1728
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British forces raise a 14-month Spanish siege of Gibraltar in March (see 1704; 1779).
A pamphlet entitled "The Sailor's Advocate" by English M. P. James Edward Oglethorpe, 30, criticizes the systematic impressment of men into the Royal Navy and merchant marine service. Educated at Eton and at Oxford's Corpus Christi College, Oglethorpe served in the British Army under Prince Eugene of Savoy against the Ottoman Turks 11 years ago and was present at the siege of Belgrade.
Danish explorer Vitus Bering, 47, rediscovers a narrow strait between Asia and North America; it was first discovered in 1648 by the Russian navigator Semyon Dezhnev but will be called the Bering Strait (see 1741).
The Caracas Company (Compañia Guipuzcoana) chartered by the Spanish crown receives a monopoloy on trade with Venezuela (little Venice) (see exploration, 1567). Named for the Basque province in which it is headquartered, the company introduces cacao, cotton, indigo, and tobacco cultivation into Venezuela, maintaining a private army to protect its venture (see War of Jenkin's Ear, 1739). Other such companies will receive charters, but only the Caracas Company will be financially successful, and it will survive until 1778 (see 1749).
Yorkshire carpenter John Harrison, 35, completes plans for a practical spring-driven marine timekeeper that will advance navigation (see Longitude Act, 1714). Having proceeded on the premise that longitude can be determined by comparing the time at sea with the time ashore if only the seagoing clock that shows Greenwich time can retain its accuracy, he obtains a £200 loan from clockmaker George Graham, 55, who has invented a mercurial pendulum and deadbeat escapement, and begins work to perfect his design and create a working model in an effort to win the prize offered 14 years ago by London's Board of Longitude (see 1736).
English astronomer James Bradley, 35, discovers stellar aberration—a small apparent displacement of fixed stars when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the path of the Earth around the sun. His measurements confirm the late Ole Römer's 1675 estimate of the velocity of light.
Theologian-historian Cotton Mather dies at his native Boston February 13 at age 65.
The University of La Habana is founded in Cuba.
Cyclopaedia, or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences by English encyclopedist Ephraim Chambers, 48, is published in two volumes. Chambers is elected to the Royal Society (see 1844; Britannica, 1768).
Fiction: Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality (Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité) by French novelist Abbé Provost (Antoine François Provost d'Exiles), 31, appears in the first four of seven volumes. The novelist is a former Benedictine monk.
Poetry: The Dunciad by Alexander Pope satirizes dullness; Spring by James Thomson.
Painting: The Skate and The Rain by French painter Jean-(Baptiste-) Siméon Chardin, 28.
Theater: Money Makes the World Go Round (Le Triomphe de Plutus) by Pierre de Marivaux 4/22 at the Théâtre Italien, Paris; The Ungrateful Sons (Les Fils ingrats) by Alexis Piron at the Comédie-Française, Paris; Love in Several Masques by English playwright-novelist Henry Fielding, 21.
Opera: The Beggar's Opera 1/29 at the Lincolns Inn Fields Theatre, London, with music by Berlin-born composer John Christopher Pepusch, 51, book and lyrics by English writer John Gay, 42. Faustina Bordoni and her rival Francesca Cuzzoni are satirized as Polly and Lucy in the opera, which has 62 successive performances but begins a 2-year run; Siroe, Re di Persia 2/28 at London's Haymarket Theatre, with Bordoni creating the role of Emira, music by George Frideric Handel; Tolomeo, Re di Egitto 5/4 at the Haymarket with Bordoni creating the role of Elisa, music by Handel, who is named codirector of the King's Theatre in Covent Garden. The Royal Academy closes prematurely in June when Bordoni falls ill, and the fortunes of Cuzzoni begin to decline (notoriously extravagant and improvident, she will make her final appearance in 1751 and die in obscurity, totally impoverished, at Bologna in 1770). Marie Sallé dances a pas de trois in June with her great rival Marie Camargo and Mlle. Petit in Hypermnestra. She and La Camargo will appear together in numerous performances.
English architect John Wood, 24, designs the North and South Parades at Bath to begin a notable career as city planner. He moved to Bath last year after having helped to build London's Cavendish-Harley housing estate.
French champagne producers win the right to ship their vin gris in bottles (see 1724). The Saint-Gobain glassworks will provide the enormous number of bottles required (see 1735).
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Houghton Mifflin Guide to Science & Technology:
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In the year 1728
Astronomy
James Bradley [b. Sherborne, England, March 1693, d. Chalford, England, July 13, 1762] explains the observed periodic shifts of stars by the aberration of light. Stars shift their apparent position depending on whether Earth is moving toward or away from them (called the aberration of light), demonstrating that Earth indeed revolves about the Sun. See also 1543 Astronomy.
In Hesperi et phosphori nova phaenomena sive observationes circa planetam Veneris Francesco Bianchini [b. Verona (Italy), December 13, 1662, d. Rome, March 2, 1729] estimates the rotation period of Venus as 24 and a third days (far from its correct value of 243 days in a direction opposite that of the other planets).
CommunicationEphraim Chambers [b. Kendal, England, 1680, d. London, May 15, 1740] publishes one of the most influential and popular works of the time, the Cyclopedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Art and Sciences in two volumes. In translation it becomes the first complete Italian encyclopedia as well as the progenitor of the great French encyclopedia of Diderot. See also 1704 Communication;1743 Communication.
Earth scienceVitus Jonassen Bering [b. Horsens, Denmark, summer, 1681, d. Bering Island, east of Kamchatka, December 19, 1741] discovers the Bering Strait. See also 1722 Earth science.
Medicine & healthLe chirurgien dentiste, ou traité des dents ("the surgeon dentist, or treatise of the teeth") by Pierre Fauchard [b. 1677, d. Paris, March 21, 1761] puts dental treatment on a more scientific plane and describes how to fill a tooth infected with dental caries using tin, lead, or gold. The post crown, an artificial top portion of a tooth mounted on a post inserted into the root canal, is introduced. See also 1890 Medicine & health.
Giovanni Lancisi's posthumously published De motu cordis et aneurysmatibus discusses heart dilatation. See also 1717 Medicine & health.
ToolsJacques de Falcon builds a semiautomatic weaving loom in which the index fingers (which lift and lower the warp threads) are controlled by perforated cards. The cards must be fed into the machine manually. See also 1725 Tools; 1733 Tools.
Diaries, Journals, and Letters
- William Byrd: History of the Dividing Line. Written in 1728, but not published until 1841, this excerpt from the author's journal reveals his daily observations while surveying the border of Virginia and North Carolina. It also demonstrates Byrd's humor and sharp intellect, especially his biting commentary about the residents of North Carolina.
Nonfiction
- Elizabeth Hanson (1684-1737): God's Mercy Surmounting Man's Cruelty. An account of Hanson's capture by the French and Indians that differs from both Mary Rowlandson's famous captivity narrative and the Reverend John Williams's account of the Deerfield Raid by its polished literary style. The work would be reprinted frequently.
Poetry, Fiction, and Drama
- Richard Lewis (c. 1699-c. 1733): Muscipula. Lewis, a poet from Maryland best known for his descriptions of nature, publishes a translation of Edward Holdsworth's popular Latin satire on the Welsh.
- Jacob Taylor (?-1746): "Pennsylvania." The longest poem from the renowned almanac author focuses on the link between divine providence and the abundance and fertility of the colony.
Sermons and Religious Writing
- John Adams (1704-1740): "Jesus Christ, an Example to His Ministers." The only published sermon from the minister and poet, it is delivered at his ordination in Providence, Rhode Island. The work displays a classical bent, even referring directly to Platonism, a risky endeavor for any minister. The sermon demonstrates Adams's unusually strong tie to his classical training, which also provides the foundation of his poetry.
- Benjamin Franklin: Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. Franklin produces a personal devotional book recording his spiritual beliefs, a mixture of deistic and polytheistical tenets.
- Joshua Gee (1698-1748): "Israel's Mourning for Aaron's Death." A eulogy in honor of Cotton Mather, who according to Gee had exemplified everything worthy in a New England minister--a view shared by many of his contemporaries. The work is a fitting testament to the life of the influential minister and would be followed by two of Gee's doctrinal sermons, "The Strait Gait" and "The Narrow Way," in 1729.
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This article is about the year 1728. For the number (and other uses), see 1728 (number).
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 17th century – 18th century – 19th century |
| Decades: | 1690s 1700s 1710s – 1720s – 1730s 1740s 1750s |
| Years: | 1725 1726 1727 – 1728 – 1729 1730 1731 |
| 1728 by topic: | |
| Arts and Sciences | |
| Archaeology – Architecture – Art – Literature (Poetry) – Music – Science | |
| Countries | |
| Canada – Great Britain – | |
| Lists of leaders | |
| Colonial governors – State leaders | |
| Birth and death categories | |
| Births – Deaths | |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories | |
| Establishments – Disestablishments | |
| Works category | |
| Works | |
| Gregorian calendar | 1728 MDCCXXVIII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2481 |
| Armenian calendar | 1177 ԹՎ ՌՃՀԷ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6478 |
| Bahá'í calendar | -116–-115 |
| Bengali calendar | 1135 |
| Berber calendar | 2678 |
| British Regnal year | 1 Geo. 2 – 2 Geo. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2272 |
| Burmese calendar | 1090 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7236–7237 |
| Chinese calendar | 丁未年十一月二十日 (4364/4424-11-20) — to —
戊申年十二月初一日(4365/4425-12-1) |
| Coptic calendar | 1444–1445 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1720–1721 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5488–5489 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1784–1785 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1650–1651 |
| - Kali Yuga | 4829–4830 |
| Holocene calendar | 11728 |
| Iranian calendar | 1106–1107 |
| Islamic calendar | 1140–1141 |
| Japanese calendar | Kyōhō 13 (享保13年) |
| Korean calendar | 4061 |
| Minguo calendar | 184 before ROC 民前184年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2271 |
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Year 1728 (MDCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
- February 28 – At the Battle of Palkhed, Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I defeats the Mughal Governor of Deccan, Nizam-ul-Mulk.
- March 14 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau leaves Geneva for the first time.
- May 18 – Peter II succeeds Catherine I as Tsar of Russia.
July–December
- July 14–August 14 – Vitus Bering sails northward from the Kamchatka Peninsula, through the Bering Strait, and round Cape Dezhnev.
- Late Summer – Voltaire ends his exile in England.
- October 20–October 23 – The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 (the largest in the city's history) burns.
Date unknown
- The city of Godthåb is founded in Greenland by the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede.
- The English astronomer James Bradley uses stellar aberration (first observed in 1725) to calculate the speed of light and observes nutation of the Earth's axis.[1]
- The Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de la Habana, the oldest university in Cuba, is founded in Havana.
- Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II of Great Britain, arrives in Britain for the first time, aged 21.
In fiction
Births
- January 9 – Thomas Warton, English poet (d. 1790)
- February 21 – Emperor Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (d. 1762)
- February 25 – John Wood, the Younger, English architect (d. 1782)
- April 16 – Joseph Black, Scottish physicist and chemist (d. 1799)
- August 26 – Johann Heinrich Lambert, Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer (d. 1777)
- August 28 – John Stark, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1822)
- September 3 – Matthew Boulton, English manufacturer and lifelong key partner of James Watt (d. 1809)
- September 14 – Mercy Otis Warren, American playwright (d. 1814)
- October 7 – Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1784)
- October 27 – James Cook, British naval commander and explorer (d. 1779)
- November 10 – Oliver Goldsmith, Irish writer (d. 1774)
Deaths
- February 12 – Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat and composer (b. 1654)
- February 13 – Cotton Mather, New England Puritan minister (b. 1663)
- March 4 – Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, eldest daughter of Peter the Great (b. 1708)
- April 3 – James Anderson, Scottish historian (b. 1662)
- May 14 – Louise Marie d'Orléans, Mademoiselle, French princess (b.1726)
- August 15 – Marin Marais, French viol player and composer (b. 1656)
- August 26 – Anne Marie d'Orléans Queen consort of Sicily and Sardinia (b.1669)
- September 23 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist (b. 1655)
- November 19 – Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German Prince (b. 1694)
- date unknown – Serfoji I, third Raja of the Bhonsle dynasty (b. 1675)
References
- ^ Delambre, J. B. (1827). Histoire de l'astronomie au dix-huitième siècle. Paris: Bachelier.
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Gale World Chronology
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Houghton Mifflin Guide to Science & Technology
History of Science and Technology, edited by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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