istoryworld
Events relating to europe
James Boswell meets Samuel Johnson for the first time, in the London bookshop of Thomas Davies
Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, leads an uprising of the Indian tribes in an attempt to drive the British east of the Appalachians
7-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart begins a three-year concert tour of Europe
American artist Benjamin West settles in London, where he becomes famous for his large-scale history scenes
A French expedition from St Malo, founding a colony on East Falkland, name the islands Les Îsles Malouines
The Russian empress Catherine the Great secures the throne of Poland for one of her lovers, as Stanislaw II
James Watt ponders on the inefficiency of contemporary steam engines and invents the condenser
Catherine the Great founds the Hermitage as a court museum attached to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg
Britain passes the Sugar Act, levying duty on sugar, wine and textiles imported into America
Lancashire spinner James Hargreaves conceives the idea of the spinning jenny, with multiple spindles worked from a single wheel
English historian Edward Gibbon, sitting among ruins in Rome, conceives the idea of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
English author Horace Walpole provides an early taste of Gothic thrills in his novel Castle of Otranto
Britain passes the Stamp Act, taxing legal documents and newspapers in the American colonies
American campaigners against the Stamp Act organize themselves as the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts and New York
Britain repeals the Stamp Act, in a major reversal of policy achieved by resistance in the American colonies
English chemist Henry Cavendish isolates hydrogen but believes that it is phlogiston
Irish novelist Oliver Goldsmith publishes The Vicar of Wakefield, with a hero who has much to complain about but keeps calm
Pierre le Roy's chronometer, as accurate as Harrison's and cheaper to construct, is set to become the standard model
The British Chancellor, Charles Townshend, passes a series of acts taxing all glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported into the American colonies
Corsica is sold to France by the republic of Genoa
Captain James Cook sails from Plymouth, in England, heading for Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus
A French artist, Jean Baptiste le Prince, discovers the aquatint technique in printmaking
A Society of Gentlemen in Scotland begins publication of the immensely successful Encyclopaedia Britannica
A border incident at Balta, in the southern Ukraine, sparks a war between Russia and Turkey that will last six years
The Royal Academy is established in London, with Joshua Reynolds as its first president
