Explore 263 historical events from 1780–1789.
The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the commune Annonay in Ardèc…
The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon)
Laki or Lakagígar is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjark…
Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine
The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the fin…
American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement.
Philip Pendleton Barbour was the tenth speaker of the United States House of Representatives and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is the only indi…
Philip P
Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner was a German pharmacist and a pioneer of alkaloid chemistry. He is best known for his discovery of morphine, which he isolated from opium in 1804, …
Friedrich Sertürner, German chemist and pharmacist (died 1841)
Johann Heinrich von Thünen, sometimes spelled Thuenen, was a prominent nineteenth-century economist and a native of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in northern Germany.
Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist and geographer (died 1850)
Charles Tristan, Marquis de Montholon was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars. He chose to go into exile on Saint Helena with the ex-emperor after Napoleon's second abdicat…
Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, French general (died 1853)
Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Bismarck was a German lieutenant general, diplomat and military writer. He wrote several major military-political works and military histories, which wer…
Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck, German army officer and writer (died 1860)
José Mariano de la Cruz de la Riva Agüero y Sánchez Boquete was a Peruvian soldier and politician who was the first president of Peru and the second president of North Peru, a cons…
José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (died 185
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco was a Venezuelan military officer and statesman who led what are currently the countries of Bolivia, Col…
Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan commander and politician, second President of Venezuela, and liberation leader for much of…
Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia was a daughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia and sister of emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. She married Archduke Archduke Joseph, Palat…
Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia (died 1801)
William Tierney Clark FRS FRAS was an English civil engineer particularly associated with the design and construction of bridges. He was among the earliest designers of suspension …
William Tierney Clark, English engineer, designed the Hammersmith Bridge (died 1852)
Federigo, Vincenzo Antonio, Ludovico Zuccari was an Italian astronomer, professor of Astronomy at the Naples University, professor of Mathematical Geography at the Military Academy…
Federigo Zuccari, astronomer, director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples (died 1817)
Christian Mayer was a Moravian-German Catholic priest, astronomer and teacher.
Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator (born 1719)
James Otis Jr. was an American lawyer, politician, and activist who was an early supporter of patriotic causes in the Province of Massachusetts Bay at the beginning of the American…
James Otis Jr
The Mechanical Turk, also known as the Automaton Chess Player or simply the Turk, was a chess-playing machine first displayed in 1770, which appeared to be able to play a strong ga…
The Mechanical Turk (pictured), a fraudulent chess-playing "machine" by Wolfgang von Kempelen that was secretly controll
The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, a…
Second Anglo-Mysore War: British troops surrendered the fortress of Bednore in southwestern India to French and Mysorean
Laki or Lakagígar is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjark…
Laki, a volcanic fissure in Iceland (pictured), began an eight-month eruption, triggering a major famine and causing wid
Mount Asama is an active stratovolcano in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The volcano is the most active on Honshū. The Japan Meteorological Agency classifies Mount Asam…
Mount Asama (pictured) in Japan began a climactic eruption, which exacerbated the Great Tenmei famine and led to…
A meteor procession occurs when an Earth-grazing meteor breaks apart, and the fragments travel across the sky in the same path. According to physicist Donald Olson, only four occur…
A meteor procession blazed across the night sky over Great Britain.
John Adams was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved in…
John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government
The Raid on Lunenburg occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts on the 'Scammell' with four other privateer v…
Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attack the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily was Queen of the French by marriage to Louis Philippe I, King of the French. She was the last Queen of the French.
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of France (died 1866)
Hirose Tanso was a neo-Confucian scholar, teacher and writer in late Edo Period Japan.
Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (died 1856)