date: February 1

text: February 1 – Thomas Jefferson's home at Shadwell, Virginia is destroyed by fire, along with most of his books.


date: May 20

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: 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_section: Events › April–June


date: June 3

section: Climate & Environment

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


date: March 21

section: Culture & Society

text: 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_section: Events › January– March


date: May 16

text: May 16 – 14-year-old Marie Antoinette of Austria marries Louis-Auguste (who in 1774 becomes King Louis XVI) at the Palace of Versailles.


date: March 20

section: Births

text: March 20 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (d. 1843)

source_section: Births


date: April 8

text: April 8 – John Campbell, Australian public servant, politician (d. 1830)


date: April 11

text: April 11 – George Canning, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1827)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – David Thompson, English-Canadian explorer (d. 1857)


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Ezekiel Hart, Canadian entrepreneur, politician (d. 1843)


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Charles Adams, second son of President John Adams (1735–1826) (d. 1800)


text: June 3 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentine politician, general in the Independence War (d. 1820)


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Moses Waddel, American educator/minister and bestselling author (d. 1840)


date: August 1

text: August 1 – William Clark, American explorer, Governor of Missouri Territory, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs (d. 1838)


date: August 3

text: August 3 – King Frederick William III of Prussia (d. 1840)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (d. 1831)


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Baltic German explorer who led the First Russian circumnavigation (d. 1846)


date: November 19

text: November 19 – Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish-Icelandic sculptor (d. 1844)


date: January 20

section: Deaths

text: January 20 – Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)

source_section: Deaths


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (b. 1712)


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Crispus Attucks, African-American dockworker, first to die in the Boston Massacre (b. 1723)


date: March 27

text: March 27 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Venetian artist (b. 1696)


date: May 30

text: May 30 – François Boucher, French painter (b. 1703)


date: July 27

text: July 27 – Robert Dinwiddie, British colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1693)


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Thomas Chatterton, English poet (b. 1752)


date: September 30

text: September 30 – George Whitefield, English-born Methodist leader (b. 1714)


text: September 30 – Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, English politician and diplomat (b. c. 1695)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – John Manners, Marquess of Granby, British soldier (b. 1721)


date: October 24

text: October 24 – William Bartram, American scientist and politician (b. 1711)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. c. 1693)


date: November 13

text: November 13 – George Grenville, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1712)


date: December 4

text: December 4 – John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, Irish politician (b. 1711)


date: January 5

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: January 5 – The Great Kalmyk (Torghut Migration) is led by Ubashi Khan, from the east bank of the Lower Volga River back to the homeland of Dzungaria, at this time under Qing dynasty rule.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Emperor Go-Momozono accedes to the throne of Tokugawa shogunate Japan following his aunt's abdication.


text: The trade monopoly with Iceland is transferred to the Danish crown.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


text: The territory of Baden-Baden is inherited by Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, reunifying the territories of Baden.


text: The North Carolina General Assembly passes an act establishing the town of Martinsborough, named for Royal Governor Josiah Martin, on the land of Richard Evans, which will serve as the seat of Pitt County.


date: March

section: Conflict & Security

text: March – War of the Regulation: North Carolina Governor William Tryon raises a militia to put down the long-running uprising of backcountry militias against North Carolina's colonial government.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – War of the Regulation: North Carolina Governor William Tryon marches his military out of Hillsborough, to come to the aid of General Hugh Waddell's beleaguered forces. Tryon's army stops at Alamance Creek, 5 mi km away from the Regulator army.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – War of the Regulation – Battle of Alamance: Regulators reject an appeal by Governor Tryon to disperse peacefully. Governor Tryon's forces crush the rebellion, causing many Regulators to move to frontier areas outside of North Carolina.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – Battle of Lanckorona: A force of 4,000 Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat a Polish formation of 1,300 men.


date: May

text: May – Three battles of Sarbakusa: An alliance of three of the most powerful aristocrats of Ethiopia (Goshu of Amhara, Wand Bewossen and Fasil of Damot) defeats Ras Mikael Sehul and Emperor Tekle Haymanot II, taking control of Ethiopia.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russian forces occupy the Crimea, under Prince Vasily Dolgorukov.

source_section: Events › July–September


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Siamese conquest of Ha Tien ends the Siamese civil war of 1767-71.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: July 12

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: July 12 – The first voyage of James Cook around the world ends as returns to England after almost three years.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission Vieja, later called, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, in what becomes San Gabriel, California.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Men, women and children of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes begin a 23-day encampment at Mobile, part of the British colony of West Florida, at the invitation of British Southern Indian superintendent John Stuart, as their leaders negotiate a treaty.


section: Religion & Belief

text: Construction of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex in Chengde, China is completed during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.


text: Slovene literature: István Küzmics, the Hungarian Slovene writer and evangelical pastor, publishes (in Halle) the Nouvi Zákon, a translation of the New Testament into the Prekmurje Slovene language, with discrete South Slavic artwork.


date: March 15

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: March 15 – The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers first meets in London, the world's oldest engineering society.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – During the night the River Tyne in the north of England floods, destroying many bridges and killing several people; the replacement main bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne will not be completed until 1781.


text: Limoges porcelain manufacture is established in France.


date: April 4

section: Health & Medicine

text: April 4 – The first quarantines are started in Moscow and Saint Petersburg to fight the bubonic plague epidemic. Over the next 12 months, more than 52,000 people die from the plague in Moscow alone.


date: September 15

text: September 15–17 – The Moscow plague riot results from an outbreak of bubonic plague, which kills 57,000.


date: December 3

section: Crime & Justice

text: December 3 – The cause of action in Sommersett's Case, which eventually leads to the end of slavery in Great Britain, begins when escaped slave James Somerset is found imprisoned on the ship Ann and Mary.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks off the coast of Finland; Captain Raymund Lourens and his crew escape unharmed.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – The North Carolina General Assembly establishes Wake County (named for Margaret Wake, the wife of North Carolina Royal Governor William Tryon) from portions of Cumberland, Johnston and Orange counties. Bloomsberry (later known as Wake Courthouse) is made the informal county seat.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – The Society of Gentlemen Supporters of the Bill of Rights meets in the London Tavern and changes its platform to a comprehensive program for British parliamentary reform in advance of the next election.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – The first recorded town cricket match is played, at Horsham, England.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – The opera Ascanio in Alba by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15, premieres in Milan.


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Antoine-Jean Gros, French painter (d. 1835)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Germanos III of Old Patras, Greek Metropolitan Bishop of Patras (d. 1826)


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820)


date: May 11

text: May 11 – Laskarina Bouboulina, Greek independence heroine (d. 1825)


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Robert Owen, Welsh social reformer (d. 1858)


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Louis Henri Loison, French general (d. 1816)


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (d. 1851)


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French-American chemist, industrialist (d. 1834)


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Austrian general, statesman (d. 1847)


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Mungo Park, Scottish explorer (d. 1806)


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Emperor Kōkaku of Japan (d. 1840)


text: October 9 – Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (d. 1815)


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and pathologist (d. 1802)


date: December 27

text: December 27 – William Johnson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1834)


date: January 5

text: January 5 – John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)


date: January 11

text: January 11 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Upon the death of Adolf Frederick, he is succeeded as King of Sweden by his son Gustav III. At the time, however, Gustav is unaware of this, since he is abroad in Paris; the news of his father's death reaches him about a month later.


text: February 12 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (b. 1710)


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury, English philanthropist (b. 1711)


text: June 5 – Samuel Phillips (reverend), colonial American minister, 1st Pastor of the South Church in Andover (b. 1690)


date: June 8

text: June 8 – George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English statesman (b. 1716)


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Thomas Gray, English writer (b. 1716)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (b. 1721)


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Charles Lucas (politician), Irish apothecary (b. 1713)


date: December 6

text: December 6 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (b. 1682)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)


date: February 17

text: February 17 – The First Partition of Poland is agreed to by Russia and Prussia, later including Austria.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: April 8

text: April 8 – Massachusetts legislator Samuel Adams persuades his colleagues to approve his plan for creating a Committee of Correspondence to begin a dialogue with the other American colonies concerning mutual problems with England.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – The Watauga Association Compact is signed in what is now East Tennessee by a group of white settlers led by William Bean, creating the first non-colonial government body in British North America.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Somersett's Case: Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, delivers the decision that leads to the end of slavery in England.


date: August 5

text: August 5 – The first Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth begins. The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria becomes part of the crown lands of the Habsburg monarchy.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor of India, makes a triumphant return to Delhi 15 years after having been forced to flee.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Gaspee Affair: In an act of defiance against the British Navigation Acts, American patriots, led by Abraham Whipple, attack and burn the British customs schooner HMS Gaspee off of Rhode Island.


date: June 23

text: June 23–28 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): First of two Russian occupations of Beirut, following a naval bombardment which began on June 18.


date: August 21

text: August 21 – A coup d'état by King Gustav III is completed by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden, and making him an enlightened despot.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Breton-French explorer Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec discovers the uninhabited Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Pedro Fages, the Spanish Governor of Alta California, and Juan Crespí, a Catholic priest, set off from the capital at Monterey with a party of 12 soldiers and begin the first European exploration of the lands around San Francisco Bay.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – The second voyage of James Cook departs from Plymouth on Captain Cook's new ship, HMS Resolution and the companion ship HMS Adventure in an attempt to prove the existence of an uncharted continent even further south than New Zealand.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Basque-Spanish explorer Domingo de Bonechea, in the Aguila, sights Tauere atoll, which he names San Simon y Judas.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Second voyage of James Cook: The crew of finds that the ice floes encountered on their journey south are a source of fresh water, a "discovery... of utmost importance to the success of the voyage."


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.


date: June 10

section: Economy & Finance

text: June 10 – The crisis of 1772 is triggered when, following the flight of their partner Alexander Fordyce to France, the London banking house of Neal, James, Fordyce and Down (which has been speculating in East India Company stock) suspends payment. The resultant panic causes other banks to fail, extends to Scotland, Amsterdam and the Thirteen Colonies and threatens the East India Company with bankruptcy.


date: March 8

section: Science & Discovery

text: March 8 – Biela's Comet is first discovered by French astronomer Jacques Leibax Montaigne, but not proven to be a periodic comet until 1826, when Wilhelm von Biela correctly identifies its return.


text: Scottish scientist Daniel Rutherford discovers nitrogen gas, isolating it from air.


text: December 14 – Russian government offices reopen at Moscow and Saint Petersburg after being closed for 15 months because of an epidemic of bubonic plague.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda are arrested, leading to his execution and her banishment from Denmark.


text: February 12 – The Virginia Assembly amends an act to describe the punishments for the practice of gouging.


text: Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, demands that all bodies remain unburied for three days to ensure that death has actually taken place.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – The volcano Mount Papandayan in West Java erupts and partially collapses, the debris avalanche killing several thousand.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Warren Hastings begins his service for the British East India Company as Governor of Bengal, arriving at the company's headquarters at Fort William, outside of Calcutta, and including what are now parts of northeast India and Bangladesh. Hastings serves for two years, then later becomes Governor-General of India.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Angélique Brûlon, French soldier, first female Knight of the French Legion of Honour (d. 1859)


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Godfrey Higgins, British archaeologist (d. 1833)


date: February 24

text: February 24 – William H. Crawford, American politician, judge (d. 1834)


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Friedrich von Schlegel, German poet (d. 1829)


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Nachman of Breslov, Hasidic rabbi and founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement (d. 1810)


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)


date: April 18

text: April 18 – David Ricardo, British economist (d. 1823)


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Novalis, German poet (d. 1801)


date: May 20

text: May 20 – William Congreve, British rocket pioneer (d. 1828)


date: July 11

text: July 11 – John Rodgers, American naval officer (d. 1838)


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien (d. 1804)


date: September 27

text: September 27 – Martha Jefferson Randolph, Acting First Lady of the United States (1801–1809) (d. 1836)


date: October 21

text: October 21 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet and philosopher (d. 1834)


date: November 8

text: November 8 – William Wirt, 9th United States Attorney General (d. 1834)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (b. 1719)


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (b. 1712)


date: March 29

text: March 29 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, Danish royal physician and de facto regent, executed (b. 1737)


date: June 18

text: June 18 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-born Austrian physician (b. 1700)


date: June 22

text: June 22 – François-Vincent Toussaint, French writer most famous for Les Mœurs (The Manners) (b. 1715)


date: September 30

text: September 30 – James Brindley, English canal builder (b. 1716)


date: October 7

text: October 7 – John Woolman, American Quaker preacher, abolitionist (b. 1720)


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist, composer (b. 1711)


date: October 16

text: October 16 – Ahmad Shah Durrani, Afghan founder of the Durrani Empire (cancer) (b. 1724)


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Pedro Antonio Joaquim Correa da Serra Garção, Portuguese poet (b. 1724)


date: November 18

text: November 18 – Madhavrao I, ruler of India (b. 1745)


date: November 19

text: November 19 – William Nelson, American colonial governor of Virginia (b. 1711)


date: December 4

text: December 4 – Dov Ber of Mezeritch, the Great Maggid, a preacher and founder of Hasidism.


date: April 27

text: April 27 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act (coming into force on May 10), designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – The Regulating Act is given royal assent by King George III, creating the office of Governor General, with an advising council, to exercise political authority over the territory under British East India Company rule in India.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – In Egypt, Ottoman rebels revolt, killing Ali Bey, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): Second of the Russian occupations of Beirut begins, following a naval bombardment which began on August 2. The Russians leave Albanian mercenaries as an occupying force.


text: Emelian Pugachev starts Pugachev's Rebellion in Russia, attacking and occupying Samara.


text: Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): Russian forces fail to take Silistria.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in HMS Resolution (1771) becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.


date: March 9

text: March 9–19 – Second voyage of James Cook: Tobias Furneaux in explores the coast of Van Diemen's Land.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – 1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole sets out from Britain.


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Second voyage of James Cook in the Tuamotus: Captain Cook discovers Tekokota, which he names Doubtful Island.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Second voyage of James Cook in the Tuamotus: Captain Cook discovers Marutea Nord, which he names Furneaux Island.


text: October 10 – Daniel Boone leads the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement in Kentucky, but is turned back in an attack by Native Americans, in which his son is killed.


text: November 10 – Four ships – the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, the Beaver and the William – depart Britain for America, carrying the first Indian tea to be subject to the newly enacted taxes. The William is lost in a storm; the Dartmouth is the first ship to reach Boston, docking on November 28.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Boston Tea Party: A group of American colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, steal aboard ships of the East India Company and dump their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor, in protest against British tax policies.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The hymn that becomes known as Amazing Grace, at this time titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17", is first used to accompany a sermon led by curate John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – The Grand Council of Poland meets in Warsaw, summoned by a circular letter from King Stanisław August Poniatowski to respond to the Kingdom's threatened partition between three foreign powers.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – The construction of Christ Church (Alexandria, Virginia), known for being the house of worship for George Washington and the visiting site for subsequent U.S. presidents, is completed.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – The first annual conference of American Methodists is convened at Philadelphia in St. George's Church.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Under pressure from the Bourbon courts, Pope Clement XIV suppresses the Society of Jesus (brief Dominus ac Redemptor). Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, expels the order from his territories.


text: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock publishes the last five cantos of his epic poem Der Messias in Hamburg.


text: Marsala wine first shipped to England.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – French astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting, grand design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 31 million light-years, in the constellation Canes Venatici.


text: Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea.


text: Scottish judge James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, begins publication of Of the Origin and Progress of Language, a contribution to evolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment.


text: John Harrison wins the Longitude prize, for his invention of the marine chronometer.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – The Public Advertiser publishes a satirical essay titled Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One, written by Benjamin Franklin.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – America's first insane asylum opens for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds in Williamsburg, Virginia.


date: July 29

text: July 29 (Feast of St Martha) – Guatemala earthquake: The Santa Marta earthquake hits, with an estimated epicentral magnitude of 7.5 M i , striking Guatemala; numerous aftershocks last until December. The city of Antigua Guatemala is virtually destroyed, leading to the decision to move the country's capital to La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – The first museum in the American colonies is established in Charleston, South Carolina; in 1915, it is formally incorporated as the Charleston Museum.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – The first opera performance in the Swedish language, Thetis and Phelée, performed by Carl Stenborg and Elisabeth Olin in Bollhuset in Stockholm, Sweden, marks the establishment of the Royal Swedish Opera.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – The popular (and enduring) comedy She Stoops to Conquer, by Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith, is performed for the first time, premiering at London's Covent Garden Theatre.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Paul Revere marries Rachel Walker, his second wife.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Polish for National Education Committee), formed in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, is considered to be the world's first ministry of education.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Moscow State Academy of Choreography was founded under the reign of Catherine II. It is the second ballet school in Russia after Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.


text: Istanbul Technical University is established (under the name of Royal School of Naval Engineering) as the world's first comprehensive institution of higher learning dedicated to engineering education.


text: In China, written work begins on the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, the largest literary compilation of books in China's history (surpassing the Yongle Encyclopedia of the 15th Century). Upon completion in 1782, the books are bound in 36,381 volumes (册) with more than 79,000 chapters (卷), comprising about 2.3 million pages, and approximately 800 million Chinese characters.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst, British ambassador to China, Governor-General of India (d. 1857)


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Prince Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Sussex (d. 1843)


date: March 26

text: March 26 – Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician (d. 1838)


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Étienne Maurice Gérard, Prime Minister and Marshal of France (d. 1852)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Marie Boivin, French midwife, inventor and obstetrics writer (d. 1841)


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, Prime Minister of France (d. 1854)


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (d. 1859)


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Thomas Young, English scientist (d. 1829)


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer, Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Jonathan Alder, American settler (d. 1849)


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Shadrach Bond, American politician and the first governor of Illinois (d. 1832)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general, diplomat (d. 1827)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (d. 1858)


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer (d. 1857)


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Manuel Pinto da Fonseca, 68th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1681)


text: January 23 – Pieter van Reede van Oudtshoorn, Dutch administrator of the Cape Colony (b. 1714)


date: February 20

text: February 20 – King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect (b. 1700)


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters (b. 1694)


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (b. 1728)


date: May 28

text: May 28 – John Wayles, American lawyer and planter (b. 1715)


date: June 21

text: June 21 – Jorge Juan y Santacilia, Spanish geodesist (b. 1713)


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Mentewab, dowager Empress of Ethiopia (b. c. 1706)


text: July 23 – George Edwards, English ornithologist and naturalist (b. 1694)


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Septimanie d'Egmont, French salonist (b. 1740)


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine, French royal (b. 1714)


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (b. 1721)


date: November 19

text: November 19 – James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (b. 1722)


date: February 6

text: February 6 – The Parlement of Paris votes a sentence of civil degradation, depriving Pierre Beaumarchais of all rights and duties of citizenship.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – The Province of Massachusetts Bay House of Representatives votes, 92 to 8, to impeach Superior Court Chief Justice Peter Oliver, but Provincial Governor Thomas Hutchinson refuses to allow the trial to proceed.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – The Boston Journal makes the first reference to the "Stars and Stripes" flag to symbolize the American colonies, reporting that "The American ensign now sparkles a door which shall shortly flame from the skies."


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Intolerable Acts: The British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston, Massachusetts, as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – The colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations issues the first call for an "Intercolonial Congress" that eventually is set up as the Continental Congress.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America, enlarging its territory as far south as the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi River, in the area now occupied by the U.S. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and granting freedom of religion for Roman Catholics.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca with Russian victory, ending six years of war. The treaty gives Russia the right to intervene in Ottoman politics, to protect its Christian subjects.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – The First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – George Mason and George Washington found the Fairfax County Militia Association, a military unit independent of British control.


text: October 14 – The Continental Congress in America adopts the Declaration of Rights and Resolves, with 10 principles.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – The First Continental Congress passes the Continental Association, a colony-wide boycotting of British goods. Theater performances in the American colonies are also halted, on the Congress's recommendation that the member colonies "discountenance and discourage all horse racing and all kinds of gaming, cock fighting, exhibitions of shows, plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments."


date: October 26

text: October 26 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – 1774 British general election: Voting for the House of Commons concludes in Great Britain, and Lord North retains the office of Prime Minister as his Tory coalition wins 343 of the 558 seats. Henry Seymour Conway's Whig Party wins the other 215 seats.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – The government of the Republic of Venice allows adventurer and ladies' man Giacomo Casanova to return home after a 17-year absence.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Daniel Boone retires from the Virginia colonial militia in order to devote his full time to establishing a settlement in Kentucky.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Thomas Paine, a native of England, arrives in America at the age 37 and soon becomes an influential advocate for the colonies' independence.


text: November 30 – Parliament adjourns in Great Britain, but declines to authorize any action against the rebellious American colonies, despite an address the day before by King George III and Prime Minister North.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – Empress Maria Theresa, the ruler of Austria, Hungary and Croatia, signs the General School Ordinance providing for education for both males and females and setting compulsory education for children aged six through 12.


date: June 20

text: June 20 (June 9 O.S.) – Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): Battle of Kozludzha – The Imperial Russian Army, led by Alexander Suvorov, routs numerically superior Ottoman Empire forces.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Powder Alarm: Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, orders British soldiers to remove gunpowder from a magazine, causing Patriots to prepare for war.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Yemelyan Pugachev, leader of Pugachev's Rebellion against Russia by the Yaik Cossacks, is betrayed by his own men after returning to Yaitsk (now Oral, Kazakhstan).


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Dunmore's War – Battle of Point Pleasant: Cornstalk is forced to make peace with Dunmore at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, ceding Shawnee land claims south of the Ohio (modern Kentucky) to Virginia.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Salawat Yulayev, the leader of the Bashkirs rebellion against the Russian government, is captured, bringing an end to the insurrection.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – A boycott called by the Continental Congress goes into effect, as participating merchants and supporters cease the importation or consumption of products from Great Britain, Ireland or the British West Indies.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – The two month long Siege of Melilla begins as armies led by the Sultan of Morocco, Mohammed ben Abdallah, attack the North African Spanish colony of Melilla (which remains a part of Spain into the 21st century).


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Shakers Ann Lee and eight followers sail from Liverpool, England for colonial America.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Intolerable Acts: A new Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide better housing for British soldiers upon demand, is passed.


date: June 16

text: June 16–17 – English explorer James Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Palmerston Island in the South Pacific Ocean.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – English explorer James Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) the island of New Caledonia in Melanesia.


text: October 10 – English explorer James Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean, uninhabited at this date.


date: October 21

text: October 21 – The word Liberty is first displayed on a flag raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts, in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Spanish Navy Captain Domingo de Bonechea arrives at Tahiti in the ship Aguila and tries unsuccessfully to claim it for Spain and to convert the Tahitians to the Roman Catholic faith.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – The Privy Council of Great Britain, as advisors to King George III, votes for the King's abolition of free land grants of North American lands. Henceforward, land is to be sold at auction to the highest bidder.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – The first avowedly Unitarian congregation, Essex Street Chapel, is founded in London by Theophilus Lindsey.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – King Louis XVI of France issues a declaration that, for the first time, protects "the free commerce of meat during Lent" to support the needs of "the poor whose infirmity requires them to eat meat."


date: January 27

text: January 27 – British industrialist John Wilkinson patents a method for boring cannon from the solid, subsequently utilised for accurate boring of steam engine cylinders.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – The volunteer fire company of Trenton, New Jersey, predecessor to the paid Trenton Fire Department created in 1892, is founded. In 1905, at 131 years, it claims to be the oldest continuously serving department in the U.S.


text: German cobbler Johann Birkenstock creates the first Birkenstock sandals.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – The element oxygen is discovered for the third time (the second quantitatively, following the somewhat earlier work of Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1771–72) by Joseph Priestley, who publishes the fact in 1775, and so names the element (and usually gets all the credit, because his work was published first).


date: November 26

text: November 26 – English chemist Joseph Priestley becomes the first person to discover and identify sulfur dioxide.


text: A revision of the laws of cricket introduces a leg before wicket rule.


text: January 27 – An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and feathers British customs collector and Loyalist John Malcolm, for striking a boy and a shoemaker, George Hewes, with his cane.


text: To avoid severe flooding, Martinsborough, North Carolina is moved to higher ground 3 mi km west. The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Martinsborough as the new seat of Pitt County, 3 years after its founding.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – The premiere of Iphigénie en Aulide by Christoph Willibald Gluck sparks a huge controversy, almost a war, such as has not been seen in Paris since the Querelle des Bouffons.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Ann Lee and the Shakers arrive in America and settle in New York.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's semi-autobiographical epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) (written January–March) is published anonymously in Leipzig, Germany; it is influential in the Sturm und Drang movement and Romanticism.


date: October 25

text: October 25 – The Edenton Tea Party takes place in North Carolina, marking the first major gathering of women in support of the American cause.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – The Maryland Jockey Club follows a recommendation of the Continental Congress and cancels its race schedule. The decision sets a precedent for other jockey clubs in the colonies, and no major races are held until the end of the American Revolution.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, British and Hanoverian Royal (d. 1850)

source_section: Births › February


date: February 26

text: February 26 – William Farquhar, first British Resident and Commandant of colonial Singapore (d. 1839)


date: June 2

text: June 2 – William Lawson, English-born Australian explorer and politician (d. 1850)

source_section: Births › June


date: June 21

text: June 21 – Daniel D. Tompkins, American politician; sixth vice president of the United States (d. 1825)


date: August 13

text: August 13 – Hipólito da Costa, Brazilian journalist and diplomat (d. 1823)

source_section: Births › August


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Meriwether Lewis, American explorer, soldier and public administrator (d. 1809)


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, co-founder of Mount St. Mary's University in the United States, founder of the Sisters of Charity (d. 1821)


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Vedanayagam Sastriar Tamil Lutheran hymnwriter and court poet (d. 1864)

source_section: Births › September


date: September 8

text: September 8 – Anne Catherine Emmerich, German Augustinian Canoness, mystic, Marian visionary, ecstatic and stigmatist (d. 1824)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Lord William Bentinck, First Governor General of India, British soldier and statesman (d. 1839)


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Johnny Appleseed, (John Chapman), American nurseryman and Swedenborgian missionary (d. 1845)


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Henry Duncan, British geologist, priest and social reformer (d. 1846)

source_section: Births › October


date: October 12

text: October 12 – George J. F. Clarke, prominent citizen of East Florida (d. 1836)


date: October 15

text: October 15 – John Boit, one of the first Americans involved in the maritime fur trade (d. 1829)


date: January 21

text: January 21 – Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French explorer, geographer, and mathematician (b. 1701)

source_section: Deaths › February


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Karl Michael von Attems, Austrian Catholic archbishop and prince of the Holy Roman Empire (b. 1711)


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Oliver Goldsmith, Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and physician (b. 1728)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: April 29

text: April 29 – Eland Mossom, lawyer, recorder of the City of Kilkenny and representative in the Parliament of Ireland (b. 1709)


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué, German general (b. 1698)

source_section: Deaths › May


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Timothy Woodbridge, Superintendent of Indian Affairs (b. 1709)


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, British politician (b. 1705)

source_section: Deaths › July


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, internationally known Italian anatomist and anatomical wax modeller (b. 1714)


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire (b. 1715)


date: July 14

text: July 14 – James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley, Irish officer in the British Army (b. 1682)


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland, British baroness; eldest of the Lennox sisters (b. 1723)


date: October 23

text: October 23 – Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary, scientist (b. 1715)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Thomas Broughton, English clergyman, biographer and miscellaneous writer (b. 1704)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook takes possession of South Georgia for the Kingdom of Great Britain.

source_section: Events › January–June


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Raghunathrao, Peshwa of the Maratha Empire in India, signs the Treaty of Surat with the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in Bombay ceding the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the British East India Company along with part of the revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts in return for military assistance. This leads to the First Anglo-Maratha War fought between the British and the Marathas, ending with the Treaty of Salbai in 1782.


date: June 14

text: June 14 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress names George Washington as commander of the Continental Army.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – The post of Commanding General is created by the Continental Congress.


date: July 26

text: July 26 – The Second Continental Congress appoints Benjamin Franklin to be the first Postmaster General of what later becomes the United States Post Office Department.

source_section: Events › July–December


date: October 13

text: October 13 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later the United States Navy).


date: November 7

text: November 7 – American Revolution: John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, British royal governor of the Colony of Virginia, signs Dunmore's Proclamation, declaring martial law and offering freedom to slaves of Patriots who run away from their owners and join the Loyalist forces (formal proclamation November 15) thus losing the support of planters who see slaves as their vital livelihood.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress passes a resolution creating the Continental Marines to serve as landing troops for the recently created Continental Navy (the Marines are disbanded at end of the war in April 1783 but reformed on July 11, 1798 as the United States Marine Corps).


text: The Calcutta Theatre is inaugurated.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


text: Catherine the Great decrees a Statute for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire dividing the country into provinces and districts for efficient government.


text: The Second Continental Congress meets, elects John Hancock president, raises the Continental Army under George Washington as commander and authorizes the colonies to adopt their own constitutions.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Siamese conquest of Chiang Mai and the Lan Na Kingdom.


date: January

text: January – The Habsburg monarchy forces the Ottoman Empire to cede Bukovina to its rule.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – American Revolution: The Parliament of Great Britain declares the Province of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion.


date: March 23

text: March 23 – American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention after the Virginia House of Burgesses was disbanded by the Royal Governor, delivers his "Give me Liberty or give me Death!" speech at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – American Revolution: Paul Revere and William Dawes, instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren, ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams that British forces are coming to take them prisoner and to seize colonial weapons and ammunition in Concord.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – American Revolution – Battles of Lexington and Concord: Hostility between Britain and its American colonies explodes into bloodshed, igniting the American Revolutionary War.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Machias: In the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, Patriot forces capture the schooner HMS Margaretta.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – American Revolution:


date: June 17

text: June 17 – American Revolution: Two months into the colonial siege of Boston, British open fire on Breed's Hill on Charles Town Peninsula. After 3 charges, the British take the hill in the Battle of Bunker Hill.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – American Revolution: George Washington takes command of the 17,000-man Continental Army at Cambridge.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress sends the Olive Branch Petition, hoping for a reconciliation.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress issues Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which contains the words: "Our cause is just. Our union is perfect... being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves...".


date: August 21

text: August 21 – American Revolution – Siege of Fort St. Jean: American rebels launch an invasion of Canada.


date: August 23

text: August 23 – American Revolution: Refusing to even look at the Olive Branch Petition, King George issues a Proclamation of Rebellion against the American colonies.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – American Revolution: Siege of Fort St. Jean – Battle of Longue-Pointe: Thirteen Colonies revolutionary forces under Maj. Ethan Allen attack Montreal in Quebec, commanded by British General Guy Carleton. Allen's forces are defeated, and Allen himself is captured and held on British ships until he is released.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – American Revolution: George III announces to Parliament that the American colonies are in an uprising and must be dealt with accordingly.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – American Revolution: Battle of Montreal – American forces under Brigadier General Richard Montgomery capture Montreal. British General Guy Carleton escapes to Quebec.


date: November

text: November – American Revolution: Colonel Richard Richardson's South Carolina revolutionaries march through Ninety-Six District in what becomes known as the Snow Campaign, effectively ending all major support for the Loyalist cause in the backcountry of South Carolina.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – American Revolution: Henry Knox begins his journey to Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that has been captured from Fort Ticonderoga.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – American Revolution: Battle of Quebec – British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery is killed.


text: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, capture Fort Ticonderoga.


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Second voyage of James Cook: anchors off the south coast of England, Captain Cook having completed the first eastbound global circumnavigation.


text: Action by citizens of Machias, Maine, in capturing British ships recognises the existence of a United States Merchant Marine.


text: The British forces offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms.


text: Probable date – Jeanne Baret returns to France, becoming the first woman to complete a circumnavigation of the globe.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Pope Pius VI succeeds Pope Clement XIV as the 250th pope.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Catherine the Great of Russia issues a manifesto prohibiting freed serfs from being returned to serfdom.


text: Shneur Zalman of Liadi founds the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish dynasty.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – The post of chief engineer of the Continental Army is created.


text: Breguet, one of the oldest Swiss luxury watch brands, clock and jewelry manufacturers is founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris.


text: Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.


text: John Wilkinson invents and patents a new kind of boring machine.


text: James Watt's 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament and the first engines are built under it.


text: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart writes his five violin concertos in Salzburg at about this date.


text: A smallpox epidemic begins in New England.


date: October

text: October – The Sayre Plotters attempt to kidnap George III of the United Kingdom.


date: February 26

text: February 26 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – September 12 – The Independence Hurricane from South Carolina to Nova Scotia kills 4,170, mostly fishermen and sailors.


text: Typhoon Liengkieki devastates the Pacific atoll of Pingelap.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart finishes a Sonata for Keyboard in C.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – Coronation of Louis XVI takes place in Reims. The last coronation of the Ancien Regime before the French Revolution


date: November 17

text: November 17 – The city of Kuopio, Finland (belonging to Sweden at this time) is founded by King Gustav III of Sweden.


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (d. 1854)

source_section: Births › January–March


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Israel Gregg, first captain of the historic American steamboat Enterprise (1814) (d. 1847)


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Henry Eckford, Scottish-born American shipbuilder, naval architect, industrial engineer, entrepreneur (d. 1832)


text: March 17 – Ninian Edwards, founding political figure of the state of Illinois (d. 1833)


date: April 23

text: April 23 – J. M. W. Turner, English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker (d. 1851)

source_section: Births › April–June


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen consort of Portugal (d. 1830)


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle, French cavalry general during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (d. 1809)


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Georg Friedrich Grotefend, German epigraphist and philologist (d. 1853)


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal and private detective agent (d. 1857)

source_section: Births › July–September


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Daniel O'Connell, Ireland's predominant political leader (d. 1847)


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the War of 1812 (d. 1868)


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Lyman Beecher, American Presbyterian minister and patriarch (d. 1863)

source_section: Births › October–December


date: October 15

text: October 15 – Bernhard Crusell, Swedish-Finnish clarinetist and composer 1838)


date: December 28

text: December 28 – Pierre François Étienne Bouvet de Maisonneuve, French admiral (d. 1860)


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Ahmad Shah Bahadur, 13th Mughal Emperor (b. 1725)

source_section: Deaths › January


date: January 10

text: January 10 – Yemelyan Pugachev, leader of a Russian peasant uprising (b. 1742)


text: January 10 – Stringer Lawrence, Early British military leader in India (b. 1697)


date: January 21

text: January 21 – Isaac de Forcade de Biaix, Prussian colonel (b. 1704)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Thomas Penn, son of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (b. 1702)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Isaac Davis, American gunsmith and militia officer (b. 1745)


text: May 10 – Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen consort of Denmark and Norway, 1766–1772 (b. 1751)


date: June 17

text: June 17 – Andrew McClary, soldier and major in the Continental Army during the American Revolution (b. 1730)

source_section: Deaths › June


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, Prussian merchant, art dealer and diplomat (b. 1710)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: August 21

text: August 21 – Zahir al-Umar, Arab ruler of northern Palestine (b. 1689)


date: October 13

text: October 13 – James Cholmondeley, British Army officer, Member of Parliament (b. 1708)


date: October 22

text: October 22 – Peyton Randolph, planter and public official from the Colony of Virginia (b. 1721)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Francisco Ximénez de Tejada, Spanish knight, 69th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1703)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Richard Montgomery, American general (killed in battle) (b. 1738)


date: January 20

text: January 20 – American Revolution: South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham sign a petition from prison, agreeing to all demands for peace by the formed state government of South Carolina.

source_section: Events › January–February


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Peshwa of the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company sign the Treaty of Purandar in which the British are able to secure Salsette Island and accept Sawai Madhavrao as a new Peshwa. The Marathas agree not to recognise existence of the French in India.

source_section: Events › March–April


date: April 12

text: April 12 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina produces the Halifax Resolves, making it the first British colony to officially authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.

source_section: Events › May–June


date: June 7

text: June 7 – American Revolution: Lee Resolution – Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes to the Second Continental Congress (meeting in Philadelphia) that "these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."


date: June 11

text: June 11 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress appoints a Committee of Five to draft a Declaration of Independence.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – American Revolution: The Virginia Declaration of Rights (by George Mason) is adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – American Revolution: Delaware Separation Day – The Delaware General Assembly votes to suspend government under the British Crown.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – American Revolution: United States Declaration of Independence – The Continental Congress approves the declaration by the United States of its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The text was drafted during June by Benjamin Franklin.

source_section: Events › July–August


date: August 1

text: August 1 – The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata is established in southern South America.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Delegates of most of the American colonies sign the Declaration of Independence.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – American Revolution: The first Hessian troops land on Staten Island, to join British forces.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – The Continental Congress officially names its union of states the United States (previously the United Colonies).

source_section: Events › September–October


date: December 6

text: December 6 – The General Assembly of Virginia votes to create Kentucky County as the portion of the colony's Fincastle County that is located west of the Cumberland Mountains.

source_section: Events › November–December


date: December 12

text: December 12 – The second Continental Congress ends after a session that began on May 10, 1775, and continued for 582 days.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.


text: Adlan II becomes ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – American Revolutionary War: Burning of Norfolk – The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – American Revolutionary War: American Patriots capture Dorchester Heights, dominating the port of Boston.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – American Revolutionary War: Threatened by Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston, ending the 11‑month Siege of Boston.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – American Revolutionary War: American Patriots conduct a Raid on Tybee Island, primarily seeking to capture runaway slaves who sought refuge with British forces stationed there.


date: May 15

text: May 15–26 – American Revolution: Battle of the Cedars – British forces skirmish with the American Continental Army around Les Cèdres, Quebec.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – American Revolution: Battle of Trois-Rivières – The invading American Continental Army is driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.


date: June 28

text: June 28 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Sullivan's Island – South Carolina militia repel a British attack on Charleston.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet – The American Continental Navy successfully challenges the British Royal Navy blockade off New Jersey.


date: July 8

text: July 8 – American Revolution: The Liberty Bell rings in Philadelphia for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – American Revolution – An angry mob in New York City topples and beheads the equestrian statue of George III of Great Britain in Bowling Green; much of its metal content will be used to make musket balls.


date: August 27

text: August 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Long Island – George Washington's troops are defeated in Brooklyn by the British, under William Howe.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Cherokee–American wars: The invasion of the Cherokee Nation by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroy 36 Cherokee towns.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – American Revolutionary War: World's first submarine attack – The American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship in New York Harbor.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – American Revolutionary War: An abortive peace conference takes place between the British and Americans, on Staten Island.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – American Revolutionary War: Landing at Kip's Bay – British troops land on Manhattan at Kips Bay.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Harlem Heights – The Continental Army under Washington is victorious against the British on Manhattan.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – American Revolutionary War – Nathan Hale is executed by the British in New York City for espionage.


date: October 11

text: October 11 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Valcour Island – On Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats, commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold's ships are destroyed, the two-day-long battle will give Patriot forces enough time to prepare the defenses of New York City.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Pell's Point – Troops of the American Continental Army resist a British and Hessian force in The Bronx.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of White Plains – British forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fort Washington – Hessian forces under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen capture Fort Washington (Manhattan) from the American Continental Army.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fort Lee – The invasion of New Jersey, by British and Hessian forces, leads to the subsequent general retreat of the American Continental Army.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – American Revolution: George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River – At 6 p.m. Gen. George Washington and his troops, numbering 2,400, march to McConkey's Ferry, cross the Delaware River and land on the New Jersey bank by 3 a.m. the following morning.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trenton – Washington's troops surprise the 1,500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only five wounded.


date: March

text: March – Restrictions on the grain trade in Sweden are lifted.


date: June 17

text: June 17 – Lt. José Joaquín Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29 and, with Father Francisco Palóu, constructing the Mission San Francisco de Asís ("Mission Dolores") of the new Presidio of San Francisco, the oldest surviving building in the modern-day city.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth, England, in HMS Resolution on his third voyage, to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic, which will be fatal to him.


date: July 29

text: July 29 – Domínguez–Escalante expedition: Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an 1800-mile (2900 km) trek through the American Southwest. They are the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Adam Weishaupt founds the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – Father Francisco Palóu founds the Mission San Francisco de Asís, in what becomes San Francisco.


text: The first commercial examples of the Watt steam engine are sold.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Scottish economist Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations in London.


date: June 6

text: June 6 – A fire destroys major parts of the town of Askersund, Sweden.


date: September 20

text: September 20 – The Great Fire of New York (1776) starts during the night, ending the following morning.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – A hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing more than 6,000 people.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense, arguing for independence from British rule in the Thirteen Colonies.


text: March 28 – Foundation of the ballet troupe which becomes the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, Russian Empire.


date: July 4

text: July 4 - The Albertina art museum is founded in Vienna, Austria.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Mozart's Serenade No. 7 (the "Haffner") is first performed in Salzburg, Austria.


date: August

text: August – The guild organisation Marchandes de modes is founded in Paris.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.


date: September 24

text: September 24 – The Bolshoi Theatre company hosts its first annual opera season, with the opening of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.


text: September 24 – The first running of the St Leger Stakes horse race (not yet named) in England, first of the British Classic Races, devised by Anthony St Leger (British Army officer), takes place on Cantley Common at Doncaster. The winner is a filly (later named Allabaculia) owned by the organiser, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Crown Prince Paul of Russia marries Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – The Phi Beta Kappa society is founded at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – American Revolution – Thomas Paine, living with Washington's troops, publishes the first in the series of pamphlets on The American Crisis in The Pennsylvania Journal, opening with the stirring phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls."


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, Roman-born British prince (d. 1834)

source_section: Births


date: January 24

text: January 24 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German writer, composer and painter (d. 1822)


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Governor of Greece (d. 1831)


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Mary Young Pickersgill, American maker of the Star Spangled Banner flag (d. 1857)


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary, Archduke of Austria (d. 1847)


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia (d. 1810)


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician (d. 1831)


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Johann Friedrich Herbart, German philosopher, psychologist (d. 1841)


date: June 11

text: June 11 – John Constable, English landscape painter (d. 1837)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Danish-German statesman, historian (d. 1831)


text: September 17 – Langdon Cheves, American politician (d. 1857)


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Robert Townsend Farquhar, British colonial administrator (d. 1830)


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Robert Trimble, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1828)


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este, second wife of Charles Theodore (d. 1848)


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Edward Cornwallis, British military officer, first Governor of Nova Scotia (b. 1713)

source_section: Deaths


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Jane Randolph Jefferson, wife of Peter Jefferson and the mother of US president Thomas Jefferson (b. 1720)


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Jacob Emden, leading German rabbi and talmudist who championed Orthodox Judaism (b. 1697)


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Jeongjo becomes the King of Joseon following the death of his grandfather Yeongjo.


date: April 29

text: April 29 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English traveller and writer (b. 1713)


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Death of King Hsinbyushin of the Konbaung dynasty in Burma.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Elizabeth Scott, British-American poet and Christian hymnwriter (b. 1708)


date: July 16

text: July 16 – Countess Palatine Francisca Christina of Sulzbach, Princess-abbess of Essen Abbey and Thorn Abbey (b. 1696)


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Edward Bentham, Oxford based theologian who in 1763 (b. 1707)


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Louis François, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b. 1717)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher (b. 1711)


text: August 25 – Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume dies in Edinburgh.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary War captain, writer and patriot (executed) (b. 1755)


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, British duchess; Lady of the Bedchamber (b. 1716)


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Vermont declares its independence from New York, becoming the Vermont Republic, an independent country, a status it retains until it joins the United States as the 14th state in 1791.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: January 21

text: January 21 – The Continental Congress approves a resolution "that an unauthentic copy, with names of the signers of the Declaration of independence, be sent to each of the United States.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – Under the 1st Constitution of Georgia, 8 counties are chartered: Burke, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Richmond, and Wilkes. This dissolves the existing parishes of St. George, St. Mary's, St. Thomas, St. Phillip, Christ Church, St. David, St. Matthews, St. Andrew, St. James, St. Johns, and St. Paul.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – The Fourth Continental Congress, with John Hancock as president, begins a 199 day session in Philadelphia, lasting until September 18.


date: June 14

text: June 14 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by the Continental Congress as the flag of the United States.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: July 8

text: July 8 – The 1777 Constitution of Vermont is signed, officially abolishing slavery.

source_section: Events › July–December


date: November 15

text: November 15 – American Revolution: After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation, in the temporary American capital at York, Pennsylvania.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – American Revolution: The Articles of Confederation are submitted to the states for ratification.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – Morocco recognizes the United States as a sovereign state.


date: January 2

text: January 2 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of the Assunpink Creek: American general George Washington's army repulses a British attack by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, in a second battle at Trenton, New Jersey.


date: January 3

text: January 3 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Princeton: American general George Washington's army defeats British troops.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Bound Brook: A British and Hessian force led by Charles Cornwallis surprises a Continental Army outpost in New Jersey, commanded by Major General Benjamin Lincoln.


date: April 27

text: April 27 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Ridgefield: The British Army defeats Patriot militias, galvanizing resistance in the Connecticut Colony.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – American Revolution: The Marquis de Lafayette lands near Georgetown, South Carolina, to help the Continental Congress train its army.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – American Revolutionary War – Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Hubbardton: British forces capture over 200 of the American rearguard, from Fort Ticonderoga.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Oriskany: Loyalists gain a tactical victory over Patriots; Iroquois fight on both sides.


date: August 16

text: August 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Bennington: British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops at Walloomsac, New York.


date: August 22

text: August 22 – American Revolutionary War – The Siege of Fort Stanwix is ended by withdrawal of British forces, following a ruse by Benedict Arnold to persuade them that a much larger force is arriving.


date: September 3

text: September 3 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cooch's Bridge: British and Hessian forces defeat an American militia in a minor skirmish in New Castle County, Delaware.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Brandywine: The British gain a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – American Revolutionary War – First Battle of Saratoga (Battle of Freeman's Farm): Patriot forces withstand a British attack at Saratoga, New York.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – American Revolutionary War – British troops occupy Philadelphia; members of the Continental Congress flee to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where they meet and hold a one day session as the Fifth Congress before fleeing again.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – American Revolutionary War – The Sixth Continental Congress opens its session at York, Pennsylvania, and continues for 272 days until June 27, 1778.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery: British troops capture Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery (Hudson River), and are able to dismantle the Hudson River Chain.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – American Revolutionary War – Second Battle of Saratoga (Battle of Bemis Heights): British General John Burgoyne is defeated by American troops.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Saratoga: British General John Burgoyne surrenders to the American troops.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking October's victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – American Revolutionary War – George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.


date: March 29

text: March 29–30 – Third voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain Cook discovers Mangaia and Atiu in the Cook Islands.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Third voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain Cook locates Kiritimati (Christmas Island).


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what becomes Santa Clara, California.


date: November 29

text: November 29 – San Jose, California, is founded. It is the first pueblo in Spanish Alta California.


text: The code duello is adopted at the Clonmel Summer Assizes as the form for pistol duels by gentlemen in Ireland. It is quickly denounced, but nevertheless widely adopted throughout the English-speaking world.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang is premiered by the Seyler Theatre Company in Leipzig, giving its name to the whole Sturm und Drang movement in German literature.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners, The School for Scandal, is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition begins publication in Edinburgh.


text: Kunsthochschule Kassel is founded in Germany as a fine arts academy.


text: Det Dramatiske Selskab is founded in Copenhagen (Denmark) as an acting academy.


text: George II Frederic is crowned as king of the Miskito Kingdom.


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1820)

source_section: Births › January–March


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Amable Berthelot, Quebec lawyer, author and political figure (d. 1847)


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Robert Allison (Pennsylvania politician), U.S. Representative (d. 1840)


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Patrick Brontë, Irish Anglican curate and writer; father of writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (d. 1861)


text: March 17 – Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)


date: April 11

text: April 11 – William Addams, United States Congressman (d. 1858)

source_section: Births › April–June


date: May 18

text: May 18 – John George Children, British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist (d. 1852)


date: June 22

text: June 22 – William Brown (admiral), Irish-born first admiral of Argentina (d. 1857)


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Guillaume Dupuytren, French anatomist, military surgeon (d. 1835)

source_section: Births › October–December


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Heinrich von Kleist, German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer (d. 1811)


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Kunwar Singh, Leader during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (d. 1858)


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, Irish peer, landlord and colonial administrator (d. 1839)


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Madame Clicquot Ponsardin, French champagne producer (d. 1866)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – John Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyll, Scottish peer, Whig politician (d. 1847)


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Hugh Mercer, American Revolutionary War officer, mortally wounded in battle (b. 1726)

source_section: Deaths › January–March


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Empress Xiaoshengxian, mother of the Chinese Qianlong Emperor of China (b. 1692)


date: May 11

text: May 11 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)

source_section: Deaths › April–June


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Gwinnett–McIntosh duel: Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Button Gwinnett, a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence (b. 1735)


date: May 22

text: May 22 – David Wooster, American general in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolutionary War (b. 1711)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Celia Grillo Borromeo, Italian scientist, mathematician (b. 1684)

source_section: Deaths › July–September


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Johann Heinrich Lambert, Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer (b. 1728)


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Francis Nash, American brigadier general, killed at the Battle of Germantown (b. c. 1742)

source_section: Deaths › October–December


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French salon holder (b. 1699)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Sir Charles Knowles, 1st Baronet, British Royal Navy officer (b. c. 1704)


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Albrecht von Haller, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (b. 1708)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Dolly Pentreath, last-known fluent native speaker of the Cornish language (b. 1692)


date: December 30

text: December 30 – Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria dies and is succeeded by his distant cousin Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris, the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France, signaling official French recognition of the new republic.


date: July 26

text: July 26 – In the Russian Empire, the forced emigration of Christians from the Crimea to Pryazovia begins.

source_section: Events › July–September


date: September 17

text: September 17 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware).


date: September 19

text: September 19 – The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – New Jersey becomes the second state to agree to the Articles of Confederation.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: December 10

text: December 10 – John Jay of New York is chosen as the sixth President of the Continental Congress.


text: South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – In the United States:


date: February 23

text: February 23 – American Revolutionary War: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the American troops.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington approves the dishonorable discharge of Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin, for "attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier".


date: April 12

text: April 12 – King George III appoints the five-member Carlisle Peace Commission to present peace terms to negotiate an end to the rebellion of Britain's 13 American colonies.


date: June 28

text: June 28 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Monmouth – George Washington's Continental Army battles British general Sir Henry Clinton's army to a draw, near Monmouth County, New Jersey.


date: June

text: June – The Anglo-French War (1778–83) begins.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Wyoming takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a terrible defeat for the local colonists.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – American Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark takes Kaskaskia.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – American Revolutionary War: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fight to a standoff.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – American Revolutionary War: The tactically inconclusive Battle of Rhode Island takes place, after which the Continental Army abandons its position on Aquidneck Island.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – American Revolutionary War: Invasion of Dominica – The French capture the British fort there, before the latter is aware that France has entered the war in the Franco-American alliance.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – American Revolutionary War: Cherry Valley massacre – British forces and their Iroquois allies attack a fort and the village of Cherry Valley, New York, killing 14 soldiers and 30 civilians.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – American Revolutionary War: Capture of Savannah – British forces under Archibald Campbell take the city of Savannah, Georgia.


text: General John Cadwalader shoots and seriously wounds Major General Thomas Conway in a duel after a dispute between the two officers over Conway's continued criticism of General George Washington's leadership of the Continental Army.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, first views Oʻahu then Kauaʻi in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, which he names the Sandwich Islands.


date: March 6

text: March 6–October 24 – Captain Cook explores and maps the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, from Cape Foulweather (Oregon) to the Bering Strait.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Triglav, at 2,864 m ft above sea level the highest peak of Slovenia, is ascended for the first time by four men: Luka Korošec, Matevž Kos, Štefan Rožič, and Lovrenc Willomitzer, on Sigmund Zois' initiative.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to land on Maui.


text: The first settlement is made in the area of modern-day Louisville, Kentucky, by 13 families under Colonel George Rogers Clark.

source_section: Events › Undated


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Benedict Arnold signs the U.S. Oath of Allegiance at Valley Forge.


text: The city of Ulaanbaatar is settled at its present location, having functioned as a mobile monastic settlement since 1639.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – The 1800 ft long Hudson River Chain, designed to prevent British ships from moving up the river toward West Point, New York is stretched across the river and anchored by an engineering team under the direction of Captain Thomas Machin.


text: The term thoroughbred is first used in the United States, in an advertisement in a Kentucky gazette, to describe a New Jersey stallion called Pilgarlick.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – A total solar eclipse takes place across parts of North America, from Texas to Virginia.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – The Continental Congress advises the 13 member states to suppress "theatrical entertainments, horse-racing, gaming, and such other diversions as are productive of idleness, dissipation, and general depravity of principles and manners."


date: September

text: September – The Massachusetts Banishment Act, providing punishment for Loyalists, is passed.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Heinrich XI, Prince Reuss of Greiz is elevated to Prince of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. This year sees the first appearance of the modern-day national colors of Germany on a flag that closely resembles the modern flag of Germany, to occur anywhere within modern-day Germany.


date: August 3

text: August 3 – The La Scala Opera House opens in Milan, with the première of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.


text: Thomas Kitchin's The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe is published in London.


text: Phillips Academy is founded in Massachusetts by Samuel Phillips Jr.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Hugh Hornby Birley, leading Manchester Tory, reputed to have led the fatal charge of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, at the Peterloo Massacre (d. 1845)

source_section: Births › January–April


date: April 10

text: April 10 – William Hazlitt, English writer (d. 1830)


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British politician (d. 1854)

source_section: Births › May–August


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Harry Croswell, crusading American political journalist (d. 1858)


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Richard W. Meade, American merchant and art collector (d. 1828)


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, French scientist (d. 1846)


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, French army general, King of Holland (d. 1846)

source_section: Births › September–December


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, British politician (d. 1868)


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian composer, virtuoso pianist (d. 1837)


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Italian antiquarian (d. 1823)


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Mariano Moreno, Argentine politician (d. 1811)


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Joseph Lancaster, English Quaker, public education innovator (d. 1838)


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Abd al-Rahman of Morocco, Alaouite dynasty member (d. 1859)


date: December 19

text: December 19 – Marie Thérèse of France, eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (d. 1851)


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1711)

source_section: Deaths


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Alexander Murray of Elibank, fourth son of Alexander Murray (b. 1712)


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (b. 1720)


date: April 22

text: April 22 – James Hargreaves, English weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b. 1720)


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Lorenz Christoph Mizler, German music historian, polymath (b. 1711)


date: May 11

text: May 11 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1708)


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat and politician (b. 1718)


date: May 30

text: May 30 – José de la Borda, Spanish/Mexican mining magnate (b. c. 1699)


date: June 12

text: June 12 – Philip Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1716)


date: July 3

text: July 3 – Anna Maria Mozart, Austrian mother to the Mozarts (b. 1720)


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general, politician (b. 1714)


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers, British Royal Navy admiral (b. 1722)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (b. 1720)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Pedro Antonio de Cevallos, Spanish military Governor of Buenos Aires (1757–1766) (b. 1715)


date: January 29

text: January 29 – After a second petition for partition from its residents, the North Carolina General Assembly abolishes Bute County, North Carolina (established 1764) by dividing it and naming the northern portion Warren County (for Revolutionary War hero Joseph Warren), the southern portion Franklin County (for Benjamin Franklin). The General Assembly also establishes Warrenton (also named for Joseph Warren) to be the seat of Warren County, and Louisburg (named for Louis XVI of France) to be the seat of Franklin County.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: March 10

text: March 10 – The Treaty of Aynalıkavak is signed between Ottoman Turkey and the Russian Empire, regarding the Crimean Khanate.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – Spain and France secretly sign the Convention of Aranjuez, with Spain joining an alliance against Great Britain in return for France's pledge to recover all Spanish territory lost to the British.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Samuel Huntington is elected as the seventh President of the Continental Congress.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – The North Carolina General Assembly carves a new county from Dobbs County, North Carolina and names it Wayne County, in honor of United States General Anthony Wayne.


text: A joint Spanish-Portuguese survey of the Amazon basin begins to determine the boundary between the colonial possessions in South America; it continues until 1795.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 11

text: January 11 – British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all territories acquired since 1773.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – American Revolutionary War – Claudius Smith is hanged at Goshen, Orange County, New York for supposed acts of terrorism upon the people of the surrounding communities.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Capture and sack of Vientiane by Siamese forces.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – War of the Bavarian Succession – Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives a part of the Bavarian territory (the Innviertel), and relinquishes the rest.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – American Revolutionary War – Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for malfeasance, in his treatment of government property.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – American Revolutionary War – In support of France, Spain declares war on Britain.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – King Charles III of Spain issues a declaration of war against Great Britain.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – The Great Siege of Gibraltar begins. This is an action by French and Spanish forces to wrest control of Gibraltar from the established British garrison. The garrison, led by George Augustus Eliott (later 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar), survives all attacks and a blockade of supplies.


text: July 16 – American Revolutionary War – United States forces, led by General Anthony Wayne, capture Stony Point, New York from British troops.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Battle of Minisink: The Goshen Militia is destroyed by Joseph Brant's forces.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Action of 17 August 1779: The 64-gun British warship HMS Ardent is captured by France in the English Channel off of Plymouth after an ineffective attempt by the British captain to properly aim its cannons at the French frigate Junon.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Battle of Baton Rouge – Spanish troops under Bernardo de Gálvez capture the city from the British.


date: September 23

text: September 23 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Flamborough Head – The American ship Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, engages the British ship . The Bonhomme Richard sinks, but the Americans board the Serapis and other vessels, and are victorious.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – The Fort Wilson Riot against James Wilson and others in Philadelphia takes place.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Fort Nashborough (later to become Nashville, Tennessee) is founded by James Robertson.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Affair of Fielding and Bylandt: Following a brief naval engagement between the British and Dutch off the Isle of Wight, the Dutch merchantmen and naval vessels are captured and taken to Portsmouth, England.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Bouligny arrives with Malagueño colonists at Bayou Teche, to establish the city of New Iberia, Louisiana.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – American Revolutionary War – American forces, led by Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, launch the Penobscot Expedition in what is now Castine, Maine, resulting in the worst naval defeat in U.S. history, until surpassed by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.


date: September 14

text: September 14–15 – American Revolutionary War – Little Beard's Town, a loyalist stronghold, is burnt by the Sullivan Expedition.


text: July 16 – Declaratory Rescript of the Illyrian Nation issued in order to regulate organization of Eastern Orthodox Church in Habsburg monarchy.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins the first of his five reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.


text: The spinning mule is perfected by Lancashire inventor Samuel Crompton.


text: The Iron Bridge is erected across the River Severn in Shropshire, the world's first bridge built entirely of cast iron. It will open to traffic on January 1, 1781.


text: Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine, now the oldest working engine in the world, is brought into service (May).


text: Industrial Revolution in England:


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Captain James Cook is killed on the Sandwich Islands, on his third voyage.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The city of Tampere, Finland (belonging to Sweden at this time) is founded by King Gustav III of Sweden.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais marries Joséphine Tascher.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (d. 1820)

source_section: Births


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Peter Mark Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Nikolaus von Krufft, Austrian composer and civil servant (d. 1818)


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (d. 1869)


date: March 15

text: March 15 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1848)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – José Bernardo de Tagle y Portocarrero, Marquis of Torre Tagle, Peruvian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Peru (d. 1825)


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet (d. 1852)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Dorothy Ann Thrupp, British psalmist, hymnwriter, translator (d. 1847)


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Benjamin Silliman, American chemist, educator and abolitionist (d. 1864)


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (d. 1848)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter (d. 1867)


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Joseph Story, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1845)


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet (d. 1850)


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Madeleine Sophie Barat, French Catholic saint, founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart (d. 1865)


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Martha Ray, British singer and mistress of John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich (murdered) (b. 1742)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer (b. 1717)


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Eleazar Wheelock, American founder of Dartmouth College (b. 1711)


date: June 7

text: June 7 – William Warburton, English critic, Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1698)


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Jane Gomeldon, English writer, poet and adventurer (b. 1720)


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, Colonial governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay (b. 1712)


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Ras Mikael Sehul, Enderase of Ethiopia (b. 1692)


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Caleb Fleming, English dissenting minister, polemicist (b. 1698)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Martín de Mayorga, Captain-General of Guatemala, becomes the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain after the death of Antonio María de Bucareli.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Henrika Juliana von Liewen, Swedish political salonnière (b. 1709)