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1773

Year 1773 (MDCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1773

January - June

January 12 - The first American museum opens to the public in Charleston, South Carolina.
January 17 - Captain James Cook becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.
January 18 - The first Opera-performance in the Swedish language, Thetis and Phelée, performed by Carl Stenborg and Elisabeth Olin in Bollhuset, marks the establishment of the Royal Swedish Opera.
April 27 or May 10 - The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
May 8 - In Egypt, Ottoman rebels revolt, killing Ali Bey, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.

July - December

July 21 - Under the pressure of the Bourbon courts, Pope Clement XIV suppresses the Society of Jesus.
September 11 - The Public Advertiser publishes a satirical essay titled Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One, written by Benjamin Franklin.
October 10 - Daniel Boone leads the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement in Kentucky, but is turned back in an attack by American Indians in which his son is killed.
October 10 - Paul Revere marries Rachel Walker, his second wife.
October 12 - America's first insane asylum opens for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds in Williamsburg, Virginia.
October 13 - French astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici.
October 14 - The Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Polish for Commission of National Education), formed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is considered to be the first ministry of education in the history of mankind.
December 16 - Boston Tea Party: A group of Americans, dressed as Indians, steal aboard ships of the British East India Company and dump their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor.

Undated

Antigua, Guatemala is destroyed by an earthquake, and the capital of Guatemala is moved to Guatemala City.
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II expels Jesuits from the Empire, and Pope Clement XIV orders the dissolution of the Society of Jesus.

Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russian forces fail to take Silistria.
Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea.
Istanbul Technical University is established (under the original name of Royal School of Naval Engineering) as the world's first comprehensive institution of higher learning dedicated to engineering education. Pioneer through the ages...(ITU)
In China, written work begins on the Siku Quanshu, the largest literary compilation of books in China's history (surpassing the Yongle Encyclopedia of the 15th Century). Upon completion in 1782, the books are bound in 36,381 volumes (册) with more than 79,000 chapters (卷), comprising about 2.3 million pages, and approximately 800 million Chinese characters.
H4 & John Harrison win the Longitude prize for the Marine chronometer.
Emelian Pugachev starts his revolt in Russia.
The Regulating Act creates the office of governor general, with an advising council, to exercise political authority over the territory controlled by The British East India Company.

Births

January 14 - William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst, British ambassador to China and Governor-General of India (d. 1857)
January 27 - Prince Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Sussex (d. 1843)
February 9 - William Henry Harrison, American military leader and 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
March 14 - John Holmes, American politician (d. 1843)
March 16 - Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (d. 1836)
March 26 - Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician (d. 1836)
April 4 - Étienne Maurice Gérard, Marshal of France and Prime Minister of France (d. 1852)
April 9 - Étienne Aignan, French writer, librettist, and playwright (d. 1824)
May 2 - Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher (d. 1845)
May 3 - Giuseppe Acerbi, Italian explorer (d. 1846)
May 15 - Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (d. 1859)
May 19 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (d. 1854)
May 31 - Ludwig Tieck, German writer (d. 1853)
June 13 - Thomas Young, English scientist (d. 1829)
July 23 - Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer and Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)
August 22 - Aimé Bonpland, French explorer and botanist (d. 1858)
October 6 - Louis Philippe, King of the French (d. 1850)
November 6 - Henry Hunt, British politician (d. 1835)
December 9 - Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general and diplomat (d. 1827)
December 17 - Sylvain Charles Valée, Marshal of France (d. 1846)
December 21 - Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (d. 1858)
December 27 - Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer (d. 1857)

Deaths

January 21 - Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
February 20 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
March 1 - Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect (b. 1700)
March 24 - Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters (b. 1694)
May 8 - Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (b. 1728)
May 15 - Alban Butler, English Catholic priest and writer (b. 1710)
June 27 - Mentewab, dowager Empress of Ethiopia (b. c. 1706)
July 5 - Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian and philologist (b. 1719)
July 12 - Johann Joachim Quantz, German flutist and composer (b. 1697)
July 23 - George Edwards, English naturalist (b. 1693)
August 3 - Stanisław Konarski, Polish writer (b. 1700)
August 27 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (b. 1721)
September 23 - Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and botanist (b. 1718)
August 20 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (b. 1701)
October 30 - Philippe de La Guêpière, French architect (b. 1725)
November 16 - John Hawkesworth, English writer
November 19 - James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (b. 1722)
date unknown - Ahmed Shah Abdali, Afghani founder of the Durrani Empire (cancer) (b. 1724)