| January 11 | Messier adds M51 (spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici) to his catalog |
| January 30 | Captain Cook reaches 71 degrees 10' S, 1820 km from S pole (record) |
| February 10 | Andrew Becker demonstrates diving suit |
| February 22 | English House of Lords rules authors do not have perpetual copyright |
| March 4 | 1st sighting of Orion nebula (William Herschel) |
| March 7 | Boston Port Bill passes, British close port of Boston to all commerce on June 1st 1774 |
| March 25 | English Parliament passes Boston Port Bill |
| March 28 | Britain passes Coercive Act against Massachusetts |
| April 19 | CW Glucks opera "Iphigenia in Aulis," premieres in Paris |
| April 30 | Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee |
| May 10 | Louis XVI ascends to throne of France |
| May 20 | Britain gives Quebec, Labrador and territory north of Ohio |
| May 23 | Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River) |
| May 28 | 1st Continental Congress convenes (Virginia) |
| June 1 | Boston Port Bill, British government orders Port of Boston closed |
| June 2 | England passed Quartering Act, mandating Colonists must board English troops in their homes |
| June 11 | Jews of Algiers escape attack of Spanish Army |
| June 13 | Rhode Island becomes 1st colony to prohibit importation of slaves |
| June 22 | English parliament accepts Quebec Act |
| July 12 | Citizens of Carlisle Penn, pass a declaration of independence |
| July 12 | Cossack leader Emilian Pugachevs army occupies Kazan |
| July 17 | Captain Cook arrives at New Hebrides (Vanuata) |
| July 21 | Peace of Kutsjuk Kainardji (end Russian-Turkish War) |
| July 31 | Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen |
| August 1 | Priestly discovers oxygen |
| August 6 | Founder of the Shaker Movement, Mother Ann Lee, arrives in NY |
| August 10 | 1st Surinam newspaper (1st Wednesday Suriname) begins publishing |
| September 5 | 1st Continental Congress assembles, in Philadelphia |
| September 15 | Cossack Emilian Pugachev captured |
| October 14 | 1st American colonial decl of rights with sinking of Peggy Stewart |
| October 14 | 1st Continental Congress is 1st to declare colonial rights, Philadelphia |
| October 20 | Continental Congress orders discouragment of entertainment |
| October 26 | 1st Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia |
| October 26 | Minute Men organized in colonies |
| December 13 | 1st incident of Revolution-400 attack Ft. William and Mary, New Hampshire |
| December 14 | Mass militiamen successfully attacked arsenal of Ft. William and Mary |
| December 18 | Empress Maria Theresa expels Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia |
