Salem Press

Great Events from History: The 18th Century

Great Events from History: The 18th Century
Geographical List

Africa
1701: Oman Captures Zanzibar (new)
1768-1773: Bruce Explores Ethiopia (new)
1775: Spanish-Algerine War (new)
1779-1803: Frontier Wars in South Africa (new)

Arabian Peninsula
1701: Oman Captures Zanzibar (new)
1749: Sa'id Becomes Ruler of Oman (new)

Australia
1788: Britain Establishes Penal Colony in Australia

Austria
1714: Treaty of Rastatt and Baden (new)
1715-1737: Building of the Karlskirche (new)
1723-1756: Growth of Austria's National Library (new)
1736-1739: Russo-Austrian War Against the Ottoman Empire (new)
1738: Treaty of Vienna (new)
1740-1748: War of the Austrian Succession (new)
1762-1766: Mozart Tours Europe as a Child Prodigy (new)
1775-1790: Reforms of Joseph II
1792: Battle of Valmy (new)

British Isles
1701: Act of Settlement
1701: Marsh Forms Ireland's First Public Library (new)
1701: Tull Invents the Seed Drill (new)
1704-1712: Astronomy Wars in England (new)
1704: Newton Publishes Opticks (new)
1704: Weekly Review Is Founded (new)
1705-1712: Newcomen Develops the Steam Engine (new)
1705: Halley Predicts the Return of Halley's Comet (new)
1706-1707: Act of Union Unites England and Scotland
1707: Newton Publishes Arithmetica universalis (new)
1708: Defeat of the "Old Pretender" (new)
1709: Darby Invents Coke-Smelting of Iron Ore (new)
1711: Addison and Steele Establish the Spectator (new)
1711: Occasional Conformity Bill (new)
1712: Stamp Act (new)
1713: Founding of Louisbourg (new)
1714-1735: The Quest for Longitude (new)
1714: Mill Patents the Typewriter (new)
1715-1716: Jacobite Rising in Scotland (new)
1719-1725: Stukeley Studies Stonehenge and Avebury (new)
1719: Defoe Writes the First Novel, Robinson Crusoe (new)
1721-1742: Development of England's Office of Prime Minister (new)
1725: Flamsteed's Study of British Heavens Is a Bridge to Modern Astronomy (new)
1726-1729: Voltaire's Residence in England Advances the Enlightenment (new)
1726: Swift Satirizes English Rule of Ireland in Gulliver's Travels (new)
1728: Gay Produces the First Ballad Opera, The Beggar's Opera (new)
1729: Gray Discovers Principles of Conductivity (new)
1729: Treaty of Seville (new)
1732: Covent Garden Theatre Opens in London (new)
1732: Society of Dilettanti Is Established (new)
1733: Kay Invents the Flying Shuttle (new)
1735: Hadley Describes Atmospheric Circulation (new)
1736: Gentleman's Magazine Introduces Parliamentary Reporting (new)
1739-1740: Publication of Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature (new)
1739-1748: War of Jenkins' Ear (new)
1740: Maclaurin's Gravitational Theory (new)
1740-1741: Richardson's Pamela Establishes the Modern Novel (new)
1741: Leadhills Reading Society Promotes Literacy (new)
1742: Fielding's Joseph Andrews Satirizes English Society (new)
1746-1754: Carnatic Wars (new)
1746: Roebuck Develops the Lead-Chamber Process (new)
1748: Bradley Discovers the Nutation of Earth's Axis (new)
1750: Johnson Issues the Rambler (new)
1751-1762: The Antiquities of Athens Prompts Architectural Neoclassicism (new)
1753: Lind Identifies a Preventative for Scurvy (new)
1755: Black Identifies Carbon Dioxide (new)
1755-1758: Acadians Are Expelled from Canada (new)
1755: Johnson Creates the First Modern English Dictionary (new)
1757: Battle of Plassey (new)
1757: Monro Distinguishes Between Lymphatic and Blood Systems (new)
1758: Siege of Louisbourg (new)
1759-1766: Construction of the Bridgewater Canal (new)
1759: Wedgwood Founds a Ceramic Firm (new)
1760's: Bakewell Begins Selective Livestock Breeding (new)
1761: Gainsborough Exhibits at the Society of Artists (new)
1762-1763: David Garrick's European Tour (new)
1763: Publication of Freeman's Journal (new)
1764-1768: Wilkes Treason Trial: Free Press vs. Personal Freedom (new)
1764: Bayes's "Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances" (new)
1764: Invention of the Spinning Jenny (new)
1765-1769: Watt Develops His Steam Engine
1767-1799: Mysore Wars (new)
1768-1771: Invention of the Water Frame (new)
1771: Woulfe Discovers Picric Acid (new)
c. 1773: Herschel Builds His Reflecting Telescope (new)
1774: Hansard Begins Reporting Parliamentary Debates (new)
1774: Priestley Discovers Oxygen (new)
1775-1783: First Maratha War (new)
1776: Adam Smith Publishes The Wealth of Nations
1776: Publication of Paine's Common Sense (new)
1777: Ingenhousz Discovers Photosynthesis (new)
1779-1781: Construction of an Iron Bridge over the Severn River (new)
1779-1783: Siege of Gibraltar (new)
1779: Compton Invents the Spinning Mule (new)
1780: Gordon Riots (new)
1783: Cort Improves Iron Processing (new)
1783: Migration of Loyalists to Nova Scotia (new)
1784-1785: Cavendish Discovers the Composition of Water (new)
1784-1788: Meikle Invents the Drum Thresher (new)
1785: Cartwright Invents the Steam-Powered Loom (new)
1785: First Cross-Channel Flight (new)
1785-1788: Hutton Proposes the Theory of Uniformitarianism (new)
1790: Burke Lays the Foundations of Modern Conservatism (new)
1790: First Steam Rolling Mill (new)
1791-1792: Thomas Paine Publishes Rights of Man (new)
1792-1797: The Northern Star Calls for Irish Independence (new)
1792-1799: Christian Missionary Societies Founded (new)
1792: Wollstonecraft Publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
1793: McCartney Mission to China (new)
1794: Murray Standardizes Modern English Grammar (new)
1795: Speenhamland System (new)
1796-1798: Jenner Develops Smallpox Vaccination (new)
1798: Irish Rebellion (new)
1798: Malthus Arouses Controversy with His Theory of Population
1799: Discovery of the Earliest Anesthetics (new)
1800: Parliament Passes the Act of Union
1800: Wollaston Develops Principles of Modern Metallurgy (new)

Canada
1713: Founding of Louisbourg (new)
1755-1758: Acadians Are Expelled from Canada (new)
1758: Siege of Louisbourg (new)
1783: Migration of Loyalists to Nova Scotia (new)
1791: Canada's Constitutional Act

Caribbean/West Indies
1730-1739: First Maroon War (new)
1733: Slaves Capture St. John Island (new)
1760-1776: Caribbean Slave Rebellions (new)
1780: Great Caribbean Hurricane (new)
1795: Second Maroon War (new)

Central America
1712: Maya Rebellion in Chiapas (new)
1787: Del Rio's Report on Palenque (new)

Central Asia
1711-1750: Persian-Afghan Wars (new)
1750-1792: China Annexes Tibet (new)

Central/Southeast Europe
1703-1711: Hungarian Revolt
1739: Treaty of Belgrade
1774: Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji
1777: Prague's National Library Is Founded (new)

China
1727: Treaty of Kiakhta (new)
1750-1792: China Annexes Tibet (new)
1793: McCartney Mission to China (new)

Colonial America
1702-1713: Queen Anne's War
1711-1713: Tuscarora War
1712: New York City Slave Revolt
1714-1741: Fox Wars
1728-1769: Russian Voyages to Alaska
1730's-1760: First Great Awakening
1732: Settlement of Georgia
1734: Trial of John Peter Zenger
1737: Walking Purchase
1739: Stono Rebellion
1754-1763: French and Indian War
1754: Albany Congress
1759-1761: Cherokee War
1763-1766: Pontiac's Resistance
1763: Paxton Boys' Massacres
1763: Proclamation of 1763
1765-1766: Stamp Act Crisis
1767-1770: Townshend Crisis
1768-1771: Carolina Regulator Movements
1768: Methodist Church Is Established
1769-1824: Rise of the California Missions
1770: Boston Massacre
1773-1788: African American Baptist Church Is Founded
1773: Boston Tea Party
1774: First Continental Congress
1774: Lord Dunmore's War
1774: Quebec Act
1775-1781: American Revolutionary War (2000 wds) (new)
1775: Battle of Lexington and Concord
1775: Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery Is Founded
1775: Second Continental Congress
1776: Indian Delegation Meets with Congress
1776: New Jersey Women Gain the Vote

Denmark
1792: Denmark Outlaws the Slave Trade

Egypt
1798-1801: Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign (new)
1798: Battle of Aboukir Bay
1799: Discovery of the Rosetta Stone (new)

Europe
1701-1714: War of the Spanish Succession (new)
1709: Battle of Malplaquet (new)
1720: Last Major Outbreak of Plague (new)
1748: Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (new)
1759-1773: Suppression of the Jesuits (new)
1762-1766: Mozart Tours Europe as a Child Prodigy (new)
1792-1796: Early Wars of the French Revolution (new)

France
Mid-17th c: Enlightenment Begins in France (new)
1701: Plumier Invents the Metal-Turning Lathe (new)
1702-1704: Camisard Risings in the Cevennes (new)
1709: Battle of Malplaquet (new)
1713: Papal Bull Unigenitus (new)
1714: Treaty of Rastatt and Baden (new)
1716-1720: Financial Collapse of the John Law System (new)
1718: Geoffroy Issues the Table of Affinites (new)
1722-1733: Moivre Describes the Bell-Shaped Curve (new)
1722: Reaumur Discovers Carbon's Role in Hardening Steel (new)
1726-1729: Voltaire's Residence in England Advances the Enlightenment (new)
1727-1733: Jansenist "Convulsionnaires" at Saint-Médard (new)
1733: Dufay Describes Positive and Negative Electric Charges (new)
1735-1743: La Condamine Rafts Down the Amazon (new)
1743-1744: D'Alembert Develops His Axioms of Motion (new)
1745-1746: Jacobite Rebellion (new)
1748: Montesquieu Publishes The Spirit of the Laws
1748: Nollet Discovers Osmosis (new)
1749-1789: Buffon's Natural History: First Comprehensive Examination of the Natural World (new)
1751-1772: Diderot Publishes the Encyclopedia
1751: Maupertuis Postulates "Hereditary Particles" as the Basis for Inherited Traits (new)
1754: Condillac Defends Sensationalist Theory (new)
1757: Battle of Rossbach (new)
1758: Helvétius Publishes De l'esprit (new)
1758: Siege of Louisbourg (new)
1759: Voltaire Satirizes Society in Candide (new)
1762: Rousseau Publishes His Social Contract
1763: Peace of Paris
1764: Voltaire Publishes Dictionnaire philosophique (new)
1766-1769: Bougainville Circumnavigates the Globe (new)
1766: Lorraine Becomes Part of France (new)
1769-1770: Cugnot Builds a Steam-Powered Road Carriage (new)
1770: Publication of Holbach's Système de la nature (new)
1772-1789: Lavoisier Devises the Modern System of Chemical Nomenclature (new)
1776-1783: France Supports the American Revolution (new)
1777: France's First Daily Newspaper Appears (new)
1779-1783: Siege of Gibraltar (new)
1782: Publication of Rousseau's Confessions (new)
1783: First Manned Balloon Flight (new)
1783: Leblanc Develops Soda Production (new)
1784: First Performance of Le Mariage de Figaro (new)
1784: Legendre Introduces Polynomials (new)
1785: First Cross-Channel Flight (new)
1789: Fall of the Bastille
1789: Invention of the Guillotine (new)
1789: Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General
1789: Oath of the Tennis Court
1790: Burke Lays the Foundations of Modern Conservatism (new)
1792-1796: Early Wars of the French Revolution (new)
1792: Battle of Valmy (new)
1793: Execution of Louis XVI
1793: War in the Vendee (new)
1794: Fall of Robespierre
1796-1797: Napoleon's Italian Campaigns (new)
1796: Laplace Articulates His Nebular Hypothesis (new)
1798-1801: Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign (new)
1799: Discovery of the Rosetta Stone (new)
1799: Napoleon Rises to Power in France
1799: Proust Establishes Law of Definite Proportions (new)

Germany
c. 1701-1750: Bach Pioneers Modern Music
1704: Battle of Blenheim
1723: Stahl Postulates Phlogiston as the Basis for Combustion (new)
1740: Accession of Frederick the Great
1740: Maria Theresa Succeeds to the Austrian Throne
1742: First Performance of Handel's Messiah (new)
1745: Invention of the Leyden Jar (new)
1747: Marggraf Extracts Sugar from Beets (new)
1752: Mayer's Lunar Tables Enable Mariners to Determine Longitude at Sea (new)
1759: Aepinus Publishes Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (new)
1762: Production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (new)
c. 1773: Herschel Builds His Reflecting Telescope (new)
1781: Kant Publishes Critique of Pure Reason (new)
1784-1791: Herder's Philosophy of a History of Mankind (new)
1792-1793: Fichte Advocates Free Speech (new)
1794: Allgemeines Landrecht Recodifies Prussion Law (new)

India
1746-1754: Carnatic Wars (new)
1757: Battle of Plassey (new)
1767-1799: Mysore Wars (new)
1775-1783: First Maratha War (new)
1786: Jones Postulates a Proto-Indo-European Langauge (new)

Iran
1711-1750: Persian-Afghan Wars (new)
1725-1794: Persian Civil Wars (new)

Italy
c. 1709: Invention of the Piano (new)
1713: Papal Bull Unigenitus (new)
1725: Vico Publishes The New Science (new)
1738: Treaty of Vienna (new)
1748: Agnesi Publishes Analytical Institutions (new)
1748: Excavation of Pompeii (new)
1767-1768: Spallanzani Refutues the Theory of Spontaneous Generation (new)
1778: Opening of Milan's La Scala (new)
1796-1797: Napoleon's Italian Campaigns (new)
1797: Paginini's Violin Performances (new)
1800: Volta Invents the Battery (new)

Japan
1703: Monzaemon Produces The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (new)
1703: Revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (new)
1720: Japan Lifts Ban on Foreign Books (new)
1786: Tenmei Famine (new)

Korea
1785: The Rites Controversy (new)

The Netherlands
1713-1714: Treaty of Utrecht
1714: Fahrenheit Develops the Mercury Thermometer (new)
1745: Invention of the Leyden Jar (new)
1777: Ingenhousz Discovers Photosynthesis (new)

Ottoman Empire
1706: First Arabic Printing Press (new)
1711-1719: Ottoman Wars with Russia, Venice, and Austria (new)
1718-1730: Tulip Reforms (new)
1736-1739: Russo-Austrian War Against the Ottoman Empire (new)
1746: Zahir al-Umar Creates a Stronghold in Galilee (new)
1748-1756: Construction of Istanbul's Nur-u Osmaniye Mosque (new)
1768-1792: Ottoman Wars with Russia (new)

Pacific/Oceania
1720: Collapse of the South Sea Bubble (new)
1722: European Discovery of Easter Island (new)
1768-1779: Voyages of Captain Cook (new)
1782-1810: Wars of Hawaiian Unification (new)

Poland
1701-1721: Great Northern War (new)
1714: Fahrenheit Develops the Mercury Thermometer (new)
1733-1735: War of the Polish Succession (new)
1738: Treaty of Vienna (new)
1772-1795: Partitioning of Poland

Portugal
1701: Oman Captures Zanzibar (new)
1750: Treaty of Madrid (new)
1755: Great Lisbon Earthquake (new)
1769: Pombal Reforms the Inquisition (new)

Russia
1701-1721: Great Northern War (new)
1703: Founding of St. Petersburg (new)
1709: Battle of Poltava (new)
1711-1719: Ottoman Wars with Russia, Venice, and Austria (new)
1724: Foundation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (new)
1727: Treaty of Kiakhta (new)
1736-1739: Russo-Austrian War Against the Ottoman Empire (new)
1738: Foundation of St. Petersburg's Imperial Ballet School (new)
1745: Lomonosov Issues the First Catalog of Minerals (new)
1767: Catherine the Great's Instruction
1768-1792: Ottoman Wars with Russia (new)
1773-1774: Pugachov's Revolt (new)
1776: Founding of Bolshoi Theatre Company (new)
1788-1809: Russo-Swedish Wars (new)

South America
1735-1743: La Condamine Rafts Down the Amazon (new)
1776: Foundation of the Viceroyalty of La Plata (new)
1780-1781: Amaru Rebellion in Peru (new)

Southeast Asia
1704-1757: Javanese Wars of Succession (new)
1744-1829: Dagohoy Rebellion in the Philippines (new)
1752-1760: Alaungpaya Unites and Strengthens Burma (new)
1769-1778: Siamese-Vietnamese War (new)
1772-1802: Vietnamese Civil Wars (new)

Spain
1712: Maya Rebellion in Chiapas (new)
1713: Foundation of the Spanish Academy (new)
1714: Philip V Opens Spain's Royal Library (new)
1729: Treaty of Seville (new)
1738: Treaty of Vienna (new)
1739-1748: War of Jenkins' Ear (new)
1750: Treaty of Madrid (new)
1759: Charles III Gains the Spanish Throne
1775: Spanish-Algerine War (new)
1776: Foundation of the Viceroyalty of La Plata (new)
1779-1783: Siege of Gibraltar (new)
1780-1781: Amaru Rebellion in Peru (new)
1787: Del Rio's Report on Palenque (new)

Sweden
1701-1721: Great Northern War (new)
1709: Battle of Poltava (new)
1735: Linnaeus Creates the Binomial System of Classification (new)
1742: Celsius Proposes an International Fixed Temperature Scale (new)
1788-1809: Russo-Swedish Wars (new)
Switzerland
1718: Publication of Bernoulli's Calculus of Variations (new)
1738: Bernoulli Proposes the Kinetic Theory of Gases (new)
1748: Euler Develops Integral Calculus (new)
1766: Haller Publishes Elements of Human Physiology (new)

United States
1752: Franklin Demonstrates the Electrical Nature of Lightning (new)
1766: First American Professional Theater Is Built in Philadelphia (new)
1776-1783: France Supports the American Revolution (new)
1776: Declaration of Independence
1776: First Test of a Submarine in Warfare
1776: Publication of Paine's Common Sense (new)
1777-1804: Northeast States Abolish Slavery
1777: Battle of Oriskany Creek
1777: Battle of Saratoga
1778: Franco-American Treaties
1781: Articles of Confederation
1781: Cornwallis Surrenders at Yorktown
1783: Migration of Loyalists to Nova Scotia (new)
1783: Treaty of Paris
1784: Fort Stanwix Treaty
1784: Hall's Masonic Lodge Is Chartered
1785: Beginnings of State Universities
1785: First Cross-Channel Flight (new)
1785: Ordinance of 1785
1786: Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty
1787-1788: Publication of the Federalist Papers
1787: Free African Society Is Founded
1787: Northwest Ordinance
1787: U.S. Constitution Is Adopted
1789: Episcopal Church Is Established
1789: Judiciary Act
1789: Washington's Inauguration
1790-1794: Little Turtle's War
1790's-1830's: Second Great Awakening
1790's: First U.S. Political Parties
1790: Hamilton's Report on Public Credit
1790: Nootka Sound Convention
1790: Slater's Spinning Mill
1791-1804: Haitian Independence
1791: Ratification of the U.S. Bill of Rights
1793: First Fugitive Slave Law
1793: Mackenzie Reaches the Arctic Ocean
1793: Whitney Invents the Cotton Gin
1794: Battle of Fallen Timbers
1794: Jay's Treaty
1794: Whiskey Rebellion
1795: Invention of the Flax Spinner (new)
1795: Pinckney's Treaty
1796: Washington's Farewell Address
1797-1800: XYZ Affair
1798: Alien and Sedition Acts
1799: Code of Handsome Lake

Worldwide
1701-1800: Expansion of the Atlantic Slave Trade (new)
1756-1763: Seven Years' War (new)