January 25 – English-born pirate
Edward Low intercepts the Portuguese ship Nostra Signiora de Victoria. After the Portuguese captain throws his treasure of 11,000 gold coins into the sea rather than surrendering it, Low orders the captain's brutal torture and execution, then has the rest of the Victoria crew murdered. Low commits more atrocities this year, but is not certainly heard of after the end of the year.
April 1 – In
Switzerland, the attempt by Major
Abraham Davel to make the
canton of Vaud independent of the Swiss government, is put down, one day after he and 500 men had taken control of the Vaudois capital,
Lausanne. Davel is arrested, tortured and tried for treason; he is beheaded on April 24.
May 27 – The
Black Act 1723, intended to combat illegal hunting in Great Britain, comes into force and expands the number of crimes that are punishable by death, and remains in effect for 100 years.
July 12 –
Christian von Wolff holds a lecture for students and the magistrates at the end of his term as a rector,[4] as a result of which he is banned from
Prussia, on a charge of
atheism.
August 11 – The
Ostend Company is chartered by merchants and shipowners to establish trade for the
Austrian Netherlands in the East Indies and West Indies. Over the next two days, 54 major investors in
Antwerp purchase the shares of stock in the company.
October 23 –
Russia's Emperor
Peter the Great authorizes an incentive for men of
Serbia to join a new Russian Imperial Army unit, the
Serbian Hussar Regiment. The Emperor sends
Jovan Albanez to recruit new officers and troops with a grant of farmable land in Russia, and 1,070 take advantage of the offer over the next two years.
October 31 –
Gian Gastone de' Medici becomes the new
Grand Duke of Tuscany upon the death of his father Cosimo III; he will be the state's last ruler from the
House of Medici. During his reign, the state treasury is depleted and Tuscany becomes one of the poorest nations in Europe.
November 23 – The Province of Carolina charters
New Bern as Newbern (the town later becomes the capital of
North Carolina until Raleigh is founded).
^Wolf, C. (1985). Michael Albrecht (ed.). Oratio de Sinarum philosophia practica/Rede über die praktische Philosophie der Chinesen. Philosophische Bibliothek (in German). Hamburg, Germany: Felix Meiner Verlag. p. XXXIX.
^Abram Grigorevich Raskin, Petrodvorets (Peterhof): Palaces and Pavilions, Gardens and Parks, Fountains and Cascades, Sculptures (Aurora Art Publishers, 1978) p12
^Alan Palmer, The Baltic: A New History of the Region and Its People (Overlook Press, 2007)
January 25 – English-born pirate
Edward Low intercepts the Portuguese ship Nostra Signiora de Victoria. After the Portuguese captain throws his treasure of 11,000 gold coins into the sea rather than surrendering it, Low orders the captain's brutal torture and execution, then has the rest of the Victoria crew murdered. Low commits more atrocities this year, but is not certainly heard of after the end of the year.
April 1 – In
Switzerland, the attempt by Major
Abraham Davel to make the
canton of Vaud independent of the Swiss government, is put down, one day after he and 500 men had taken control of the Vaudois capital,
Lausanne. Davel is arrested, tortured and tried for treason; he is beheaded on April 24.
May 27 – The
Black Act 1723, intended to combat illegal hunting in Great Britain, comes into force and expands the number of crimes that are punishable by death, and remains in effect for 100 years.
July 12 –
Christian von Wolff holds a lecture for students and the magistrates at the end of his term as a rector,[4] as a result of which he is banned from
Prussia, on a charge of
atheism.
August 11 – The
Ostend Company is chartered by merchants and shipowners to establish trade for the
Austrian Netherlands in the East Indies and West Indies. Over the next two days, 54 major investors in
Antwerp purchase the shares of stock in the company.
October 23 –
Russia's Emperor
Peter the Great authorizes an incentive for men of
Serbia to join a new Russian Imperial Army unit, the
Serbian Hussar Regiment. The Emperor sends
Jovan Albanez to recruit new officers and troops with a grant of farmable land in Russia, and 1,070 take advantage of the offer over the next two years.
October 31 –
Gian Gastone de' Medici becomes the new
Grand Duke of Tuscany upon the death of his father Cosimo III; he will be the state's last ruler from the
House of Medici. During his reign, the state treasury is depleted and Tuscany becomes one of the poorest nations in Europe.
November 23 – The Province of Carolina charters
New Bern as Newbern (the town later becomes the capital of
North Carolina until Raleigh is founded).
^Wolf, C. (1985). Michael Albrecht (ed.). Oratio de Sinarum philosophia practica/Rede über die praktische Philosophie der Chinesen. Philosophische Bibliothek (in German). Hamburg, Germany: Felix Meiner Verlag. p. XXXIX.
^Abram Grigorevich Raskin, Petrodvorets (Peterhof): Palaces and Pavilions, Gardens and Parks, Fountains and Cascades, Sculptures (Aurora Art Publishers, 1978) p12
^Alan Palmer, The Baltic: A New History of the Region and Its People (Overlook Press, 2007)