1768

Year 1768 (MDCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1768

January - June

* January 9 - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus, with acrobats on galloping horses (London).
* May 10 - John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the "North Briton" severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
* May 15 - After the Treaty of Versailles, the island of Corsica is ceded by Genoa to France.

July - December

* August 8 - James Cook departs Plymouth on his first voyage of discovery.
* December 1 - The slave ship "Fredensborg" sinks off Tromøy in Norway.
* December 21 - Nepal is united.

Undated

* The Petit Trianon, originally built for Madame de Pompadour, is achieved in the park of the Palace of Versailles and inaugurated by Louis XV.
* New Smyrna Beach, the largest attempt at colonization by the British in the New World, is founded by Dr. Andrew Turnbull.
* Samuel Adams' circular letter is sent around the colonies.
* A Secretary of State for the colonies is appointed in the Britain.
* The Massachusetts Assembly is dissolved for refusing to assist in the collection of taxes.
* Boston citizens refuse to quarter British troops.
* The Gurkhas conquer Nepal.
* The first of the weekly numbers of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" are published; 100 are planned.
* The Steller's sea cow, discovered on Bering Island in 1741, is driven to extinction.
* Louis XV of France appoints Rene de Maupeau as chancellor and orders him to crush the judicial opposition.

Ongoing events

* War of the Regulation (1764-1771).
* Captain James Cook's first voyage (1768-1771).

Births

* January 7 - Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Spain (d. 1844)
* January 28 - King Frederick VI of Denmark (d. 1839)
* February 12 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
* February 13 - Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (d. 1835)
* March 21 - Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1830)
* March 22 - Melesina Trench, Irish born writer and socialite (d. 1827)
* May 3 - Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist (d. 1838)
* May 17 - Caroline of Brunswick, queen of George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1821)
* May 17 - Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general (d. 1854)
* May 20 - Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1849)
* June 9 - Samuel Slater, American industrialist (d. 1835)
* July 27 - Charlotte Corday. French murderess of Jean-Paul Marat (d. 1793)
* August 6 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (d. 1813)
* September 4 - François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (d. 1848)
* October 2 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (d. 1854)
* November 18 - Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (d. 1823)
* November 21 - Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (d. 1834)

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Deaths

* February 1 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (b. 1685)
* February 2 - Robert Smith, English mathematician (b. 1689)
* February 8 - George Dance the Elder, English architect (b. 1695)
* February 17 - Arthur Onslow, English politician (b. 1691)
* March 1 - Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (b. 1694)
* March 3 - Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (b. 1686)
* March 18 - Laurence Sterne, Irish writer (b. 1713)
* April 10 - Canaletto, Italian artist (b. 1697)
* April 29 - Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and minerologist (b. 1694)
* June 8 - Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German classical scholar and archaeologist (b. 1717)
* June 15 - James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b. 1710)
* June 19 - Benjamin Tasker, Provincial Governor of Maryland (b. 1690)
* July 6 - Conrad Beissel, German-born religious leader
* July 24 - Nathanial Lardner, English theologian (b. 1684)
* August 3 - Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1693)
* August 17 (N. S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
* September 2 - Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (b. 1703)
* October 1 - Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician (b. 1687)
* October 28 - Michel Blavet, French flutist (b. 1700)
* October 31 - Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (b. 1690)
* November 17 - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1693)
* December 8 - Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (b. 1702)
* December 20 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)

: "See also ."