1722

Year 1722 (MDCCXXII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1722

January - June

* April 5 - Easter Sunday: Dutch admiral Jakob Roggeveen lands on what is now Easter Island.
* May 5 - Pennsylvania colony enacts a statute requiring all persons importing any person previously convicted of sodomy to pay £5 for each such incoming person.
* June 2 - Wapping, a male Negro slave owned by a Mr. Heale, is hanged for murder in the colony of Virginia.

July - December

* July - Peter the Great's Persian campaign begins.
* July 25 - The Three Years War begins along the Maine and Massachusetts border.
* August 15 - William Battin, 17, is hanged for arson and murder in the colony of Pennsylvania.
* December 20 - After the longest reign by a Chinese Emperor in history, the Kangxi Emperor dies and is succeeded by his son Yinzhen with the reign name Yongzheng.

Undated

* Persia's Safavid dynasty falls during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people.
* The "Silence Dogood" letters appear, written by Benjamin Franklin.
* Edenton is incorporated as the county seat of Chowan County, North Carolina. The governor and assembly of North Carolina move to Edenton, making it the de facto capital of North Carolina until 1746, when the government is moved to New Bern.
* Peter the Great of Russia creates the Table of Ranks.

Births

* January 3 - Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist (d. 1752)
* January 12 - Nicolas Luckner, Marshal of France (d. 1794)
* January 26 - Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader (d. 1805)
* February 19 - Tiphaigne de la Roche, French author (d. 1774)
* April - Joseph Warton, English poet and critic (d. 1800)
* April 11 - Christopher Smart, English poet (d. 1771)
* April 12 - Pietro Nardini, Italian composer (d. 1793)
* May 11 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (d. 1798)
* May 29 - James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (d. 1773)
* July 16 - Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
* August 9 - Augustus William, Prince of Prussia (d. 1758)
* August 11 - Richard Brocklesby, English physician (d. 1797)
* September 5 - Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony (d. 1763)
* September 16 - Gabriel Christie, British general (d. 1799)
* September 22 - John Home, Scottish dramatist (d. 1808)
* September 27 - Samuel Adams, American revolutionary leader (d. 1803)
* October 2 - Leopold Widhalm, Austrian luthier (d. 1776)
* November 5 - William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (d. 1798)
* November 19
** Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (d. 1809)
** Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (d. 1810)
* November 30 - Theodore Gardelle, Swiss painter and enameler (d. 1761)
* December 30 - Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1770)
*"date unknown" - Flora MacDonald, Scottish heroine (d. 1790)
*"probable" - Hyder Ali, Indian general and Sultan of Mysore (d. 1782)

Deaths

* January 21 - Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English supporter of William III of England (b. 1661)
* January 29 - Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld, Swedish military leader (b. 1651)
* February 5 - Eleonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse, Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (b. 1639)
* February 10 - Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (b. 1682)
* March 11 - John Toland, Irish philosopher (b. 1670)
* March 31 - Eberhard von Danckelmann, Prime Minister of Brandenburg-Prussia (b. 1643)
* April 13 - Charles Leslie, Irish Anglican theologian (b. 1650)
* April 21 - Robert Beverley, Jr., historian of Colonial Virginia (b. 1673)
* May 20 - Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (b. 1669)
* June 5 - Johann Kuhnau, German composer (b. 1660)
* June 16 - John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general (b. 1650)
* September 18 - André Dacier, French classical scholar (b. 1651)
* November 20 - Johann Adam Reinken, German organist (b. 1623)
* December 20 - Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
* December 23 - Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)