Person report

★24 May 1683
Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum, the world's first university museum, opened.

★13 Mar 1697
Nojpetén, capital of the Itza Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.

★26 Mar 1697
The Safavid Empire began a four-year occupation of the Ottoman city of Basra on the Persian Gulf.

★01 May 1707
Under the terms of the Acts of Union, the Kingdoms of England and Scotland merged to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, with a single parliament and government based in Westminster.

★22 Oct 1707
In one of the worst maritime disasters in the history of the British Isles, at least 1,400 sailors on four Royal Navy ships were lost in stormy weather off the Isles of Scilly.

★16 Dec 1707
The last recorded eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji released some 800 million m3 of volcanic ash.

★24 Jun 1717
The first Masonic Grand Lodge, the Premier Grand Lodge of England, was founded in London.

★23 Feb 1739
The identity of English highwayman Dick Turpin was uncovered by his former schoolteacher, who recognised his handwriting, leading to Turpin's arrest.

★18 Oct 1748
The War of the Austrian Succession ended with the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

★24 Nov 1750
Tarabai, former regent of the Maratha Empire, had Rajaram II, whom she had previously claimed was her grandson, arrested as an impostor.

Historical data by Wikipedia Contributors CC BY-SA 3.0.