The US flag with 13 stars, in use 1777-1795 In the year 1777, American forces under General George Washington defeat British troops at the Battle of Princeton (Jan 3), the Stars and Stripes is adopted by the Continental Congress as the flag of the United States (Jun 14), San Jose is founded (Nov 29), the United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking October’s victory by the American rebels over the British troops at Saratoga (Dec 18), Captain Cook locates Kiritimati, later named Christmas Island (Dec 24), the American Revolutionary War goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_1749” align=“alignleft” width=“367”]The Aztec Calendar Stone from late 15th or early 16th century[/caption] George Washington gives the very first State of the Union address, in the provisional capital, New York City (Jan 8), Sweden sends a battle fleet to Reval (now Tallinn) to get rid of the Russian troops wintering there, but lose (May 13), the future site of the U.S. capital is decided upon (Jul 16), Samuel Hopkins becomes the first to be issued a U. Continue reading

In the year 1792, the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, takes office (Mar 1), the United States Mint is established (Apr 2), guillotine becomes the official method of execution in France (Apr 25), Denmark-Norway becomes the first country to outlaw slavery, The Tables of the Sun - an essential early work for navigation - is published, the French Revolution goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

HMS Endeavour In the year 1771, Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden (Feb 12), the first voyage of James Cook around the world ends as HMS Endeavour returns to England after almost three years (Jul 12), Russian troops occupy the Crimea during the Russo-Turkish War (Jul 13), the bubonic plague ravaging in Moscow causes riots there (Sep 15), the Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks off the coast of Finland (Oct 9) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1765, the term Sons of Liberty is coined by Isaac Barré (Feb 8), James Watt receives the inspiration during a stroll that provides the breakthrough in his development of the steam engine (May 26), Russian Empress Catherine II issues a decree authorizing the new way to produce vodka (Aug 9), the much criticized Stamp Act (a way to help finance British military operations in colonial America) goes into effect in the thirteen American colonies (Nov 1), the first true restaurant opens in Paris - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The tombstone of the Cherokee leader Oconastota in Monroe County, Tennessee In the year 1767, the first annual volume of The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris gives navigators the means to find longitude at sea (Jan 1), Norway’s oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is first published (Jul 3), at a London hospital, Dr. William Watson becomes the first physician to conduct a controlled clinical trial (Oct 12), Oconastota and other leaders of native American tribes gather in New York to begin peace negotiations with the British Empire (Dec 29) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1714, with the defeat of Battle of Isokyrö, Sweden loses for years all of Finland to Russia (Feb 19), the Parliament of Great Britain votes to offer a huge reward for anyone who discovers a method to determine a ship’s close to exact longitude (Jul), the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Republic of Venice (Dec 9), Stockholm County is founded - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[](By I, JF Lepage, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link) New France in 1750, photo credit to JF Lepage In the year 1763, the Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Year’s War, marking the beginning of an era of British dominance outside Europe. France cedes Canada (New France) to Great Britain (Feb 10), Chief Pontiac of the Odawa people begins “Pontiac’s War” in the Great Lakes region, resulting later in British policy changes (May 7), Touro Synagogue, the oldest synague bulding in the U. Continue reading

Captain Cook’s first landing at Botany Bay 16 years earlier (1770) In the year 1786, Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna (May 1), the Cabinet of Great Britain approves the establishment of a penal colony at Botany Bay, Australia (Aug), Reykjavik is founded (Aug 18), the Confederation Congress establishes the United States Mint to make common coinage and currency for the U.S., to replace individual state coins (Oct 16), Grand Duke of Tuscany promulgates a penal reform, making his country the first state to abolish the death penalty (Nov 30) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1757, Rigshospitalet is founded at Copenhagen (Mar 30), the works of Galileo Galilei espousing heliocentrism (that he had been condemned for in 1633 and kept under house arrest until his death) are removed from the list of books banned by Roman Catholic Church (Apr 16), Hungarian raiders plunder Berlin, Prussia (Oct 16), the French and Indian War (1754–1763) goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1726, Isaac Newton tells William Stukeley the story of how he developed his theory of gravity (Apr 15), Voltaire begins his exile in England (May 1), Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is first published in London (Oct 28), the settlement of Montevideo is founded by the Spaniards (Dec 24) - and all these fine people were born: 1726-0116 Hugh Mercer* physician/to America at age 21/soldier and general in the American Revolution - Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (1777/50) Continue reading

La Mort de Marat by Jacques-Louis David In the year 1793, Louis XVI of France is guillotined in Paris (Jan 21), George Washington is sworn in as President of the United States for his second term (Mar 4), Jean-Paul Marat is killed in his bath (Jul 13), the Louvre in Paris opens to the public as an art museum (Aug 10), New York City’s first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster (Dec 9), the French Revolution goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Law on the Freedom of Printing, December 2, 1766 In the year 1766, Savannah in the American colony of Georgia receives its first slaves, from Senegal (Apr 9), members of the Sons of Liberty in Manhattan erect their first liberty pole as a protest against the British rule (Jun 4), France cedes its rights to the Malouines Islands to Spain, later captured by the British and renamed the Falkland Islands (Oct 4), Sweden becomes the first country in the world to introduce constitutional protection of press freedom (Dec 2), James Christie holds the first sale at Christie’s auction house in London (Dec 5), and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1794, the French First Republic abolishes slavery (Feb 4), Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin (Mar 14), the U.S. Congress prohibits American ships from supplying slaves to any nation other than the United States (Mar 22), Horatio Nelson loses the sight in his right eye, in the British Siege of Calvi in Corsica (Jul 12), a great fire destroys 200 buildings in the French Quarter of New Orleans (Dec 8), coffee is forbidden by royal decree in Sweden - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Tuscarora War ends as the Tuscarora and their allies sign a peace treaty with the Province of Carolina (Feb 11), a total solar eclipse is seen across southern England, Sweden and Finland (the last total eclipse visible in London for almost 900 years (May 3), the first wet dock yard in the world opens in Liverpool (Aug 31), Swedish troops occupy Norway (Dec 24) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

St. Patrick’s Day in New York City in 2013 In the year 1762, Britain declares war on Spain and Naples (Jan 4), thousands of Sikhs are slaughtered in the Great Holocaust in Punjab, India (Feb 2), the first Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City takes place in lower Manhattan (Mar 17), the Treaty of Saint Petersburg ends the war between Russia and Prussia (May 15), Catherine II becomes empress of Russia (Jul 9), the British East India Company seizes Manila from the Spaniards (Aug 10), and make it an Open Port (Oct 5) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1738, Jacques de Vaucanson stages the first demonstration of an early automaton in Paris (Feb 11), Samuel Johnson composes his first solemn prayer (Sep 18), Franz Ketterer produces one of the earliest cuckoo clocks, Rémy Martin is granted exclusive permission by King Louis XV of France to plant new vineyards, for impressing him with the quality of his cognac - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Phelp’s electro-motor printing telepraph from 1880’s In the year 1753, the concept of electrical telegraphy is first published (Feb 17), Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar, and February 17 is followed directly by March 1 (Mar 1), Saint Patrick’s Day is observed for the first time officially (Mar 17), the British Museum is established in London, to be opened later (Jun 7), 21-year-old Major George Washington is commissioned to dissuade the French from occupying the Ohio Country (Oct 31) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1744, France declares war on Great Britain (Mar 15), the first periodical written for women by a woman, The Female Spectator, is founded (Apr), The First Rules of Golf are drawn up at Leith in Scotland, for the first golf competition (Apr 2), HMS Victory sinks in a storm in the English Channel, the wreck of which is located in 2009 (Oct 4), the First Saudi State is founded by Muhammad bin Saud - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1745, the white colonialists on Jamaica foil a conspiracy by black slaves plotting to seize control (Feb 22), the Jacobite rising of 1745 - the last attempt to overtake the British rule for the Scots, begins (Aug 19), Catherine the Great marries Peter III of Russia (Sep 1), the French Army destroys, together with some native American tribes, the British American settlement at Fort Saratoga in New York (Nov 28) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading