1736

Events

January–March

January 12 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, becomes the Second Field Marshal of Great Britain.
January 23 - The Civil Code of 1734 is passed in Sweden.
January 26 - Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
February 12 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor marries Maria Theresa of Austria, ruler of the Habsburg Empire at the Augustinian Church in Vienna.
March 8 - Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran on a date selected by court astrologers.
March 31 - Bellevue Hospital is founded in New York.

April–June

April 14
* The Porteous Riots erupt in Edinburgh, after the execution of smuggler Andrew Wilson, when town guard Captain John Porteous orders his men to fire at the crowd. Porteous is arrested later.
* German adventurer Theodor Stephan Freiherr von Neuhoff is crowned King Theodore of Corsica, 25 days after his arrival on Corsica on March 20. His reign ends on November 5 when he flees the island.
April 19 - A fire in Stony Stratford, England, consumes 53 houses.
April - The Genbun era begins in Japan. The era of Kyōhō Reforms ends.
May 8 - Frederick, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.
May 22 - King George II of Great Britain departs for Europe as part of his duties as Elector of Hanover; his wife, Caroline, Queen Consort rules on his behalf as the Regent for the last time until his return on January 14, 1736.
May 26 - Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans defeat French troops.
June 8 - Leonhard Euler writes to James Stirling describing the Euler–Maclaurin formula, providing a disconnection between integrals and sums.
June 19 - A French Academy of Sciences expedition, led by Pierre Louis Maupertuis, with Anders Celsius, begins work on measuring a meridian arc in Meänmaa, Finland.
June 24 - Witchcraft Act 1735 in Great Britain comes into effect, criminalizing claimants accusing people of practising witchcraft or of possessing magical powers, intended to end legal witch trials in the early modern period in the country.

July–September

July 1 - Russo-Turkish War (1735–39): Russian forces under Peter Lacy storm the Ottoman fortress of Azov.
August 12 - A fire in Saint Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire, destroys 2,000 buildings, the city's post office, and several palaces.
September 7 - An Edinburgh crowd drags John Porteous out of his cell in Tolbooth Prison, and lynches him.
September 29 - The Gin Act 1736 goes into effect, placing a steep tax on the sale of gin and license requirements for its sale, with the intent of reducing consumption of the liquor in Britain. Widely ignored, the Act is repealed in 1743.
September 30 - The Lebanese Council of 1736 begins, a major turning point in the reform of the Maronite Church. In the following three days, the assembled Maronite and Latin clergy presided by Yusuf ibn Siman as-Simani discuss various reforms and elaborate rules and canons.

October–December

October 3 - French scientist Charles Marie de La Condamine and a team of surveyors begin the first measurements at the Equator to determine the exact meridian arc measurement of distance between points separated by one degree of longitude in order to make a precise calculation of the Earth's circumference. The initial measurements of this French Geodesic Mission to the Equator, made in what is now Ecuador, last until November 3. The same year the French Geodesic Mission to Lapland took place. Both confirm Isaac Newton's prediction that the Figure of the Earth is flattened at the poles.
November 5 - King Theodore of Corsica flees the island after a reign of seven months and the kingdom reverts to Genoese control.
November 13 - Word of the discovery of silver, south of what is now the U.S.-Mexican border, reaches Sonora Governor Juan Bautista Anza and soon leads to prospectors coming to Nogales to find more silver. Late in October, a Yaqui Indian prospector, Antonio Siraumea, had discovered large slabs of silver, and at the Estancia Arizona, a ranch owned by Captain. The region, and later the U.S. territory, and state of Arizona are named for Urrea's ranch.
December 7 - Benjamin Franklin builds the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia.
December 26 - Andrew Michael Ramsay gives an oration, in which he relates the heritage and internationalism of Freemasonry to that of the Crusades.

Date unknown

Neustrelitz becomes the capital of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Bushehr is founded in Persia.
The Belgrade Fortress is completed.
One of the earliest records of use of a bathing machine is made at Scarborough, England.
Charles Marie de La Condamine, with François Fresneau Gataudière, makes the first scientific observations of rubber, in Ecuador.
Leonhard Euler produces the first published proof of Fermat's "little theorem".
Sir Isaac Newton's Method of Fluxions, describing his method of differential calculus, is first published and Thomas Bayes publishes a defense of its logical foundations.
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab writes the Kitab at-tawhidt, marking the beginning of Wahhabism.
The Haidamakas raid the shtetl of Pavoloch, killing 35.

Births

January 7 - Andrew Adams, American judge
January 19 - James Watt, Scottish inventor
January 25 - Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician
February 3 - Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian musician
February 29 - Ann Lee, English-born American religious leader
March 20 - Rama I, First King of Siam
May 8 - Caterina Dolfin, Italian poet
May 10 - George Steevens, English literary critic
May 29 - Patrick Henry, American patriot
June 3 - Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, Prime Minister of Naples
June 7 - Fermín Lasuén, Spanish missionary
June 14 - Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist
June 21 - Enoch Poor, American general
June 25 - John Horne Tooke, English politician, philologist
July - Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of the Spanish Province of New Mexico
August 9 - Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé
August 15 - Alexander Runciman, Scottish painter
August 26 - Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French geologist
September 15 - Jean Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer
September 16 - Carter Braxton, signer of the American Declaration of Independence
October 27 - James Macpherson, Scottish poet date unknown
* Robert Jephson, Irish dramatist
* Li Ching-Yuen, Chinese herbalist, martial artist and tactical advisor
* Pierre le Pelley I, Seigneur of Sark
* Claudius Smith, American revolutionary
* Sir James Tylney-Long, 7th Baronet, English politician

Deaths

January 8 - Jean Leclerc (theologian), Swiss theologian and biblical scholar
January 17 - Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect
January 31 - Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect
February 1 - James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, English politician
February 7 - Stephen Gray, English dyer, astronomer, and scientist
March 16 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer
March 25 - Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect
April 21 - Prince Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general
April 30 - Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and bibliographer
May 9 - Diogo de Mendonça Corte-Real, Portuguese politician
June 6 - Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye, explorer of New France, eldest son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye
July 1 - Ahmed III, Ottoman Sultan
July 7 - William Hardres, British politician
August 14 - Victor Honoré Janssens, Flemish painter
September 6 - John Porteous, Scottish captain
September 16 - Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, German physicist and inventor
September 26 - Louise Diane d'Orléans, youngest child of Philippe II, Duke of Orleans
October 22 - George Clarke, English politician, architect
November 2 - Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, French duke
December 10 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese 66th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller
December 12 - Antonina Houbraken, Dutch draughtswoman
December 22 - Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet, British politician
December 26 - Antonio Caldara, Italian composer date unknown
* Anna Colbjørnsdatter, Norwegian heroine
* Chen Shu, Chinese painter