18th century

1701 – 1800 · 44 events

What happened around the world

1709 Great Frost of 1709 — Europe's harshest winter in 500 years weakens Sweden for Poltava
1751–1772 Diderot's Encyclopédie — A compendium of knowledge becomes the Enlightenment's landmark
1755 Lisbon earthquake — The ruin of Portugal's capital shakes Enlightenment thinkers
1756–1763 Seven Years' War — A global war before the world wars wins Britain Canada
c. 1760 Start of the Industrial Revolution — Machines replace hand labor and remake how the world lives
1769 Watt's steam engine — An efficient engine drives the Industrial Revolution
1783–1784 Laki eruption — Toxic gases kill a fifth of Iceland and veil Europe in haze
1783 First manned balloon flight — For the first time, people rise into the sky
1789 Storming of the Bastille — A symbol of absolutism falls and the French Revolution begins
1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen — “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”
1796 Jenner's first vaccination — Cowpox shields against smallpox — vaccination is born

1703 Founding of Saint Petersburg — Peter the Great founds a new capital, a window on Europe
1709 Battle of Poltava — Russia replaces Sweden as a great power
1721 Proclamation of the Russian Empire — Victory over Sweden makes Peter the Great an emperor
1724 Founding of the Academy of Sciences — Peter I creates a home for Euler, Bernoulli and Lomonosov
1733–1743 Great Northern Expedition — Bering maps Siberia's Arctic coast and reaches America
1755 Founding of Moscow University — Lomonosov and Shuvalov open higher learning to many classes
1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — The guards depose Peter III, opening Catherine's 34-year reign
1764 Founding of the Hermitage — Catherine II buys 225 paintings, founding a great museum
c. 1768 Extinction of Steller's sea cow — A giant of northern seas is gone 27 years after its discovery
1772–1795 Partitions of Poland — Three neighbors carve up the state until Poland vanishes
1773–1775 Pugachev's Rebellion — A Cossack claims to be Peter III and raises the Volga and Urals
1783 Russian annexation of Crimea (1783) — The khanate passes to Russia and Sevastopol is founded
1791 Constitution of 3 May 1791 — Modern Europe's first written national constitution

1729 Müteferrika's first Ottoman Turkish printing press — Arabic-script printing arrives, 270 years after Gutenberg
c. 1744 Saudi–Wahhabi pact at Diriyah — An emir and a preacher create the first Saudi state
1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state — Tribal elders pick a 25-year-old shah — and Afghanistan is born

c. 1701 Rise of the Ashanti Empire — Osei Tutu unites the Ashanti under the Golden Stool
1727 Dahomey conquers Ouidah — An inland kingdom seizes the coast and the slave trade
1792 Founding of Freetown — A 'free town' for ex-slaves who fought for the British Crown
1798 Battle of the Pyramids — Napoleon takes Cairo, and Egyptology is born

1739 Nader Shah sacks Delhi — The Peacock Throne goes to Iran as Mughal power wanes
1757 Battle of Plassey — The Company takes Bengal, beginning British rule in India
1767 Fall of Ayutthaya — Burma burns Siam's capital; power shifts to Bangkok
1782 Bangkok becomes Siam's capital — The start of the Chakri dynasty, still reigning in Thailand
1793 Macartney Embassy — Qianlong turns down Britain's bid for wider trade

1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham — Britain takes Quebec, and France loses Canada
1776 US Declaration of Independence — Thirteen colonies declare freedom and the rights of man
1780–1781 Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II — The largest uprising against Spanish rule in the Americas
1787 US Constitution — Separation of powers in the oldest written constitution in force
1791–1804 Haitian Revolution — Former slaves win and build their own independent nation

1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — Cook charts New Zealand and claims eastern Australia
1769 Tupaia, the navigator of Raiatea — A Polynesian drew Cook a map of the Pacific from memory
1788 First Fleet arrives in Australia — Ships of convicts begin the British settlement of Australia

Rus and Russia: Peter the Great 1682 – 1725, Catherine I 1725 – 1727, Peter II 1727 – 1730, Anna 1730 – 1740, Ivan VI 1740 – 1741, Elizabeth 1741 – 1762, Peter III 1762 – 1762, Catherine the Great 1762 – 1796, Paul I 1796 – 1801
England and Britain: William III of Orange 1689 – 1702, Queen Anne 1702 – 1714, George I 1714 – 1727, George II 1727 – 1760, George III 1760 – 1820
Franks and France: Louis XIV 1643 – 1715, Louis XV 1715 – 1774, Louis XVI 1774 – 1792, First Republic 1792 – 1804
Holy Roman Empire & Austria: Leopold I 1658 – 1705, Joseph I 1705 – 1711, Charles VI 1711 – 1740, Charles VII 1742 – 1745, Francis I 1745 – 1765, Joseph II 1765 – 1790, Leopold II 1790 – 1792, Francis II 1792 – 1835
Ottoman Empire: Mustafa II 1695 – 1703, Ahmed III 1703 – 1730, Mahmud I 1730 – 1754, Osman III 1754 – 1757, Mustafa III 1757 – 1774, Abdul Hamid I 1774 – 1789, Selim III 1789 – 1807
US presidents: George Washington 1789 – 1797, John Adams 1797 – 1801
China: dynasties: Qing 1644 – 1912
Japan: shoguns & emperors: Tokugawa Tsunayoshi 1680 – 1709, Tokugawa Ienobu 1709 – 1712, Tokugawa Ietsugu 1713 – 1716, Tokugawa Yoshimune 1716 – 1745, Tokugawa Ieshige 1745 – 1760, Tokugawa Ieharu 1760 – 1786, Tokugawa Ienari 1787 – 1837
India: empires: Mughal Empire 1526 – 1857