Cook Arrives in Tahiti
Apr 13 British ship Endeavour captained by James Cook, arrives in Matavia Bay, Tahiti, with botanist Joseph Banks on board
- Apr 22 Madame du Barry becomes French King Louis XV's "official" mistress
Watt's Steam Engine Patent
Apr 29 Scottish engineer James Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser enrolled (Patent 913)
- Jun 4 A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in history
Daniel Boone Climbs Pilot Knob
Jun 7 American frontiersman Daniel Boone ascends Pilot Knob, setting sight on the fertile hunting grounds of what is now known as the Bluegrass Region of the State of Kentucky [exact date disputed]
1st Mission in California
Jul 16 Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego the 1st mission in California
- Aug 18 A lightning strike on the Bastion of San Nazaro in Brescia, Italy, ignites 90 tonnes of gunpowder, killing 3,000 people
- Sep 18 John Harris of Boston, Massachusetts, builds 1st spinet piano
- Oct 8 Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand for the first time, near present-day Gisborne at Poverty Bay on the East Coast of the North Island. A misunderstanding, possibly over a ceremonial challenge causes the English to shoot and kill Ngāti Oneone leader, Te Maro. [1]
- Dec 12 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee
- Dec 13 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire receives its charter
- Dec 25 First Christian service in New Zealand; Mass is celebrated in Doubtless Bay by Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix of the de Surville expedition
Authors
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Outlaws
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