1772

Year 1772 (MDCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1772

January - June

* January 17 - Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda are arrested, leading to his execution and her banishment from Denmark.
* February 17 - The first partition of Poland is agreed to by Russia and Prussia, later including Austria.
* May - The Watauga Association is formed in East Tennessee.
* June 9 - The British vessel "Gaspee" is burned off of Rhode Island.
* June 22 - Lord Mansfield delivers the decision that leads to the end of slavery in England.

July - December

* August 5 - The First Partition of Poland begins.
* August 21 - The coup d'état by King Gustav III is completed by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and making him an enlightened despot.
* September 1 - Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
* November 2 - American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.

Births

* March 10 - Friedrich von Schlegel, German poet (d. 1829)
* April 7 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
* April 19 - David Ricardo, British economist (d. 1823)
* May 2 - Novalis, German poet (d. 1801)
* May 20 - William Congreve, British rocket pioneer (d. 1828)
* May 22 - Ram Mohan Roy, Hindu religious and social reformer (d. 1833)
* August 2 - Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d'Enghien (d. 1804)
* August 15 - Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, German inventor (d. 1838)
* August 24 - King William I of the Netherlands (d. 1843)
* October 21 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet and philosopher, (d. 1834)
* October 25 - Geraud Duroc, French general (d. 1813)
* November 18 - Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, German prince (d. 1806)
*"date unknown" - Tuanku Imam Bonjol, Indonesian religious and military leader (d. 1864)

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Deaths

* February 8 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (b. 1719)
* February 18 - Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (b. 1712)
* March 21 - Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, French cartographer (b. 1703)
* March 22 - John Canton, English physicist (b. 1718)
* March 26 - Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (b. 1704)
* March 29 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)
* May 1 - Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (b. 1719)
* May 22 - Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (b. 1687)
* June 15 - Louis Claude Daquin, French composer (b. 1694)
* June 18 - Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German judge and philosopher (b. 1706)
* June 18 - Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-born physician (b. 1700)
* August 31 - William Borlase, English naturalist (b. 1695)
* September 30 - James Brindley, British canal builder (b. 1716)
* October 7 - John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (b. 1720)
* October 8 - Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist and composer (b. 1711)
* November 10 - Pedro Antonio Joaquim Correa da Serra Garção, Portuguese poet (b. 1724)
* November 19 - William Nelson, American colonial governor of Virginia (b. 1711)
*"date unknown" - Madhavrao Peshwa, ruler of India (b. 1745)
*Ahmad Shah "Dorr-e Dorran", King of Kabul, King of Herat, King of Kandahar, King of Peshawar (b. 1724)

: "See also ."