1700

Events

January–March

• January 1 – Protestant nations in Western Europe, except England, start using the Gregorian calendar. Catholic nations have been using the Gregorian calendar since its introduction in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.
• January 1 – The Tsardom of Russia begins numbering its calendar from the birth of Christ, instead of since the Creation.
• January 26 – At approximately 9 p.m., the Cascadia earthquake occurs in the Pacific Northwest, with an estimated moment magnitude of 8.7–9.2. This megathrust earthquake ruptures about of the Cascadia Subduction Zone and causes a tsunami that strikes the coast of Japan approximately 10 hours later.
• February 3 – The 'Lesser Great Fire' destroys a substantial part of central Edinburgh, Scotland.
• February 22, February 12 – The Great Northern War begins with a joint invasion of Swedish territory in Germany and Latvia, by Denmark and Poland/Saxony. Sweden has control of the Baltic Sea and holds territory that includes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany. To challenge its power, an alliance is formed between Tsar Peter I of Russia, King Frederick IV of Denmark and Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Sweden's ruler is the militaristic Charles XII, known as the "Swedish Meteor".
• February 27 – The island of New Britain is discovered by William Dampier, in the western Pacific.
• March 1 – Protestant Germany and Denmark–Norway adopt the Gregorian calendar.
• March 1, March 11, February 29 – The Swedish calendar is adopted.
• March – William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World is first performed in London.
• March 3 – Shivaji II accedes to the throne of the Maratha Empire as the 4th Chhatrapati after his father Rajaram I's death.
• March 24 – The Treaty of London is signed between France, England and the Dutch Republic.

  April–June

• April 15 – The coronation of King Frederick IV of Denmark takes place at Frederiksborg Castle in Copenhagen.
• April 18 – Hungarian freedom activist Ferenc Rákóczi is arrested by Austrian authorities and charged with sedition. Imprisoned near Vienna and facing a death sentence, he escapes and later leads the overthrow of the Habsburg control of Hungary.
• April 21 – In India, the siege of the fortress of Sajjangad is begun by an army led by Fateullahakhan. The fortress falls on June 6.
• April – Fire destroys many buildings in Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia, including two in the palace complex.
• May 5 – Within a few days of poet John Dryden's death in London, his last written work is performed as part of Vanbrugh's version of The Pilgrim.
• May – In Rhode Island, Walter Clarke, three-term former Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is elected deputy governor for the second time, serving under his brother-in-law Samuel Cranston.
• June 8 – The legislature for the Province of Massachusetts Bay passes into law "An Act against Jesuits & Popish Priests" making a finding that Roman Catholic clerics have attempted to incite American Indians into a rebellion against the Crown, and declaring "That all and every Jesuit, Seminary Priest, Missionary, or other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Person made or ordained by any Authority, Power or Jurisdiction derived, challenged or pretended from the Pope or See of Rome, now residing within this Province or any part thereof, shall depart from and out of the same, at or before the tenth day of September next, in this present year, One Thousand and Seven Hundred." The Province of New York enacts similar legislation later in the year.

  July–September

• July 11 – The Prussian Academy of Sciences is founded, with Gottfried Leibniz as president.
• July 24 – Charles XII of Sweden counter-attacks his enemies by invading Zealand, assisted by an Anglo-Dutch naval squadron under Sir George Rooke, rapidly compelling the Danes to submit to peace.
• July 30 – Eleven-year-old Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, dies of "a malignant fever" at Windsor Castle, leaving the Protestant succession to the British throne in doubt.
• August 18 – The Peace of Travendal is concluded between the Swedish Empire, Denmark–Norway and Holstein-Gottorp in Traventhal. On the same day, Augustus II, King of Poland, and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, enter the war against Sweden.
• September 6 – Edmond Halley returns to England after a voyage of almost one year on HMS Paramour, from which he has observed the Antarctic Convergence, and publishes his findings on terrestrial magnetism in General Chart of the Variation of the Compass.
• September 12 – Antioh Cantemir is deposed as the voivode of Moldavia and replaced by his predecessor Constantine Ducas.
• September 13-14 – The Rising-sun hurricane of 1700 strikes the coast of South Carolina, killing 98.
• September 27 – Pope Innocent XII dies at the age of 85 after a tenure of more than nine years. Fabrizio Spada, the Cardinal Secretary of State, assumes administration of the Roman Catholic Church in order to oversee the election of a new Pope.
• September – A Russian army invades Swedish Estonia, and besieges the town of Narva.

  October–December

• October 3 – The Battle of Jouami' al-Ulama takes place in Algeria with a surprise attack and ambush on the army of Murad III Bey of Tunis by two Algerian defenders, Hadj Mustapha, Dey of Algiers and Ahmed ben Ferhat, Beylik of Constantine.
• October 16 – Adrian, Patriarch of All Russia, dies after more than 10 years as head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is replaced by the hand-picked choice of Tsar Peter the Great with the appointment of Simeon Ivanovich Yavorsky as Patriarch Stefan.
• November 1 – Charles II, the last Spanish king of the House of Habsburg, dies at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid aged 38, leaving no children; his last will makes Philip of Anjou his heir.
• November 15 – Louis XIV of France accepts the Spanish crown on behalf of his grandson Philip of Anjou of the House of Bourbon, who becomes Philip V of Spain, thus triggering the War of the Spanish Succession.
• November 18 – Lithuanian Civil War: Battle of Valkininkai - The anti-Sapieha coalition is victorious.
• November 23 – Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Albani, having been ordained as a Roman Catholic priest only two months earlier, is elected by the Papal conclave to succeed Pope Innocent XII, and becomes the 243rd pope, taking the name of Clement XI.

• November 30 – Battle of Narva in Estonia: Having led his army of 8,000 on a forced march from Denmark to Estonia, Charles XII of Sweden routs the huge Russian army.
• December 8 – The formal coronation of Pope Clement XI takes place in Rome.
• December 28 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, Lord President of the Council in charge of the Privy Council, is appointed to the additional job of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the highest Crown official in charge of administration of Ireland.
• December 30 – The 4th Parliament of King William III in England is dissolved and new elections are ordered by the King.

  Date unknown

• Mission San Xavier del Bac is founded in New Spain near Tucson, as a Spanish Roman Catholic mission. Its location had first been scouted by the Spanish in 1692.
• An inventory made for the House of Medici of Florence is the first documentary evidence for a piano, invented by their instrument keeper Bartolomeo Cristofori.
• An English translation of the novel Don Quixote, "translated from the original by many hands and published by Peter Motteux", begins publication in London. While popular among readers, it will eventually come to be known as one of the worst translations of the novel, totally betraying the spirit of Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece.
• The value of sales of English manufactured products to the Atlantic economy is £3.9 million.
• Approximate date – Lions become extinct in Libya.

  World population

Births

January–March

• January 8 - Augustyn Mirys, Polish painter
• January 14 - Picander, German poet and librettist
• January 23 - John Christian, Count Palatine of Sulzbach from 1732 to 1733
• January 28 - John Penn, American-born merchant
• January 29 - Konstancja Czartoryska, Polish noblewoman and politician
• February 2 - Johann Christoph Gottsched, German philosopher
• February 8 - Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-born Swiss mathematician
• February 16 - Pedro Messía de la Cerda, 2nd Marquis of Vega de Armijo, Spanish naval officer and colonial official
• February 18 - Nicolaus Schuback, German lawyer
• February 21 - Henri Hemsch, French harpsichord maker of German origin
• February 28 - Samsam ud Daula Shah Nawaz Khan, Mughal courtier
• March 1 - Pierre-Joseph Bourcet, French tactician
• March 3
• * William Lacon Childe, English politician
• * Charles-Joseph Natoire, French painter in the Rococo manner
• March 4 - Louis Auguste, Prince of Dombes, grandson of Louis XIV of France and of his maîtresse-en-titre Françoise-Athénaïs
• March 8 - William Morgan, Welsh politician
• March 13
• * Michel Blavet, French composer and flute virtuoso
• * Antonio Joli, Italian painter of vedute and capricci
• * James Kent, English organist and composer
• * Jób Viczay, Hungarian nobleman
• March 15 - Leonor Tomásia de Távora, 3rd Marquise of Távora, Portuguese noblewoman
• March 23 - Pieter Woortman, Dutch colonial administrator
• March 29 - Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis
• March 30 - Thomas Pichon, French colonial agent