| 1730–1807 | UK [newspapers] | The Daily Advertiser is launched in London, England. With its dependence on advertisements, this may be regarded as the first modern newspaper. |
| 1750–1777 | Portugal [law and government] | Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello, the Marquis of Pombal, virtual ruler of Portugal during the reign of José I, carries out a series of extensive reforms aimed at breaking the power of the nobility and revitalizing Portugal's finances, industry, agriculture, and education system. |
| 1760–1770 | North America [statistics and demography] | The estimated population of the North American colonies is 1,593,625 including 325,806 black slaves. |
| 7 May 1763 - 24 July 1766 | America [wars] | The Ottawa chief Pontiac leads a loose confederation of Indian tribes in an assault against British forts and settlements all along the western frontier of the American colonies. Before the Treaty of Oswego ends the rebellion three years later, 2,000 Americans die, impressing royal authorities with the need for regular troops in the colonies. |
| 1766 | Sweden [thought and scholarship] | The Swedish scientist and religious thinker Emanuel Swedenborg publishes The Apocalypse Revealed, expounding his highly individual blend of science and mysticism. His works influence, among others, the English poet and artist William Blake. |
| 1766 | Austria [religious music] | The Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn completes his Mass No 2, the Grosse Orgelmesse/Great Mass with Organ. |
| 1766 | England [art] | The English artist George Stubbs publishes his book of engravings The Anatomy of the Horse. |
| 1766 | Swiss Confederation [biology] | Swiss biologist Albrecht von Haller shows that nerves stimulate muscles to contract, and that all nerves lead to the spinal column and brain. His work lays the foundation of modern neurology. |
| 1766–1777 | UK [canals] | English engineer James Brindley begins work on the Grand Trunk Canal linking the Trent and Mersey rivers. It crosses the Pennines by the Harecastle tunnel and will establish a water route between the North Sea and the Irish Sea. |
| 1766 | England [chemistry] | English scientist Henry Cavendish discovers the element hydrogen (atomic number 1) and delivers papers to the Royal Society of London, England, on the chemistry of gases. |
| 1766 | England [fiction] | The English writer Oliver Goldsmith publishes The Vicar of Wakefield, a comic novel that becomes one of his best-known works. |
| 17 February 1766 | England [births and deaths] | Thomas Malthus, English economist and demographer who theorized that population growth, unless checked, would always outstrip the food supply, born near Guildford, England (–1834). |
