1780

Year 1780 (MDCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1780

January - June

* January 16 - American Revolutionary War - Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet.
* February - The League of Armed Neutrality is formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia.
* February 29 - The Omicron Delta Omega co-ed fraternity is founded by Benjamin Franklin.
* March 8 - Formation of the League of Armed Neutrality is soon followed by the start of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.
* March 26 - The "British Gazette and Sunday Monitor", the first Sunday newspaper in Britain, begins publication.
* April 16 - The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded.
* May 12 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
* May 19 - New England's Dark Day: An unaccountable darkness spreads over New England, regarded by some observers as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
* May 29 - American Revolutionary War: Loyalist forces under Col. Banastre Tarleton kill surrendering American soldiers in the Waxhaw Massacre.
* June 2 - Gordon Riots in London, Great Britain: The Duke of Richmond calls, in the House of Lords, for manhood suffrage and annual parliaments.

July - December

* July 11 - French soldiers arrive in Newport, Rhode Island to reinforce colonists in the American Revolutionary War [cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/march/timeline.htm|title=Timeline of the American Revolutionary War|publisher=Independence Hall |accessdate=2007-06-01] .
* August 16 - American Revolutionary War - Battle of Camden: The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
* August 24 - Louis XVI of France abolishes the use of torture in extracting confessions.
* September 25 - Benedict Arnold flees to British-held New York.
* October 2 - American Revolutionary War: British spy John André is hanged by American forces.
* October 7 - American Revolutionary War - Battle of Kings Mountain: Patriots defeat Loyalists under British Major Patrick Ferguson.
* October 10-16 - The Great Hurricane flattens the islands of Barbados, Martinique and St. Eustatius: 22,000 dead.
* November 29 - Maria Theresa of Austria dies and her Habsburg dominions pass to her ambitious son, Joseph II, who has already been Holy Roman Emperor since 1765.
* December 16 - Emperor Kōkaku accedes to the throne of Japan.

Undated

* The original Craven Cottage is built by William Craven, 6th Baron Craven (located on the centre circle of the pitch).
* Jose Gabriel Kunturkanki, businessman and landowner, proclaims himself Inca Tupac Amaru II.
* Nikephoros Theotokis starts introducing "Edinoverie", an attempt to integrate the Old Believers into Russia's established church.
* Western countries pay 16,000,000 ounces of silver for Chinese goods.
* c. 9 million population in Britain.

Ongoing

* American Revolutionary War

Births

* February 19 - Richard McCarty, American politician (d. 1844)
* April 29 - Charles Nodier, French author (d. 1844)
* May 21 - Elizabeth Fry, British humanitarian (d. 1845)
* June 1 - Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian military strategist (d. 1831)
* August 29 - Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, French painter (d. 1867)
* December 26 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)
* "date unknown" - John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1862)

Deaths

* February 14 - William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)
* February 17 - Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (b. 1706)
* February 18 - Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1714)
* March 26 - Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1713)
* May 18 - Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland (b. c. 1714)
* June 3 - Thomas Hutchinson, American colonial governor of Massachusetts (b. 1711)
* July 4 - Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (b. 1712)
* July 14 - Charles Batteux, French philosopher (b. 1713)
* August 3 - Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French philosopher (b. 1715)
* August 29 - Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect (b. 1713)
* September 4 - John Fielding, English magistrate and social reformer (b. 1721)
* September 8 - Enoch Poor, American Revolutionary general (b. 1736)
* October 2 - John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War (executed) (b. 1750)
* October 17 - William Cookworthy, English chemist (b. 1705)
* November 26 - Sir James Denham Steuart, 4th Baronet, British economist (b. 1712)
* November 29 - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (b. 1717)
* December 26 - John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)
*"date unknown" - Thomas Dilworth, British cleric and writer

Notes