| 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. |
| 1790 | Germany [philosophy] | The German philosopher Immanuel Kant publishes the third of his three major works, Critique of Judgment, which deals with aesthetics. |
| 1790 | Scotland [poetry] | The Scottish poet Robert Burns publishes Tam O'Shanter, a narrative poem based on a folk legend. |
| 1790 | USA [statistics and demography] | The distribution of the white population by origin in the USA is: 61% English; 8% Scottish; 10% Irish; 9% German; 3% Dutch; 2% French; 0.7% Swedish. |
| 1790 | USA [statistics and demography] | The population of the city of New York City reaches 30,000. |
| 1790 | France [chemistry] | French chemist Nicolas Leblanc invents an inexpensive process for the manufacture of soda (sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate) from salt (sodium chloride). This leads to the development of the soap industry in France and provides raw materials for the glass, porcelain, and paper-pulp industries. |
| 1790 | France [churches and temples] | The Church of Ste Geneviève (called Panthéon since the French Revolution), designed by the French architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot, is completed in Paris, France. It is one of the earliest and finest expressions of French neoclassicism. |
| 1790 | France [clothing and fashion] | Women's hairstyles in France become elaborate. Some shapes are known as ‘a reclining dog of a hair cushion’ and incorporate flowers and fruit baskets. |
| 1790 | France [food and drink] | French farmer Marie Harel produces the first Camembert cheese, in Orne, France. The recipe may have come from a priest from Brie, whom she sheltered during the French Revolution. |
| 20 February 1790 | Habsburg Monarchy [political events] | Archduke Leopold, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, becomes ruler of the Habsburg Monarchy on the death of his brother, Joseph II; in July he is elected Holy Roman Emperor as Leopold II. |
| 17 April 1790 | America, USA [births and deaths] | Benjamin Franklin, American printer, publisher, and inventor who helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, dies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (84). |
| 12 July 1790 | France [Christianity] | The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is established by the French National Constituent Assembly, reorganizing the church on national lines. It is to be state funded and its priests democratically elected. Jews in France are admitted to civil liberties. |
| 14 July 1790 | France [French Revolution] | A vast rally (the Fête de la Fédération) is held in the Champ de Mars, Paris, France, on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. King Louis XVI accepts the new constitution drawn up by the National Assembly. |
| 17 July 1790 | Scotland [births and deaths] | Adam Smith, Scottish social philosopher known for his An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations on laissez-faire economics, dies in Edinburgh, Scotland (63). |
| 18 September 1790 | USA [town planning] | The city of Washington, DC, is founded as the US capital, when President George Washington lays the foundation stone of the Capitol building. |
| 2 December 1790 | Austrian Netherlands, Belgium [political events] | Austrian forces reconquer Belgium, restoring it as the Austrian Netherlands. |
