page_title: 18th century
section_title: 1701–1750
hierarchical_section_title: 18th century / Events / 1701–1750
context_page_description: The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800. During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian revolutions. The age saw violent slave trading and human trafficking on a global scale. The reactions against monarchical and aristocratic power helped fuel the revolutionary responses against it throughout the century.
  The period is also known as the "century of lights" or the "century of reason". In continental Europe, philosophers dreamed of a brighter age. For some, this dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution of 1789, though this was later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror. At first, many monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but in the wake of the French Revolution they feared loss of power and formed broad coalitions for counter-revolution. The Ottoman Empire experienced an unprecedented period of peace and economic expansion, taking part in no European wars from 1740 to 1768.
context_section_description: 1700–1721: Great Northern War between the Russian and Swedish Empires.
  1701: Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I.
  1701–1714: The War of the Spanish Succession is fought, involving most of continental Europe.
  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.
  1706–1713: The War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the battles of Ramillies and Turin.
  1707: The Act of Union is passed, merging the Scottish and English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain.
  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.
  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.
  1715: The first Jacobite rising breaks out; the British halt the Jacobite advance at the Battle of Sheriffmuir; Battle of Preston.
  1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the present-day India-Pakistan border.
  1718: The city of New Orleans is founded by the French in North America.
  1718–1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire.
  1719: Second Javanese War of Succession.
  1720: The South Sea Bubble.
  1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille.
  1721: The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War.
  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.
  1723–1730: The "Great Disaster", an invasion of Kazakh territories by the Dzungars.
  1727–1729: Anglo-Spanish War.
  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.
  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.
  1738–1756: Famine across the Sahel; half the population of Timbuktu dies.
  1739: Great Britain and Spain fight the War of Jenkins' Ear in the Caribbean.
  1740: Great Awakening, George Whitefield
  1740–1741: Famine in Ireland kills 20 percent of the population.
  1740–1748: War of the Austrian Succession.
  1742: Marvel's Mill, the first water-powered cotton mill, begins operation in England.
  1742: Premiere of Handel's Messiah
  1744: The First Saudi State is founded by Mohammed Ibn Saud.
  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.
  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.
  1750: Peak of the Little Ice Age.
caption: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
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