1770s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	17th century – 18th century – 19th century
Decades:	1740s 1750s 1760s – 1770s – 1780s 1790s 1800s
Years:	1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1770s: events by year

Contents: 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779

January–June

• January 1 – Foundation of Fort George, Bombay laid by Colonel Keating, principal engineer, on the site of the former Dongri Fort.
• March 5 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans are shot by British troops in an event that helps start the American Revolutionary War 5 years later.
• April – James Cook drops anchor in a wide bay about 16 kilometres (10 mi) south of the present city of Sydney, Australia. Because the young botanist on board the ship, Joseph Banks discovers 30,000 specimens of plant life in the bay, 1,600 of them unknown to European science, James Cook calls the place Botany Bay.
• April 19 – British explorer Captain James Cook, and his crew aboard the Endeavour, become the first recorded Europeans to encounter the eastern coastline of the Australian continent.
• April 20 – Georgian king Erekle II defeats Persians in battle of Aspindza, though Russian General Totleben betrays him.
• May 7 – Fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette arrives at the French court.
• May 16 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis-Auguste (who later becomes Louis XVI King of France).

July 5: Battle of Chesma, painting by Ivan Aivazovsky.

• May 16 – Fireworks lit by Eric Engelbrecht, at the wedding of the crown prince of France in Paris, cause a fire, killing 132 people.
• June – The Spanish governor of Buenos Aires sends five frigates to Port Egmont, landing some 1600 marines. The small British force present promptly surrenders.
• June 3 – Gasper de Portola and Father Junipero Serra establish Monterey, the presidio of Alta California territory for Spain from 1777–1822, United Mexican States 1824–1846, until the California Republic.

July–December

• July 1 – Lexell's Comet (D/1770 L1) passes the Earth at a distance of 2184129 km, the closest approach by a comet in recorded history.
• July 5 – Battle of Chesma and Battle of Larga: The Russian Empire defeats the Ottoman Empire in both battles.
• August 1 (July 21 at Julian Calendar) – Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774 – Battle of Kagul: Russian commander Pyotr Rumyantsev routs 150,000 Turks.
• August 22 – James Cook claims the eastern coast of New Holland (Australia) for Great Britain.

Date unknown

• Falkland Crisis (1770).
• Johann Gottfried Herder meets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Strasbourg.
• Joseph Priestley, British chemist, recommends the use of a rubber to remove pencil marks.
• Joseph Louis Lagrange proves Bachet's Conjecture.
• The Baron d'Holbach's (anonymous) materialist work Le Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral is produced in Neuchâtel.
• The Louth Navigation canal in Lincolnshire, England opens.

January–June

• January 17 – Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda are arrested, leading to his execution and her banishment from Denmark.
• February 12 – The Virginia Assembly amends an act to describe the punishments for the practice of gouging.
• February 17 – The first partition of Poland is agreed to by Russia and Prussia, later including Austria.
• May – The Watauga Association is formed in East Tennessee.
• June 9 – The British vessel Gaspee is burned off of Rhode Island.
• June 22 – Lord Mansfield delivers the decision that leads to the end of slavery in England.

July–December

• August 5 – The First Partition of Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth begins.
• August 12 – The volcano Mount Papandayan in West Java erupts and partially collapses, the debris avalanche killing several thousands.
• August 21 – The coup d'état by King Gustav III is completed by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and making him an enlightened despot.
• September 1 – Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
• November 2 – American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.

January–June

• January 12 – The first American museum opens to the public in Charleston, South Carolina.
• January 17 – Captain James Cook becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.
• January 18 – The first opera performance in the Swedish language, Thetis and Phelée, performed by Carl Stenborg and Elisabeth Olin in Bollhuset, marks the establishment of the Royal Swedish Opera.
• April 27 or May 10 – The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
• May 8 – In Egypt, Ottoman rebels revolt, killing Ali Bey, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.

July–December

• July 21 – Under the pressure of the Bourbon courts, Pope Clement XIV suppresses the Society of Jesus (brief Dominus ac Redemptor).
• September 11 – The Public Advertiser publishes a satirical essay titled Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One, written by Benjamin Franklin.
• October 10
  • Daniel Boone leads the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement in Kentucky, but is turned back in an attack by American Indians in which his son is killed.
  • Paul Revere marries Rachel Walker, his second wife.
• October 12 – America's first insane asylum opens for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds in Williamsburg, Virginia.
• October 13 – French astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici.
• October 14 – The Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Polish for Commission for the Education of the People), formed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is considered to be the first ministry of education in the history of mankind.
• December 16 – Boston Tea Party: A group of Americans, dressed as Mohawk Indians, steal aboard ships of the British East India Company and dump their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor.

Date unknown

• Antigua, Guatemala is destroyed by an earthquake, and the capital of Guatemala is moved to Guatemala City.
• Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II expels Jesuits from the Empire.
• Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russian forces fail to take Silistria.
• Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea.
• Istanbul Technical University is established (under the original name of Royal School of Naval Engineering) as the world's first comprehensive institution of higher learning dedicated to engineering education.
• In China, written work begins on the Siku Quanshu, the largest literary compilation of books in China's history (surpassing the Yongle Encyclopedia of the 15th Century). Upon completion in 1782, the books are bound in 36,381 volumes (册) with more than 79,000 chapters (卷), comprising about 2.3 million pages, and approximately 800 million Chinese characters.
• John Harrison's "H4" wins him the Longitude prize for the Marine chronometer.
• Emelian Pugachev starts a rebellion in Russia.
• The Regulating Act creates the office of governor general, with an advising council, to exercise political authority over the territory controlled by The British East India Company.
• Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock publishes the last five cantos of his epic poem Der Messias in Hamburg.

January–June

• January 21 – Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid I.
• January 27 – An angry crowd in America seizes a British customs collector and then tars and feathers him.
• March 31 – Intolerable Acts: The British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston, Massachusetts as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.
• April 17 – The first avowedly Unitarian congregation, Essex Street Chapel, is founded in London by Theophilus Lindsey.
• May 10 – Louis XVI becomes King of France following the death of his grandfather, Louis XV.
• June 2 – Intolerable Acts: A new Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide better housing for British soldiers upon demand, is passed.
• June 22 – The British pass the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America.

July–December

• July 21 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji with Russian victory, ending six years of war. The treaty does give Russia the right to intervene in Ottoman politics to protect its Christian subjects.
• August 1 – The element oxygen is discovered for the third (and last) time – the second quantitatively following the somewhat earlier work of Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1771–1772) – by Joseph Priestley, who publishes the fact in 1775 and so names the element and usually gets all the credit.
• September 5 – The First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• September 21 – George Mason and George Washington found the Fairfax County Militia Association, a military unit independent of British control.
• October 10 – Dunmore's War – Battle of Point Pleasant: Cornstalk is forced to make peace with Dunmore at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, ceding Shawnee land claims south of the Ohio (modern Kentucky) to Virginia.
• October 21 – The word "Liberty" is first displayed on a flag raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts, in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
• October 25 – Edenton Tea Party takes place in North Carolina, marking the first major gathering of women in support of the American cause.

Date unknown

• To avoid severe flooding, Martinsborough, North Carolina is moved to higher ground 3 miles (4.8 km) west. The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Martinsborough as the new county seat of Pitt County, 3 years after its founding.
• German cobbler Johann Birkenstock creates the first Birkenstock sandals.
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe publishes his epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) which is influential in the Sturm und Drang movement and Romanticism.

Summary

The American Revolution begins this year, with the first military engagement being the April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord on the day after Paul Revere's now-legendary ride. The Second Continental Congress takes various steps toward organizing an American government, appointing George Washington commander-in-chief (June 14), Benjamin Franklin postmaster general (July 26) and creating a Continental Navy (October 13) and a Marine force (November 10) as landing troops for it, but as yet the 13 colonies have not declared independence, and both the British (June 12) and American (July 15) governments make laws. On July 6, Congress issues the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and on August 23, King George III of England declares the American colonies in rebellion, announcing it to parliament on November 10. On June 17, two months into the colonial siege of Boston, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, just north of Boston, British forces are victorious, but only after suffering severe casualties and after Colonial forces run out of ammunition, Fort Ticonderoga is taken by American forces in New York Colony's northern frontier, and American forces unsuccessfully invade Canada, with an attack on Montreal defeated by British forces on November 13 and an attack on Quebec repulsed December 31.

Human knowledge and mastery over nature advances when James Watt builds a successful prototype of a steam engine, and a scientific expedition continues as Captain James Cook claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean for Britain. Nature's power over humanity is dramatically demonstrated when the Independence Hurricane (August 29 – September 13) devastates the east coast of North America, killing 4,173, and when, on the western side of the North American continent, Tseax Cone erupts in the future British Columbia, as well as when a smallpox epidemic begins in New England. Smallpox was then cured by Edward Jenner.

January–June

• January 17 – James Cook takes possession of South Georgia for Britain.
• February 9 – American Revolution: The Parliament of Great Britain declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
• February 15 – Pope Pius VI succeeds Pope Clement XIV as the 250th pope.
• March 23 – American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention after the Virginia House of Burgesses was disbanded by the Royal Governor, delivers his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
• April 18 – American Revolution: Paul Revere and William Dawes, instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren, ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams that British forces are coming to take them prisoner and to seize colonial weapons and ammunition in Concord.
• April 19 – American Revolution: Hostility between Britain and its American colonies explodes into bloodshed at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on the 19th, which ignites the American Revolution.
• May 10
  • American Revolution: The Second Continental Congress meets, elects John Hancock president, raises the Continental Army under George Washington as commander and authorizes the colonies to adopt their own constitutions.
  • American Revolution: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, capture Fort Ticonderoga.
• May 17 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
• June 12
  • American Revolution: The British forces offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms.
  • U.S. Merchant Marine (no central administration).
• June 14 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress names George Washington as commander of the Continental Army.
• June 16 – Post of Chief Engineer of the Continental Army created.
• June 17 – American Revolution: Two months into the colonial siege of Boston, British open fire on Breed's Hill on Charles Town Peninsula. After 3 charges, the British take the hill in the misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill.
• June 19 – Post of Commanding General was created by the Continental Congress.

July–December

August 18: Tucson is founded.

• July 3 – American Revolution: George Washington takes command of the 17,000-man Continental Army at Cambridge.
• July 5 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress sends the Olive Branch Petition, hoping for a reconciliation.
• July 6 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress issues Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which contains the words: "Our cause is just. Our union is perfect... being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves...".
• July 26 – The Second Continental Congress appoints Benjamin Franklin to be the first Postmaster General of what later becomes the United States Post Office Department.
• August 21 – American Revolution – Battle of Fort St. Jean: American rebels launch an invasion of Canada.
• August 23 – American Revolution: Refusing to even look at the Olive Branch Petition, King George issues a Proclamation of Rebellion against the American colonies.
• August 29 – September 12 – The Independence Hurricane from South Carolina to Nova Scotia kills 4,170, mostly fishermen and sailors.
• September 25 – American Revolution – Battle of Montreal: Patriot revolutionary forces under Maj. Ethan Allen attack Montreal, commanded by British General Guy Carleton. Allen's forces are defeated, and Allen himself is captured and held on British ships until he is later released.
• October – The Sayre Plotters attempt to kidnap George III of the United Kingdom.
• October 13 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later the United States Navy).
• October 26 – American Revolution: George III announces to Parliament that the American colonies are in an uprising and must be dealt with accordingly.
• November – American Revolution: Colonel Richard Richardson's South Carolina revolutionaries march through Ninety-Six District in what becomes known as the Snow Campaign, effectively ending all major support for the Loyalist cause in the backcountry of South Carolina.
• November 10 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress passes a resolution creating the Continental Marines to serve as landing troops for the recently created Continental Navy (the Marines are disbanded at end of the war in April 1783 but reformed on July 11, 1798 as the United States Marine Corps).
• November 13 – American Revolution – Battle of Montreal: American forces under Brigadier General Richard Montgomery capture Montreal. British General Guy Carleton escapes to Quebec.
• 17 November - John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore offers freedom to slaves who join the loyalist army, thus losing the support of most planters, who see slaves as their vital livelihood
• December 5 – American Revolution: Henry Knox begins his journey to Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that has been captured from Fort Ticonderoga.
• December 31 – American Revolution: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec.

Date unknown

• First Anglo-Maratha war fought between the British and the Marathas in India.It ended with the Treaty of Salbai(1782).
• Industrial Revolution in Great Britain
  • James Watt's 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament and the first engines are built under it.
  • John Wilkinson (industrialist) invents and patents a new kind of boring machine.
• Austria forces the Ottoman Empire to cede Bukovina.
• Catherine the Great gives the nobles absolute control over their serfs.
• A smallpox epidemic begins in New England.
• Tseax Cone in northwestern British Columbia erupts.
• Typhoon Liengkieki devastates the Pacific atoll of Pingelap.

January–February

• January 15 – Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.
• January 20 – American Revolution: South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham sign a petition from prison agreeing to all demands for peace by the formed state government of South Carolina.
• January 24 – American Revolution: Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga
• February 17 – Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
• February 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge: North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore's Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believe to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ends all British authority in the town.

March–April

• March 4 – The American Revolution: The Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
• March 9 – Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations.
• March 17 – American Revolution: Threatened by Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston.
• March 28 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
• April 12 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina produces the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony to officially authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

May–June

• May 1 – Adam Weishaupt founds the Bavarian Illuminati (Order of the Illuminati) in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.
• May 4 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
• June 7 – American Revolution: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes to the Continental Congress that "these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."
• June 8 – American Revolution: Battle of Trois-Rivières: American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
• June 11 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress appoints a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence.
• June 12 – American Revolution: Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates.
• June 15 – American Revolution: Delaware Separation Day: The Delaware General Assembly votes to suspend government under the British Crown.
• June 17 – Lt. Jose Joaquin Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29 and constructing the Mission Dolores of the new Presidio of San Francisco.

July–August

• July 2 – American Revolution: The final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence is written. The Continental Congress passes the Lee Resolution.
• July 4 – American Revolution: United States Declaration of Independence. United States officially declares independence from the British Empire.

July 4: American Declaration of Independence.

• July 8 – American Revolution: The Liberty Bell rings for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
• July 9 – American Revolution: An angry mob in New York City topples the equestrian statue of George III in Bowling Green.
• July 12 – Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth England on his third, and fatal, expedition to the Pacific Ocean.
• July 21 – Mozart's celebrated Haffner Serenade is first performed in Salzburg, Austria
• August 2 – Most of the American colonies ratify the Declaration of Independence
• August 15 – American Revolution: First Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces.
• August 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Long Island: Washington's troops routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.

September–October

• September – First running of the St. Leger Stakes horse race in England.
• September 6 – Hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing more than 6000.
• September 7 – American Revolution: World's first submarine attack. American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
• September 11 – American Revolution: abortive peace conference between British and Americans on Staten Island.
• September 15 – American Revolution: British land on Manhattan at Kip's Bay.

September 22: British hang spy Nathan Hale in New York City.

• September 16 – American Revolution: Battle of Harlem Heights is fought.
• September 22 – American Revolution: Nathan Hale executed in New York City for espionage.
• October 7 – Crown Prince Paul of Russia marries Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg.
• October 9 – Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.
• October 11 – American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold's ships are destroyed, the two day-long battle will give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
• October 28 – American Revolution: Battle of White Plains: British forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
• October 31 – In his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all is not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.

November–December

• November 16 – American Revolution: Hessian mercenaries under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen capture Fort Washington from the American Continentals. The captain of the American navy ship USS Andrea Doria fired a salute to the Dutch flag on Fort Oranje and Johannes de Graeff decided to answer the salute with eleven gun shots.
• December 5 – The Phi Beta Kappa society is founded at the College of William and Mary.
• December 7 – American Revolution: Marquis de Lafayette attempts to enter the American military as a major general.
• December 21 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.
• December 23 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine, living with Washington's troops, begins publishing The American Crisis, containing the stirring phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls."
• December 25 – American Revolution: Gen. George Washington orders the first issue of The Crisis read to his troops on Christmas Eve, then at 6 p.m. all 2600 of them march to McKonkey's Ferry, cross the Delaware River and land on the Jersey bank at 3 a.m.
• December 26 – American Revolution: Battle of Trenton: Washington's troops surprise the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.

January–June

• January 2 – American Revolution – Second Battle of Trenton: George Washington's army fights the Second Battle of Trenton, New Jersey.
• January 3 – American Revolution – Battle of Princeton: American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis.
• January 12 – Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.
• January 15 – Vermont declares its independence from New York, becoming the Vermont Republic, an independent country, a status it retains until it joins the United States as the 14th state in 1791.
• May 16 – Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies 3 days later.
• June 13 – American Revolution: The Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina to help the Continental Congress train its army.

June 14: US Flag (had various star patterns)

• June 14 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by the Continental Congress as the Flag of the United States.

July–December

• August 16 – American Revolution – Battle of Bennington: British forces are defeated by American troops.
• September 3 – American Revolution – Cooch's Bridge: In a minor skirmish in New Castle County, Delaware, the Flag of the United States was flown in battle for the first time.
• September 11 – American Revolution – Battle of Brandywine: The British gain a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
• September 19 – American Revolution – First Battle of Saratoga: Battle of Freeman's Farm: Patriot forces withstand a British attack at Saratoga, New York
• September 26 – American Revolution – British troops occupy Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.
• October 4 – American Revolution – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
• October 7 – American Revolution – Second Battle of Saratoga: Battle of Bemis Heights: British General John Burgoyne is defeated by American troops.
• October 17 – American Revolution – Battle of Saratoga: British General John Burgoyne surrenders to the American troops.
• November 15 – American Revolution: After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation in the temporary American capital at York, Pennsylvania.
• November 17 – The Articles of Confederation are submitted to the states for ratification.
• November 29 – San Jose, California is founded. It is the first pueblo in Spanish Alta California.
• December 19 – American Revolution: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
• December 20 – Morocco becomes the first nation to formally recognize the American colonies thereby beginning Morocco – United States relations.
• December 24 – Kiritimati is discovered by James Cook.

Date unknown

• The 2nd edition of Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
• The code duello is adopted at the Clonmell Summer Assizes as the form for pistol duels in Ireland. It is quickly denounced but nevertheless widely adopted throughout the English-speaking world.
• Kunsthochschule Kassel is founded

January–June

June 28: The Battle of Monmouth.

• January 18 – The third Pacific expedition of Capt. James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, first view O'ahu then Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the Sandwich Islands.
• February 5 – South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
• February 6 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France, signaling official French recognition of the new republic.
• February 23 – American Revolutionary War: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the American troops.
• March 10 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington approves the dishonorable discharge of Lieut. Frederick Gotthold Enslin for "attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier".
• May 30 – Benedict Arnold signs US oath of allegiance at Valley Forge
• June 24 – A total solar eclipse takes place across parts of USA from Texas to Virginia.
• June 28 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Monmouth: George Washington's Continental Army battles the British general Sir Henry Clinton's army to a draw near Monmouth, New Jersey.

July–December

• [[July American Revolutionary War: the Wyoming Massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a terrible defeat of the local colonists.
• July 4 – American Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark takes Kaskaskia.
• July 10 – Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• July 27 – American Revolutionary War – First Battle of Ushant: British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
• August 26 – Triglav, at 2,864 meters above sea level the highest peak of Slovenia, is ascended for the first time by four men: Luka Korošec, Matevž Kos, Štefan Rožič, and Lovrenc Willomitzer on Sigmund Zois' initiative.
• August 29 – American Revolutionary War: The tactically inconclusive Battle of Rhode Island takes place, after which the Continental Army abandons its position on Aquidneck Island.
• September – The Massachusetts Banishment Act, providing punishment for Loyalists, is passed.
• September 17 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware).
• September 19 – The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.
• November 26 – In the Hawaiian Islands, Capt. James Cook becomes the first European to land on Maui.

November 26: Captain Cook lands on Maui.

Date unknown

• The first settlement is made in the area of what is now Louisville, Kentucky by 13 families under Colonel George Rogers Clark.
• Phillips Academy, the most prestigious secondary boarding school in the United States, is founded by Samuel Phillips Jr.
• First Iron bridge.
• The term "thoroughbred" is first used in the United States in an advertisement in a Kentucky gazette to describe a New Jersey stallion called Pilgarlick.

January–June

• January 9 – British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all territories acquired since 1773.
• January 11 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.
• January 22 – American Revolutionary War: Claudius Smith is hanged at Goshen, Orange County, New York for supposed acts of terrorism upon the people of the surrounding communities.
• January 29 – After a second petition for partition from its residents, the North Carolina General Assembly abolishes Bute County, North Carolina (established 1764) by dividing it and naming the northern portion Warren County (for Revolutionary War hero Joseph Warren) and the southern portion Franklin County (for Benjamin Franklin). The General Assembly also establishes Warrenton (also named for Joseph Warren) to be the county seat of Warren County and Louisburg (named for Louis XVI of France) to be the county seat of Franklin County.

Benedict Arnold

• February 14 – Captain James Cook dies on the Sandwich Islands on his third and last voyage.
• March 10 – Treaty of Aynalıkavak between Ottoman Turkey and Russian Empire about Crimean Khanate.
• May 13 – War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives a part of the Bavarian territory (the Innviertel) and relinquishes the rest.
• June 1 – American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for malfeasance in his treatment of government property.
• June 16 – American Revolutionary War: In support of the U.S., Spain declares war on England.

July–December

• July 16 – American Revolutionary War: United States forces led by General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, New York from British troops.
• July 22 – Battle of Minisink: The Goshen Militia is destroyed by Joseph Brant's forces.
• July 24 – American Revolutionary War: American forces led by Commodore Dudley Saltonstall launch the Penobscot Expedition in what is now Castine, Maine, resulting in the worst naval defeat in U.S. history until Pearl Harbor.
• July – The Great Siege of Gibraltar (fourteenth and last military siege) starts. This is an action by French and Spanish forces to wrest control of Gibraltar from the established British garrison. The garrison, led by George Augustus Eliott, later 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, survives all attacks and a blockade of supplies.

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782, by John Singleton Copley

• September – Battle of Baton Rouge: Spanish troops under Bernardo de Galvez capture the city from the British.
• September 23 – American Revolution – Battle of Flamborough Head: The American ship Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, engages the British ship Serapis. The Bonhomme Richard sinks, but the Americans board the Serapis and other vessels, and are victorious.
• October 4 – The Fort Wilson Riot takes place.
• November 2 – The North Carolina General Assembly carves a new county from Dobbs County, North Carolina and names it Wayne County in honor of United States General Anthony Wayne.
• December 13 – Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais marries Joséphine Tascher.
• December 25 – Fort Nashborough, later to become Nashville, Tennessee, is founded by James Robertson.

Date unknown

• The Iron Bridge is completed across the River Severn in Shropshire (the first all cast-iron bridge ever constructed).
• Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine, now the oldest working engine in the world, is brought into service.
• The city of Tampere, Finland, is founded.
• Joint Spanish-Portuguese survey of Amazonia begins to determine the boundary between the colonial possessions in South America. Continues until 1795.