January 12 - The first public Colonial American museum opens in Charleston, South Carolina.
January 17 - Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
April 27 - The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
June 17 - Cúcuta, Colombia is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar
September 11 - The Public Advertiser publishes a satirical essay titled Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One, which is written by Benjamin Franklin.
October 12 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia
October 13 - The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier
October 14 - The first recorded Ministry of Education, the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Polish for Commission of National Education), is formed in Poland.
October 14 - American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom's East India Company tea ships' cargo are burned at Annapolis, Maryland.
December 16 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party
