In Great Britain, this year was known as the Annus Mirabilis, because of British victories in the Seven Years' War.
Events
<onlyinclude>
January–March
- January 6 – George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.
- January 11 – In Philadelphia, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
- January 13 – Távora affair: The Távora family is executed, following accusations of the attempted regicide of Joseph I of Portugal.
- January 15
- The British Museum opens at Montagu House in London after six years of development.
- Voltaire's satire Candide is published simultaneously in five countries.
- January 27 – Battle of RÃÂo Bueno: Spanish forces, led by Juan Antonio Garretón, defeat indigenous Huilliches of southern Chile.
- February 12 – Ali II ibn Hussein becomes the new Ruler of Tunisia upon the death of his brother, Muhammad I ar-Rashid. Ali reigns for 23 years until his death in 1782.
- February 16 – The Comte de Lally (Thomas Lally) ends the French Army's two-month siege of the British Indian fort at Madras and retreats.
- February 17 – "The greatest fleet that had ever put out for America" departs from Portsmouth with 250 ships (including 49 Royal Navy warships under the command of Vice Admiral Charles Saunders, on a mission to capture French-controlled Quebec. The ships bring 14,000 sailors, marines and British Army troops under the command of Major General James Wolfe, along with another 7,000 men in merchant service.
- March 4–November 20 – ÃÂtienne de Silhouette serves as Controller-General of France and attempts major financial reforms.
April–June
July–September
- July 19 РThe Great Stockholm Fire 1759 breaks out at Șdermalm in Stockholm, Sweden.
- July 25 РSeven Years' War (French and Indian War): In Canada, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouill̩.
- July 26–27 – Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) – Battle of Ticonderoga: At the southern end of Lake Champlain, French forces withdraw from Fort Carillon, which is taken by the British under General Amherst, and renamed Fort Ticonderoga.
- August 1 – Battle of Minden: AngloâÂÂHanoverian forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat the French army of the Duc de Broglie, but due to the disobedience of the English cavalry commander Lord George Sackville, the French are able to withdraw unmolested.
- August 10 – Ferdinand VI of Spain dies, and is succeeded by his half-brother Charles III. Charles resigns the thrones of Naples and Sicily to his third son, Ferdinand IV.
October–December
- November 21 – Battle of Maxen: The Austrian army of Marshal von Daun cuts off and forces the surrender of a Prussian force, under Friedrich von Finck.
- November 25 – Near East earthquakes of 1759: The second and stronger event in an earthquake doublet occurs to the east of Beirut, with a surface wave magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), destroying all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.
- November 29 – Alamgir II, the Mughal Emperor of India, is assassinated in a conspiracy orchestrated by his Prime Minister, Imad-ul-Mulk. The Shah Alam II, a grandson of the 17th century Emperor Aurangzeb, is made the new Mughal Emperor.
- December 6 – The Germantown Union School (later called Germantown Academy), America's oldest nonsectarian day school, is founded.
- December 10 – Shah Jahan III is installed as the puppet ruler of India's Mughal Empire eleven days after the death of Alamgir II, but is removed after a reign of only ten months.
- December 31 – The Guinness Brewery is leased by Arthur Guinness in St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, for the brewing of Guinness.
Date unknown
Births
- April 27 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English feminist author (d. 1797)
- May 15 – Maria Theresia von Paradis, Austrian musician, composer (d. 1824)
- May 20 – William Thornton, American architect (d. 1828)
- May 21 РJoseph Fouch̩, French statesman (d. 1820)
- May 28 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
- June 21 – Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (d. 1817)
- June 25 – William Plumer, American lawyer, Baptist lay preacher, and politician (d. 1850)
- July 2 – Nathan Read, American engineer and politician (d. 1849)
- July 31 – Ignaz Anton von Indermauer, Austrian nobleman and government official (d. 1796)
- November 10 – Friedrich Schiller, German writer (d. 1805)
- November 27 – Franz Krommer, Czech composer (d. 1831)
- November 23 – Felipe Enrique Neri, legislator and colonizer of Texas (d. 1820)
- December 2 – James Edward Smith, English botanist (d. 1828)
- Date unknown â Maria Petraccini, Italian anatomist, physician (d. 1791)
- Salomea Deszner, Polish actress, singer and theater director (d. 1806)
- Alice Flowerdew, British teacher, religious poet, hymnwriter (d. 1830)
Deaths
- April 14 – George Frideric Handel, German composer (b. 1685)
- May 12 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)
- May 23 – Landgravine Eleonore of Hesse-Rotenburg, Countess (b. 1712)
- June 3 – Didier Diderot, French craftsman (b. 1685)
- June 20 – Margareta Capsia, Finnish artist (b. 1682)
- June 27 – Jacques Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay, French economist (b. 1712)
- July 6 – William Pepperrell, English colonial soldier (b. 1696)
- July 27 – Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, French mathematician (b. 1698)
- August 8 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German composer (b. 1704)
- August 10 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
- August 16 – Eugene Aram, English philologist and murderer, hanged (b. 1704)
- August 24 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet (b. 1715)
- September 10 – Ferdinand KonÃ
¡ÃÂak, Croatian explorer (b. 1703)
- September 13 – James Wolfe, British general (b. 1727)
- September 14 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (b. 1712)
- September 16 – Nicolas Antoine Boulanger, French philosopher (b. 1722)
- October 10 – Granville Elliott, Army General, British military expert, working for Britain and Palatine forces (b. 1713)
- October 27 – Konstancja Czartoryska, Polish noblewoman politician (b. 1700)
- November 14 РGr̩goire Orlyk, Ukrainian-born French Lieutenant General (b. 1702)
- November 29 – Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1687)
- December 6 – Princess Louise-ÃÂlisabeth of France, daughter of King Louis XV (b. 1727)
- date unknown
- Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (b. 1719)
- King Thipchang of the Realm of Lampang (b. c. 1675)
References
External links