1729

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political events

The Treaty of Seville November 9 ends a 2-year war between Spain and an Anglo-French alliance. The allies agree to the Spanish succession in the Italian duchies. Britain retains Gibraltar.

Russia's former shadow czar Aleksandr D. Menshikov dies in exile at Berëzovo, Siberia, November 23 at age 56, having been stripped of his rank and property (see 1725). He arranged to have his daughter married to the new czar Peter II, but his enemies have succeeded in turning Peter against him.

China's third Qing emperor Yin Zhen increases the administrative centralization of the government by replacing the Grand Secretariat with a five- or six-member Grand Council. Previously an informal group, the Grand Council now becomes the nation's chief ministerial body, conferring with the emperor on a daily basis to handle official business efficiently and in secret.

exploration, colonization

The town of Baltimore that was first settled more than a century ago is formally established August 8 (see Calvert, 1715). The Maryland colonial assembly purchases land near deep tidal waters that extend deep into grain and tobacco fields at the head of Chesapeake Bay, land rapidly being developed by German immigrants.

Natchez tribesmen in the Louisiana colony attack settlers and soldiers November 28, massacring more than 200 and taking several hundred women, children, and black slaves prisoner. The colonists had demanded that the Natchez give up their sacred burial ground.

commerce

Diamonds discovered at Tejuco, Brazil, in 1721 are confirmed as such by Portuguese-born Brazilian Bernardo da Fonseca Lobo, who arrives at Lisbon with samples. A diamond rush begins to Tejuco. It will be renamed Diamintina, and Brazil supplants India as the world's leading diamond source (see South Africa, 1867).

energy

Steam-engine pioneer Thomas Newcomen dies at London August 5 at age 66, having seen his engine rescue many mines from bankruptcy.

science

English physicist Stephen Gray uses frictional methods in experiments to prove conduction in static electricity; he discovers that when metals are brought into contact with bodies that have been electrified by friction, they themselves acquire such properties (see du Fay, 1730).

religion

Methodism has its beginnings at Oxford University, where fellow students call Charles Wesley, 22, a "methodist" because of his methodical study habits. Episcopal priest John Wesley, 26, comes into residence at Oxford in November and joins with his brother Charles and with James Hervey and George Whitefield, both 15, in a Holy Club that meets at first each Sunday evening for strict observance of sacrament and then meets every evening, reading the classics and the Greek Testament, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays (see 1735).

communications, media

Benjamin Franklin and his partner Hugh Meredith purchase the Pennsylvania Gazette from Franklin's former employer Samuel Keimer (see 1723). Franklin went into partnership with Meredith last year and will soon borrow money to buy him out (see circulating library, 1731).

literature

Jesuit historian Jean Hardouin dies at Paris September 3 at age 82.

art

Painting: Captain Woodes Rogers and His Family by William Hogarth.

theater, film

Playwright William Congreve dies at London January 19 at age 58; playwright-essayist Sir Richard Steele at Caermarthen, Wales, September 1 at age 57 (he has moved to Wales to escape his creditors).

music

Ballet: Marie Sallé creates a sensation 2/17, dancing with Laval in Les caractères de la danse and discarding the mask traditionally worn by dancers.

First performances: The St. Matthew Passion (Grosse Passionmusik nach dem Evangelium Matthaei) by Johann Sebastian Bach 4/25 at Leipzig, where the composer has been required to teach both choral and instrumental music while at the same time overseeing the music in four of the city's churches. He includes the 1601 Hans Hassler song "Mein Gemüt ist mir verwirret" under the title "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden."

architecture, real estate

The Palazzina di Caccia is completed five miles outside Turin for Savoy's Vittorio Amedeo II, whose "little hunting lodge" has been designed by architect Filippo Javarra. Marble hunt trophies decorate the large walled park at the back of the vast, curving, white baroque palace, and a bronze stag crowns its dome.

population

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is an satirical tract inspired by Irish population pressures: "I have been assured by a knowing American of my acquaintance that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasee or a ragout: I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that . . . 100,000 [infants] may, at a year old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune throughout the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table."

England's death rate begins a sharp descent, producing population pressure on food supplies, but food remains more plentiful than in Ireland.

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