    __notoc__ year 1740 (mdccxl) was a leap year starting on friday (link will display the full calendar) of the gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on tuesday of the 11-day slower julian calendar. == events == === january&ndash;june === * february 20 &ndash; the north carolina general assembly incorporates the town of newton as wilmington, north carolina, named for spencer compton, 1st earl of wilmington, and patron of royal governor gabriel johnston.  * may 31 &ndash; frederick ii comes to power in prussia upon the death of his father, frederick william i. * june 26 &ndash; war of jenkins' ear &ndash; siege of fort mose: a spanish column of 300 regular troops, free black militia and indian auxiliaries storms britain's strategically crucial position of fort mose, florida. === july&ndash;december === * july 11 &ndash; pogrom: jews are expelled from little russia. * august 1 &ndash; the song rule, britannia! is first performed at cliveden, the country home of frederick, prince of wales, in england. * august 17 &ndash; pope benedict xiv succeeds pope clement xii as the 247th pope. * october 9&ndash;22 &ndash; batavia massacre: troops of the dutch east india company massacre 5,000â10,000 chinese indonesians in batavia.image: bird's eye view of batavia showing the massacre of the chinese thumb|150px|right|oath of fealty to maria theresa * october 20 &ndash; maria theresa inherits the hereditary dominions of the habsburg monarchy (austria, bohemia, hungary and modern-day belgium) under the terms of the pragmatic sanction of 1713. however, her succession to the holy roman empire is contested widely because she is a woman. * november &ndash; hertford college, oxford, is founded for the first time. * november 6 &ndash; samuel richardson's popular and influential epistolary novel pamela; or, virtue rewarded is published in london. * 
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