Explore 182 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)
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
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)
John Leverett was an early Anglo-American lawyer, politician, educator, and President of Harvard College.
John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (born 1662)
Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi, nicknamed Pistocchino, was an Italian singer, composer and librettist.
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Italian singer (born 1659)
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)
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)
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)
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
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
Baltimore, also known as Baltimore City, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the 30th-most populous U.S. city with a population of 585,708 at the 2020 ce…
Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.
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)
George Leonard was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Norton, Massachusetts. Besides service on state court benches and in both houses of the state legislature, he rep…
George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (died 1819)
Moses Mendelssohn was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of t…
Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher and theologian (died 1786)
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)
Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre was a French musician, harpsichordist and composer. Jacquet de La Guerre was a significant figure in French Baroque music, particularly in the…
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichord player and composer (born 1665)
Edward Taylor was a colonial American poet, pastor and physician of English origin. His work remained unpublished for some 200 years but since then has established him as one of th…
Edward Taylor, American-English poet, pastor, and physician (born circa 1642)
Johann David Heinichen was a German Baroque composer and music theorist who brought the musical genius of Venice to the court of Augustus II the Strong in Dresden. After he died, H…
Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (born 1683)
Thomas Newcomen was an English inventor, creator of the atmospheric engine in 1712, Baptist preacher by calling and ironmonger by trade.
Thomas Newcomen, English engineer, invented the eponymous Newcomen atmospheric engine (born 1664)
William Burnet was a British civil servant and colonial administrator who served as governor of New York and New Jersey (1720–1728) and Massachusetts and New Hampshire (1728–1729).…
William Burnet, Dutch-American civil servant and politician, 21st Governor of the province of New York (born 1688)
Jean Hardouin, was a French priest and classical scholar who was well known during his lifetime for his editions of ancient authors, and for writing a history of the ecumenical cou…
Jean Hardouin, French historian and scholar (born 1646)
Nuuk is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. It is the seat of the Sermersooq municipality and the government of Greenland and is th…
The city of Nuuk in Greenland is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by the royal governor Claus Paarss.
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)
Robert Adam was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, a…
Robert Adam, Scottish-English architect, designed Culzean Castle (died 1792)
Johann Heinrich Lambert was a polymath from the Republic of Mulhouse, at that time allied to the Swiss Confederacy, who made important contributions to the subjects of mathematics,…
Johann Heinrich Lambert, Swiss mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (died 1777)
John Stark was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. A major general, he became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for …
John Stark, American general (died 1822)
Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony was a daughter of King Augustus III of Poland and his wife Maria Josepha of Austria who became Electress of Bavaria by marriage to Maximilian III Joseph…
Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, electress of Bavaria (died 1797)
Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player of the middle Baroque era. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with the master of t…
Marin Marais, French viol player and composer (born 1656)
Burwell is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, some 10 miles north-east of Cambridge. It lies on the south-east edge of the Fens. Westward drainage is improved b…
A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom…
Anne, Princess Royal was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. She was the wife of William IV, Prince of Oran…
Anne, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain, is given the title Princess Royal.
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)