History
1768
General
Population: 860 Million*
- Entertainment: Writers include Thomas Gray (poems), MJ Sedaine (plays), Laurence Sterne Sentimental Journey, Abraham Booth,
Joseph Priestly (government), Swedenborg, James Boswell gives Account of Corsica
Music includes Jomelli (opera), Mozart (opera)
- Science: P.S. Pallas travels to China to observe transit of Venus
Extinction of Steller's Sea Cow
James Cook collects flora and fauna throughout the world and explores Australia and New Zealand
- Deaths: Astronomer Joseph Nicolas Delisle, Poet Carlo Fragoni, Painter Antonio Canaletto, Queen Consort of Louis XV Marie Leszczynska,
Engraver Pierre Simon Fournier, Novelist Laurence Sterne, Writer Johann Joachim Winckelmann murdered by casual male acquaintance
Africa
- Egypt: Ali Bey a Mamluk army officer makes himself ruler (Sultan)
- Ethiopia: (Abyssinia) Scottish explorer James Bruce begins travels
Asia
- Nepal: Gurkhas conquer Nepal
Europe
- France: France buys Corsica from Genoa
- German States: Frederick the Great completes his political testament
- Great Britain: Founding of Royal Academy in London with Joshua Reynolds president
First of weekly numbers of "Encyclopedia Britannica" published
Work begun on Forth-Clyde Canal
- Holy Roman Empire: Austria renounces all claims to Silesia
New criminal code on humanist principles introduced in Austria
- Russia: Russo-Turkish war caused by border incident
Middle East
- Ottoman Empire: Russo-Turkish war
Pacific
- General: First of British Captain James Cook's voyages to Pacific to 1779 –
improves sailors' diet with fresh foods and astronomical observations of southern skies
General
- Natives: Treaty of Fort Stanwix between British and Native Americans - English settlements increase
- Politics: Secretary of State for Colonies appointed in Britain
East
- Massachusetts: Massachusetts Assembly dissolved for refusing to assist incollection of taxes
Circular Letter sent out
Boston citizens refuse to quarter British troops