istoryworld
Events relating to europe
English historian Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
John Hancock is the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence, formally written out on a large sheet of parchment
Spanish America is now administered as four viceroyalties - New Spain, New Granada, New Peru and La Plata
Buenos Aires rather than Asunción is chosen to be capital of the new Spanish viceroyalty of La Plata
Scottish economist Adam Smith analyzes the nature and causes of the Wealth of Nations
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second play, The School for Scandal, is an immediate success in London's Drury Lane theatre
Benjamin Franklin persuades the French to sign a Treaty of Alliance, committing France to the US cause
France, joining the American colonies in their fight against Britain, sends a large fleet across the Atlantic
The American naval hero John Paul Jones makes successful raids around the coasts of Britain
15-year-old Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun earns enough from painting portraits to support the rest of her family
The 10-year-old Napoleon is admitted as a student in a military college at Brienne, near Troyes
British explorer Captain James Cook is killed in a skirmish with natives in Hawaii over a stolen boat
Joseph Banks tells a committee of the House of Commons that the east coast of Australia is suitable for the transportation of convicted felons
The world's first iron bridge is assembled in a few months across the Severn at Coalbrookdale
Samuel Crompton perfects the mule, a machine for spinning that combines the merits of Hargreave's jenny and Arkwright's water frame
U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, fights H.M.S. Serapis near England's Flamborough Head
An Indian uprising in Spanish Peru is led by a descendant of the Incas, Tupac Amaru II
Six days of riot in London are triggered by Lord George Gordon leading a march to oppose any degree of Catholic emancipation
William Herschel discovers Uranus, the first planet to be found by means of a telescope, and names it the Georgian star
The British general Charles Cornwallis, isolated at Yorktown, is forced to surrender in the final engagement of the Revolutionary War
Italian sculptor Antonio Canova sets up his studio in Rome and begins producing finely modelled nudes in the Greek style
French paper manufacturer Joseph Montgolfier sends a hot-air balloon 3000 feet (1000m) into the air, in front of a crowd in Annonay
Some 40,000 Loyalists flee from British America to the previously French colonies, in particular Nova Scotia
The empress Catherine the Great annexes the Crimean peninsula, giving Russia a presence in the Black Sea
Ten days after the first human ascent in a hot-air balloon the feat is repeated, again in Paris, in a version lifted by hydrogen
