Directory

1704 CE

Raid on Deerfield (Queen Anne's War): French Canadians and Native Americans sack Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing over 50 English colonists. Annular solar eclipse is visible from a region of the Southern Ocean between South Africa and Antarctica. (August 2 OS) – War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Blenheim: Allied troops under John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeat the Franco-Bavarian army.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • October 24 – A peace treaty is signed between Prince Ferenc Rákóczi of Transylvania, and representatives of the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I at Schemnitz (now Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia)source
  • The lower three counties of the Province of Pennsylvania become the colony of Delaware.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 25–26 – Apalachee massacre: English colonists from the Province of Carolina, and their native allies, stage a series of brutal raids against a largely pacific population of Apalachee, in Spanish Florida.source
  • March 7 – War of the Spanish Succession: Prince Karl of Habsburg, brother of Joseph I, the Holy Roman Emperor and a pretender to the throne of Spain, arrives in Portugal on the English warship HMS Royal Katherine as part of George Rooke's English fleet sailing into Lisbon.source
  • April 21 – Battle of Biskupice: The Hungarians (Kurucs) win a costly victory over the Danes.source
  • May 28 – Battle of Smolenice: Kuruc rebels defeat the Austrian army and its allies.source
  • June 13 – Battle of Koroncó: Austrians and their allies from Denmark, Prussia, Croatia, Germany and Vojvodina defeat the Kurucs.source
  • July 12 – Great Northern War – King Charles XII of Sweden forces the election of his ally Stanisław Leszczyński as King of Poland, in place of Augustus II the Strong.source
  • August 3 (July 23 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession – Gibraltar is captured from Spain, by English and Dutch forces under Sir George Rooke.source
  • August 7 – Battle of Orford Ness.source
  • August 13 (August 2 OS) – War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Blenheim: Allied troops under John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeat the Franco-Bavarian army.source
  • August 24 (August 13 OS) – War of the Spanish Succession – The French and Anglo-Dutch fleets clash off Málaga, causing heavy casualties on both sides, but without sinking any ships.source
  • September 8 – War of the Spanish Succession – The Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar by French and Spanish troops begins.source
  • September 12 – War of the Spanish Succession: The siege of the French-held German town of Landau, by Holy Roman Empire troops under the command of Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden begins and lasts for more than ten weeks before the French surrender on November 23. During the siege, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I visits the area in a newly-developed vehicle, a convertible horse-drawn carriage that has a removable roof. The style of vehicle itself is later called a "landau".source
  • October 28 – Great Northern War: The Battle of Poniec takes place as King Charles XII leads Swedish troops in pursuit of the Saxon Army commanded by General Johann von der Schulenburg. The Swedes are forced to retreat despite surrounding the Saxons, and Schulenburg's troops escape.source
  • November 11 – Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar: A Spanish Bourbon special forces battalion, guided by Simon Susarte, scales the steepest side of the Rock of Gibraltar in an attempt to surprise the British defenders, and kills the English sentries who have been manning the lookout. The attack is foiled the next day when a drummer boy, who was bringing food to the sentries, spots the invaders and raises the alarm.source
  • December 6 – Battle of Chamkaur: During the Mughal-Sikh Wars, an outnumbered Sikh Khalsa defeats a Mughal army.source
  • The Sultanate of Brunei cedes its north-east territories to the Sultanate of Sulu.source
  • Thomas Darley purchases the bay Arabian horse Darley Arabian in Aleppo, Syria, and ships him to stud in England, where he becomes the most important foundation sire of all modern thoroughbred racing bloodstock.source
  • Great Northern War: Russian troops under Tsar Peter the Great capture Tartu and Narva.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 29 – Raid on Deerfield (Queen Anne's War): French Canadians and Native Americans sack Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing over 50 English colonists.source

Religion & Belief

  • September 28 – Damat Hasan Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, is removed from office by Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III, and replaced by Kalaylikoz Ahmed Pasha.source
  • November 26 – The inauguration of the newly built Kastelskirken takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • Chinese Rites controversy: Rome decrees that Roman ceremonial practice in Latin (not in Chinese) is to be the law for Chinese missions.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Nerchinsky Zavod is founded in the Nerchinsko-Zavodsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia by Greek mining engineers.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 7 – A partial solar eclipse, Solar Saros 146, is visible in Antarctica.source
  • May 19–23 – Vigorous Strombolian activity from Mount Vesuvius, Italy is recorded.source
  • June 2 – Annular solar eclipse is visible from a region of the Southern Ocean between South Africa and Antarctica.source
  • June 17 – Total lunar eclipse takes place, Saros series 125.source
  • November 27 – Annular solar eclipse is visible through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, eastern China, Myanmar and northern Philippines.source
  • December 25 – The fall of the meteorite of Barcelona is seen and heard over distances up to hundreds of kilometres and is interpreted as a divine sign.source
  • Giancomo Miraldi observes Martian polar ice caps as "white spots" at the Martian poles.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 23 – War of the Spanish Succession: The English Navy ships HMS Kent, HMS Bedford and HMS Antelope intercept two newly-built Spanish warships, Porta Coeli and Santa Teresa off of the coast of Cape Spartel, as the Spaniards attempt to sail into the Strait of Gibraltar. The two Spanish ships are captured after a seven-hour battle and taken toward Lisbon, but the Santa Teresa sinks along the way.source

Climate & Environment

  • July – Daniel Defoe documents the Great Storm of 1703 in England, with eyewitness testimonies, in The Storm.source
  • An earthquake strikes Gondar, Ethiopia.source
  • Tenerife's earliest recorded volcanic eruption takes place from three fissure emission centres: Siete Fuentes, Fasnia and Arafo.source

Culture & Society

  • February 28 – Establishment of the first school open to African-Americans in New York City by Frenchman Elias Neau.source
  • February – In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated with the Masque de la Mobile in the capital of Louisiana (New France), Mobile, Alabama.source
  • April 24 – The first regular newspaper in the Thirteen Colonies of British North America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.source
  • The Students' Monument is built in Aiud, Romania.source
  • Isaac Newton publishes his Opticks. He also predicts that the world will end in 2060.source
  • A Tale of a Tub, the first major satire by Jonathan Swift (written 1694–1697), is published in London, running through three editions this year.source

Births

  • January 1 – Soame Jenyns, English writer and Member of Parliament (d. 1787)source
  • February 28 – Hans Hermann von Katte, Lieutenant of the Prussian Army (d. 1730)source
  • March 21 – Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1773)source
  • April 1 – Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth, principal mistress of King George II from the mid-1730s (d. 1765)source
  • June 17 – John Kay, inventor of the flying shuttle (d. 1780)source
  • June 24 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (d. 1771)source
  • July 15 – August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German theologian and minister (d. 1792)source
  • August 26 – Marie-Anne Barbel, French-Canadian Businesswomen who lived in New France (d. 1793)source
  • September 5 – Maurice Quentin de La Tour, French Rococo portraitist, working primarily with pastels (d. 1788)source
  • September 7 – John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, son of Charles Hope (d. 1781)source
  • September 12 – Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester (d. 1776)source
  • October 29 – John Byng, British admiral (d. 1757)source
  • November 6 – Willem Bentinck van Rhoon, Dutch nobleman and politician (d. 1774)source
  • December 14 – Jacob von Eggers, Military engineer (d. 1773)source

Deaths

  • February 21 – John Charles, Count Palatine of Gelnhausen, German prince, ancestor of the cadet branch of the royal family of Bavaria (b. 1638)source
  • February 24 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (b. 1643)source
  • April 8 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English politician and army officer (b. 1641)source
  • April 10 – Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg, Bishop of Strassburg (b. 1629)source
  • April 12 – Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and theologian (b. 1627)source
  • April 17 – Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, leading Norwegian general during the Scanian War (b. 1638)source
  • May 3 – Estephan El Douaihy, Lebanese Maronite Patriarch, historian (b. 1630)source
  • May 3 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Austrian composer (b. 1644)source
  • June 15 – Anna Eriksdotter becomes the last person to be executed for Witchcraft in Sweden. (b. 1624)source
  • July 18 – Benjamin Keach, English Particular Baptist preacher (b. 1640)source
  • July 20 – Peregrine White, first English child born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1620)source
  • November 16 – Chikka Devaraja, fourteenth maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1673 to 1704 (b. 1645)source
  • December 5 – Louis Hennepin, Roman Catholic priest, missionary of the Franciscan Recollet Order (French (b. 1626)source
  • December 11 – Roger L'Estrange, English pamphleteer, author (b. 1616)source