The first opium shipment arrives in China courtesy of the British East India Company. Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. George Washington crosses the Delaware Christmas night. Priestley discovers hydrochloric and sulfuric acids.Īmerican Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution begins with battle of Lexington and Concord. Partition of Poland-in 1772, 1793, and 1795, Austria, Prussia, and Russia divide Poland, end its independence.įirst Continental Congress drafts “Declaration of Rights and Grievances.” Joseph Priestley and Daniel Rutherford independently discover nitrogen. Sir William Arkwright patents a spinning machine-an early step in the Industrial Revolution. Britain imposes the Stamp Act on the American colonists. Mozart tours Europe as six-year-old prodigy. In India, over 100 British prisoners die in “Black Hole of Calcutta.”īeginning of British Empire in India as Robert Clive, British commander, defeats Nawab of Bengal at Plassey.Ĭatherine II (“the Great”) becomes Czarina of Russia. France loses North American colonies Spain cedes Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba. Seven Years' War (French and Indian Wars in America) to 1763, in which Britain and Prussia defeat France, Spain, Austria, and Russia. Publication of the Encyclopédie begins in France. Stuart Pretender Bonnie Prince Charles defeated at Culloden Moor. Called Queen Anne's War in America, it ends with the British taking New Foundland, Arcadia, and Hudson's Bay Territory from France, and Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain.įrederick II “the Great” crowned king of Prussia.īritish defeat Scots. The Peace of Utrecht (1714) will end the conflict and mark the rise of the British Empire. War of the Spanish Succession begins-the last of Louis XIV's wars for domination of the continent. J97 The last Ming Emperor hanged himself from a tree on the eastern slope of Coal Hill. The Manchus conquer the Mings and the Qing Dynasty begins. Chinese History Timeline and Personalities