 – A stampede at a celebration of the newly wedded Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste in Paris kills more than a hundred people.source
20 May – A stampede at a celebration of the newly wedded Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste in Paris kills more than a hundred peopleFrance source

Climate & Environment

June 3 – The 7.5 Mw Port-au-Prince earthquake affects the French colony of Saint-Domingue with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 250 or more.source
3 June – The 7.5 Mw Port-au-Prince earthquake affects the French colony of Saint-Domingue with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 250 or moreFrance source

Culture & Society

26 January - Ballet was performed by Madame Stuart, possibly the first ballet ever performed in Oslo.Norway source
March 21 – King Prithvi Narayan Shah shifts to the newly constructed Basantapur Palace, in the capital Kathmandu, as the first King of the Unified Kingdom of Nepal.source
21 March – the College Historical Society, a debating society at Trinity College Dublin, founded by Edmund Burke, holds its first meeting when Burke's Club (founded 1747) merges with the Historical Club (1753).Ireland source
May 16 – 14-year-old Marie Antoinette of Austria marries Louis-Auguste (who in 1774 becomes King Louis XVI) at the Palace of Versailles.source
16 May – 14-year-old Marie Antoinette of Austria marries Louis-Auguste (who in 1774 becomes King Louis XVI) at the Palace of VersaillesFrance source
September – Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter is advertised as a hotel, perhaps the first use of the word in England.United Kingdom source
September - Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, holds his legendary coming-of-age party, to which 15,000 guests are invited. Three coachloads of cooks are sent from London to provide the refreshments, and a hall is built especially for the occasion at Wynnstay.Wales source
8 November – Crown Prince Gustav and his youngest brother travel to Paris.Sweden source
David Dalrymple's anthology of Ancient Scottish Poems is published.Scotland source
Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet - History of the Gwydir Family (posthumously published)Wales source

Births

March 2 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, Marshal of France (died 1826)source
March 20 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (died 1843)source
April 3 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (died 1843)source
April 7 – William Wordsworth, English poet (died 1850)source
April 7 – William Wordsworth, in Cockermouth, England (d.1850)Canada source
April 11 – George Canning, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1827)source
14 April - John Evans, explorer (died 1799)Wales source
25 April - Georg Sverdrup, philologist (died 1850)Norway source
April 30 – David Thompson, English-Canadian explorer (died 1857)source
May 10 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, Marshal of France (died 1823)source
May 15 – Ezekiel Hart, Canadian entrepreneur, politician (died 1843)source
June 3 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentine politician, general in the Independence War (died 1820)source
June 7 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1828)source
August 1 – William Clark, American explorer, Governor of Missouri Territory, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs (died 1838)source
August 3 – King Frederick William III of Prussia (died 1840)source
August 27 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (died 1831)source
November 17: Marta María Stephensen, writer.Iceland source
December 17 (bapt.) – Ludwig van Beethoven, German classical composer (died 1827)source

Deaths

13 January - Howel Davies, Methodist leader, about 54Wales source
February 12 – Christopher Middleton, Hudson's Bay Company captainCanada source
February 26 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer, violinist (born 1692)source
March 5 – Crispus Attucks, African-American dockworker, first to die in the Boston Massacre (born 1723)source
March 27 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Venetian artist (born 1696)source
19 April – Jürgen Christoph von Koppelow, nobleman and officer (born 1684)Norway source
April 25 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, French abbot, physicist (born 1700)source
May 30 – François Boucher, French painter (born 1703)source
July 27 – Robert Dinwiddie, British colonial Governor of Virginia (born 1693)source
August 24 – Thomas Chatterton, English poet (born 1752)source
September 9 – Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, German anatomist (born 1697)source
September 30 – George Whitefield, English-born Methodist leader (born 1714)source
October 14 – Benning Wentworth, colonial governor of New Hampshire (born 1696)source
October 18 – John Manners, Marquess of Granby, British soldier (born 1721)source
November 13 – George Grenville, Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1712)source
December 4 – John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, Irish politician (born 1711)source
The last Cuman to speak the Cuman language (István Varró) dies in Hungary.source
José de Escandón a Spanish colonial leader and the founder of Nuevo Santander.Spain source