1738

This article is about the year 1738. For the cognac, seeRémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal.For the Fetty Wap song, seeTrap Queen.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	17th century 18th century 19th century
Decades:	1710s 1720s 1730s 1740s 1750s
Years:	1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741

March 28:SeamanRobert Jenkinspersuades British Parliament to authorize theWar of Jenkins' Earthat claims 25,000 lives

February 4:Joseph Süß Oppenheimeris executed inWürttemberg.

1738 in variouscalendars

Gregorian calendar	1738 MDCCXXXVIII
Ab urbe condita	2491
Armenian calendar	1187 ԹՎ ՌՃՁԷ
Assyrian calendar	6488
Balinese saka calendar	1659–1660
Bengali calendar	1145
Berber calendar	2688
British Regnal year	11Geo. 2– 12Geo. 2
Buddhist calendar	2282
Burmese calendar	1100
Byzantine calendar	7246–7247
Chinese calendar	Đinh tịNiên (FireSnake) 4435 or 4228 — to — Mậu ngọ niên (EarthHorse) 4436 or 4229
Coptic calendar	1454–1455
Discordian calendar	2904
Ethiopian calendar	1730–1731
Hebrew calendar	5498–5499
Hindu calendars
-Vikram Samvat	1794–1795
-Shaka Samvat	1659–1660
-Kali Yuga	4838–4839
Holocene calendar	11738
Igbo calendar	738–739
Iranian calendar	1116–1117
Islamic calendar	1150–1151
Japanese calendar	Genbun3 ( nguyên văn ３ niên )
Javanese calendar	1662–1663
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 11 days
Korean calendar	4071
Minguo calendar	174 beforeROC Dân tiền 174 niên
Nanakshahi calendar	270
Thai solar calendar	2280–2281
Tibetan calendar	Âm hỏa xà niên (female Fire-Snake) 1864 or 1483 or 711 — to — Dương thổ mã niên (male Earth-Horse) 1865 or 1484 or 712

1738(MDCCXXXVIII) was acommon year starting on Wednesdayof theGregorian calendarand acommon year starting on Sundayof theJulian calendar,the 1738th year of theCommon Era(CE) andAnno Domini(AD) designations, the 738th year of the2nd millennium,the 38th year of the18th century,and the 9th year of the1730sdecade. As of the start of 1738, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–March

• January 1– At least 664 African slaves drown when theDutch West Indies Companyslave shipLeusdencapsizes and sinks in theMaroni Riverduring its arrival inSurinam.The Dutch crew escapes, and leaves the slaves locked below decks to die.
• January 3–George Frideric Handel's operaFaramondois given its first performance.
• January 7– After theMaratha Empireof India wins theBattle of Bhopalover theJaipur State,Jaipur cedes theMalwaterritory to the Maratha in atreatysigned atDoraha.
• February 4–Court JewJoseph Süß Oppenheimeris executed inWürttemberg.
• February 11–Jacques de Vaucansonstages the first demonstration of an earlyautomaton,The Flute Playerat the Hotel de Longueville in Paris, and continues to display it until March 30.
• February 20– TheSwedish Levant Companyis founded.
• March 28– MarinerRobert Jenkinspresents a pickled ear, which he claims was cut off by a Spanish captain in theCaribbeanin 1731, to theParliament of Great Britain,which votes, 257 to 209, for war againstSpain,leading to theWar of Jenkins' Earthe following year.
• March/April –Battle of the Dindar River:EmperorIyasu IIofEthiopiais defeated by theFunj people.

April–June

• April 15–Serse,an ItalianoperabyGeorge Frideric Handel,premieres inLondon.
• April 18– Spain's Royal Academy of History (Real Academia de la Historia) is established by decree of KingPhilip V of Spain.
• April 28–Pope Clement XIIissues thepapal bullIn eminenti apostolatus,prohibiting Roman Catholics from being members ofMasonic societies.
• May 4– The Imperial Theatrical School, in modern times known asVaganova Academy of Russian Ballet,is founded under the reign ofEmpress Anna.It is the first ballet school in Russia and second in the world.
• May 24–John Wesley,newly returned from America, experiences aspiritual rebirthat aMoravian Churchmeeting inAldersgate,in theCity of London,essentially launching theMethodist movement;the day is celebrated annually by Methodists asAldersgate Day(his younger brotherCharleshad a similar experience three days earlier).
• May 25– The military phase ofCresap's Warbetween the British North AmericanProvinces of MarylandandPennsylvaniais ended when KingGeorge II of Great Britainnegotiates a cease-fire.
• June 24– British inventorLewis Paulreceives apatentfor rollercotton-spinning machinery.
• June 27– TheSpanish Empire'sCouncil of the Indiesvotes, 6 to 4, to re-establish theViceroyalty of New Granada,incorporating modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.King Philip Vissues the order on August 20, 1738.

July–September

• July 1– English metallurgistWilliam Championis granted a patent for his process of extractingzincfrom other materials in a furnace.
• July 10–Thomas PellowofCornwallfinally escapes captivity, 23 years after having been captured byBarbary piratesand held as a slave inMorocco.He arrives in British territory when the ship he is on sails into Gibraltar Bay on July 21, and later recounts his story in the bookThe Adventures of Thomas Pellow, of Penryn, Mariner: Three and Twenty Years in Captivity Among the Moors.
• August 10–Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739):The Russian army begins its attempt to cross theDniesterRiver and fails after three weeks; it is later decimated byplague.
• September 18–Samuel Johnsoncomposes his first solemnprayer(published1785).

October–December

• October 22– The excavation ofHerculaneum,a Roman city buried byVesuviusinAD 79,begins near the Italian city ofResinaon orders from KingCharles III of Spainto his engineer,Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.
• November 18– TheTreaty of Viennais ratified, ending theWar of the Polish Succession.Under the terms of the treaty,Stanisław LeszczyńskireceivesLorrainein exchange for renouncing thePolishthrone.
• December 27– After setting off from Rotterdam in August with 240 immigrants to America, the British shipPrincess Augustais wrecked nearBlock Islandoff of the coast of the colony ofRhode Island.During the voyage, 200 passengers and seven crew die from illness spread by contaminated water. Another 20 die after the crew leaves and rows to shore. The wreck later becomes the subject of the legend of the "Palatine Light" ghost ship and ofJohn Greenleaf Whittier's 1867 poem "The Palatine".

Date unknown

• China's Qing government announces that all western businessmen have to use theCohonginGuangzhouto trade.
• Pierre Louis MaupertuispublishesSur la figure de la terre,which confirmsNewton'sview that the earth is anoblate spheroid,slightly flattened at the poles.
• Black ForestclockmakerFranz Kettererproduces one of the earliestcuckoo clocks.
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,having completed a law degree, is hired as a court musician by Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, the futureFrederick the Great(Bach will remain in Frederick's service until1768).
• Holy Royal Archis founded.
• Rémy Martinis granted exclusive permission by KingLouis XV of Franceto plant new vineyards, for impressing him with the quality of his cognac.

Births

• January 21–Ethan Allen,American patriot (d.1789)
• February 6–Pierre-Joseph Desault,French anatomist and surgeon (d.1795)
• April 12–Padre Francisco Garcés,Spanish missionary (d.1781)
• April 14–William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland,Prime Minister of the United Kingdom(d.1809)
• May 27–Nathaniel Gorham,American politician (d.1796)
• May 28–Joseph-Ignace Guillotin,French physician (d.1814)
• June 4– KingGeorge III of the United Kingdom(d.1820)
• July 3–John Singleton Copley,American painter (d.1815)
• July 20–Darejan Dadiani,Georgian queen consort (d.1807)
• July 22–Anne d'Yves,writer, participant in the Brabant Revolution (d.1814)
• August 28–Etteilla,French occult cartomancer (d.1791)
• September 25–Nicholas Van Dyke,American lawyer and President of Delaware (d.1789)
• October 11–Arthur Phillip,British admiral and Governor of New South Wales (d.1814)
• October 18–Andrei Bolotov,Russian agriculturalist and memoirist (d.1833)
• October 29–Charles Spalding,Scottish inventor and underwater diver (d.1783)

William Herschel

• November 15–William Herschel,German-born astronomer (d.1822)
• December 31–Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis,British general (d.1805)

Deaths

• January 6–Franz Xaver Murschhauser,German composer and theorist (b.1663)
• January 24–Samuel Andrew,American Congregational clergyman, educator (b.1656)
• January 27–Marie Wulf,Danish pietist leader (b.1685)
• January 30–Benoît de Maillet,French diplomat and natural historian (b.1656)
• February 9–Béatrice Hiéronyme de Lorraine,Abbess of Remiremont (b.1662)
• February 15–Matthias Braun,Czech sculptor (b.1684)
• February 27–Henry Grove,English nonconformist minister (b.1684)
• March 16–George Bähr,German architect (b.1666)
• March 25–Turlough O'Carolan,Irish harper and composer (b.1670)
• April 9–Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet,English politician (b.1657)
• May 1–Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle,English statesman (b. c.1669)
• May 15–Sir John Chesshyre,English lawyer (b.1662)
• June 5–Isaac de Beausobre,French Protestant pastor (b.1659)
• June 21–Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend,English politician (b.1674)
• July 8–Jean-Pierre Nicéron,French encyclopedist (b.1685)
• July 28–Heinrich, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg(b.1661)

Herman Boerhaave

• September 23–Herman Boerhaave,Dutch humanist, physician (b.1668)
• December 22–Constantia Jones,English prostitute (executed) (b. c.1708)