Directory

1711 CE

Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, premieres at the Queen's Theatre, Haymarket. French settlers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile (Alabama), by parading a large papier-mache ox head on a cart (the first Mardi Gras parade in America). King Louis XIV becomes the longest-reigning monarch in the world, surpassing the previous record of 68 years set by Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal in 683. As of 2022, Louis XIV still holds this record.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 13 – The Treaty of the Lutsk, a secret agreement between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Protectorate of Moldavia is signed in Lutsk, Poland-Lithuania (modern-day Ukraine).source
  • June 18 – King Louis XIV becomes the longest-reigning monarch in the world, surpassing the previous record of 68 years set by Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal in 683. As of 2022, Louis XIV still holds this record.source
  • July 11 – The town of São Paulo, Brazil, is elevated to city status.source
  • July 21 – The Treaty of the Pruth is signed between the Ottoman Empire and Russia, ending the Pruth River Campaign.source
  • December 7 – In the Parliament of Great Britain the Earl of Nottingham successfully proposes a "No Peace Without Spain" amendment.source
  • December 12 – A constitution is approved for the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna, which had been founded in 1690.source

Conflict & Security

  • January – Cary's Rebellion: The Lords Proprietor appoint Edward Hyde to replace Thomas Cary, as the governor of the North Carolina portion of the Province of Carolina. Hyde's policies are deemed hostile to Quaker interests, leading former governor Cary and his Quaker allies to take up arms against the province.source
  • February 24 – Thomas Cary, after declaring himself Governor of North Carolina, sails an armed brigantine up the Chowan River, to attack Governor Hyde's forces fortified at Colonel Thomas Pollock's plantation. The attack fails, and Cary's forces retreat.source
  • April 29 – A rabid wolf fatally injures two shepherds in Roncà, North Italy; it also attacks livestock.source
  • July 2 – Cary's Rebellion: Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia dispatches a company of Royal Marines to assist Governor Hyde. After hearing of this, Cary's troops abandon all of their fortifications along the Pamlico River. Cary and many of his supporters are soon caught and sent to England as prisoners, ending Cary's Rebellion.source
  • August 7 – Capture of the galleon San Joaquin: Spanish galleon San Joaquin in a treasure fleet sailing from Cartagena de Indias (modern-day Colombia) to Spain surrenders after an engagement with five British ships.source
  • August 9 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough with an army of 30,000 besieges Bouchain in the War of the Spanish Succession. The siege lasts 34 days and results in the last major victory for Churchill.source
  • September 22 – The Tuscarora War begins when Tuscarora natives under the command of Chief Hancock raid settlements along the south bank of the Pamlico River, within the Province of Carolina (modern-day North Carolina), killing around 130 people.source
  • December 5 – Great Northern War: the Battle of Wismar results in a Danish victory over Swedish forces.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • April 3 – Clipperton Island is rediscovered by Frenchmen Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage, who draws up the first map and claims the island for France. The island had been discovered by Alvaro Saavedra Cedrón in 1528.source
  • August 1 – The Dutch East India Company trading ship Zuytdorp leaves the Netherlands on an ill-fated voyage to Indonesia bearing a load of freshly minted silver coins. The wreck site remains unknown until the mid-20th century, on a remote part of the Western Australian coast between Kalbarri and Shark Bay.source
  • August 22 – The Quebec Expedition, a British attempt to attack Quebec as part of Queen Anne's War, fails when 8 of its ships are wrecked in the Saint Lawrence River and 890 people, mostly soldiers, drown.source
  • September 10 (also dated September 12) – John Lawson, Christoph von Graffenried, two African American slaves and two Native Americans leave on an exploration expedition from New Bern, North Carolina, and travel north by canoe up the Neuse River.source
  • September 14 (approximate date) – Tuscarora natives capture John Lawson, Christoph von Graffenried and their expeditionary party, and bring them to Catechna.source

Religion & Belief

  • April 5 (Easter Sunday) – The central tower of Elgin Cathedral in northeast Scotland collapses.source
  • May – Alexander Pope publishes the poem An Essay on Criticism in London.source
  • August 14 – The inauguration of the newly built Cathedral of the Assumption takes place in Gozo, Malta.source
  • September 18 – Bishop Bogusław Gosiewski sells the town of Maladzyechna in the Minsk Region of Belarus to the mighty Ogiński family.source
  • December 8 – The Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Comayagua in Honduras, one of the oldest cathedrals in Central America, is inaugurated.source
  • December 15 – The Old Pummerin, a massive bell cast from 208 captured cannons, is consecrated by Bishop Franz Ferdinand Freiherr von Rummel in preparation for its installation in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna (the Stephansdom).source
  • December 25 – The rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral in London to a design by Sir Christopher Wren is declared complete by Parliament; Old St Paul's had been destroyed by the 1666 Great Fire of London.source

Economy & Finance

  • September 8 – The South Sea Company receives a Royal Charter in Britain.source
  • December 13 – Wall Street in New York City becomes the city's first official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans and Indians.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 3 – A total lunar eclipse occurs, at 12:31 UT.source
  • July 29 – Total lunar eclipse at 17:50 UT.source
  • Luigi Ferdinando Marsili shows that coral is an animal rather than a plant as previously thought.source
  • John Shore invents the tuning fork.source

Health & Medicine

  • May 25 – In Denmark, Helsingør is put under military blockade to prevent an outbreak of plague from spreading to Copenhagen; this year about one third of Helsingør's population is killed by the disease.source
  • October 14 – Yostos kills Tewoflos, becoming Emperor of Ethiopia.source

Crime & Justice

  • September 16 (approximate date) – Tuscarora natives kill Lawson. Von Graffenried and one African American slave are known to have been set free.source
  • October 14 – Woodes Rogers returns to England after a successful round-the-world privateering cruise against Spain, carrying loot worth £150,000.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • October 7 – is wrecked on Scaterie Island, Nova Scotia with the loss of 102 lives.source
  • October 11 – Panic kills 241 people in the stampede on the Guillottière bridge in France near Lyon. Revelers returning from a festival on the other side of the Rhône river are blocked by from crossing after a collision between a carriage and a cart. At least 25 fall off the bridge and into the river, while 216 are trampled by people behind them.source
  • November 5 – The southwest spire of Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire, England is struck by lightning, resulting in a fire that spreads to the nave and tower, destroying roofs, bells, clock and organ.source
  • November 7 – The Dutch East India Company ship Liefde runs aground and sinks off Out Skerries, Shetland, with the loss of all but one of her 300 crew.source

Culture & Society

  • January 24 – The first performance of Francesco Gasparini's most famous opera Tamerlano takes place at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice.source
  • February 24 – Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, premieres at the Queen's Theatre, Haymarket.source
  • February – French settlers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile (Alabama), by parading a large papier-mache ox head on a cart (the first Mardi Gras parade in America).source
  • March 1 – The Spectator is founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in London.source
  • August 11 – The first horse race is held at the newly founded Ascot Racecourse, which becomes one of the leading racecourses in England.source
  • August 13 – Tamachi Raisinhji becomes Jam Sahib (ruling prince) of Nawanagar State in Gujarat, India.source
  • October 16 – Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts is established in Brussels.source

Births

  • February 2 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, Austrian diplomat and chancellor (d. 1794)source
  • February 25 – John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, British politician with Irish connections (d. 1770)source
  • April 26 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian (d. 1776)source
  • May 18 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian-Italian priest and mathematician (d. 1787)source
  • June 23 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Italian luthier (d. 1786)source
  • July 10 – Princess Amelia of Great Britain, Second daughter of George II of Great Britain (d. 1786)source
  • July 26 – Lorenz Christoph Mizler, German music historian, polymath (d. 1778)source
  • September 6 – Henry Muhlenberg, Lutheran clergyman and missionary (d. 1787)source
  • September 9 – Thomas Hutchinson, historian and last civilian Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (d. 1780)source
  • September 26 – Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, British politician and first Lord of the Admiralty (d. 1779)source
  • October 31 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1778)source
  • November 19 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian polymath (d. 1765)source
  • December 4 – Barbara of Portugal, infanta of Portugal and later Queen of Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1758)source
  • December 25 – Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, French composer and violinist (d. 1772)source

Deaths

  • January 10 – John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland, English nobleman and politician (b. 1638)source
  • January 16 – Blessed Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)source
  • January 21 – Augustinus Terwesten, 18th century painter from the Northern Netherlands (b. 1649)source
  • February 3 – Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1660)source
  • March 13 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (b. 1636)source
  • March 15 – Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary (b. 1645)source
  • April 14 – Louis, Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV (b. 1661)source
  • May 2 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English statesman (b. 1641)source
  • June 16 – Maria Amalia of Courland, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (b. 1653)source
  • July 6 – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (b. 1662)source
  • July 11 – Joseph Ball, American settler, public servant, and maternal grandfather of George Washington (b. 1649)source
  • August 22 – Louis François, duc de Boufflers, Marshal of France (b. 1644)source
  • August 25 – Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, English politician (b. c. 1656)source
  • September 22 – William Bartram, English-born politician and settler (b. 1674)source