- 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- Townsend Acts repealed.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]
- April 20
- Captain Cook arrives in New South Wales. [1]
- April 29
- Captain James Cook in the Endeavor arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia. [5] (April 28 [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]
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- July 7
- The Ottoman Turkish fleet is annihilated by Russian fleet at Chesma between the western tip of Anatolia and Chios. [820.58]
- August 21
- James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales. [5]
1771
- January 22
- Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain. [1]
- February 16
- Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy. [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]
1772
- January 1
- First traveler's checks issued (London). [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 13
- Gotthold Lessing's "Emilia Calotti" premieres in Brunswick. [1]
- April 30
- John Clais patents first scale. [1]
- May 11
- Amsterdam theater destroyed by fire, 18 killed. [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 feet 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 22
- Moravian missionary constructs first schoolhouse west of Allegheny. [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 26
- Construction authorized for Walnut Steet jail (Philadelphia) (first solitary). [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 27
- British Parliament passes the Tea Act (eventually leads to Boston Tea Party on December 16). [1]
- (month unknown)
- English clockmaker John Harrison is awarded 20,000 pounds sterling prize by British Board of Longitude, and reveals his chronograph design. [1128.29]
- July 15
- The Stock Exchange is created in London, England. [857.57]
- July 20
- Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada). [1]
- July 29
- A meteor is viewed in the sky at Crespi (now Crepy), France, creating a large booming noise, and shaking the earth on impact. [523.25]
- August
- Duke of Lauzun and Count Branicki begin running horse races on a track between Spa and Verviers, the first such enterprise on the European continent. [187.187] [811.70]
- September 11
- Benjamin Franklin writes "There never was a good war or bad peace.". [1]
- December 16
- In Boston Harbor, a group of 116 Massachusetts colonists disguised as Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor, in protest of the British Parliament's Tea Act of 1773, greatly lowering the tea tax on the East India Company. [1] [129] [450.48] [696.19]
- 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 30
- Captain Cook reaches 71 degrees 10' S, 1820 km from South pole (record). [1]
- January 31
- Benjamin Franklin is dismissed from the post of Deputy Postmaster for the Northern District of the American Continent, for neglect of postal affairs, and for working for repeal of the Stamp Act. He is replaced by Hugh Finlay. [1135]
- February 10
- Andrew Becker demonstrates diving suit. [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 19
- CW Glucks opera "Iphigenia in Aulis", premieres in Paris France. [1]
- April 30
- Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee. [1]
- May 10
- 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
- The first Continental Cogress convenes in Philadelphia. [5] (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
- The element oxygen is discovered for the third (and last) time. [1] [5]
- September 5
- First Continental Congress assembles, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [1] [916.169]
- October 14
- First Continental Congress is first to declare colonial rights (Philadelphia). [1]
- October 26
- First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia. [1]
- November 27
- The Great Council of Venice votes 720 to 21 to close the Ridotto, ending legal public gambling, due to growing impoverishment of its aristocratic families. [187.95]
- December 13
- First incident of the Revolution-400 attack Fort William and Mary, New Hampshire. [1]
- December 14
- Massachusetts militiamen successfully attacked arsenal of Fort William and Mary. [1]
- December 18
- Jews expelled from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia by Empress Maria Theresa. [1]
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