Events of

January - June

• January 23 - The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
• February 20 - The first Treaty of Stockholm is signed.
• April 25 - Daniel Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe.
• June 4 - Battle of Osel Island: A Russian naval force defeats the Swedish fleet.
• June 10 - Battle of Glen Shiel: British forces defeat the Jacobites and their Spanish allies.

July - December

• December 22 - Andrew Bradford publishes the American Weekly Mercury, Pennsylvania's first newspaper.

Undated

• Prussia conducts Europe's first systematic census.
• Miners in Falun, Sweden find the apparently petrified body of Fet-Mats Israelsson in an unused part of the copper mine.
• France declares war on Spain.
• Raine's Foundation School, Bethnal Green, opens in Wapping (opened by Henry Raine).

Ongoing events

• Great Northern War (1700-1721)

Births

• January 2 - Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder and merchant (d. 1797)
• January 3
• Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian and philologist (d. 1773)
• Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, Archbishop of Mainz (d. 1802)
• January 17 - William Vernon, American merchant (d. 1806)
• January 22 - Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge (d. 1769)
• January 23 - John Landen, English mathematician (d. 1790)
• January 28 - Johann Elias Schlegel, German critic and poet (d. 1749)
• March 4 - George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (d. 1777)
• March 13 - John Griffin Whitwell, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British field marshal (d. 1797)
• April 2 - Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
• April 9 - Sir Edward Blackett, 4th Baronet, English politician (d. 1804)
• April 24 - Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, Italian literary critic (d. 1789)
• May 30 - Roger Newdigate, English politician (d. 1806)
• June 28 - Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (d. 1785)
• July 4 - Michel-Jean Sedaine, French dramatist (d. 1797)
• August 4 - Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German minerologist and geologist (d. 1767)
• August 20
• Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (d. 1783)
• Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791)
• August 25 - Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, French painter (d. 1795)
• September 6 - Somerset Hamilton Butler, 1st Earl of Carrick (d. 1754)
• September 11 - Tanuma Okitsugu, Japanese government official (d. 1788)
• September 27 - Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician (d. 1800)
• October 13 - Marco Coltellini, Italian librettist (d. 1777)
• October 17 - Jacques Cazotte, French writer (d. 1792)
• October 20 - Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (d. 1772)
• November 6 - Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, French writer (d. 1803)
• November 14 - Leopold Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1787)
• November 23 - Spranger Barry, Irish actor (d. 1777)
• November 30 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (d. 1772)
• December 15 - Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1742)
• date unknown
• William Bradford, American revolutionary and printer (d. 1791)
• Dominic Serres, French-born painter (d. 1793)
• Thomas Sheridan, Irish actor (d. 1788)

Deaths

• January 15 - Tikhon Streshnev, Russian boyar (born 1649)
• March 1 - Richard Ingoldesby, British soldier and colonial governor
• April 7 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French educational reformer (born 1651)
• April 15 - Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (born 1635)
• April 21 - Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (born 1640)
• May 17 - Laurentius Christophori Hornæus, Swedish witch hunter (born 1645)
• May 29 - Sir Alexander Seton, 1st Baronet, Scottish judge
• June 17 - Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (born 1672)
• July 5
• Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, Irish general (born 1641)
• Samuel Schotten, rabbi (born 1644)
• July 17 - Elinor James, British pamphleteer (born 1644)
• July 22 - Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole, Italian painter and engraver (born 1654)
• September 7 - John Harris (writer), English writer (born c.1666)
• September 21 - Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (born 1647)
• September 27 - George Smalridge, English Bishop of Bristol (born 1662)
• October 27 - François Baert, Belgian hagiographer (born 1651)
• November 8 - Michel Rolle, French mathematician (born 1652)
• December 2 - Pasquier Quesnel, French Jansenist theologian (born 1634)
• November 26 - John Hudson, English classical scholar (born 1662)
• December 31 - John Flamsteed, English astronomer (born 1646)
• date unknown
• Christoph Ludwig Agricola, German painter (born 1667)
• Robert Clicquot, French organ builder (born 1645)
• André Raison, French composer and organist (born 1650)
• Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, Swedish General (born 1659)