The English drive the French out of most of the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium).
Mount Fuji erupts. Ash floats down on the city of Edo sixty miles to the north
A slave rebellion in New York results in the death of six whites and the execution of twelve slaves.
The English use a steam powered device to pump water out of a mine. It is the first commercially successful engine.
Spain and Britain sign a 30-year contract in which Britain is to have a monopoly in supplying Spain with slaves for the Americas.
The "Golden Age of Piracy," centered in the Caribbean Islands, comes to an end.
In Brazil, Europeans begin planting coffee
Georgia, the last of the Britain's thirteen colonies, is founded as a debtors' asylum.
Daniel Boone is born into a Quaker family living in Pennsylvania. He will become a frontiersman and a legend.
The first Europeans to visit Alaska
France invades the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium)
An average of 60,000 slaves are being exported from Africa per year.
British arms have succeeded against the French in North America. French resistance there ends
At the Third Battle of Panipat, in January, armies of more than 100,000, face off, The Durrani succeed over the Marathas
A French trading company establishes a trading post on the Mississippi River, to be known as St. Louis
The French explorer Louis Bougainville "discovers" Tahiti and claims it for King Louis XV of France
A Baptist Church for black slaves is founded is South Carolina Colony.
France signs an alliance with the American rebel force and recognizes the United States of America as a sovereign nation on February 5. On July 5, France's king, Louis XVI, declares war on Britain.
British ships land at Savannah. A force of between 2500 and 3600 troops
George Washington's most trusted general, General Gates, is chasing the British through the woods of South Carolina, into Virginia and back again into North Carolina. The British are low on supplies, stealing from the Americans and enraging them.
During the American Revolutionary War, a French fleet drives a British naval force from Chesapeake Bay. The British general, Lord Cornwallis, is surrounded on land and sea by Americans and French and surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia
Britain's parliament advises King George III to make peace with the rebels in America. In Paris informal talks begin. The Dutch recognize the independence of the former colonies. Formal negotiations begin.
King George has declared the thirteen colonies "free and independent." France and Spain sign articles of peace with Britain. In Paris, delegates from the colonies sign the Treaty of Peace
Rhode Island becomes the last and thirteenth state to ratify the US Constitution.
The British, Dutch and Spanish go to war against the French Revolution. In the United States, Thomas Jefferson supports France, Alexander Hamilton supports England and President Washington chooses neutrality.