August 31. In the area that lies between what are now upstate New York and Pennsylvania, following the preaching of prophets Hiawatha and Deganawida, five great Indian tribes come together and give birth to the Iroquois Confederacy, or League of the Five Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga and Seneca). Almost 600 years later the Five Nations become six, when the Tuscarora tribe joins the League.

“Whenever a specially important matter or a great emergency is presented before the Confederate Council and the nature of the matter affects the entire body of the Five Nations, threatening their utter ruin, then the Lords of the Confederacy must submit the matter to the decision of their people and the decision of the people shall affect the decision of the Confederate Council. This decision shall be a confirmation of the voice of the people.
(Art. 93 of the Iroquois Constitution, Gayanashagowa, or Great Law of Peace)

January 17. Captain James Cook is the first European to cross the Antarctic Polar Circle.

July 21. Pope Clement XIV abolishes the Jesuit order.

December 16. About fifty Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawks, throw 342 crates of tea from the East India Company into the waters of Boston harbor.
as a protest against the Tea Act, a law issued by the British Parliament in London, restricting the commerce in tea in the American colonies.

In Vienna, the waltz is a huge success at dancing parties.

February 22. The House of Lords abolishes the lifetime copyright.

June 1. Boston Harbor is closed for as long as the colony refuses to reimburse the East India Company for the tea thrown into the sea.

August 1. Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen and names it dephlogisticated air.

September 5. The first Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.

Goethe publishes The Sorrows of Young Werther.

German cobbler Johann Birkenstock produces the first pair of sandals.

March 22. In the House of Commons, Edmund Burke delivers his speech in favor of a reconciliation with the American colonies.

April 19. In the battle of Lexington and Concord, the Americans and ”British exchange the first rifle shots of the Revolutionary War.


anituana begins

May 10. Rebel colonel Ethan Allen leads his Green Mountain Boys in the conquest of Fort Ticonderoga, the first British loss in the Revolution.

June 17. On The famous “Battle of Bunker Hill” Takes place on Breed’s Hill, near Boston.

November 7. Lord Dunmore promises freedom to all the black slaves willing to join His Majesty’s army.

November 12. General Washington forbids the recruitment of Negroes.

November 13. General Montgomery’s American forces conquer Montréal.

December 31. British troops repel the siege of Québec.

W. A. Mozart, aged 19, composes Il Re Pastore (The Shepherd King), K. 208.

James Watt builds the first prototype of the steam engine.