First Masonic Grand Lodge founded
Four lodges meet in a London alehouse — modern Freemasonry begins
On St John the Baptist's Day, 24 June 1717, four London lodges met at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse by St Paul's and declared themselves a Grand Lodge. Modern Freemasonry dates from it; of the medieval stonemasons' guilds only the symbols remain — apron, compasses and square.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1696 Capture of Azov — 21 years earlier
- 1700–1721 Great Northern War — 17 years earlier
- 1703 Founding of Saint Petersburg — 14 years earlier
- 1709 Battle of Poltava — 8 years earlier
- 1721 Peter the Great takes the title of Emperor — 4 years later
Middle East
- 1722 Fall of Isfahan — 5 years later
- 1736 Nader Shah takes the throne of Iran — 19 years later
Asia
- 1707 Death of Aurangzeb — 10 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Isaac Newton (aged 74)
- Kangxi Emperor (aged 63)
- Peter the Great (aged 45)
- Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 32)
- Voltaire (aged 23)
- Benjamin Franklin (aged 11)
- Mikhail Lomonosov (aged 6)
- Ahmed III (aged 44)
- Vitus Bering (aged 36)
- Tokugawa Yoshimune (aged 33)