References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 June 28.

1770 January 1 Date of action in the opera "Madeleine". [1] January 13 De Beaumarchais' "Les Deux Amis" premieres in Paris. [1] January 19 Battle of Golden Hill (Lower Manhattan). [1] February 22 Christopher Snider 11, Boston, becomes first martyr of US Revolution. [1] February 26 François Hanot composer, dies at age 72. [1] Giuseppe Tartini Italian composer/violinist, dies at age 77. [1] March 5 Blanche Kelso Bruce sworn in as a US Senator (Mississippi). [1] Boston Massacre, British troops kill five in crowd; Crispus Attackus becomes first black to die for American freedom. [1] Crispus Attuks slave, is first of five killed during Boston Massacre. [1] March 27 Giovanni B Tiepolo Italian painter (Banquet of Cleopatra), dies at age 73. [1] April 9 Captain James Cook discovers Botany Bay (Australia). [1] April 12 Townsend Acts repealed. [1] April 19 Amsterdam buys Van Aerssens family 1/3 part of Suriname. [1] Captain James Cook first sees Australia. [1] Esprit Joseph Antoine Blanchard composer, dies at age 74. [1] April 20 Captain Cook arrives in New South Wales. [1] April 28 Marie AC de Camargo Spanish/Italian/Belgian dancer, dies at age 60. [1] April 29 Captain James Cook in the Endeavor arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia. [5] (April 28 [1]) May 4 Christian Gottfried Krause composer, dies at age 51. [1] May 9 Charles Avison composer, dies at age 61. [1] May 10 Charles Avison composer, dies at age 61. [1] May 16 Marie Antoinette (14) marries future King Louis XVI (15) of France. [1] June 3 Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo founded in California. [1] June 11 Captain Cook runs aground on Australian Great Barrier Reef. [1] June 28 Quakers open a school for blacks in Philadelphia. [1] December 5 James Stirling Scottish mathematician (Formula of Stirling), dies at age 78. [1] December 9 Gottlieb Theophil Muffat composer, dies at age 80. [1] December 10 Theophil "Gottlieb" Muffat German court organist/composer, dies at age 80. [1] 1771 January 11 Jean-Baptiste de Boyer marquis d'Argens, French author, dies at age 66. [1] January 22 Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain. [1] February 8 Augusta von Saxen-Gotha German prince Frederick Louis of Wales, dies. [1] February 12 King Adolf Frederick of Sweden dies. His son Prince Gustav becomes King Gustav III. [1] [7] February 16 Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy. [1] March 1 Isfrid Kayser composer, dies at age 58. [1] March 22 Gottlieb W Rabener German author (Bremer Beiträge), dies at age 56. [1] May 7 Samuel Hearne explores the Copper Mine River of Canada. [1] July 14 Mission San Antonio de Padua founded in California. [1] September 8 Mission San Gabriel Archangel forms in California. [1] December 26 Claude A Helvétius French encyclopedist (L'esprit), dies at age 56. [1] 1772 January 1 First traveler's checks issued (London). [1] February 10 Jozef Wenceslas monarch of Liechtenstein/general, dies at age 75. [1] Louis Tocqué French painter, dies at age 75. [1] February 12 Yves de Kerguelen of France discovers Kerguelen Archipelago, India. [1] February 17 First partition of Poland-Russia and Prussia, joined later by Austria. [1] March 2 Robert J Pothier French lawyer, dies at age 73. [1] March 11 George Reuter composer, dies at age 63. [1] March 13 Gotthold Lessing's "Emilia Calotti" premieres in Brunswick. [1] April 15 Karel Jozef ruler of Batthyányi, dies at age 73. [1] April 19 Johann Peter Kellner composer, dies at age 66. [1] April 30 John Clais patents first scale. [1] May 1 Gottfried Achenwall German lawyer/statistics/economist, dies at age 52. [1] May 11 Amsterdam theater destroyed by fire, 18 killed. [1] Joseph Kerckhoff Limburg surgeon/robber captain, hanged. [1] June 9 First Protestant church west of Penn (in Ohio) holds communion. [1] June 10 Burning of the Gaspée, British revenue cutter, by Rhode Islanders. [1] June 22 Slavery outlawed in England. [1] August 5 First partition of Poland, between Austria, Prussia and Russia. [1] August 11 Explosive eruption blows 4,000' off Papandayan Java, kills 3,000. [1] August 31 Hurricane destroy ships off Dominica. [1] September 1 Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa forms in California. [1] December 12 Johann Gottfried Seyfert composer, dies at age 41. [1] December 22 Moravian missionary constructs first schoolhouse west of Allegheny. [1] December 28 Ernst J Earl van/of Biron Russian duke of Courland, dies at age 82. [1] 1773 January 6 Massachusetts slaves petition legislature for freedom. [1] January 12 First US public museum established (Charleston South Carolina). [1] January 17 Captain James Cook becomes first to cross Antarctic Circle (66 degrees 33' S). [1] February 20 Charles Emanuel I King of Sardinia/Duke of Savoy (CE III), dies at age 71. [1] February 26 Construction authorized for Walnut Steet jail (Philadelphia) (first solitary). [1] March 1 Jan Wagenaar Dutch historian, dies at age 63. [1] Luigi Vanvitelli [Louis van Wittel], Italian architect, dies at age 72. [1] March 12 Jeanne Baptiste Pointe de Sable found settlement now known as Chicago. [1] March 18 Oliver Goldsmith' "She Stoops to Conquer" premieres in London. [1] April 19 Florian Johann Deller composer, dies at age 43. [1] April 27 British Parliament passes the Tea Act (eventually leads to Boston Tea Party on December 16). [1] May 8 Ali Bey Egyptian Mameluk head, dies. [1] May 24 Jan Zach composer, dies at age 73. [1] July 20 Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada). [1] September 11 Benjamin Franklin writes "There never was a good war or bad peace.". [1] December 16 Big tea party in Boston harbor-Indians welcome (Boston Tea Party). [1] December 26 Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia. [1] 1774 January 11 Messier adds M51 (spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici) to his catalog. [1] January 21 Mustapha III sultan of Turkey (1957-74), dies at age 56. [1] January 30 Captain Cook reaches 71 degrees 10' S, 1820 km from South pole (record). [1] Frantisek Ignac Antonin Tuma composer, dies at age 69. [1] Jean-Pierre Guignon composer, dies at age 71. [1] February 10 Andrew Becker demonstrates diving suit. [1] Florian Leopold Gassmann composer, dies at age 44. [1] February 22 English House of Lords rules authors do not have perpetual copyright. [1] March 4 William Herschel becomes the first to sight the Orion Nebula. [1] [5] March 7 British close port of Boston to all commerce. [1] March 25 English Parliament passes Boston Port Bill. [1] March 28 Britain passes Coercive Act against Massachusetts. [1] April 4 Oliver Goldsmith Irish poet (She Stoops to Conquer), dies at age 17. [1] April 19 CW Glucks opera "Iphigenia in Aulis", premieres in Paris France. [1] April 23 Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich painter, dies. [1] April 30 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee. [1] May 3 Heinrich A Fouqué Prussian general (7 year war), dies at age 76. [1] May 10 Louis XV king of France (1715-74), dies at age 64. [1] Louis XVI ascends to throne of France. [1] May 20 Britain gives Québec, Labrador and territory north of the Ohio. [1] May 23 Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River). [1] May 28 First Continental Congress convenes (Virginia). [1] June 1 British government orders Port of Boston closed. [1] June 13 Rhode Island becomes first colony to prohibit importation of slaves. [1] July 12 Citizens of Carlisle, Penn. pass a declaration of independence. [1] August 1 Priestly discovers oxygen. [1] September 5 First Continental Congress assembles, in Philadelphia. [1] October 14 First Continental Congress is first to declare colonial rights (Philadelphia). [1] October 26 First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia. [1] December 2 Johann Friedrich Agricola German (court)composer/organist, dies at age 54. [1] December 13 First incident of the Revolution-400 attack Fort William and Mary, New Hampshire. [1] Susanne K von Klettenberg German friend of Goethes mother, dies at age 50. [1] December 14 Massachusetts militiamen successfully attacked arsenal of Fort William and Mary. [1] December 16 François Quesnay French personal physician of Louis XIV, dies at age 80. [1] December 18 Jews expelled from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia by Empress Maria Theresa. [1]