1770 Calendar

March 5, 1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, and a boy, are killed by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later. At a subsequent trial the soldiers are defended by John Adams.

April 19, 1770 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI in a proxy wedding.

April 29, 1770 – James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia.

May 26, 1770 – The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek War of Independence, ends in disaster for the Greeks.

June 11, 1770 – Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

July 1, 1770 – Lexell’s Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u.

July 5, 1770 – The Battle of Chesma between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire begins.

August 21, 1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

August 22, 1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, Queensland and claims the east coast of Australia as New South Wales in the name of King George III.

March 13, 1770 – Daniel Lambert, Englishman famous for his obesity (d. 1809)

April 3, 1770 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (d. 1843)

April 7, 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)

April 11, 1770 – George Canning, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1827)

April 25, 1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist (d. 1850)

June 7, 1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)

July 13, 1770 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general (d. 1837)

August 3, 1770 – King Frederick William III of Prussia (d. 1840)

August 27, 1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (d. 1831)

December 16, 1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist (d. 1827)