The world: 1770s

1770–1779

Events in this period 3

1. 1776 · Europe · Science

   Watt steam engine

   The Watt steam engine was an invention of James Watt that was a driving force of the Industrial Revolution. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was "the first truly efficient steam engine".

2. 1776 · North America · Politics

   US Declaration of Independence

   The Declaration of Independence, headed The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America on the document directed to be engrossed by Congress on July 19, 1776, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress, who were convened at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.

3. 1770 · Oceania · Exploration

   Cook reaches Australia's east coast

   The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific Ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771. The aims were to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti and to seek evidence of the postulated Terra Australis Incognita or "undiscovered southern land". It was the first of three voyages of which Cook was the commander.

Descriptions are the opening paragraph of each Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Open an event for the full text and a link to the source.

Still under way

• American Revolution1763 – 1783

Around the same time

• French Revolution1789 – 1799
• Seven Years' War1756 – 1763
• Constitution of the United States1787
• First Fleet1788
• French and Indian War1754 – 1763
• Dzungar genocide1755 – 1758
• Battle of Plassey1757
• Third Battle of Panipat1761
• Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II1780 – 1783
• Storming of the Bastille1789
• Haitian Revolution1791 – 1804
• French Revolutionary Wars1792 – 1802

Other maps for this period

• War mapsAmerican Revolutionary War
• War mapsAnglo-Maratha Wars
• Inventions mapWatt steam engine
• Epidemics map1770–1772 Russian plague
• Epidemics map1775–1782 North American smallpox epidemic