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1900s'10-'19'20-'29'30-'39'40-'49'50-'59'60-'69'70-'79'80-'89'90-'99

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18th Century

Gallery
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The Concert
Jean Antoine Watteau's
"The Concert," 1716

Tiepolo's Apollo Pursuing Daphne
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's
Apollo Pursuing Daphne,
1765


Voltaic pile,
the first battery, 1799

1700-1799

1700: Protestant German nations adopt the Gregorian calendar promulgated in 1582.
1700: Japan's Chikamatsu Monzaemon writes first tragedies about common people.
1702: Jakob Le Blon produces a multi-colored engraving.
1702: The first daily newspaper in the English language, the Daily Courant.
1703: Antonio Vivaldi begins composing sonatas, 550 concertos, more than 20 operas.
1703: A newspaper starts publication in Peter the Great's Russia.
1704: Isaac Newton writes on Opticks.
1704: John Harris' Lexicon Technicum, the first modern encyclopedia.
1704: In the American colonies city of Boston, a newspaper prints advertising.
1709: In London, The Tatler, first major magazine.
1709: English Parliament passes Copyright Act.
1709: George Berkeley argues that material objects exist only in our minds.
 
1710: Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge explains his "idealism."
1710: German engraver Le Blon develops three-color printing.
1710: England's copyright act is the basis for protection of intellectual property.
1710: Florence harpsichord maker Bartolommeo Cristofori invents the piano.
1711: Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's The Spectator replaces The Tatler.
1711: The tuning fork.
1711: Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism.
1712: Invention of steam engine sets the basis for the Industrial Revolution.
1713: Fran�ois Couperin publishes the first of his harpsichord suites.
1714: Pope's mock-epic poem, "The Rape of the Lock."
1714: Henry Mill receives patent in England for a typewriter; does not build it.
1717: George Friederic Handel's Water Music.
1719: French scientist Rene de Réaumur proposes using wood to make paper.
1719: Jakob Le Blon produces color printing.
1719: Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
 
1720: Johann Sebastian Bach composes the Brandenburg Concertos.
1721: James Franklin jailed after publishing New England Courant; brother Ben takes over.
1722: Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders.
1722: Jean-Philippe Rameau, Treatise of Harmony, lays modern music foundation.
1725: Scottish printer develops stereotyping system.
1725: Vivaldi composes The Four Seasons.
1726: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels satirizes aspects of life in England.
1727: Johann Schulze sees silver nitrate darken, begins science of photochemistry.
1728: An epic poem is written in Swahili.
1728: John Gay's The Beggar's Opera is staged.
1729: Swift's sarcastic A Modest Proposal suggests eating Irish babies.
1729: J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion is performed in Leipzig.
 
1730: John Peter Zenger prints first arithmetic text in American colonies.
1731: In England, Gentleman's Magazine calls itself a "magazine".
1732: In Philadelphia, Ben Franklin starts a circulating library.
1732: Franklin begins publication of Poor Richard's Almanack. It will run until 1758.
1733: In Madrid, Domenico Scarlatti, son of Allesandro, writes keyboard sonatas.
1733: In Paris, Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera Hippolyte et Aricie draws praise, contempt.
1733: The John Peter Zenger libel trial in New York colony supports press freedom.
1734: Age of Enlightenment begins with Voltaire's Lettres philosophiques.
1734: Alexander Pope's Essay on Man.
1735: Viennese musicians begin development of the symphonic form.
1735: Artist William Hogarth completes scenes of The Rake's Progress.
1737: The Biblical Concordance.
1739: David Hume expresses empirical philosophy in Treatise of Human Nature.
 
1740: Samuel Richardson's novel, Pamela, follows the trials of a virtuous servant girl.
1741: Ben Franklin and William Bradford publish first American magazines.
1742: Hume writes Essays Moral and Political.
1742: In Dublin, the premiere of Handel's Messiah.
1742: Henry Fielding's novel, Joseph Andrews.
1742: John Wesley, Character of a Methodist.
1748: Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding challenges faith.
1748: French philosopher Montesquieu will influence American founding fathers.
1749: Henry Fielding's comic masterpiece, Tom Jones.
1749: Encyclopedist George Leclerc suggests Earth is older than the Bible indicates.
 
1750: Russia gets a professional theater.
1750: J.S. Bach dies.
1750: European aristocracy dance to the minuet.
1750: Start of Classic music era, referring to music without folk or popular origins.
1751: Thomas Gray's, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
1751: In France, Denis Diderot produces first volume of an encyclopedia.
1751: Hogarth's engraving, Gin Lane, lampoons the drunkenness of London's poor.
1752: Handel composes his final oratorio, Jephtha.
1752: Britain, colonies finally adopt Gregorian calendar.
1752: Canada gets its first newspaper, the Halifax Gazette.
1753: Founding of the British Library.
1754: Ben Franklin creates first American cartoon, the "Join, or Die" snake.
1755: Regular mail ship runs between England and the colonies.
1755: Moscow State University is the first institute of higher education in Russia.
1755: Samuel Johnson publishes the great Dictionary of the English Language.
1756: In Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born. He will die in poverty in 1791.
1758: Dutch-Japanese dictionary makes Japan more accessible.
1759: Voltaire's Candide laughs at the philosophical optimism of Leibniz.
 
1760: The quadrille born in Paris, a dance for two couples. Partners barely touch hands.
1761: The "father" of symphony, Franz Joseph Haydn, begins career.
1762: Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile argues for a "natural" education of children.
1762: Rousseau's The Social Contract identifies "compact" between men, government.
1762: Christoph Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice transforms opera by emphasizing drama.
1763: English printer John Baskerville publishes a Bible.
1764: Horace Walpole creates the gothic novel with The Castle of Otranto.
1764: In Italy, Cesare Beccaria publishes first argument for rehabilitating criminals.
1765: William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England.
1765: The British Stamp Act taxes newspapers, documents angers American colonists.
1765: English publisher John Newbery brings out a book of Mother Goose rhymes.
1766: Rousseau's quoted "Let them eat cake" is ascribed to Marie-Antoinette, age 11.
1766: Oliver Goldsmith's novel, The Vicar of Wakefield.
1766: One year after passage, British Parliament repeals unpopular Stamp Act.
1767: Laurence Sterne's, Tristram Shandy, gives expanded structure to the novel.
1768: The first of three volumes of the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
1769: Watt patents steam engine that will change everything, including communication.
 
1770: The eraser.
1770: Artist Thomas Gainsborough paints The Blue Boy.
1770: In Germany, Ludwig von Beethoven is born.
1770: Goldsmith's poem "The Deserted Village" mourns places ruined by enclosures.
1771: Tobias Smollett's novel, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.
1772: In France, final volume (28th) of Encyclopédie, by Denis Diderot, others.
1773: Goldsmith's witty play, She Stoops to Conquer.
1774: Chlorine is discovered; will be used to bleach paper.
1774: Hansard Reports of the British House of Commons begin.
1775: Continental Congress authorizes post office.
1775- Benjamin Frankli is first Postmaster General under Continental Congress
1776: Scotsman Adam Smith writes An Enquiry into the Wealth of Nations.
1776: German writers develop "sturm und drang" (storm and stress) movement.
1776: Thomas Jefferson drafts a Declaration of Independence.
1776: Tom Paine stirs the colonists with his pamphlet "Common Sense."
1777: Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners, School for Scandal.
1777: Capt. James Cook, Voyage towards the South Pole in 1772-5.
1777: Ammonia is used to block the darkening of silver salts.
1778: Mozart composes the Paris Symphony. He is 22.
1778: In Milan, one of the world's great opera houses, La Scala, is built.
1779: Thomas Jefferson argues unsuccessfully for tax-funded education.
1779: In Germany, Gotthold Lessing's drama Nathan the Wise is a plea for tolerance.
1779: In Vienna, Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride continues to emphasize drama in opera.
 
1780: Steel pen points begin to replace quill feathers.
1780: Richard Challoner's translation of Douay Bible, standard for English Catholics.
1782: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Liaisons dangereuses.
1782: Noah Webster publishes an American speller.
1783: Under Catherine the Great, Russia allows private printing presses.
1783: Pensylvania Evening Post, the first daily newspaper in America.
1783: Heinrich Grellman's Die Zigeuner is a rare sympathetic report on Gypsy life.
1784: French book paper is made from vegetation without rags.
1784: Artist Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse.
1784: Capt. James Cook, Voyage to the Pacific Ocean in 1776-80.
1784: William Wordsworth starts writing poetry.
1784: Benjamin Franklin invents bifocals.
1784: First mail delivery by coaches, between London and Bristol.
1785: Panorama art reportedly invented in debtor's jail by Robert Barker.
1785: Stagecoaches carry the mail between towns in the United States.
1786: Robert Burns' Poems include: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men�"
1786: Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro.
1787: Mozart, Don Giovanni, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
1787: Antonio Salieri's best known composition, the opera Tarare.
1788: In three months Mozart composes three symphonies, including the Jupiter.
1788: In London, the Times.
1788: Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, explores "categorical imperative."
1788: Edward Gibbon completes The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
1789: Jeremy Bentham's Principles: the greatest good for the greatest number.
1789: The French National Assembly votes the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
1789: In England, the narrative of a former slave is published.
1789: William Blake's Songs of Innocence.
1789- Samuel Osgood, first Postmaster General under Constitution
1789: Abingdon Press is founded.
 
1790: In England, the hydraulic press is invented.
1790: Mozart, Cos� fan tutte.
1790: The first U.S. copyright law, protection for 14 years.
1790: Edmund Burke writes conservative Reflections on the Revolution in France.
1790: British adopt secret ship-to-ship code using 10 colored flags, code book.
1791: Congress passes the First Amendment.
1791: Philadelphia to N.Y. coded light messages of financial news beats horses.
1791: In the new United States, the Bill of Rights, with freedom of faith, speech, press.
1791: James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson.
1791: Mozart, The Magic Flute.
1791: The Marquis de Sade shocks France with Justine.
1791: England gets a new newspaper, the Observer.
1791: Tom Paine defends the French Revolution in The Rights Of Man.
1791: The Surprise Symphony, one of more than 100 symphonies by Haydn.
1792: Alien and Sedition Acts limit freedom to publish in recently born U.S.
1792: French revolutionary government establishes a ministry of propaganda.
1792: In Britain, postal money orders.
1792: J.B. Lippincott begins to publish books.
1792: Mary Wollstonecraft's feminist treatise, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman".
1792: The Farmer's Almanac begins more than 200 years of annual publication.
1792: Postal Act promises mail regularity throughout U.S.
1793: In Germany, business schools for young women.
1793: Johann Schiller's On Grace and Dignity criticizes Kant's ethical theories.
1793: In Munich, Alois Senefelder begins experiments in lithography.
1793: The Louvre palace becomes a museum.
1793: William Blake, "The Songs of Experience".
1793: Jacques-Louis David paints The Death of Marat.
1794: First letter carriers appear on American city streets.
1794: In Revolutionary France, Claude Chappe sets up semaphore signaling system.
1794: Opening of the first Panorama, forerunner of movie theaters.
1795: Tom Paine, The Age of Reason.
1796: Madame de Sta�l's essays inform French nation about the Enlightenment.
1796: American Cookery, the first cookbook by an American, Amelia Simmons.
1796: Burns' "Auld Lang Syne" is published. Sung on New Year's Eve.
1797: Paine's Essays on Religion see deism as alternative to traditional religion.
1797: In England, a heavy tax is levied on newspapers to limit the radical press.
1798: Aloys Senefelder in Munich invents lithography. He will write about it in 1818.
1798: In England, Thomas Malthus writes his "Essay on the Principles of Population".
1798: Samuel Johnson's great nephew publishes the first American dictionary.
1798: Nickolas Robert in France invents the "Fourdrinier" paper-making machine.
1798: Coleridge and Wordsworth jointly publish book containing now famous poetry.
1799: Allesandro Volta's battery provides first long-term source of electricity.
1799: From the French Academy of Science, the metric system.


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Copyright © Irving Fang and Kristina Ross, 1995-1996. All rights reserved.