Directory

1709 CE

The first influx into Britain of poor refugee families of German Palatines from the Rhenish Palatinate arrives in England. Most of them are Protestants en route to the New World colonies. (June 27 Old Style; June 28 in the Swedish calendar) – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava in the Cossack Hetmanate (Ukraine) – Peter the Great leads forces of the Tsardom of Russia to a decisive victory over Swedish forces under Charles XII, ending the Swedish invasion of Russia and effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe. Christopher Slaughterford of London is executed in Guildford for the murder of Jane Young, his fiancée. He is the first person in modern England executed for murder based exclusively on circumstantial evidence, and he maintains his innocence to the last.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 13 – The Raudot Ordinance of 1709 becomes law in the French colony of New France, legalizing slavery.source
  • June 28 – A treaty is signed in Dresden to re-establish an alliance between the Kingdoms of Denmark–Norway and the Electorate of Saxony, on behalf of King Frederik IV of Denmark–Norway and Saxony's King Augustus II.source
  • July 27 – Japan's Emperor Higashiyama abdicates after a reign of 23 years that began in 1687, and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is enthroned as the Emperor Nakamikado.source
  • December 25 – From London, ten ships leave for the New York Colony carrying over 4,000 people.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 1 – Battle of St. John's: The French capture St. John's, the capital of the British colony of Newfoundland.source
  • June 26 – The Battle of Fort Albany, an attack by 100 French colonial volunteers and Cree natives on the British Hudson's Bay Company outpost at Fort Albany on Hudson Bay. John Fullartine, commander of the post, leads a successful defense of the fort and 18 of the attackers are killed and then retreat. The site becomes part of a Cree First Nation reserve in the Canadian province of Ontario.source
  • July 8 (June 27 Old Style; June 28 in the Swedish calendar) – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava in the Cossack Hetmanate (Ukraine) – Peter the Great leads forces of the Tsardom of Russia to a decisive victory over Swedish forces under Charles XII, ending the Swedish invasion of Russia and effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.source
  • July 30 – War of the Spanish Succession: Tournai is captured by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy.source
  • August 28 – Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.source
  • September 11 (August 31 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Malplaquet – Troops of the Dutch Republic, Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia, led by the Duke of Marlborough, drive the French from the field, but suffer twice as many casualties.source
  • October 9 – War of the Spanish Succession: The British army captures Mons.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 6 – The first influx into Britain of poor refugee families of German Palatines from the Rhenish Palatinate arrives in England. Most of them are Protestants en route to the New World colonies.source

Religion & Belief

  • October 12 – Chihuahua City in Mexico is founded.source
  • Basil Lazarus III becomes Syriac Orthodox Maphrian of the East.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 10 – Abraham Darby I successfully produces cast iron using coke fuel at his Coalbrookdale blast furnace in Shropshire, England.source
  • March 28 – Johann Friedrich Böttger reports the first production of hard-paste porcelain in Europe, at Dresden.source
  • July 13 – Production of Eau de Cologne is begun by perfumier Johann Maria Farina in Germany, founding Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz.source
  • The first piano is exhibited in Florence by its inventor Bartolomeo Cristofori, who names it "gravicembalo col piano e forte", a name which is subsequently shortened to "pianoforte" and then "piano".source
  • The second Eddystone Lighthouse, erected off the south west coast of England by John Rudyerd, is completed.source

Science & Discovery

  • August 8 – The hot air balloon of Bartolomeu de Gusmão flies in Portugal.source
  • A collapsible umbrella is introduced in Paris.source

Crime & Justice

  • April 21 – Mirwais Hotak takes control of Kandahar (in Afghanistan) by murdering the Persian governor, Gurgin Khan, known also as George XI.source
  • July 9 – Christopher Slaughterford of London is executed in Guildford for the murder of Jane Young, his fiancée. He is the first person in modern England executed for murder based exclusively on circumstantial evidence, and he maintains his innocence to the last.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • Priceless medieval altarpieces, created by Tyrolese sculptor Michael Pacher, are destroyed.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 6 – Western Europe's Great Frost of 1709, the coldest period in 500 years, begins during the night, lasting three months, with its effects felt for the entire year. In France, the Atlantic coast and Seine River freeze, crops fail, and 24,000 Parisians die. Floating ice enters the North Sea.source
  • October 14 – The Chinese region of Ningxia is shaken by a 7.5 earthquake killing more than 2,000 people.source
  • Herculaneum, an ancient town in Ercolano, Campania, Italy and buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, is discovered by accident when attempts to drill a well for a monastery encountered marble and other materials.source

Culture & Society

  • February 1 or 2 – During his first voyage, Captain Woodes Rogers encounters marooned privateer Alexander Selkirk, and rescues him after four years living on one of the Juan Fernández Islands, inspiring Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe. After sacking Guayaquil, he and Selkirk will visit the Galápagos Islands.source
  • February – In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated one more time with Masque de la Mobile in the capital of French Louisiana, Mobile, Alabama, before Mobile is moved 27 miles (43 km) down the Mobile River to Mobile Bay in 1711.source
  • July 26 – Reinhard Keiser's opera Desiderius, König der Langobarden is premiered in Hamburg.source
  • December 26 – The first performance of the opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel takes place at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice.source
  • The first modern edition of William Shakespeare's plays is published in London, edited by Nicholas Rowe.source
  • Trinity School is founded as the charity school of Trinity Church, in New York City.source
  • De Nostri Temporis Studiorum Ratione (On the Study Methods of Our Times) is published by Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico.source

Births

  • January 2 – Teresia Constantia Phillips, British autobiographer (d. 1765)source
  • January 13 – Mollie Sneden, operator of a ferry service at Palisades, New York in the United States (d. 1810)source
  • February 9 – George Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon, British politician (d. 1780)source
  • February 24 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor of mechanical automata (d. 1782)source
  • February 27 – Timothy Woodbridge American missionary, deacon, schoolteacher, judge, Superintendent of Indian Affairs (d. 1774)source
  • March 31 – Louis-Charles Le Vassor de La Touche, French naval general, governor of Martinique, governor general of the Windward Islands (d. 1781)source
  • April 2 – Josiah Taft, farmer, local official, and Massachusetts legislator (d. 1756)source
  • June 9 – Francis Towneley, English Catholic and supporter of the exiled House of Stuart or Jacobite (d. 1746)source
  • August 10 – Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan, French man of letters and erudition (d. 1784)source
  • October 9 – Jean-Baptiste de Belloy, Archbishop of Paris and cardinal of the Catholic Church (d. 1808)source
  • November 18 – Henry Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely (d. 1783)source
  • December 1 – Franz Xaver Richter, Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician (d. 1789)source
  • December 14 – Charles Lawrence, British military officer who (d. 1760)source
  • December 21 – Arnaud-François Lefèbvre, Apostolic Vicar of Cochin (d. 1760)source

Deaths

  • January 20 – François de la Chaise, French confessor of King Louis XIV (b. 1624)source
  • February 9 – François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (b. 1664)source
  • February 11 – Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate, German artist (b. 1622)source
  • February 19 – Tokugawa Ienobu becomes the sixth shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan, after the death of the shōgun Tsunayoshi, who had been head of government since 1680.source
  • March 9 – Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, English diplomat (b. 1638)source
  • April 2 – Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian artist working in the High Baroque and early Rococo periods (b. 1639)source
  • April 21 – Gurgin Khan (George XI of Kartli), Persian Governor of Kandahar (b. 1651)source
  • April 21 – Emmanuel Philibert, Prince of Carignano, Prince of Savoy (b. 1628)source
  • June 17 – Trịnh Cương becomes the new king of northern Vietnam (Đàng Ngoài) upon the death of his grandfather, Trịnh Căn, and begins a 20-year reign until his death on December 20, 1729source
  • August 31 – Andrea Pozzo, Jesuit Brother, architect and painter (b. 1642)source
  • September 14 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal and archbishop of Toledo (b. 1635)source
  • October 2 – Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of Ukraine (b. 1639)source
  • October 9 – Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, English mistress of Charles II of England (b. 1640)source
  • October 31 – Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, English nobleman (b. 1638)source