1749 - The British Navy is reorganized by Act of Consolidation. 1750 - New York's first playhouse opens. The English Jockey Club is founded in London. An expedition to Cape of Good Hope, led by French astronomer Nicolas de Lacaille determines solar and lunar parallax. First asylums for the mentally disturbed opened in London.
China invades Tibet.
England joins the Austrian-Russian alliance against Prussia. 1752 - Britain adopts the Georgian calendar. Benjamin Franklin invents the lightening conductor. 1753 - French troops dispatched from Canada take the Ohio Valley, first settled in 1749. In England, Act of Parliament legalizes naturalization of Jews.