Eighteenth Century

1700AD Leibnitz first president of Berlin Society of Sciences. Congreve’s "The Way of the World". W.A. van der Stel governor at the Cape . Great Northern War (Sweden versus Poland, Denmark and Russia).

1701AD Beginning of farcical entertainments among the soldiers of the garrison. (Bosman) War of the Spanish Succession between France and the Great Alliance (England, Holland and Austria).

1702AD Office of censorship in Paris.

1704AD Battle of Blenheim: Anglo-Dutch under Marlborough rout French.

1705-7AD Louis van Assenburgh becomes Governor in 1707. He encouraged public entertainment and a number of orchestras were established. Adam Tas and the Burgher Protest against the company officials.

1709AD Steele begins The Tatler in England. Van Assenburgh (Governor 1707-11) entertains the public with puppet shows, dog fights, bull fights and fireworks. Swedish army crushed by Russian army at Poltava.

1710AD Handel becomes Musical Director for Elector of Hanover, later George I of England.

1711AD Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral completed in London. Addison and Stelle publish The Spectator in England.

1713AD A smallpox epidemic ravages the Khoisan society in the south-western Cape.

1714AD Pope’s "Rape of the Lock".

1716AD Theatre built in Wialliamsburg, Virgina USA.

1719AD Defoe’s "Robinson Crusoe".

1722AD Danish National Theatre, Copenhagen.

1723AD Bach becomes musical director in Leipzig and remains till his death.

1726AD Swift’s "Gulliver’s Travels".

1728AD Gay’s The "Beggar’s Opera".

1731AD Prévost’s "Manon Lescaut".

1733AD John Kay invents flying shuttle, which mechanises weaving. Mentzel reports that during his stay (1733-1741) “mummery” takes place among the soldiers of the garrison as part of the first day of the month feasting. Van Riebeeck’s annual day of feating has become a monthly one, the first day of the motnth is used for “feasting, drinking and merrymaking”

1735AD Hogarth’s "The Rake’s Progress". Linnaeus’s "System of Nature".

1739AD Hume’s "Treatise of Human Nature".

1740AD Richardsoon’s "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded". The slave Majiet writes a play in Cape Dutch, transliterated into Arabic script. An active tradition of theatre and performance seems to exist in the slave quarters in Cape Town. Frederick the Great Tsar of Russia. War of Austrian Succession starts.

1745AD Madame de Pompadour becomes Louis XV’s mistress.

±1746-7AD Garrick begins to manage the Drury Lane.

1748AD War of Austrian Succession ends.

1749AD Fielding’s "Tom Jones". Goldoni’s "The Servant of Two Masters".

1750AD Rousseau’s "Discourses on Arts and Sciences".

1754AD Condillac’s "Treatise on the Sensations".

1755AD Lisbon Earthquake kills 30 000. Johnson’s "English Dictionary". A second smallpox epidemic again ravages the Khoisan society in the south-western Cape.

1757AD Robert Clive (of India) defeats the Nawab of Bengal, initiating British rule in India.

1758AD Voltaire’s "Candide".

1759AD British Museum opened. English capture Quebec from French.

1760AD King George III begins reign in England.

1762AD Jesuits condemned and suppressed in France. Rousseau’s "Social Contract" and "Emile". Gluck’s opera "Orfeo ed Euridice" performed in Vienna. Catherine the Great Tzarina of Russia.

1763AD End of the Seven Years war makes Russia a world power.

1764AD Sterne’s "Tristram Shandy". Winckleman’s "Ancient Art". Voltaire’s "Philosophical Dictionary".

1767AD Lessing’s "Minna von Barnhelm" published. A third smallpox epidemic all but extinguishes the Khoisan society in the south-western Cape.

1768AD James Cook sets out around the world on The Endeavour.

1769AD Watt patents improved steam engine. Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford. Lessing’s "Hamburgische Dramaturgie" published

±1770-80AD Holbach’s "System of Nature" (1770AD). First contacts between Trekboer farmers and Xhosa farmers on Eastern frontier Beginning of ongoing clashes between them.

1771AD According to Cook “there are no public amusements at the Cape”. Captain Cook visits the Cape of Good Hope

1773AD Goldsmith’s "She Stoops to Conquer". Goethe’s "Götz von Berlichingen".

1775AD Beaumarchais’s "The Barber of Séville" opens to a furore in Paris on 23 February.

1774AD Goethe’s "Sorrows of Young Werther". Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette King and Queen of France.

1776AD Adam Smith’s "Wealth of Nations". Gibbon’s "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (Vol 1). American Declaration of Independence and Anglo-Amercian war.

1777AD Sheridan’s "The School for Scandal".

1779AD Gluck’s "Iphigenie en Tauride" heralds new opera.

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