1703

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	17th century 18th century 19th century
Decades:	1680s 1690s 1700s 1710s 1720s
Years:	1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706

1703 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1703 MDCCIII
Ab urbe condita	2456
Armenian calendar	1152 ԹՎ ՌՃԾԲ
Assyrian calendar	6453
Balinese saka calendar	1624–1625
Bengali calendar	1110
Berber calendar	2653
English Regnal year	1 Ann. 1 – 2 Ann. 1
Buddhist calendar	2247
Burmese calendar	1065
Byzantine calendar	7211–7212
Chinese calendar	壬午年 (Water Horse) 4400 or 4193     — to — 癸未年 (Water Goat) 4401 or 4194
Coptic calendar	1419–1420
Discordian calendar	2869
Ethiopian calendar	1695–1696
Hebrew calendar	5463–5464
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1759–1760
- Shaka Samvat	1624–1625
- Kali Yuga	4803–4804
Holocene calendar	11703
Igbo calendar	703–704
Iranian calendar	1081–1082
Islamic calendar	1114–1115
Japanese calendar	Genroku 16 (元禄１６年)
Javanese calendar	1626–1627
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 11 days
Korean calendar	4036
Minguo calendar	209 before ROC 民前209年
Nanakshahi calendar	235
Thai solar calendar	2245–2246
Tibetan calendar	阳水马年 (male Water-Horse) 1829 or 1448 or 676     — to — 阴水羊年 (female Water-Goat) 1830 or 1449 or 677

November 24: The Great Storm of 1703.

1703 (MDCCIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1703rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 703rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 3rd year of the 18th century, and the 4th year of the 1700s decade. As of the start of 1703, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January–June

• January 14 – The magnitude 6.7 Norcia earthquake affects Central Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). With a death toll of 6,240–9,761, it is the first in a sequence of three destructive events.
• January 16 – The magnitude 6.2 Montereale earthquake causes damage at Accumoli, Armatrice, Cittareale, and Montereale, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).
• January 30 (December 14 of previous year in the Chinese calendar) – In Japan, Forty-seven Ronin assassinate daimyō Kira Yoshinaka, the enemy of their former lord Asano Naganori, at his own mansion as a vengeance; 46 of the 47 samurai commit seppuku, a ritual suicide on March 20 (February 4 in the Chinese calendar).
• February – Soldiers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile, starting the tradition for Mobile, Alabama.
• February 2 – The magnitude 6.7 L'Aquila earthquake affects Central Italy, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). In the final large event (an example of Coulomb stress transfer), damage occurs as far distant as Rome, with landslides, liquefaction, slope failures and 2,500–3,000 deaths.
• April 21 – The Company of Quenching of Fire (i.e., a fire brigade) is founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• May 26 – Portugal joins the Grand Alliance.
• May 27 (May 16 OS) – The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia is founded, following Peter the Great's reconquest of Ingria from Sweden, during the Great Northern War.
• June 15 – Hungarians rebel under Prince Francis II Rákóczi.
• June – The completed Icelandic census of 1703 is presented in the Althing, the first complete census of any country.

July–December

• July 29–July 31 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory, then imprisoned for four months for the crime of seditious libel, after publishing his satirical political pamphlet, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702) (his release is granted in mid-November).
• August 23 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.
• September 12 – War of the Spanish Succession – Habsburg Archduke Charles is proclaimed King of Spain, but never exercises full rule.
• October – A whirlwind blows down the tower of the Gan Takal in Gondar, capital of Ethiopia, killing 30.
• November 15 – The Kurucs defeat the Austrians and its allies (from Denmark, Hungary and the Serbs) near Zvolen (present day Slovakia).
• November 19 – The Man in the Iron Mask dies in the Bastille, in France.
• November 24–December 2 – The Great Storm of 1703, an Atlantic hurricane, ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing nearly 8,000, mostly at sea.
• November 30 – Isaac Newton is elected president of the Royal Society in London, a position he will hold until his death in 1727.
• December 27 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty, which gives preference to Portuguese wines imported into England.
• December 28 – Ahmed III succeeds the deposed Mustafa II, as Ottoman Emperor.

Date unknown

• French-born imposter George Psalmanazar arrives in London.
• Between 1702 and 1703, an epidemic of smallpox breaks out in Quebec, in which 2,000-3,000 people die (300-400 in Quebec City).

Births

John Wesley

• February 5 – Gilbert Tennent, Irish-born religious leader (d. 1764)
• March 5 (N. S.) – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1768)
• March 23 – Cajsa Warg, Swedish cookbook author (d. 1769)
• May 14 – David Brearly, delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (d. 1785)
• June 26 – Thomas Clap, first president of Yale University (d. 1767)
• June 28 – John Wesley, English founder of Methodism and anti-slavery activist (d. 1791)
• August 2 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (d. 1775)
• September 29 – François Boucher, French painter (d. 1770)
• October 5 – Jonathan Edwards, American preacher (d. 1758)
• October 13 – Andrea Belli, Maltese architect and businessman (d. 1772)
• October 28 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (d. 1768)
• November 25 – Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (d. 1784)
• November 26 – Theophilus Cibber, English actor and writer (d. 1758)
• December 2 – Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)
• date unknown – Jack Broughton, English bare-knuckle fighter who produced the earliest known rules of boxing (d. 1789)

Deaths

Robert Hooke

Man in the Iron Mask

• January 9 – Úrsula Micaela Morata, Spanish writer (b. 1628)
• January 11 – Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (b. 1632)
• January 16 – Erik Dahlbergh, Swedish engineer, soldier and field marshal (b. 1625)
• February 18 – Ilona Zrínyi, Hungarian heroine (b. 1643)
• March 3 – Robert Hooke, English scientist (b. 1635)
• March 12 – Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford (b. 1627)
• March 31 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (b. 1642)
• April 20 – Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632)
• May 3 – Sir Richard Grobham Howe, 2nd Baronet, English Member of Parliament (b. 1621)
• May 6 – John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl (b. 1631)
• May 16 – Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)
• May 26 – Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist (b. 1633)
• June 14 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (b. 1625)
• June 19 – William Stanhope, English politician (b. 1626)
• July 17 – Roemer Vlacq I, Dutch naval captain (b. 1637)
• September 22 – Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician and scientist (b. 1622)
• September 25 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish privy councillor (b. 1658)
• September 29 – Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier (b. 1610)
• September 30 – Walter J. Johnson, English explorer, fur trader (b. 1611)
• October 28 – John Wallis, English mathematician (b. 1616)
• November 19 – The Man in the Iron Mask (identity unknown)
• November 30 – Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (b. 1672)
• December 28 – Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)
• date unknown – Phetracha, king of Ayutthaya (b. 1632)