Directory

1771 CE

The Great Kalmyk (Torghut Migration) is led by Ubashi Khan, from the east bank of the Lower Volga River back to the homeland of Dzungaria, at this time under Qing dynasty rule. In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission Vieja, later called, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, in what becomes San Gabriel, California. The opera Ascanio in Alba by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15, premieres in Milan.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 5 – The Great Kalmyk (Torghut Migration) is led by Ubashi Khan, from the east bank of the Lower Volga River back to the homeland of Dzungaria, at this time under Qing dynasty rule.source
  • January 9 – Emperor Go-Momozono accedes to the throne of Tokugawa shogunate Japan following his aunt's abdication.source
  • The trade monopoly with Iceland is transferred to the Danish crown.source
  • The territory of Baden-Baden is inherited by Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, reunifying the territories of Baden.source
  • The North Carolina General Assembly passes an act establishing the town of Martinsborough, named for Royal Governor Josiah Martin, on the land of Richard Evans, which will serve as the seat of Pitt County.source

Conflict & Security

  • March – War of the Regulation: North Carolina Governor William Tryon raises a militia to put down the long-running uprising of backcountry militias against North Carolina's colonial government.source
  • May 11 – War of the Regulation: North Carolina Governor William Tryon marches his military out of Hillsborough, to come to the aid of General Hugh Waddell's beleaguered forces. Tryon's army stops at Alamance Creek, 5 mi km away from the Regulator army.source
  • May 16 – War of the Regulation – Battle of Alamance: Regulators reject an appeal by Governor Tryon to disperse peacefully. Governor Tryon's forces crush the rebellion, causing many Regulators to move to frontier areas outside of North Carolina.source
  • May 23 – Battle of Lanckorona: A force of 4,000 Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat a Polish formation of 1,300 men.source
  • May – Three battles of Sarbakusa: An alliance of three of the most powerful aristocrats of Ethiopia (Goshu of Amhara, Wand Bewossen and Fasil of Damot) defeats Ras Mikael Sehul and Emperor Tekle Haymanot II, taking control of Ethiopia.source
  • July 13 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russian forces occupy the Crimea, under Prince Vasily Dolgorukov.source
  • July 17 – Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.source
  • November 3 – Siamese conquest of Ha Tien ends the Siamese civil war of 1767-71.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • July 12 – The first voyage of James Cook around the world ends as returns to England after almost three years.source
  • September 8 – In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission Vieja, later called, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, in what becomes San Gabriel, California.source
  • December 31 – Men, women and children of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes begin a 23-day encampment at Mobile, part of the British colony of West Florida, at the invitation of British Southern Indian superintendent John Stuart, as their leaders negotiate a treaty.source

Religion & Belief

  • Construction of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex in Chengde, China is completed during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.source
  • Slovene literature: István Küzmics, the Hungarian Slovene writer and evangelical pastor, publishes (in Halle) the Nouvi Zákon, a translation of the New Testament into the Prekmurje Slovene language, with discrete South Slavic artwork.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 15 – The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers first meets in London, the world's oldest engineering society.source
  • November 16 – During the night the River Tyne in the north of England floods, destroying many bridges and killing several people; the replacement main bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne will not be completed until 1781.source
  • Limoges porcelain manufacture is established in France.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 4 – The first quarantines are started in Moscow and Saint Petersburg to fight the bubonic plague epidemic. Over the next 12 months, more than 52,000 people die from the plague in Moscow alone.source
  • September 15–17 – The Moscow plague riot results from an outbreak of bubonic plague, which kills 57,000.source

Crime & Justice

  • December 3 – The cause of action in Sommersett's Case, which eventually leads to the end of slavery in Great Britain, begins when escaped slave James Somerset is found imprisoned on the ship Ann and Mary.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • October 9 – The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks off the coast of Finland; Captain Raymund Lourens and his crew escape unharmed.source

Culture & Society

  • March 12 – The North Carolina General Assembly establishes Wake County (named for Margaret Wake, the wife of North Carolina Royal Governor William Tryon) from portions of Cumberland, Johnston and Orange counties. Bloomsberry (later known as Wake Courthouse) is made the informal county seat.source
  • June 11 – The Society of Gentlemen Supporters of the Bill of Rights meets in the London Tavern and changes its platform to a comprehensive program for British parliamentary reform in advance of the next election.source
  • August 8 – The first recorded town cricket match is played, at Horsham, England.source
  • October 17 – The opera Ascanio in Alba by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15, premieres in Milan.source

Births

  • March 16 – Antoine-Jean Gros, French painter (d. 1835)source
  • March 25 – Germanos III of Old Patras, Greek Metropolitan Bishop of Patras (d. 1826)source
  • April 18 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820)source
  • May 11 – Laskarina Bouboulina, Greek independence heroine (d. 1825)source
  • May 14 – Robert Owen, Welsh social reformer (d. 1858)source
  • May 16 – Louis Henri Loison, French general (d. 1816)source
  • June 5 – Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (d. 1851)source
  • June 24 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French-American chemist, industrialist (d. 1834)source
  • September 5 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Austrian general, statesman (d. 1847)source
  • September 11 – Mungo Park, Scottish explorer (d. 1806)source
  • September 23 – Emperor Kōkaku of Japan (d. 1840)source
  • October 9 – Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (d. 1815)source
  • November 14 – Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and pathologist (d. 1802)source
  • December 27 – William Johnson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1834)source

Deaths

  • January 5 – John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)source
  • January 11 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)source
  • February 12 – Upon the death of Adolf Frederick, he is succeeded as King of Sweden by his son Gustav III. At the time, however, Gustav is unaware of this, since he is abroad in Paris; the news of his father's death reaches him about a month later.source
  • February 12 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (b. 1710)source
  • February 20 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)source
  • May 21 – Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)source
  • May 27 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury, English philanthropist (b. 1711)source
  • June 5 – Samuel Phillips (reverend), colonial American minister, 1st Pastor of the South Church in Andover (b. 1690)source
  • June 8 – George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English statesman (b. 1716)source
  • July 30 – Thomas Gray, English writer (b. 1716)source
  • September 17 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (b. 1721)source
  • November 4 – Charles Lucas (politician), Irish apothecary (b. 1713)source
  • December 6 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (b. 1682)source
  • December 26 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)source