As a means of recording a passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800 in the Gregorian calendar.

European history scholars might occasionally specifically refer to the 18th century when 1715-1789, denoting a period between the demise of Louis XIV of France and the run of the French Revolution.

Events
1701-14: War of the Spanish Succession 1703: Saint Petersburg founded by Peter the Great. Russian capital until 1918. 1707: Act of Union passed merging the Scottish and the English Parliaments, thus establishing A Kingdom of Great Britain. 1707: After Aurangzeb's death, a Mughal Empire enters a long decline. 1715: Louis XIV dies 1718: City of New Orleans founded by the French in North America 1720: The South Sea Bubble 1721: Robert Walpole becomes the 1st Prime Minister of Great Britain (de facto). 1721: Treaty of Nystad signed, ending the Great Northern War. 1722: Afghans conquer Iran, ending the Safavid dynasty. 1722: Kangxi Emperor of China dies. 1733-38: War of the Polish Succession 1735-99: The Qianlong Emperor of China oversees a brobdingnagian expansion inside territory. 1736: Nadir Shah assumes title of Shah of Persia and founds the Afsharid dynasty. System until his dying around 1747. 1739: Nadir Shah defeats the Mughals and sacks Delhi. 1740: Frederick the Great crowned King of Prussia. 1740-48: War of the Austrian Succession 1741: Russians begin settling a Aleutian Islands. 1747: Ahmad Shah founds the Durrani Empire in modern day Afghanistan. 1750: peak of the Little Ice Age 1755: The Lisbon earthquake 1756-63: Seven Years' War fought among European powers in various theaters in the area of the world. 1757: Battle of Plassey signals the beginning of British rule in India. 1760: George III becomes King of Britain. 1762-96: Reign of Catherine the Great of Russia. 1763-66: Pontiac's Rebellion in North America 1766-99: Anglo-Mysore Wars 1767: Burmese conquer the Ayutthaya kingdom. 1768: Gurkhas conquer Nepal. 1768-1774: Russo-Turkish War 1769: Spanish missionaries establish the number 1 of Xxi missions in California. 1772-95: The Partitions of Poland end the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and erase Poland from a map for 123 years. 1775-82: First Anglo-Maratha War 1775-83: American Revolution 1779-1879: Cape Frontier Wars between British and Boer settlers and a Xhosas in South Africa 1785-95: Northwest Indian War between the United States and Native Americans 1787: Freed slaves from either London found Freetown in present-day Sierra Leone. 1788: First European cash settlement established inside Australia at Sydney. 1789: George Washington elected President of the United States. 1789-99: The French Revolution 1791-1804: The Haitian Revolution 1792-1815: The Great French War starts as a French Revolutionary Wars which lead into the Napoleonic Wars. 1792: New York Stock & Exchange Board founded. 1793: Upper Canada bans slavery. 1795: Pinckney's Treaty between the United States and Spain grants the Mississippi Territory to the US. 1796: British eject Dutch from Ceylon. 1796: George Washington declines to seek the third term when President of the United States, becoming the single major revolutionary leader in history to voluntarily relinquish power. 1796-1804: White Lotus Rebellion in China. 1798: Irish Rebellion against British Rule 1798-1800: Quasi-War between the United States and France. 1799: Napoleon stages a coup d'état and becomes dictator of France. 1799: Dutch East India Company is dissolved.

Significant people
Queen Anne (British monarch) Benedict Arnold, considered a traitor by many humans in two sides (United States and Britain) of the American Revolutionary War. Johann Sebastian Bach (composer) Napoleon Bonaparte (general and first consul of France) Edmund Burke (British statesman & philosopher world health organization supported a U.s. Revolution) Catherine the Great (Russian Tsaritsa) James Cook (British navigator) Denis Diderot (French writer and philosopher) Leonhard Euler (mathematician) Benjamin Franklin (American subversive, artificer, printer, & diplomat) Frederick the Great (Prussian monarch) Thomas Gainsborough (painter) King George III (British monarch) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German writer) Thomas Gray (British writer) Alexander Hamilton (American revolutionist, attorney, & solon) William Hogarth (painter and engraver) David Hume (philosopher) Thomas Jefferson (American subversive, philosopher, & national leader) Samuel Johnson (British writer) Immanuel Kant (philosopher) Louis XIV of France (monarch) James Madison (American subversive, writer, & national leader) Marie Antoinette (French royalty and symbol of anti-Todays ire) Michikinikwa (Miami tribe cheif and war leader) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (composer) Thomas Paine (British intellectual & philosopher world health organization advocated for the American Revolution) Sir Joshua Reynolds (painter) Maximilien Robespierre (French Revolutionary leader and dictator) Jean-Jacques Rousseau (French writer and philosopher) Friedrich Schiller (German writer) John Small, Sr (Hambledon cricketer; the number one dandy batter) Adam Smith (Scottish economist & philosopher) Laurence Sterne (British writer) Edward "Lumpy" Stevens (Surrey cricketer; the first great bowler) Jonathan Swift (British writer) Tecumseh (Revolutionary) George Washington (American radical general & 1st president) Voltaire (French writer and philosopher)

Look at Founding Fathers of the United States

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

List of 18th century inventions

A Encyclopédie by the Encyclopedists Economics by Adam Smith Rosetta stone discovered by Napoleon's troops. Vitus Bering discovered Alaska. James Cook mapped the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean and discovered several Pacific Islands. Wahhabism by Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab

Decades and years

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