Explore 52 historical events from 1720–1729.
Roger Sherman was an early American politician, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. Representing Connecticut, he is the only person to sign all four great state pap…
Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (died 1793)
The 1721 Tabriz earthquake occurred on April 26, with an epicenter near the city of Tabriz, Iran. It leveled some three-quarters of the city, including many prominent mosques and s…
A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or…
Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104, illustrating the topic
The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. Th…
In the Papal States, Cardinal Michelangelo dei Conti is elected Pope, and takes the name Innocent XIII
Joseph Black was a Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was professor of anatomy and chemistry…
Joseph Black, French-Scottish physician and chemist (died 1799)
Florimond Claude, comte de Mercy-Argenteau was an Austrian diplomat, statesman of French noble ancestry, in the service of the Holy Roman Empire.
Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (died 1794)
Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, KG was an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England by his mistress Nell Gwyn.
Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (born 1670)
Anthony Hamilton PC (Ire), also known as Antoine and comte d'Hamilton, was a soldier and a writer. As a Catholic of Irish and Scottish ancestry, his parents brought him to France i…
Antoine Hamilton, Irish-French soldier and author (born 1646)
Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi, nicknamed Pistocchino, was an Italian singer, composer and librettist.
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Italian singer (born 1659)
Jean-Georges Noverre was a French dancer and ballet master, and is generally considered the creator of ballet d'action, a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. Hi…
Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (died 1810)
Catherine II, commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after a coup d'etat against her husband, Peter III. Her long rei…
Catherine the Great of Russia (died 1796)
Florian Leopold Gassmann was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of d…
Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer (died 1774)
Giuseppe Parini was an Italian satirist and Neoclassical poet.
Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and educator (died 1799)
Louis Antoine de Noailles, Cardinal de Noailles, second son of Anne de Noailles, 1st Duke of Noailles, was a French bishop and cardinal. His signing of the Unigenitus bull in 1728 …
Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (born 1651)
Samuel Clarke was an English philosopher and Anglican priest. He is considered the major British figure in philosophy between John Locke and George Berkeley. Clarke's altered, Nont…
Samuel Clarke, English clergyman and philosopher (born 1675)
Joseph Black was a Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was professor of anatomy and chemistry…
Joseph Black, French-Scottish physician and chemist (died 1799)
Florimond Claude, comte de Mercy-Argenteau was an Austrian diplomat, statesman of French noble ancestry, in the service of the Holy Roman Empire.
Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (died 1794)
Jean-Georges Noverre was a French dancer and ballet master, and is generally considered the creator of ballet d'action, a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. Hi…
Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (died 1810)
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne, commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Sometimes considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an e…
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (died 1781)
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important…
Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (died 1788)
Catherine I was Empress of Russia from 8 February 1725 until her death in 1727. She was previously empress consort of Russia from 1721 to 1725 as the second wife of Peter the Great…
Catherine I of Russia (born 1684)
Juan Francisco Buenaventura de Ayala y Escobar was a prominent Spanish soldier and administrator who governed Spanish Florida from October 30, 1716, to August 3, 1718. The succeedi…
Juan de Ayala y Escobar, Governor of Spanish Florida (1716–1718) (born 1635)
Francis Cotes was an English painter who was one of the pioneers of English pastel painting and co-founded the Royal Academy in 1768.
Francis Cotes, English painter and academic (died 1770)
James Hutton was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the "Father of Modern Geology," he played a key role …
James Hutton, Scottish geologist and physician (died 1797)
Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, KG was an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England by his mistress Nell Gwyn.
Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (born 1670)
Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi, nicknamed Pistocchino, was an Italian singer, composer and librettist.
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Italian singer (born 1659)
Margaret Clap, better known as Mother Clap, ran a coffee house from 1724 to 1726 in Field Lane, Holborn, Middlesex, a short distance from the City of London. As well as running a m…
Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn
Thomas Pitt was a British merchant, colonial administrator and politician who served as the president of Fort St. George from 1698 to 1709. Born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, he even…
Thomas Pitt, English merchant and politician (born 1653)
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or…
J
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or…
Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85, about Jesus as the Good Shepherd
The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on 1 June [O.S. 21 May] 1725 by Empress Catherine I of Russia.
The Order of St
Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, PC was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ship…
Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (died 1786)
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, known as le Gros, was a French royal of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior …
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (died 1785)
Lodovico Giovanni Manin was a Venetian politician, patrician, and the 120th and last Doge of Venice. He governed the Venetian Republic from 9 March 1789 until its fall on 12 May 17…
Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice (died 1802)