1731

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	17th century 18th century 19th century
Decades:	1710s 1720s 1730s 1740s 1750s
Years:	1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734

1731:John Bevisbecomes first Earth astronomer to observe theCrab Nebula.

1731 in variouscalendars

Gregorian calendar	1731 MDCCXXXI
Ab urbe condita	2484
Armenian calendar	1180 ԹՎ ՌՃՁ
Assyrian calendar	6481
Balinese saka calendar	1652–1653
Bengali calendar	1138
Berber calendar	2681
British Regnal year	4Geo. 2– 5Geo. 2
Buddhist calendar	2275
Burmese calendar	1093
Byzantine calendar	7239–7240
Chinese calendar	Canh tuấtNiên (MetalDog) 4428 or 4221 — to — Tân hợi niên (MetalPig) 4429 or 4222
Coptic calendar	1447–1448
Discordian calendar	2897
Ethiopian calendar	1723–1724
Hebrew calendar	5491–5492
Hindu calendars
-Vikram Samvat	1787–1788
-Shaka Samvat	1652–1653
-Kali Yuga	4831–4832
Holocene calendar	11731
Igbo calendar	731–732
Iranian calendar	1109–1110
Islamic calendar	1143–1144
Japanese calendar	Kyōhō16 ( hưởng bảo １６ niên )
Javanese calendar	1655–1656
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 11 days
Korean calendar	4064
Minguo calendar	181 beforeROC Dân tiền 181 niên
Nanakshahi calendar	263
Thai solar calendar	2273–2274
Tibetan calendar	Dương kim cẩu niên (male Iron-Dog) 1857 or 1476 or 704 — to — Âm kim trư niên (female Iron-Pig) 1858 or 1477 or 705

1731(MDCCXXXI) was acommon year starting on Mondayof theGregorian calendarand acommon year starting on Fridayof theJulian calendar,the 1731st year of theCommon Era(CE) andAnno Domini(AD) designations, the 731st year of the2nd millennium,the 31st year of the18th century,and the 2nd year of the1730sdecade. As of the start of 1731, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–March

• January 8– An avalanche from the Skafjell mountain causes a massive wave in theStorfjordenfjordin Norway that sinks all boats that happen to be in the water at the time and kills people on both shores.
• February 3– A fire inBrusselsat theCoudenberg Palace,at this time the home of the ruling AustrianDuchess of Brabant,destroys the building, including the state records stored therein.
• February 16– In China, theEmperor Yongzhengorders grain to be shipped fromHubeiandGuangdongto the famine-strickenShangzhou regionofShaanxiprovince.
• February 20–Louise Hippolytebecomes the second woman to serve asPrincess of Monaco,the reigning monarch of thetiny European principality,ascending upon the death of her fatherPrince Antonio.She reigns only nine months before dying ofsmallpoxon December 29.
• March 16– TheTreaty of Viennais signed between theHoly Roman Empire,Great Britain,theDutch RepublicandSpain.

April–June

• April 1–Battle of Dabhoiin India is fought between Sarsenapati Trimbakrao Dabhade and Bajirao Peshwa.
• April 2– The town ofRaynham, Massachusettsin Bristol County is entered as a new town by the governor and court ofMassachusetts,New England, America.
• April 9– British traderRobert Jenkinshas his ear cut off after his ship,Rebeccais boarded bySpanishcoast guards atHavanainCuba.The incident becomes thecasus bellifor theWar of Jenkins' Earin1739.
• April 28– A fire atWhite'sChocolate House, near St. James's Palace in London, destroys the historic club and the paintings therein, but is kept from spreading by the fast response of firemen.
• May 10– ThePacific Fleet of the Russian Navyis established by order of theEmpressAnna of Russia,who directs Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev to assume command over the new fleet and to developOkhotskas a major port.
• June 4– The English market town ofBlandford Forumis destroyed by fire, with the exception of 26 houses. About one-third of the uninsured losses are paid for by the collection of disaster relief money.

July–September

• July 1–Benjamin Franklinand fellow-subscribers start theLibrary Company of Philadelphia.
• August 15– KingFrederick William I of Prussiaforgives his 19-year-old son,Prince Frederick,who has been confined since November to the town ofKüstrin(nowKostrzyn nad OdrąinPoland) for his 1730 attempt to desert from the Prussian Army.Nine years later, having been politically rehabilitated, Prince Frederick succeeds his father as King and is later remembered as "Frederick the Great".
• August 23– The oldest known sports score in history is recorded in the description of a cricket match at Richmond Green in England, when the team of Thomas Chambers of Middlesex defeats the Duke of Richmond's team by 119 to 79.
• September – The first successfulappendectomyis performed by English surgeon William Cookesley.
• September 30– The village ofBarnwell, Cambridgeshire,England, is "burned down entirely" by a fire.

October–December

• October 23–A fire at Ashburnham Housein Westminster destroys 114 irreplaceable manuscripts (including a manuscript ofthe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and damages 98 others (among them the manuscript ofBeowulf).Richard Bentley,the King's librarian and the House's owner, saves the only copy of theCodex Alexandrinus,carrying it under one arm as he leaps from a window. Bentley's ten year labor in translating theGreek Testamentis ruined by the blaze. The remaining 844 manuscripts later form the heart of the collections of theBritish Library.
• November 25
  • Swiss mathematicianLeonhard Eulerannounces his use of the irrational numbere(approximately 2.71828) as thebasefor the concept of thenatural logarithm,describing it in a letter to German mathematicianChristian Goldbach.
  • Patrona Halil,an ethnic Albanian and ajanissarywho instigated a mass uprising in 1730 within theOttoman Empirethat broughtMahmud Ito power as the new Sultan, is strangled to death in Mahmud's presence after the rebellion is suppressed.
• December 21– The MaharajaChhatrasal,monarch ofBundelkhandin India (part of the modern-day states ofUttar PradeshandMadhya Pradesh) dies at the age of 82. His kingdom is divided into four parts, with one part going toBaji Rao Iof theMarathasand the other three going to his three sons: Harde Sah gets thePanna State,Jagat Rai gets theJaitpur Stateand Bharti Chand gets theJaso State.
• December 29–Jacques Grimaldi,the husband of the reigning monarch ofMonaco,Louise Hippolyte,succeeds to the throne after Louise's death fromsmallpox.Jacques Irules until his own death in 1751.

Date unknown

• Royal Colony of North CarolinaGovernorGeorge Burringtonasks theNorth Carolina General Assemblyto pass an act establishing a town on theCape Fear River,in what is seen as a political move to shift the power away from the powerful Cape Fear plantation class. The town is laid out in1733,and incorporated asWilmingtonin1740.
• Laura Bassibecomes the first official female university teacher, on being appointed professor ofanatomyat theUniversity of Bologna,at the age of 21.
• English scientistJohn Bevisobserves theCrab Nebulafor the first time in the modern era.
• Theoctantis developed by English mathematicianJohn Hadley(it will eventually be replaced as a means of determininglatitudeby thesextant).
• The Royal Theatre ofMantua(Italy) is built by architectFerdinando Galli Bibiena.
• First deeds for The Queen Inn,Winchester.Hops are grown on the land.

Births

• January 3–Angelo Emo,Venetian admiral and statesman (d.1792)
• February–Charles Churchill,English poet (d.1764)
• March 19–Gabriela Silang,Filipino rebel leader and heroine (d.1763)
• April 8–William Williams,signer of theUnited States Declaration of Independence(d.1811)
• May 8–Beilby Porteus,Bishop of London and abolitionist (d.1809)
• June 2–Dorothea Biehl,Danish writer (d.1788)
• July 16–Samuel Huntington,Patriotin theAmerican Revolutionand politician (d.1796)
• August–Henry Constantine Jennings,English gambler and collector (d.1819)

Henry Cavendish

• October 10–Henry Cavendish,English scientist (d.1810)
• November 9–Benjamin Banneker,African-Americanastronomer, surveyor of the District of Columbia (d.1806)
• November 15–William Cowper,English poet (d.1800)
• December 8–František Xaver Dušek,Czech composer (d.1799)
• December 12–Erasmus Darwin,English scientist and grandfather ofCharles Darwin(d.1802)
• December 28–José de Viera y Clavijo,Spanish writer
• Nikephoros Theotokis,Greek scholar and theologian (d.1800)

Deaths

• January 6–Étienne François Geoffroy,French chemist (b.1672)
• January 20–Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma(b.1679)
• January 23–Anna Lohe,Swedish banker (b.1654)

Bartolomeo Cristofori

• January 27–Bartolomeo Cristofori,Italian maker of musical instruments (b.1655)
• February–Thomas Hancorne,Welsh clergyman and theologian (b.1642)
• February 10–George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter,British Army general (b.1657)
• February 15–Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado,Spanish Dominican lay sister and mystic (b.1643)
• February 22–Frederik Ruysch,Dutch physician and anatomist (b.1638)
• March 5–Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi,Sufi academic (b.1641)
• March 6–Johann Melchior Dinglinger,German goldsmith (b.1664)
• March 8–Ferdinand Brokoff,Czech sculptor (b.1688)
• March 9–Frances Talbot, Countess of Tyrconnell,English-born courtier and vicereine of Ireland (b. c.1649)
• March 12–Ernest August, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg(b.1660)
• March 23–Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg(b.1662)
• April 24–Daniel Defoe,English writer (b. c.1660)
• April 28
  • Johann Theodor Jablonski,German lexicographer (b.1654)
  • James Olmsted,Connecticut politician (b.1645)
• May 1–Johann Ludwig Bach,German composer (b.1677)
• May 11–Mary Astell,English feminist writer (b.1666)
• May 17–Samuel Bradford,English churchman, Whig politician (b.1652)
• June 20–Ned Ward,English writer,publican(b.1667)
• July 18–Sir Walter Yonge, 3rd Baronet,English politician (b.1653)
• August 27–Eudoxia Lopukhina,Russian Tsarina, divorced spouse ofPeter the Greatof Russia (b.1669)
• December 17–George Lockhart,Scottish writer, spy and politician, killed in duel (b.1673)
• December 20–Chhatrasal,Maharaja of Madhya Pradesh (b.1649)
• December 26–Antoine Houdar de la Motte,French writer (b.1672)
• December 29–Brook Taylor,English mathematician (b.1685)