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This is a timeline of the 18th century.
1700s
1700–1721: Great Northern War between the Russian and Swedish Empires. 1701: Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I. 1701: Ashanti Empire is formed under Osei Kofi Tutu I. 1701–1714: War of the Spanish Succession is fought, involving most of continental Europe. 1701–1702: The Daily Courant and The Norwich Post become the first daily newspapers in England. 1702: Forty-seven rōnin attack Kira Yoshinaka and then commit seppuku in Japan. 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.Ricklefs (1991), page 82 1705: George Frideric Handel's first opera, Almira, premieres. 1706: War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the battles of Ramillies and Turin. 1706: The first English-language edition of the Arabian Nights is published. 1707: The Act of Union is passed, merging the Scottish and English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1707: After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal Empire enters a long decline and the Maratha Empire slowly replaces it. 1707: Mount Fuji erupts in Japan for the first time in 10,000 years. 1707: War of 27 Years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India. 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. 1709: Hotak dynasty founded in Afghanistan. 1709: Charles XII of Sweden flees to the Ottoman Empire after Peter I of Russia defeats his army at the Battle of Poltava.
1710s 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. 1712: War of the Spanish Succession: The French defeat a combined Dutch-Austrian force at the Battle of Denain. 1712: The first shipment of coffee from Java reaches Amsterdam.Moore (Ed) (1999), p90 1713: The Treaty of Utrecht until War of the Spanish Succession ended after treaties of Rastatt and Baden were established in 1913 after a new British Government led to a withdrawal of troops by their subsidiaries. 1713–1714: Tarabai establishes the rival Maratha Empire government in Kolhapur against Chattrapati Shahu. 1714: Accession of George I, Elector of Hanover, to the throne of Great Britain. 1715: The first Jacobite rising breaks out; the British halt the Jacobite advance at the Battle of Sheriffmuir; Battle of Preston. 1715: Louis XIV dies, leaving France greatly enlarged but deep in debt; The Regency takes power under Philippe d'Orleans. 1715: Pope Clement XI declares Catholicism and Confucianism incompatible. 1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the present-day India-Pakistan border. 1717: The Netherlands, Britain and France sign the Triple Alliance. 1717: Surabaya rebels against the VOC.Ricklefs (1991), page 84 1718: The city of New Orleans is founded by the French in North America. 1718: Blackbeard (Edward Teach) is killed by Robert Maynard in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island. 1718–1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire. 1719: The Spanish attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails. 1719: Second Javanese War of Succession.
1720s
1720: The South Sea Bubble. 1720: Spanish military embarks on the Villasur expedition, traveling north from Mexico into the Great Plains. 1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille. 1721: Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Great Britain (de facto). 1721: The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War. 1721: Kangxi Emperor bans Christian missionaries because of Pope Clement XI's decree. 1721: Peter I reforms the Russian Orthodox Church. 1722: Afghans conquer much of Iran, overthrowing the Safavid Shah Sultan Husayn. 1722: Kangxi Emperor of China dies. 1722: Bartholomew Roberts is killed in a sea battle off the African coast. 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. 1724: The Treaty of Constantinople is signed, partitioning Persia between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. 1725: The Fulani nomads take complete control of Futa Jallon and set up the first of many Fulani jihad states to come. 1726: The enormous Chinese encyclopedia Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China of over 100 million written Chinese characters in over 800,000 pages is printed in 60 different copies using copper-based Chinese movable type printing. 1729: Afghans ousted from Iran by Nader Shah; Safavids restored to the throne. 1727–1729: Anglo-Spanish War. 1729–1735: Charles Wesley and John Wesley begin Methodism in England.
1730s
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. 1734: Letters Concerning the English Nation by Voltaire published in French. 1735–1739: Russo-Turkish War. 1735–1799: The Qianlong Emperor of China oversees a huge expansion in territory. 1735: Governor-General Dirck van Cloon dies, one of many victims of malaria in Batavia.Ricklefs (1991), page 86 1736: Nader Shah assumes the title of Shah of Persia and founds the Afsharid dynasty; he rules until his death in 1747. 1736: Qing dynasty Chinese court painters recreate Zhang Zeduan's classic panoramic painting, Along the River During Qingming Festival. 1738–1756: Famine across the Sahel; half the population of Timbuktu dies. 1738: Pope Clement XII issues In eminenti apostolatus, prohibiting Catholics from becoming Freemasons. 1738: Turlough O'Carolan, famous Irish harper, dies. 1739: Nader Shah defeats the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal and sacks Delhi. 1739: Great Britain and Spain fight the War of Jenkins' Ear in the Caribbean.
1740s
1740: Frederick the Great comes to power in Prussia. 1740: Great Awakening in New England with evangelist George Whitefield. 1740: The British captured St. Augustine, Florida but lose to the Spanish during the Siege of St. Augustine. 1740–1741: Famine in Ireland kills ten percent of the population. 1740–1748: War of the Austrian Succession. 1740: 9 October, a massacre of Batavia's ethnic Chinese begins after they are suspected by the VOC of planning a rebellion; approximately 10,000 are killed and the Chinese quarter is burned.Ricklefs (1991), page 87 1741: Russians begin settling the Aleutian Islands. 1741: Pope Benedict XIV issues Immensa Pastorum principis against slavery. 1742: The rebellion of Juan Santos Atahualpa. 1742: Marvel's Mill, the first water-powered cotton mill, begins operation in England. 1743: The capital of the Sultanate of Mataram Kartasura fell under the Geger Pecinan uprising — Raden Mas Garendi (Sunan Kuning) led Chinese mercenaries in revolt against Pakubuwono II. 1744: The First Saudi State is founded by Mohammed Ibn Saud. 1744: The French attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails. 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. 1745: 17 February, Pakubuwono II establishes a new kraton in Sala village, along with Surakarta Sunanate. 1747: Ahmed Shah Durrani founds the Durrani Empire in modern-day Afghanistan. 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.
1750s
1750: Peak of the Little Ice Age. 1754: The Treaty of Pondicherry ends the Second Carnatic War and recognizes Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah as Nawab of the Carnatic. 1754: King's College is founded by a royal charter of George II of Great Britain. 1754–1763: The French and Indian War, the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War, is fought in colonial North America, mostly by the French and their allies against the English and their allies. 1755: The Lisbon earthquake occurs. 1755–1763: The Great Upheaval forces transfer of the French Acadian population from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 1755: 13 February, the Treaty of Giyanti is signed, effectively partitioning the Mataram Sultanate; the VOC recognizes Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I, who rules half of Central Java; Hamengkubuwana I then establishes Yogyakarta Sultanate, moves to Yogya and renames the city Yogyakarta.Ricklefs (1991), page 93 1755: Demand-Supply by Richard Cantillon published in French. 1756–1763: The Seven Years' War is fought among European powers in various theaters around the world. 1756: Birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1763: The Third Carnatic War is fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India. 1757: The Battle of Plassey signals the beginning of formal British rule in India after years of commercial activity under the auspices of the East India Company. 1757: 17 March, Salatiga treaty between Prince Sambernyawa with Pakubuwono III and Hamengkubuwono I further partitions the remnant of Mataram Sultanate; the Mangkunegaran Grand Duchy is established. 1758: British colonel James Wolfe issues Wolfe's Manifesto. 1759: French and Indian War: French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and British commander James Wolfe die during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
1760s
1760: George III becomes King of Britain. Beginning of industrial revolution in Great Britain 1760: Zand dynasty is founded in Iran. 1761: Marine chronometer invented. 1761: Maratha Empire defeated at Battle of Panipat. 1762–1796: Reign of Catherine the Great of Russia. 1763: The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War and Third Carnatic War. 1763: Kingdom of Mysore conquers the Kingdom of Keladi. 1763: Echelon Formation used by Frederick the Great of Prussia. 1765: The Stamp Act is introduced into the American colonies by the British Parliament. 1766: Christian VII becomes king of Denmark. He was king of Denmark to 1808. 1766–1799: Anglo-Mysore Wars. 1767: Burmese conquer the Ayutthaya Kingdom. 1767: Suppression of the Society of Jesus from the Spanish Empire. 1768: Gurkhas conquer Nepal. 1768–1772: War of the Bar Confederation. 1768–1774: Russo-Turkish War. 1768: Imperial Leather commissioned by Count Orlov. 1769: The Corsican War of Independence ends, after the French Conquest of Corsica. Napoleon is also born on Corsica in 1769, and becomes a natural-born French citizen. 1769: Spanish missionaries establish the first of 21 missions in California. 1769–1770: James Cook explores and maps New Zealand and Australia. 1769–1773: The Bengal famine of 1770 kills one-third of the Bengal population. 1769: French expeditions capture clove plants in Ambon, ending the VOC monopoly of the plant.Ricklefs (1991), page 102 (to 1772) 1769: Court Factor title gained by Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
1770s
1770: Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven 1770: James Cook claims the East Coast of Australia (New South Wales) for Great Britain. 1770: 5 March, the Boston Massacre.