History
1720
General
Population: 679 Million*
- Entertainment: Writers include Daniel Defoe, John Gay (poetry), First serialization of novels in newspapers, Arthur Collins Baronetage of England,
Bernard de Montfaucon (antiquities), Vico (law),
Art includes GB Tiepolo "Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew",
Music includes Handel
- ScienceL Upon death Flamsteed's star catalog becomes obsolete
- Deaths: Astronomer Flamsteed
Africa
- General: Drought in W Central AFR
Yoruba state of Oyo dominates area W of Niger
- South Africa: Dutch settlers from Africa's Cape reach Orange River
Asia
- China: Chinese expeditions from Gansu and Sichuan restore Dalai Lama and garrison Tibet
- Japan: Shogun Yoshimune allows study of European books to advance science and medicine - Christianity still outlawed
- Tibet: Kangxi enthrones seventh Dalai Lama - Tibet becomes Chinese protectorate
Europe
- General: Treaty of Stockholm between Sweden and Prussia plus Hanover Denmark, Savoy, and Poland
Treaty of Fredericksborg between Sweden and Denmark
Treaty of the Hague between Quadruple Alliance and Spain
End of great period of "Little Ice Age" in N Europe
- France: Failure of John Law's Mississippi Company leads to French national bankruptcy - "bubble" burst
Rococco style begins
Plague outbreak - ship from Levant carries plague throughout country - start of last major European plague outbreak starting at Marseilles
- German States: Palatinate court mobbed from Heidelberg to Mannheim
- Great Britain: Failure of South Seas Company - South Sea Bubble – financial scandal in England
Old Haymarket Theater opens in London
Nicholas Hawksmoor builds St. George's in London
Partial reconciliation between King George and Prince George (II) of England
James Gibbs creates Octagon Orleans House in England
Wallpaper becomes fashionable in England
- Holy Roman Empire: Pragmatic Sanction recognized by estates of Upper and Lower Austria
- Ireland: First yacht club established at Cork Harbor
- Poland: Poland not allowed to re-establish Augustus as king
- Sweden: Ulrica Queen of Sweden abdicates and is succeeded by her husband Frederick Prince of Hesse-Cassel
Treaty of Stockholm II - Sweden lost most of German holdings to Hanover and Prussia - ends war
- Switzerland: Killer avalanches in Alps
East
- Massachusetts: Boston listed as largest colonial city with 12,000 people
- New York: Governor encourages trade with Natives
- Vermont: FIrst collective settlement started
South
- Texas: Spanish troops invade - becomes Spanish possession