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1719
In 1719 miners in the Falun copper mine of Sweden found a dead body in a tunnel that had been closed for a long time due to a cave-in. The body was so well preserved that the victim was first believed to to have died recently, but when they brought the body to the surface they soon learned the true story: They had found Fet-Mats Israelsson who had disappeared 42 years previously. His former fiancée, Margaret Olsdotter, now an elderly woman recognized him, and burst into tears. At the time of his disapperance people had assumed that Mr Israelsson had left Falun to avoid the marriage with her.
In the open air the body dried up and turned hard as a rock. People gave it the nickname "The petrified miner". Fet-Mats Israelsson was put on display at Stora Kopparberget.
When the naturalist Carolus Linnaeus visited, he noticed that Fet-Mats was not petrified but just covered with vitriol. He stated that as soon as the vitriol would evaporate, the body would begin to decay.
That proved to be correct. Fet-Mats Israelsson was finally put to rest December 21, 1749.
Sad tale, isn't it?
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1718
Blackbeard gave up life as a pirate only to be killed "in action" barley 6 months later.
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1717
Edmond Halley invents the diving bell.
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1716
Februari 25 - Swedish king Karl XII:s attacks Norway for the first time. Kristiania is taken.
April 8 - Wismar, Swedens last site in current Germany capitulates.
September 6 - Karl XII sets up his HQ in Lund, to avoid being to far from his opponents on the continent (He needn't have worried).
September - Csar Peter arrives in Copenhagen. A russo-danish landing in the south of Sweden is planned.
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1715 - May 3
Total solar eclipse across southern England, Sweden, and Finland
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August 1, 1714 - George I crowned King of Great Britain. The world's first mixed-gender school is founded in Croyden.
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1713, treaty of Utrecht was signed in March and April
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1712
* Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. Introduced Protestant faith in Switzerland.
* Thomas Newcomen builds the first piston-operated steam engine at Tipton, Staffordshire, UK.
* After many years of settlement, the "Town on Queen Anne's Creek" is established as a courthouse for Chowan County, North Carolina. The town is renamed Edenton in 1720 and incorporated in 1722.
* Great Northern War (1700-1721)
* War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713)
* Tuscarora War (1711 - 1715)
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1711 - May 7
Scottish philosopher David Hume is born
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1710: the world's first copyright legislation is passed in Britain. Estonia is annexed by Russia.
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1709: British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe."
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1708 - Queen Anne kills the Scottish Millitia bill, the last time to date a British monarch has vetoed legislation. J.S. Bach is appointed court-organist at Weimar. Jules Mansart, one of the architechts of the Palace of Versailles, dies.
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1707
January 16 - The Treaty (or Act) of Union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England is ratified by the Scottish Parliament
May 1 - The Acts of Union becomes law, uniting the Parliaments of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Parliament of a united Kingdom of Great Britain.
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1706:
Ben Franklin is born.
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1705 --- people used horses to get from here to there
