1701

For other uses, see: 1701 (disambiguation).

Year 1701 (MDCCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar. Year 1701 of the Swedish calendar was a common year starting on Tuesday, one weekday ahead of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1701

January 1 - The first day of the eighteenth century.
January 18 - The Duchy of Prussia becomes the Kingdom of Prussia as Frederick I becomes King in Prussia.
March 8 - Mecklenburg-Strelitz is created as a north German duchy.
April 21 - In Japan, the young daimyo Asano Naganori is ordered to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). A group of 47 samurai of his service begin planning to avenge his death.
May 23 - After being convicted of murdering William Moore and for piracy, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
June 24 - The Act of Settlement 1701, by the Parliament of England, becomes law. The crown of Great Britain passes to Sophia, Electress of Hanover and her descendants on the death of Princess Anne, the heiress presumptive to the throne after her brother in law, King William III.

July 24 - What is later to be Detroit, Michigan is founded as a French emporium named Fort Ponchartrain.
September 16 - Prince James Francis Edward Stuart becomes the new claimant to the thrones of Scotland as King James VIII and England as King James III.
October 9 - The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

The Philharmonic Society (Academia philharmonicorum) is established in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Jethro Tull (agriculturist) invented a drill for planting seeds in rows.
Pierre Antoine Motteux's English translation of the novel Don Quixote is first published. Motteux publishes it under the name Peter Motteux. While popular among readers, it will eventually come to be known as one of the worst translations of the novel, totally betraying the spirit of Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece.
War of the Spanish Succession begins.

January 27 - Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (died 1790)
January 28 - Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (died 1774)
February 14 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (died 1773)
March 18 - Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish merchant and philanthropist (died 1776)
April 9 - Giambattista Nolli, Italian architect and surveyor (died 1756)
April 27 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (died 1773)
May 14 - William Emerson, English mathematician (died 1782)
August 4 - Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (died 1757)
October 15 - Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian saint (died 1771)
October 18 - Charles le Beau, French historian (died 1778)
November 5 - Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (died 1785)
November 10 - Johann Joseph Couven, German Baroque architect (died 1763)
November 27 - Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer (died 1744)