1739

• composer Joseph Boulogne aka Chevalier de Saint- Georges, as a slave on Guadeloupe.
• German composer Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf.
• Finnish writer Henrik Porthan.
• Czech composer Jan Krtitel Vanhal.
• American Revolutionary War general Ethan Allen.
• French architect Jean Chalgrin, designer of the Arc de Triomphe.
• English naturalist William Bartram.

• French architect Jean Courtonne.
• German composer Reinhard Keiser.
• Italian composer Benedetto Marcello.
• English highwayman Dick Turpin, hanged for horse stealing and murder.
• Creek Indian chief Tomochichi, friend of James Oglethorpe.
• Japanese mathematician Takebe Kenko.
• French physicist and mathematician Charles Francois Du Fay.
• Shoja-un-Din, Nawab of Bengal. Safaraz Khan succeeds him.

• David Hume publishes his major work A Treatise on Human Nature.
• French naval officer Pierre Bouvet discovers an island in the South Atlantic. Today a Norwegian dependency, Bouvet Øya is the remotest island in the world.
• The British South Sea Company has a limited monopoly on trade with Spain's South American colonies.  However, independent traders have been defying both the English and Spanish governments.  When Spain begins enforcing trade restrictions, Prime Minister Horace Walpole's enemies in Parliament use the opportunity to attack him.  They trot out an old sea captain named Jenkins whose ship had been boarded by the Spanish in 1731. During this incident the Spanish cut of part off Jenkins' ear.   Public outcry forces Walpole to declare war against Spain on October 19.
• News of war causes a slave rebellion in South Carolina. Slavemasters regain control after a bloody battle near the Stono river.
• French explorers Pierre and Paul Mallet travel west from the Illinois country to Santa Fe, exploring the Rocky Mountains and naming the Platte River.
• Austria ends its war with the Ottoman Empire. In the Treaty of Belgrade it gives up its claim to Bosnia.
• (February 24) Iranian adventurer Nadir Shah defeats the Mughal Emperor Mohammed Shah at the Battle of Karnal.  On March 11 he invades Delhi and massacres 30,000 inhabitants.  Among the plunder brought back to Tehran is the Peacock Throne. Mohammed Shah is forced to cede Nadir Afghanistan.

1738 - 1739 - 1740

How They Were Made - 18th Century