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)

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)