1700s

1700s: events by year

Contents: 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709

1700

January–June

January 26: Cascadia Earthquake/tsunami.

• January 1 (Julian) – Russia begins numbering its calendar from the birth of Christ (Anno Domini) instead of since the Creation (Anno Mundi).
• January 26 (approx. 9 p.m.) – Cascadia earthquake: One of the largest earthquakes known ruptures the Cascadia subduction zone offshore from Vancouver Island spreading along more than 600 miles (966 km) of North America's West Coast to Cape Mendocino in northern California. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated as between 8.7 and 9.2. Houses in First Nations communities on Vancouver Island collapse and an entire village on its west coast is destroyed with no survivors.^[1] The earthquake triggers an Orphan Tsunami which hits Japan approximately 10 hours later and is recorded as flooding fields and washing away houses.
• February 3 – The 'Lesser Great Fire' destroys a substantial part of central Edinburgh, Scotland.^[2]
• February 12 – The Great Northern War begins with a joint invasion of Swedish territory in Germany and Latvia by Denmark and Poland/Saxony. Sweden has control of the Baltic Sea and holds territory that includes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany. To challenge its power, an alliance is formed between Tsar Peter I of Russia, King Frederick IV of Denmark and Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Sweden's ruler is the militaristic Charles XII, known as the "Swedish Meteor".
• February 27 – Island of New Britain discovered by William Dampier in the western Pacific.^[3]
• March 1 (Gregorian) – Protestant Germany and Denmark–Norway adopt the Gregorian calendar.
• March 1 (Swedish), March 11 (Gregorian), February 29 (Julian) – Swedish calendar adopted.
• early March – William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World is first performed in London.^[4][5]
• March 25 – Treaty of London signed between France, England and Holland.^[6]
• April – Fire destroys many buildings in Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia, including two in the palace complex.
• May – In Rhode Island (American colony), Walter Clarke, former governor 1679–1686, becomes governor again for fourteen more years.
• May 5
  • Within a few days of John Dryden's death (May 1 O.S.), his last written work (The Secular Masque) is performed as part of Vanbrugh's version of The Pilgrim.
  • William Penn begins monthly meetings for blacks advocating emancipation.

July–December

• July 11 – The Prussian Academy of Sciences is founded with Gottfried Leibniz as president.^[7]
• Summer – Charles XII of Sweden counter-attacks his enemies by invading Zealand (Denmark), assisted by an Anglo-Dutch naval squadron under Sir George Rooke, rapidly compelling the Danes to submit to peace.
• August 8 (August 18 OS) – Peace of Travendal concluded between the Swedish Empire, Denmark-Norway and Holstein-Gottorp in Traventhal. On the same day, Augustus II, King of Poland, and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, enter the war against Sweden.

November 20: Battle of Narva.

• Late summer – A Russian army invades Estonia and besieges the town of Narva.
• November 15 – Louis XIV accepts the Spanish crown on behalf of his grandson Philip of Anjou, who becomes Philip V of Spain (to 1746), thus triggering the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701.
• November 18 – Battle of Olkieniki, Lithuanian Civil War
• November 20 – Battle of Narva in Estonia. Having led his army of 8,000 on a forced march from Denmark to Estonia, Charles XII routs the huge Russian army at Narva.
• November 23 – Pope Clement XI succeeds Pope Innocent XII as the 243rd pope.
• December 28 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Date unknown

Piano.

• Mission San Xavier del Bac is founded in New Spain near Tucson, as a Spanish Roman Catholic mission.
• An inventory made for the Medici family of Florence is the first documentary evidence for a piano, invented by their instrument keeper Bartolommeo Cristofori.
• The value of sales of English manufactured products to the Atlantic economy is £3.9 million.
• approx. date – Lions become extinct in Libya.

Ongoing

• Nam tiến: southward expansion of the territory of Vietnam to cover the entire Indochina Peninsula.^[8]

1702

January–June

• January 12 – In America, ships from Fort Maurepas arrive at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff to build Fort Louis de la Mobile (future Mobile, Alabama) to become the capital of French Louisiana.
• March 8 (O.S.) – William III dies; Princess Anne Stuart becomes Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland. Anne is the mother of 17 children by her husband Prince George of Denmark but none of them will survive childhood and she will die without heir to enable the Hanoverian Succession. In the Netherlands, the Staten Generaal do not appoint a new stadtholder and so the United Provinces become a true republic again.
• March 11 (O.S.) – The first regular English language newspaper, The Daily Courant. is published for the first time.
• May – Warsaw is conquered by Charles XII of Sweden.
• May 4–May 14 – The War of the Spanish Succession widens, as war is declared on France by the Grand Alliance.
• June – Queen Anne's Captain-General John Churchill forces the surrender of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine.

July–December

October 27: St. Augustine.

• July 19 (July 8 O.S.; July 9 Swedish Calendar) – Battle of Kliszow: Charles II of Sweden decisively defeats the Polish-Lithuanian-Saxon army.
• September – Churchill forces the surrender of Venlo on the Meuse River.
• October
  • Sir George Rooke fails to take Cádiz, but captures a Spanish treasure fleet and destroys French and Spanish warships. Churchill forces the surrender of Liège.
  • Battle of Flint River: failed attack by Spanish and Apalachee Indian forces against Creek Indians supported by English traders in what is now the state of Georgia.
• October 10 – Siege of St. Augustine opens: English forces besiege St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. First major action in Queen Anne's War in North America.
• October 27 – English troops plunder St. Augustine in Spanish Florida.
• December 14 – John Churchill is created duke of Marlborough.
• December 30 – Siege of St. Augustine lifted.

Date unknown

• Delaware designated a separate colony.

1703

January–June

• January 14 – An earthquake hits Norcia, Italy.
• January 30 (December 14 of previous year in the Chinese calendar) – In Japan, the revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin occurs, assassinating Daimyo Kira Yoshinaka, the enemy of their former lord Asano Naganori, at his own mansion as a vengeance. All 47 samurais commit seppuku, a ritual suicide on March 20 (February 4 in the Chinese calendar).
• February – Soldiers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile, starting the tradition for Mobile, Alabama.
• February 2 – An earthquake hits the town of L'Aquila, Italy.
• April 21 – The Company of Quenching of Fire (i.e., a fire brigade) is founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• May 27 – The city of Saint Petersburg is founded in Russia.
• May 26 – Portugal joins the Grand Alliance.
• June – The completed Icelandic census of 1703 is presented in the Althing.

July–December

July 29: Defoe.

November 24: Great Storm of 1703.

• July 29–July 31 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory, then imprisoned for four months for the crime of seditious libel, after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet (his release is granted in mid-November).
• August 23 – Mustafa II of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire dethroned (Edirne event)
• September 12 – War of the Spanish Succession – Habsburg Archduke Charles is proclaimed King of Spain.
• October – A whirlwind blows down the tower of the Gan Takal in Gondar, capital of Ethiopia, killing 30.
• November 19 – The Man in the Iron Mask dies in the Bastille.
• November 24–December 2 – The Great Storm of 1703, an Atlantic hurricane, ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing nearly 8,000, mostly at sea.
• December 27 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty, which gives preference to Portuguese wines imported into England.
• December 28 – Ahmed III succeeds Mustafa II as Ottoman Emperor.

Date unknown

• George Psalmanazar arrives in London.
• Isaac Newton becomes the chairman of the Royal Society.
• The Hungarians rebel under Prince Francis II Rákóczi.

1704

January–June

August 4: Gibraltar.

• February 29 – Canadians (actual Québécois) and Native Americans sack Deerfield, Massachusetts.
• February – In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated with the Masque de la Mobile in the capital of French Louisianne, Mobile (Alabama).
• April 24 – The first regular newspaper in British North America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.

July–December

• August 4 – English and Dutch forces under Sir George Rooke capture Gibraltar from Spain.
• August 13 – War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Blenheim: Allied troops under John Churchill, the Earl of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeat the Franco-Bavarian army.
• August 24 – French and English fleets clash off Málaga, causing heavy casualties in both sides but without sinking any ships.

August 13: Battle of Blenheim.

Date unknown

• A Tale of a Tub, the first major satire by Jonathan Swift, is published.
• Isaac Newton publishes his Opticks.
• The Students' Monument is built in Aiud, Romania.
• The Sultanate of Brunei cedes its north-east territories to the Sultanate of Sulu.
• The lower 3 counties of the Province of Pennsylvania become the colony of Delaware.
• An earthquake strikes Gondar, Ethiopia.
• Daniel Defoe documents the Great Storm of 1703 with eyewitness testimonies in The Storm (1704).
• Great Northern War: Final defeat of Poland by Karl XII. Augustus II the Strong deposed and replaced by Karl's ally Stanislaw Leszczynski.
• Great Northern War: Russian troops under Tsar Peter the Great capture Tartu and Narva.
• Rome decrees that Roman ceremonial practice in Latin (not in Chinese) is to be the law for Chinese missions.
• Thomas Darley purchases the bay Arabian horse Darley Arabian in Aleppo, Syria, and ships him to stud in England where he becomes the most important foundation sire of all modern thoroughbred racing bloodstock.

1705

January–June

• March 8 – The Province of Carolina incorporates the town of Bath, making it the first incorporated town in present day North Carolina. The town becomes the political center and de facto capital of the northern portion of the Province of Carolina until Edenton is incorporated in 1722.
• May 5 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor succeeds his father Leopold I.

July–December

November: Williamsburg Capitol (replica).

• November – In Williamsburg, capital of the Virginia colony in America, construction of the Capitol building is completed.
• November 5 – The Dublin Gazette publishes its first edition.
• December – The Sophia Naturalization Act is passed by the English Parliament, which naturalizes Sophia of Hanover and the "issue of her body" as English subjects.
• December 25 – In Munich, capital of Bavaria, 1100 militiamen from the Oberland are killed during the Sendlinger Mordweihnacht, after a failed attempt to break through several gates and capture a depot to seize better weaponry; many men were slaughtered by German federal infantry and Hungarian Husars, despite their capitulation to Austrian officers.

Date unknown

• Construction begins on Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. It is completed in 1724.
• Taichung City, Taiwan is founded as the village of Dadun.
• With the interest paid from daimyo loans, the Konoike buy a tract of ponds and swampland, turn the land into rice paddies and settle 480 households numbering perhaps 2,880 peasants on the land.
• The Shogunate confiscates the property of a merchant in Osaka "for conduct unbecoming a member of the commercial class". The government seizes 50 pairs of gold screens, 360 carpets, several mansions, 48 granaries and warehouses scattered around the country and hundreds of thoudands of gold pieces.

1706

January–June

• March 27 – Concluding that Emperor Iyasus I of Ethiopia has abdicated by retiring to a monastery, a council of high officials appoint Tekle Haymanot I Emperor of Ethiopia.
• May 23 – Battle of Ramillies: English, Dutch, and German troops defeat the French.

July–December

• September 7 – War of Spanish Succession – Battle of Turin: Forces of Austria and Savoy defeat the French.
• October – Twinings founder, Thomas Twining, opens the first known tea room at 216 Strand, London, still open as of 2010^[update].^[9][10]

Date unknown

• English Parliament establishes the first turnpike trusts which place a length of road under the control of trustees drawn from local landowners and traders. The turnpike trusts borrow capital for road maintenance against the security of tolls and this arrangement becomes the common method of road maintenance for the next 150 years.

1707

January–June

• January 1 – John V is crowned King of Portugal.
• January 16 – The Treaty (or Act) of Union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England is ratified by the Scottish Parliament.
• March 3 – Death of Aurangzeb precipitates disintegration of Mughal Empire in India.
• March 19 – The Act of Union with Scotland is ratified by the English Parliament.
• May 1 – The Acts of Union become law, uniting the Parliaments of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• April 25 – The Allied army is defeated by the Bourbon army at Almanza, Spain, in the War of the Spanish Succession. Following this, Philip V of Spain promulgates the first Nueva Planta decrees, bringing the Kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon under the laws of the Crown of Castile.^[11]

The Isles of Scilly, scene of the naval disaster in October 1707.

July–December

• July 29–August 21 – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Toulon – Allies are obliged to withdraw, but the French fleet is effectively put out of action.
• October 22 – Scilly naval disaster: four Royal Navy ships run aground in the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and at least 1450 sailors all drown.
• October 23 – The Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain first meets in London.
• December 16 – The last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji begins in Japan.

Mount Fuji, last erupts in December 1707.

• December 24 – The first British Governor of Gibraltar, directly appointed by Queen Anne, Roger Elliott, takes up his residence in the Convent of the Franciscan Friars.
• December – Charles XII of Sweden launches his campaign to conquer Russia, marching to the east from Leipzig with 60,000 coalition troops. Another 16,000 soldiers are waiting on the outskirts of Riga, guarding the Swedish supply lines.

Date unknown

• A fortress is founded on the future site of Ust-Abakanskoye (modern Abakan).
• The Lao empire of Lan Xang officially ends and splits into the kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Champasak.
• Hacienda Juriquilla is built in Queretaro, Mexico.

1708

January–June

• March 11 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
• March 23 – James Francis Edward Stuart unsuccessfully tries to land at the Firth of Forth.

July–December

• July 1 – Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia.
• July 11 – War of the Spanish Succession: allied victory under the command of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, against the French at the Battle of Oudenarde.^[4]
• August – The future Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor weds Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
• August 18 – War of the Spanish Succession: Capture of Minorca by British forces.^[4]
• August 23 – Meidingu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
• August 29 – A native American attack in Haverhill, Massachusetts kills 16 settlers.
• September 28 – Battle of Lesnaya: Peter the Great defeats the Swedes.
• October 12 – War of the Spanish Succession: British forces capture Lille after a two-month siege, although the citadel continues to hold out for another six weeks.^[12]
• October 20 – Completion of the construction of St Paul's Cathedral in London.^[13]

Date unknown

• Kandahar is conquered by Mir Wais.
• One third of the population of Masuria dies of the plague.
• Johann Sebastian Bach is appointed as chamber musician and organist at the court in Weimar, Germany.
• Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico delivers his inaugural lecture to the University of Naples, published as his first book, On the Study Methods of Our Time, in 1709.
• Fearful of a Swedish attack, the Russians blow up the city of Tartu in Estonia.
• Merger (with consent of the Parliament of Great Britain) of the Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and the more recently established English Company Trading to the East Indies to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, known as the Honourable East India Company.^[14]

1709

January–June

• January 6 – Europe's coldest period in 500 years begins during the night, lasting three months and with its effects felt for the entire year.^[15] In France, the coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail, and 24,000 Parisians die.
• January 10 – Abraham Darby I successfully produces cast iron using coke fuel at his Coalbrookdale blast furnace in Shropshire, England.^[16][17][4]
• February – In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated one more time with Masque de la Mobile in the capital of French Louisianne, Mobile (Alabama), before Mobile is moved 27 miles (43 km) down the Mobile River to Mobile Bay in 1711.
• February 2 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
• June 27 (Old Style) – Battle of Poltava: Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden, thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe (see below).

July–December

July 8: Battle of Poltava.

• July 8 (New Style) – Battle of Poltava: In the Ukraine, Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava (see above).
• July 27 – Emperor Nakamikado accedes to the throne of Japan.
• August 8 – The hot air balloon of Bartolomeu de Gusmão flies in Portugal.
• September 11 – Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, the Netherlands and Austria defeat France.
• October 12 – The City of Chihuahua, México is founded.
• December 25 – In London, 10 ships leave for the New York colony, carrying over 4,000 people.

Date unknown

• Trinity School is founded as the Charity School of Trinity Church in New York City.
• De Nostri Temporis Studiorum Rationae (On the Study Methods of Our Times) is published by Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico.
• Priceless medieval altarpieces by Michael Pacher are destroyed.

References