18th century

The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800 in the Gregorian calendar. During the 18th century, the Enlightenment culminated in the French and American revolutions. Philosophy and science increased in prominence. Philosophers dreamed of a brighter age. This dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution, although it was later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror of Maximilien Robespierre. At first, the monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but with the French Revolution they feared losing their power and formed broad coalitions for the counter-revolution. The Ottoman Empire underwent a protracted decline, as it failed to keep up with the technological advances in Europe. The Tulip period symbolized a period of peace and reorientation towards European society, after victory against a burgeoning Russian Empire in the Pruth River Campaign. Throughout the century various reforms were introduced with limited success.

The 18th century also marked the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state. The once-powerful and vast kingdom, which was able to conquer Moscow and defeat the great Ottoman armies, collapsed under numerous invasions. Its semi-democratic government system was not robust enough to rival the neighboring monarchies of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire and the Archduchy of Austria which divided the Commonwealth territories among them, changing the landscape of Central European politics for the next hundred years.

European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and the associated mass migrations of people grew in size as the Age of Sail continued. Great Britain became a major power worldwide with the defeat of France in North America in the 1760s and the conquest of large parts of India. However, Britain lost many of its North American colonies after the American Revolution, which resulted in the creation of the newly independent United States of America. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain in the 1770s with the production of the improved steam engine. Despite its modest beginnings in the 18th century, steam-powered machinery would radically change human society and the environment.

Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution with an emphasis on directly interconnected events.^[1]^[2] To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements, the "long" 18th century^[3] may run from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815^[4] or even later.^[5]

Events

1700s

1700-1721: Great Northern War between Tsarist Russia and the Swedish Empire.
1701: Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I.
1701: Ashanti Empire is formed under Osei Kofi Tutu I.
1701–1714: The War of the Spanish Succession is fought, involving most of continental Europe.^[6]
1701–1702: The Daily Courant and The Norwich Post become the first daily newspapers in England.
1702: Forty-seven Ronin attack Kira Yoshinaka and then commit seppuku in Japan.
1702–1715: Camisard Rebellion in France.
1703: Saint Petersburg is founded by Peter the Great; it is the Russian capital until 1918.
1703–1711: The Rákóczi Uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy.
1704: End of Japan's Genroku period.
1704: First Javanese War of Succession.^[7]
1705: George Frideric Handel's first opera, Almira, premieres.
1706: War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the Battles of Ramilies and Turin.
1706: The first English-language edition of the Arabian Nights is published.
1707: The Act of Union is passed, merging the Scottish and English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[8]
1707: After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal Empire enters a long decline and the Maratha Empire slowly replaces it.
1707: Mount Fuji erupts in Japan for the first time since 1700.
1707: War of 27 Years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India.
1708: The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and English Company Trading to the East Indies merge to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies.
1708–1709: Famine kills one-third of East Prussia's population.
1709: The Great Frost of 1709 marks the coldest winter in 500 years.
1709: Hotaki dynasty founded in Afghanistan.
1709: Charles XII of Sweden flees to the Ottoman Empire after Peter I of Russia defeats his army at the Battle of Poltava.

1710s

1710: The world's first copyright legislation, Britain's Statute of Anne, takes effect.
1710-1711: Ottoman Empire fights Russia in the Russo-Turkish War.
1711-1715: Tuscarora War between British, Dutch, and German settlers and the Tuscarora people of North Carolina.
1712: War of the Spanish Succession: The French defeat a combined Dutch-Austrian force at the Battle of Denain.
1712: The first shipment of coffee from Java reaches Amsterdam.^[9]
1713: The Treaty of Utrecht ends the War of the Spanish Succession.
1713-1714: Tarabai establishes the rival Maratha Empire government in Kolhapur against Chattrapati Shahu.
1714: Accession of George I, Elector of Hanover, to the throne of Great Britain.
1715: The first Jacobite rising breaks out; the British halt the Jacobite advance at the Battle of Sheriffmuir; Battle of Preston.
1715: Louis XIV dies, leaving France greatly enlarged but deep in debt; The Regency takes power under Philippe d'Orleans.
1715: Pope Clement XI declares Catholicism and Confucianism incompatible.
1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the present-day India-Pakistan border.
1717: The Netherlands, Britain and France sign the Triple Alliance.
1717: Surabaya rebels against the VOC.^[10]
1718: The city of New Orleans is founded by the French in North America.
1718: Blackbeard (Edward Teach) is killed by Robert Maynard in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island.
1718-1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire.
1719: The Spanish attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails.
1719: Second Javanese War of Succession.^[10]

1720s

1720: The South Sea Bubble.
1720: Spanish military embarks on the Villasur expedition, traveling north from Mexico into the Great Plains.
1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille.
1721: Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Great Britain (de facto).
1721: The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War.
1721: Kangxi Emperor bans Christian missionaries because of Pope Clement XI's decree.
1721: Peter I reforms the Russian Orthodox Church.
1722: Afghans conquer Iran, overthrowing the Safavid Shah Sultan Husayn.
1722: Kangxi Emperor of China dies.
1722: Bartholomew Roberts is killed in a sea battle off the African coast.
1722–1723: Russo-Persian War.
1722–1725: Controversy over William Wood's halfpence leads to the Drapier's Letters and begins the Irish economic independence from England movement.
1723: Slavery is abolished in Russia; Peter the Great converts household slaves into house serfs.^[11]
1723–1730: The "Great Disaster", an invasion of Kazakh territories by the Dzungars.
1724: The Treaty of Constantinople is signed, partitioning Persia between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.
1725: The Fulani nomads take complete control of Futa Jallon and set up the first of many Fulani jihad states to come.^[12]
1726: The enormous Chinese encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng of over 100 million written Chinese characters in over 800,000 pages is printed in 60 different copies using copper-based Chinese movable type printing.
1727–1729: Anglo-Spanish War.
1729–1735: Charles Wesley and John Wesley begin Methodism in England.

1730s

1730: Mahmud I takes over Ottoman Empire after the Patrona Halil revolt, ending the Tulip period.
1730–1760: The First Great Awakening takes place in Great Britain and North America.
1732–1734: Crimean Tatar raids into Russia.^[13]
1733–1738: War of the Polish Succession.
1735–1739: Russo-Turkish War.
1735–1799: The Qianlong Emperor of China oversees a huge expansion in territory.
1735: Governor-General Dirck van Cloon dies, one of many victims of malaria in Batavia.^[14]
1736: Nader Shah assumes the title of Shah of Persia and founds the Afsharid dynasty; he rules until his death in 1747.
1736: Qing Dynasty Chinese court painters recreate Zhang Zeduan's classic panoramic painting, Along the River During Qingming Festival.
1738–1756: Famine across the Sahel; half the population of Timbuktu dies.^[15]
1738: Pope Clement XII issues In eminenti apostolatus, prohibiting Catholics from becoming Freemasons.
1738: Turlough O'Carolan, famous Irish harper, dies.
1739: Nader Shah defeats the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal and sacks Delhi.
1739: Great Britain and Spain fight the War of Jenkins' Ear in the Caribbean.

1740s

1740: Frederick the Great comes to power in Prussia.
1740: The British attempt to capture St. Augustine, Florida but lose to the Spanish during the Siege of St. Augustine.
1740–1741: Famine in Ireland kills ten percent of the population.
1740–1748: War of the Austrian Succession.
1740: 9 October, a massacre of Batavia's ethnic Chinese begins after they are suspected by the VOC of planning a rebellion; approximately 10,000 are killed and the Chinese quarter is burned.^[17]
1741: Russians begin settling the Aleutian Islands.
1741: Pope Benedict XIV issues Immensa Pastorum principis against slavery.
1742: Marvel's Mill, the first water-powered cotton mill, begins operation in England.^[18]
1743: The capital of the Sultanate of Mataram Kartasura fell under Geger Pecinan uprising — Raden Mas Garendi (Sunan Kuning) led Chinese mercenaries revolted against Pakubuwono II.
1744: The First Saudi State is founded by Mohammed Ibn Saud.^[19]
1744: The French attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails.
1744–1748: The First Carnatic War is fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India.
1745: Second Jacobite rising is begun by Charles Edward Stuart in Scotland.
1745: 17 February, Pakubuwono II establishes a new kraton in Sala village, along with Surakarta Sunanate.
1747: Ahmed Shah Durrani founds the Durrani Empire in modern-day Afghanistan.
1748: The Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession and First Carnatic War.
1748–1754: The Second Carnatic War is fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India.

1750s

1750: Peak of the Little Ice Age.
1754: The Treaty of Pondicherry ends the Second Carnatic War and recognizes Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah as Nawab of the Carnatic.
1754: King's College is founded by a royal charter of George II of Great Britain.^[20]
1754–1763: The French and Indian War, the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War, is fought in colonial North America, mostly by the French and their allies against the English and their allies.
1755: The Lisbon earthquake occurs.
1755–1763: The Great Upheaval forces transfer of the French Acadian population from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
1755: 13 February, the Treaty of Giyanti is signed, effectively partitioning the Mataram Sultanate; the VOC recognizes Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I, who rules half of Central Java; Hamengkubuwana I then establishes Yogyakarta Sultanate, moves to Yogya and renames the city Yogyakarta.^[21]
1756–1763: The Seven Years' War is fought among European powers in various theaters around the world.
1756–1763: The Third Carnatic War is fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India.
1757: The Battle of Plassey signals the beginning of formal British rule in India after years of commercial activity under the auspices of the East India Company.
1757: 17 March, Salatiga treaty between Prince Sambernyawa with Pakubuwono III and Hamengkubuwono I further partitions the remnant of Mataram Sultanate; the Mangkunegaran Grand Duchy is established.
1758: British colonel James Wolfe issues Wolfe's Manifesto.
1759: French and Indian War: French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and British commander James Wolfe die during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

1760s

1760: George III becomes King of Britain.
1760: Zand dynasty is founded in Iran.
1761: Maratha Empire defeated at Battle of Panipat.
1762–1796: Reign of Catherine the Great of Russia.
1763: The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War and Third Carnatic War.
1763: Kingdom of Mysore conquers the Kingdom of Keladi.
1765: The Stamp Act is introduced into the American colonies by the British Parliament.
1766–1799: Anglo-Mysore Wars.
1767: Burmese conquer the Ayutthaya kingdom.
1768: Gurkhas conquer Nepal.
1768–1772: War of the Bar Confederation.
1768–1774: Russo-Turkish War.
1769: Spanish missionaries establish the first of 21 missions in California.
1769–1770: James Cook explores and maps New Zealand and Australia.
1769–1773: The Bengal famine of 1770 kills one-third of the Bengal population.
1769: French expeditions capture clove plants in Ambon, ending the VOC monopoly of the plant.^[22] (to 1772)

1770s

1770: James Cook claims the East Coast of Australia (New South Wales) for Great Britain.
1770–1771: Famine in Czech lands kills hundreds of thousands.
1770: James Cook stops at Onrust Island in the Bay of Batavia for repairs to his ship Endeavour on his voyage around the world.^[23]
1771: The Plague Riot in Moscow.
1771: Richard Arkwright and his partners build the world's first water-powered mill at Cromford.
1772: Reformer Johann Friedrich Struensee executed in Denmark.
1772: Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d'état, becoming almost an absolute monarch.
1772–1779: Maratha Empire fights Britain and Raghunathrao's forces during the First Anglo-Maratha War.
1772–1795: The Partitions of Poland end the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and erase Poland from the map for 123 years.
1773–1775: Pugachev's Rebellion, the largest peasant revolt in Russian history.
1773: East India Company starts operations in Bengal to smuggle opium into China.
1775: John Harrison H4 and Larcum Kendall K1 marine chronometers are used to measure longitude by James Cook on his second voyage (1772–1775).
1775–1782: First Anglo-Maratha War.
1775–1783: American Revolutionary War.
1776: Illuminati founded by Adam Weishaupt.
1776: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
1776: Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations.
1778: Tây Sơn Dynasty is established in Vietnam.
1778: James Cook becomes the first European to land on the Hawaiian Islands.
1778: 24 April, the Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences is established by a group of Dutch intellectuals;^[24] this institution is a pioneer of scientific efforts in Indonesia and the founder of the National Museum of Indonesia.
1779–1879: Xhosa Wars between British and Boer settlers and the Xhosas in the South African Republic.

1780s

1780: Outbreak of the indigenous rebellion against Spanish colonization led by Túpac Amaru II in Peru.
1781: The city of Los Angeles is founded by Spanish settlers.
1781–1785: Serfdom is abolished in the Austrian monarchy (first step; second step in 1848).
1783: Famine in Iceland, caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano.
1783: Russian Empire annexes the Crimean Khanate.
1783: The Treaty of Paris formally ends the American Revolutionary War.
1785–1791: Imam Sheikh Mansur, a Chechen warrior and Muslim mystic, leads a coalition of Muslim Caucasian tribes from throughout the Caucasus in a holy war against Russian settlers and military bases in the Caucasus, as well as against local traditionalists, who followed the traditional customs and common law (Adat) rather than the theocratic Sharia.^[25]
1785–1795: The Northwest Indian War is fought between the United States and Native Americans.
1787: The United States Constitution is written in Philadelphia and submitted to the states for ratification.
1787: Freed slaves from London establish Freetown in present-day Sierra Leone.
1787: Kansei Reforms instituted in Japan by Matsudaira Sadanobu.
1787–1792: Russo-Turkish War.
1788: First French Quaker community established in Congénies.
1788: First European settlement established in Australia at Sydney.
1788–1790: Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790).
1788: New Hampshire becomes the 9th state to ratify the United States Constitution, and by the terms of Article VII it takes effect.
1788–1789: Inconfidência Mineira, conspiracy against the colonial authorities in Brazil.
1789: George Washington is elected the first President of the United States; he serves until 1797.
1789: Great Britain and Spain dispute the Nootka Sound during the Nootka Crisis.
1789–1799: French Revolution.

1789: The Liège Revolution.
1789: The Brabant Revolution.

1790s-1800

1790: The United States of Belgium is proclaimed following the Brabant Revolution.
1790: Suppression of the United States of Belgium and re-establishment of Austrian control.
1790: Establishment of the Polish-Prussian Pact.
1791: The Constitutional Act (or Canada Act) creates the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in British North America.
1791: Suppression of the Liège Revolution by Austrian forces and re-establishment of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.
1791–1795: George Vancouver explores the world during the Vancouver Expedition.
1791–1804: The Haitian Revolution.
1792–1802: The French Revolutionary Wars lead into the Napoleonic Wars, which last from 1803-1815.
1792: The New York Stock & Exchange Board is founded.
1792: Polish–Russian War of 1792.
1792: King Gustav III of Sweden is assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen.
1792: March, Hamengkubuwana I dies.^[26]
1793: Upper Canada bans slavery.
1793: The largest yellow fever epidemic in American history kills as many as 5,000 people in Philadelphia, roughly 10% of the population.^[27]
1793–1796: Revolt in the Vendée against the French Republic at the time of the Revolution.
1794: Polish revolt.
1794: Jay's Treaty is concluded between Great Britain and the United States, by which the Western outposts in the Great Lakes are returned to the U.S. and commerce between the two countries is regulated.
1794: Qajar dynasty founded in Iran after replacing the Zand dynasty.
1795: Mohammad Khan Qajar razes Tbilisi to the ground.
1795: Establishment of the French-backed Batavian Republic in present-day Netherlands.
1795: Pinckney's Treaty between the United States and Spain grants the Mississippi Territory to the U.S.
1795: The Marseillaise is officially adopted as the French national anthem.
1795: Kamehameha I of the Island of Hawaii defeats the Oahuans at the Battle of Nu'uanu.
1796: Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination; smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century, including five reigning monarchs.^[28]
1796: War of the First Coalition: The Battle of Montenotte marks Napoleon Bonaparte's first victory as an army commander.
1796: The British eject the Dutch from Ceylon.
1796: Mungo Park, backed by the African Association, is the first European to set eyes on the Niger River in Africa.
1796–1804: The White Lotus Rebellion against the Manchu Dynasty in China.
1797: Napoleon's invasion and partition of the Republic of Venice ends over 1,000 years of independence for the Serene Republic.
1798: The Irish Rebellion fails to overthrow British rule in Ireland.
1798–1800: The Quasi-War is fought between the United States and France.
1799: Napoleon stages a coup d'état and becomes First Consul of France.
1799: Dutch East India Company is dissolved.
1799: The assassination of the 14th Tu'i Kanokupolu, Tukuʻaho, plunges Tonga into half a century of civil war.
1799: Tipu Sultan is killed in a battle with British forces.
1800: 1 January, The bankrupt Dutch East India Company (VOC) is formally dissolved and the nationalised Dutch East Indies are established.^[29]

Significant people

World leaders, politicians, military

Horatio Nelson, Vice Admiral in the British navy

John Adams, American statesman
Samuel Adams, American statesman
Ahmad Shah Abdali, Afghan King
Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Hyder Ali, Ruler of Mysore
Ethan Allen, American Revolutionary Army
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Marie Antoinette, Austrian-born Queen of France
Ferdinand VI, King of Spain
Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania
Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor
Bajirao I, Second Peshwa ofMaratha Empire
Boromakot, King of Ayutthaya
Boromaracha V, King of Ayutthaya
Aaron Burr, American statesman
William Cavendish, Anglo-Irish politician
William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of Britain
John Carteret, Anglo-Irish politician
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia
Charles III, King of Spain, Naples, and Sicily
Charles VI, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, King of Bohemia and Hungary
Charles XII, King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends;
Charlotte Corday, French revolutionary
Georges Danton, French revolutionary
Elizabeth of Russia, Empress of Russia
Farrukhsiyar, Emperor of Mughal
Ferdinand I, King of Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies
Benjamin Franklin, American leader, scientist and statesman
Juan Francisco, Spanish naval officer and explorer
Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia
George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland
George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland
George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland
Olympe de Gouges, French feminist
Robert Gray, American revolutionary, merchant, and explorer
Gustav III, King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends
Guru Gobind Singh, tenth of the eleven Sikh Gurus
Gyeongjong, King of Joseon Dynasty
Nathan Hale, American patriot, executed for espionage by the British
Abdul Hamid I, Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Alexander Hamilton, American statesman
Patrick Henry, American statesman
Emperor Higashiyama, Emperor of Japan
John Jay, American statesman
Thomas Jefferson, American statesman
Jeongjo, King of Joseon Dynasty
John Paul Jones, American naval commander
Joseph I, King of Portugal
Joseph II, Austrian Emperor
Kangxi Emperor, Chinese Emperor
Karim Khan, Shah of Iran and King of Persia
Marquis de Lafayette, Continental Army officer
Louis XIV, King of France
Louis XV, King of France
Louis XVI, King of France
Louis XVII, imprisoned King of France, never ruled
James Madison, American statesman
Madhavrao I, Peshwa/Prime Minister of Maratha Empire
Madhavrao I Scindia, Marathan leader
Mahmud I, Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Alessandro Malaspina, Spanish explorer
George Mason, American statesman
Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, Russian statesman, generalissimo
Michikinikwa, Miami chief and warrior
José Moñino y Redondo, Spanish statesman
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French officer
Mustafa III, Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Nader Shah, King of Persia
Nakamikado, Emperor of Japan
Horatio Nelson, British admiral
Nanasaheb, Peshwa/Prime Minister of Maratha Empire
Shivappa Nayaka, King of Keladi Nayaka
Osman III, Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Peter I (Peter the Great), Emperor of Russia
Philip V, King of Spain
Pontiac, Ottawa chief and warrior
Prince Grigory Potyomkin, Russian statesman and general
Nguyen Hue, Emperor of Tây Sơn Dynasty of Vietnam
Qianlong Emperor, Emperor of China
Rajaram II of Satara, Monarch of the Maratha Confederacy
Francis II Rákóczi, Prince of Hungary and Transylvania, revolutionary leader
Tadeusz Rejtan, Polish politician
Paul Revere, American revolutionary leader and silversmith
Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary leader
Betsy Ross, American flag maker
Count Pyotr Rumyantsev, Russian general
Shah Rukh of Persia, King of Persia.
John Russell, Anglo-Irish politician
Lionel Sackville, Anglo-Irish politician
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French revolutionary
Sebastião de Melo, Prime Minister of Portugal
Prithivi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal and founder of Kingdom of Nepal
Chattrapati Shahu, Emperor of Maratha Empire
Selim III, Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Charles Edward Stuart, English Jacobite exile
Sukjong, King of Joseon Dynasty
Alexander Suvorov, Russian military leader
Maria Theresa, Austrian Empress
Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese Shogun
Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese Shogun
Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese Shogun
Tokugawa Ietsugu, Japanese Shogun
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese Shogun
Tokugawa Yoshimune, Japanese Shogun
Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitian revolutionary leader
Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian revolutionary
George Vancouver, British Captain and explorer
Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain
George Washington, American general and first President of the United States
James Wolfe, British officer
Yeongjo, King of Joseon Dynasty

Show business, theatre, entertainers

Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright
Antonio Bernacchi, Italian singer
Faustina Bordoni, Italian singer
La Camargo, French dancer
Barbara Campanini, Italian dancer
Colley Cibber, English actor, poet, playwright
La Clairon, French actress
Fabre d'Églantine, French actor
Farinelli, Italian singer
Denis Fonvizin, Russian playwright
David Garrick, English actor
John Gay, English dramatist and poet
Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright
Carlo Gozzi, Italian playwright
Antiochus Kantemir, Russian playwright
Kong Shangren, Chinese dramatist, poet
Praskovia Kovalyova-Zhemchugova, Russian actress, singer
Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress
Charles Macklin, Irish actor
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese dramatist, playwright
Jean-Georges Noverre, French dancer and balletmaster
Marie Sallé, French dancer and choreographer
Senesino, Italian singer
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright
Alexander Sumarokov, Russian playwright
François-Joseph Talma, French actor
Fyodor Volkov, Russian actor
Wang Yun, Chinese playwright, poet

Musicians, composers

Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer
Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer
Dmitry Bortniansky, Russian composer
Charles Burney, English musician and music historian
François Couperin, French composer
William Cowper, English hymnist and poet
Dede Efendi, Turkish/Ottoman composer
Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer
Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist.
George Frideric Handel, German-English composer
Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer
Hampartsoum Limondjian, Armenian/Ottoman composer
Kali Mirza, Bengali composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer
Johann Pachelbel, German composer, teacher
François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess master
Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer
Bharatchandra Ray, Bengali composer, musician, and poet
Antonio Salieri, Venetian composer
Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer.
Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker
Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer
Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer
Isaac Watts, English hymnist

Visual artists, painters, sculptors, printmakers, architects

John James Audubon, French Painter
John Baskerville, British printer and typographer (founder of Baskerville font, Birmingham).
Bernardo Bellotto, Italian painter
Michel Benoist, French painter, architect, missionary in China
William Blake, English artist and poet
Edmé Bouchardon, French sculptor
François Boucher, French painter
Canaletto, Italian painter
Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian painter, architect, missionary in China
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter
Vasili Bazhenov, Russian architect
Karl Blank, Russian architect
Vladimir Borovikovsky, Russian painter
Leonardo Coccorante, Italian painter
John Singleton Copley, American painter
Jacques-Louis David, French painter
Yury Felten, Russian architect
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Austrian architect
Étienne Maurice Falconet, French sculptor
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter
Gai Qi, Chinese painter, poet
Thomas Gainsborough, English painter
Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter
Giuseppe Grisoni, Italian painter
Francesco Guardi, Italian painter
Jacob Philipp Hackert, German painter
Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, Aus[trian-Italian architect
William Hogarth, English painter and engraver
Matvey Kazakov, Russian architect
Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, German painter and architect
Alexander Kokorinov, Russian architect
Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky, Russian sculptor
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, French sculptor, student of his father
Jean-Louis Lemoyne, French sculptor
Dmitry Levitzky, Russian painter
Jean-Étienne Liotard, Swiss painter
Jiang Tingxi, Chinese artist and scholar
Robert Le Lorrain, French sculptor
Ivan Martos, Russian sculptor
Luis Egidio Meléndez, Spanish painter
Antoine Ignace Melling, French-German painter, architect
Louis Montoyer, Belgian architect
Nishikawa Sukenobu, Japanese printmaker, teacher
Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian painter
Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (Saxony)
Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Italian-born Russian architect
Joshua Reynolds, English painter
Giacomo Quarenghi, Italian-born Russian architect
Francisco Salzillo, Spanish sculptor
Gilbert Stuart, American painter
Suzuki Harunobu, Japanese woodblock printer
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Venetian painter
Domenico Trezzini, Italian-born Russian architect
Kitagawa Utamaro, Japanese printmaker and painter
Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect
Juan de Villanueva, Spanish architect
Antoine Watteau, French painter
Yuan Mei, Chinese painter, poet, essayist
Mikhail Zemtsov, Russian architect

Writers, poets

Jane Austen, English writer
Anna Laetitia Barbauld, English Poet, essayist, and children's author
Pierre Beaumarchais, French writer
Bernardin de St. Pierre, French writer
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and literary critic
James Boswell, Scottish biographer
Frances Burney, English novelist
Robert Burns, Scottish poet
Cao Xueqin, Chinese writer
Giacomo Casanova, Venetian adventurer, writer and womanizer
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French writer
Daniel Defoe, English novelist and journalist
Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet
Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish novelist
Olaudah Equiano, Eboe writer and abolitionist
Henry Fielding, English novelist
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French writer
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer
Oliver Goldsmith, Anglo-Irish writer, poet, children's writer, and playwright
Thomas Gray, English poet, scholar, and educator
Eliza Haywood, English writer
Samuel Johnson, British writer, lexicographer, poet, and literary critic
Ferenc Kazinczy, Hungarian writer
Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French writer
Charlotte Lennox, English novelist and poet
Liang Desheng, Chinese poet and writer
Matthew Lewis, English novelist and playwright
Li Ruzhen, Chinese novelist
Sadhak Kamalakanta, Indian poet
Henry Mackenzie, Scottish novelist
Jean-Paul Marat, French journalist
Pierre de Marivaux, French writer
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Spanish writer
Honoré Mirabeau, French writer and politician
John Newbery, English children's literature publisher
Alexander Pope, English poet
Abbe Prevost, French writer
Pu Songling, Chinese short story writer
Ann Radcliffe, English novelist
Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer
Samuel Richardson, English novelist
Marquis de Sade, French writer and philosopher
Ramprasad Sen, Bengali poet and singer
Friedrich Schiller, German writer
Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and poet
Christopher Smart, English poet and actor
Robert Southey, English poet and biographer
Hester Thrale, English memoirist
Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and playwright
Charlotte Turner Smith, English writer
Laurence Sterne, Anglo-Irish writer
Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish satirist and Church of Ireland Dean
Ueda Akinari, Japanese writer
Voltaire, French writer and philosopher
Horace Walpole, English writer and politician
Mary Wollstonecraft, British writer and feminist
Wu Jingzi, Chinese writer
Yuan Mei, Chinese poet, scholar and artist

Philosophers, theologians

Arai Hakuseki, Japanese scholar, writer and politician
Baal Shem Tov, Ukrainian rabbi
Cesare Beccaria, Italian philosopher and politician
Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher and reformer
George Berkeley, Irish empiricist philosopher
Edmund Burke, British statesman and philosopher
Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French philosopher
Marquis de Condorcet, French philosopher
Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury
Erasmus Darwin, English philosopher, poet and scientist
Denis Diderot, French writer and philosopher
Jonathan Edwards, American theologian and philosopher
William Godwin, English philosopher and novelist
Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn, German writer, Jewish theologian, translator, and professor
Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, writer, and critic
Thomas Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury
Baron d'Holbach, French-German philosopher and writer
David Hume, Scottish philosopher
Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury
Kamo no Mabuchi, Japanese philosopher
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher
William Law, English theologian
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher and writer
Alphonsus Liguori, Italian bishop, founder of Redemptorists, Saint
Joseph de Maistre, Italian philosopher and diplomat
Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher
Charles de Secondat (Montesquieu), French thinker
John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury
Motoori Norinaga, Japanese philosopher and scholar
Thomas Paine, English philosopher
Elihu Palmer, American deist
Thomas Percy, English bishop and editor
Joseph Perl, German writer, Jewish theologian, and educator
John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French writer and philosopher
Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury
Seraphim of Sarov, Russian theologian
Sugita Genpaku, Japanese scholar and translator
Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist, thinker and mystic
Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury
Christian Thomasius, German philosopher and jurist
Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher
Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, Arab Islamic theologian and founder of Wahhabism
William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury
John Wesley, English theologian, founder of Methodism
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, German religious writer and bishop

Scientists, researchers

Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and chemist
Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician
Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician, physicist and encyclopedist
Joseph Banks, English botanist
Laura Bassi, Italian scientist, the first European female college teacher^[30]
Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and physicist
Joseph Black, Scottish chemist (discovered carbon dioxide)
Roger Joseph Boscovich, physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, and Jesuit
Comte de Buffon, French scientist
Henry Cavendish, chemist (recognized Hydrogen as its own elemental substance)
Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer
Anders Chydenius, Finnish philosopher and economist
Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician
James Cook, English navigator, explorer and cartographer
Dai Zhen, Chinese mathematician, geographer, phonologist and philosopher
Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist
Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, German physicist and engineer
George Fordyce, Scottish physician and chemist
Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, physicist and astronomer
Edward Gibbon, English historian
Edward Jenner, English inventor of vaccination
William Jones, English philologist
Nikolai Karamzin, Russian historian
Ivan Kulibin, Russian inventor
Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian-French mathematician and physicist
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French naturalist, biologist
Pierre Simon Laplace, French physicist and mathematician
Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist, considered father of modern chemistry
John Law, Scottish economist
Pan Lei, Chinese scholar and mathematician
Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician
Carl Linnaeus, Swedish biologist
Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist
Edmond Malone, Irish literary scholar
Thomas Malthus, English economist
Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician
Peter Simon Pallas, German-Russian zoologist and botanist
Joseph Priestley, dissenting minister and chemist
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist
François Quesnay, French economist
Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (discovered oxygen)
John Smeaton, civil engineer and physicist
Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher
Vasily Tatishchev, Russian historian and ethnographer
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist
Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish scientist and explorer
James Watt, Scottish scientist and inventor
John Whitehurst, English geologist

Outlaws

Maurice Benyovszky, Hungarian adventurer, "King of Madagaskar"
Anne Bonny, Irish pirate
Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian adventurer and occultist
Robert-François Damiens, French domestic worker whose attempted assassination of King Louis XV
Olivier Levasseur, French pirate
Samuel Mason, American Revolutionary War soldier and river pirate/highwayman
Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian cossack and rebel leader
John Rackham (Calico Jack), English pirate
Mary Read, English pirate
Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate
Count of St. Germain, adventurer, alchemist and occultist
Princess Tarakanoff, Russian adventurer
Edward Teach (Blackbeard), English pirate

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

1709: The first piano was built by Bartolomeo Cristofori
1711: The Tuning fork was invented by John Shore
1712: The Steam Engine invented by Thomas Newcomen
1714: The Mercury thermometer by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
1717: The diving bell was successfully tested by Edmond Halley, sustainable to a depth of 55 ft
c. 1730: The octant navigational tool was developed by John Hadley in England, and Thomas Godfrey in America
1733: Flying shuttle invented by John Kay
1736: Europeans encountered rubber – the discovery was made by Charles-Marie de la Condamine while on expedition in South America. It was named in 1770 by Joseph Priestley
c. 1740: Modern steel was developed by Benjamin Huntsman
1741: Vitus Bering discovers Alaska
1745: The Leyden jar invented by Ewald Georg von Kleist was the first electrical capacitor
1752: The Lightning rod invented by Benjamin Franklin
1755: The tallest wooden Bodhisattva statue in the world is erected at Puning Temple, Chengde, China.
1764: The Spinning Jenny created by James Hargreaves brought on the Industrial Revolution
1765: James Watt enhances Newcomen's steam engine, allowing new steel technologies
1761: The problem of Longitude was finally resolved by the fourth chronometer of John Harrison
1763: Thomas Bayes publishes first version of Bayes' Theorem, paving the way for Bayesian probability
1768–1779: James Cook mapped the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean and discovered many Pacific Islands
1771: The enormous Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex of Chengde, China is completed
1773–1782: The Qing Dynasty huge literary compilation Siku Quanshu
1774: Joseph Priestley discovers "dephlogisticated air" Oxygen
1775: Joseph Priestley first synthesis of "phlogisticated nitrous air" Nitrous Oxide "laughing gas"
1776: First improved steam engines installed by James Watt
1776: The Steamboat invented by Claude de Jouffroy
1777: The Circular saw invented by Samuel Miller
1779: Photosynthesis was first discovered by Jan Ingenhousz
1781: William Herschel announces discovery of Uranus
1784: The Bifocals invented by Benjamin Franklin
1784: The Argand lamp invented by Aimé Argand^[31]
1785: The Power loom invented by Edmund Cartwright
1785: The Automatic flour mill invented by Oliver Evans
1786: The Threshing machine invented by Andrew Meikle
1787: Jacques Charles discovers Charles's Law
1789: Antoine Lavoisier discovers the law of conservation of mass, the basis for chemistry, and begins modern chemistry
1798: Edward Jenner publishes a treatise about smallpox vaccination
1798: The Lithographic printing process invented by Alois Senefelder^[32]
1799: Rosetta stone discovered by Napoleon's troops

Literary and philosophical achievements

1703: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki by Chikamatsu first performed
1704–1717: One Thousand and One Nights translated into French by Antoine Galland. The work becomes immensely popular throughout Europe.
1704: A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift first published
1712: The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope (publication of first version)
1719: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
1725: The New Science by Giambattista Vico
1726: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
1728: The Dunciad by Alexander Pope (publication of first version)
1744: A Little Pretty Pocket-Book becomes one of the first books marketed for children
1748: Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), popular Japanese puppet play, composed
1748: Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
1749: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
1751: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray published
1751–1785: The French Encyclopédie
1755: A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson
1759: Candide by Voltaire
1759: The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith
1759–1767: Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
1762: Emile: or, On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1762: The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1774: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe first published
1776: Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) by Ueda Akinari
1776: The Wealth of Nations, foundation of the modern theory of economy, was published by Adam Smith
1776–1789: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was published by Edward Gibbon
1779: Amazing Grace published by John Newton
1779–1782: Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets by Samuel Johnson
1781: Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (publication of first edition)
1781: The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller first published
1782: Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
1786: Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect by Robert Burns
1787–1788: The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
1788: Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant
1789: Songs of Innocence by William Blake
1790: Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow by Alexander Radishchev
1790: Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
1791: Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
1792: Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft
1794: Songs of Experience by William Blake
1798: Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1798: An Essay on the Principle of Population published by Thomas Malthus
(mid-18th century): The Dream of the Red Chamber (authorship attributed to Cao Xueqin), one of the most famous Chinese novels

Musical works

1711: Rinaldo, Handel's first opera for the London stage, premiered
1721: Brandenburg concertos by J.S. Bach
1723: The Four Seasons, violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, composed
1724: St John Passion by J.S. Bach
1727: St Matthew Passion composed by J.S. Bach
1733: Hippolyte et Aricie, first opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau
1741: Goldberg Variations for harpsichord published by Bach
1742: Messiah, oratorio by Handel premiered in Dublin
1749: Mass in B Minor by J.S. Bach assembled in current form
1751: The Art of Fugue by J.S. Bach
1762: Orfeo ed Euridice, first "reform opera" by Gluck, performed in Vienna
1786: The Marriage of Figaro, opera by Mozart
1787: Don Giovanni, opera by Mozart
1788: Jupiter Symphony (Symphony No.41) composed by Mozart
1791: The Magic Flute, opera by Mozart
1791–1795: London symphonies by Haydn
1798: The Creation, oratorio by Haydn first performed

Decades and years

References

^ Anderson, M. S. (1979). Historians and the Eighteenth-Century Europe, 1715–1789. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822548-5. OCLC 185538307.
^ Ribeiro, Aileen (2002). Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe 1715-1789 (revised edition). Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09151-9. OCLC 186413657.
^ Baines, Paul (2004). The Long 18th Century. London: Arnold. ISBN 978-0-340-81372-0.
^ Marshall, P. J. (Editor) (2001). The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (Oxford History of the British Empire). Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-924677-9. OCLC 174866045. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help), "Introduction" by P. J. Marshall, page 1
^ O'Gorman, Frank (1997). The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688-1832 (The Arnold History of Britain Series). A Hodder Arnold Publication. ISBN 978-0-340-56751-7. OCLC 243883533.
^ "War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1714". Historyofwar.org. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 82
^ Historic uk – heritage of britain accommodation guide (2007-05-03). "The history of Scotland – The Act of Union 1707". Historic-uk.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Moore (Ed) (1999), p90
^ ^a ^b Ricklefs (1991), page 84
^ "Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to History". Britannica.com. 1910-01-31. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Usman dan Fodio (Fulani leader)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
^ "List of Wars of the Crimean Tatars". Zum.de. Archived from the original on 12 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 86
^ "Len Milich: Anthropogenic Desertification vs 'Natural' Climate Trends". Ag.arizona.edu. 1997-08-10. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
^ "A guide to Scottish clans". Unique-cottages.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 87
^ Wadsworth, Alfred P.; Mann, Julia De Lacy (1931). The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600-1780. Manchester University Press. p. 433. OCLC 2859370. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
^ "Saudi Arabia – The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam". Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
^ "History". Columbia University.
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 93
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 102
^ Heuken (2000), page 307
^ Rosi, Adele (1998). Museum Nasional Guide Book. Jakarta: PT Indo Multi Media,Museum Nasional and Indonesian Heritage Society. p. 4.
^ "Sufism in the Caucasus". Islamicsupremecouncil.org. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 101
^ "Yellow Fever Attacks Philadelphia, 1793". EyeWitness to History. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Riedel S (2005). "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination". Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 18 (1): 21–5. PMC 1200696. PMID 16200144.
^ Ricklefs (1991), page 106
^ Porter, Roy (Editor) (2003). The Cambridge History of Science, Volume 4: The Eighteenth Century (The Cambridge History of Science). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57243-9. OCLC 123123201. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help), "The Philosopher's Beard: Women and Gender in Science" by Londra Schiebinger, pages 184–210
^ Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Inventions, Encyclopædia Britannica Archived 2008-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. (1998) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p 146 ISBN 978-0-471-29198-5