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1778
January 18 - Third Pacific expedition of Capt. James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, first view O'ahu then Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands."
February 5 - South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
February 6 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
February 23 - American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the Continental Army.
June 28: The Battle of Monmouth.June 28 - American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Monmouth takes place in Monmouth, New Jersey.
July 3 - American Revolutionary War: the Wyoming Massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., ending in a terrible defeat of the local colonists.
July 10 - American Revolutionary War: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
July 27 - American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant - British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
August 26 - Triglav, at 2,864 metres above sea level the highest peak of Slovenia, was ascended for the first time by four brave men: Luka Korošec, Matevž Kos, Štefan Rožič and Lovrenc Willomitzer on Sigismund Zois's initiative.
September - The Massachusetts Banishment Act, providing punishment for Loyalists, is passed.
September 17 - Treaty of Fort Pitt signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware). [Hypocrisy begins...]
September 19 - The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.
November 26: Captain Cook at Maui.November 26 - In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to discover Maui.
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1777
Mar 12 Lavoisier reads to the Académie a memoir on the use of ashes in the manufacture of saltpetre.
Apr 30 Carl Friedrich Gauss born
Apr 12 Henry Clay born http://www.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/hclay/hclay.htm
Oct 21 Samuel Foote died
Britain is defeated by American forces in battles at Princeton and Bennington, but is victorious at Brandywine and Germantown, Pennsylvania
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1776
Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations
Edward Gibbon publishes The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Austria abolishes death penalty and torture and decriminalizes witchcraft
British begin to use old ships docked close to shore as temporary prisons, prison junks
Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
January 10 - Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense
January 20 - American Revolutionary War: South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham sign a petition from prison agreeing to all demands for peace by the newly formed state government of South Carolina.
January 24 - American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
February 27 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge:
North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore's Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believe to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ends all British authority in the town.
March 4 - The American War of Independence: The Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
March 17 - American Revolutionary War: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington commands the placement of artillery overlooking the city at Dorchester Heights.
April 12 - American Revolutionary War: The Royal Colony of North Carolina produces the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony to officially authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
June 7 - American Revolutionary War: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.
June 8 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivičres: American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivičres, Quebec.
June 12 - American Revolutionary War: Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates.
June 15 - American Revolutionary War: Delaware Separation Day: The Delaware General Assembly votes to suspend government under the British Crown.
July 2 - American Revolutionary War: The final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence is written.
July 4 - American Revolutionary War: United States Declaration of Independence. United States declares independence from the British Empire.
July 9 - American Revolutionary War: An angry mob in New York City topples the equestrian statue of George III in Bowling Green.
August 15 - American Revolutionary War: First Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces
August 27 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Long Island: Washington's troops routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.
September 7 - American Revolutionary War: World's first submarine attack. American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. (A submarine!? In the Revelutionary War!?)
September 11 - American Revolutionary War: abortive peace conference between British and Americans on Staten Island.
September 15 - American Revolutionary War: British land on Manhattan at Kip's Bay.
September 16 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Harlem Heights
September 22 - American Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale executed in New York City for espionage.
October 11 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold's ships are destroyed, the two day-long battle will give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
October 28 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of White Plains: British forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
November 16 - American Revolutionary War: Hessian mercenaries under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen capture Fort Washington from the American Continentals.
December 7 - American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette attempts to enter the American military as a major general.
December 21 - American Revolutionary War: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.
December 23 - American Revolutionary War: Thomas Paine, living with Washington's troops begins publishing The American Crisis, containing the stirring phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls."
December 25 - American Revolutionary War: Gen. George Washington orders the first issue of The Crisis read to his troops on Christmas Eve, then at 6 p.m. all 2600 of them march to McKonkey's Ferry, cross the Delaware River and land on the Jersey bank at 3 a.m..
December 26 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trenton: Washington's troops surprise the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 1000 prisoners while suffering only 6 wounded (It has been said that the Hessian soldiers were at a party dancing and drinking.)
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1775
Last official execution for witchcraft in Germany
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PS. Also in 1775: The birth of what is known today as the United States Army. In 1775 it was called the Continental Army.
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1774
Warren Hastings appointed Governor-General of India
Quebec Act, 1774 passed by the British Parliament to institute a permanent administration in Canada
Scholars set up a Private Society of Sciences (later the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences) in Prague.
Pugachev's rebellion in Russia ends.
Goethe publishes "The Sorrows of Young Werther"
Feb 25: "at a meeting of a group of distinguished gentlemen at the Star and Garter pub in Pall Mall, the very first Official Laws of Cricket were drawn up"
July 21 : Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending six years of war.
Sep 5: The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall
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January 15 : James Cook is the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle
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1772
Emanuel Swedenborg, philosopher, dies
David Ricardo economist, born
Charles Fourier born
Samuel Taylor Coleridge born
Partition of Poland/Lithuania
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1771
Discovery of Oxygen as a chemical element
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1770
March 5 - Boston Massacre: 5 Americans killed by British troops in an event that would help start the American Revolutionary War 5 years later.
May 16 - 14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year old Louis-Auguste (who later becomes Louis XVI King of France).
August 22 - James Cook claims the eastern coast of New Holland (Australia) for Great Britain.
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1769
May 1, Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) born
June 3, Transit of Venus observed by various astronomers, included Capt Cook on Tahiti
July 16, the Spanish founded the first mission in California
Aug 15 - Napoleon Bonaparte was born
Aug 23 - birth of Georges Cuvier, French comparative anatomist who is considered the founder of functional anatomy
Oct The Endeavour arrived in New Zealand the first time that Europeans had set foot in New Zealand.
Overthrow of the Newar rulers by the Gurkhas and the establishment of a Hindu kingdom in Nepal.
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1768
James Cook sets sail on his first voyage
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1767
Jan 1 - Maria Edgeworth born
Jun 22 - Wilhelm von Humboldt born.
September 4th: Charles Townshend unexpectedly dies - no doubt weighed down by the curses of the Americans on whom he imposed unwelcome taxes.
Charles III, King of Spain, ordered that "the Jesuits be expelled from all my dominions of Spain, the Indies, and Philippine Islands, and other adjacent regions"
Burmese invasion reaches the Thai capital.
Daniel Boone reaches Kentucky
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1766 - May 30
Robert Darwin, doctor and father of Charles Darwin, is born
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1765 - March 22 - The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act which is the first direct tax levied from England on the American colonies.
September 21 - Antoine de Beauterne announced he had killed the Beast of Gévaudan.
