Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Spaceopoly The Countdown to locking thread...

1725 - John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace", is born.

1724 - If I were true to my original He Who Wanders name, I'd have been 761 years old this year and still in the Stasis Zone.

1723 - The Four Seasons, a set of violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, was composed.

1722 - Benjamin Franklin writes a series of letters to his brother's newspaper under the name Mrs. Silence Dogood.

1721 - Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.

1720 - Mrs Clements of England markets 1st paste-style mustard, setting in motion the chain of events that would lead to mustard's astounding popularity today

1719 - Andrew Bradford publishes the American Weekly Mercury, Pennsylvania's first newspaper.

1718 - France declares war on Spain, joining the War of the Quadruple Alliance. Britain, Austria and the Dutch Republic were France's allies.

1717 - Voltaire is sentenced to the Bastille for a year because of his satirical writings.

1716 - the first lion is exhibited in America, in Boston

1715 - A total solar eclipse is seen across southern England, Sweden and Finland (the last total eclipse visible in London, UK for almost 900 years).

1714 - The Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice.

1713 - Alexander Pope, historian and life long friend of Sir Isaac Newton announces that he is to begin a definitive translation of the works of Homer.

Honestly, these are starting to get boring! The world is less interesting as it goes backwards thru time!

^ I'm sure it seems boring because we are far removed from the actual events.

Personally, I find this interesting:

1712 -- Sweden, apparently not happy with the Gregorian Calendar, reverts to the Julian Calendar by adding February 30.

If Sweden's reversion to the Julian calendar (temporary, as it turned out) had caught on, we would all be celebrating our birthdays about 13 days earlier.

1711 - The Town of Needham, Massachusetts, is incorporated from part of nearby Dedham.

I am also finding this very interesting, especially in seeing what individuals find noteworthy for a given year.

1710 - The Church of San Agustin in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines, is completed. It is one of 4 churches in the Philippines on the UNESCO World Heritage List; their collective name is "The Baroque Churches of the Philippines.

I have been to this, and two others: San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila; and the Church of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion in Ilocos Sur. I'm only missing the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miag-ao, Iloilo; I actually could have visited it last October, but didn't know about it yet.

1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

1708 - Murder of Tekle Haymanot I, emperor of Ethiopia.

Tekle had been in power just over two years but had incurred the wrath of others by murdering his own father, Iyasu the Great, who had abdicated the throne. Iyasu's death is considered the beginning of the "Era of Princes", a time of disorder in Ethiopia.

1707- The Acts of Union take effect, joining the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England together as the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1706 - Death of Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama. He was an "improper" one, enjoying women and drinking. He was deposed in 1705.

He wrote poetry which is still being recited today in Tibet.

^^ So much for history being boring.

1705 - (from Wikipedia): "The Shogunate confiscates the property of a merchant in Osaka "for conduct unbecoming a member of the commercial class". The government seizes 50 pairs of gold screens, 360 carpets, several mansions, 48 granaries and warehouses scattered around the country and hundreds of thoudands of gold pieces."

Can't have those pesky merchants acting like they're rich or something!

"Several" mansions? How wonderfully opulent!

1704 - Sabah is "given" to the Sultan of Sulu for his help in stopping the Brunei civil war. Currently, Sabah is a state in Malaysia, and contains such landmarks as Mount Kinabalu (my uncle almost passed out from oxygen deprivation there) and Sipadan (fantastic dive spot; Shark Lad would be at home here)

1703 - The Man in the Iron Mask dies in the Bastille.

1702 – William III dies; Princess Anne Stuart becomes Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Anne is the mother of 17 children by her husband Prince George of Denmark but none of them will survive childhood and she will die without heir to enable the Hanoverian Succession.

1701 - The Great Peace of Montreal was signed, ending 100 years of war between the Iroquois Confederacy and New France and its Huron and Algonquian allies.