13th June » Province of Georgia named Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe begins an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine (1740) e.g Siege of St. Augustine.
11th July » Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia.
17th August » Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope.
9th October » Dutch East Indies Dutch colonists and various slave groups begin 1740 Batavia massacre massacring ethnic Chinese Indonesians Chinese in Jakarta Batavia, eventually killing 10,000 and leading to a Java War (1741–1743) two-year-long war throughout Java.
20th October » Maria Theresa of Austria Maria Theresa takes the throne of Holy Roman Empire Austria. Kingdom of France France, Kingdom of Prussia Prussia, Electorate of Bavaria Bavaria and Electorate of Saxony Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 Pragm
Famous Birthdays in 1740
22nd January » Noah Phelps, American soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 1809)
4th February » Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
16th February » Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813)
17th February » Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Swiss physicist (d. 1799)
24th March » John Antes, American missionary and composer (d. 1811)
31st March » Panoutsos Notaras, Greek politician (d. 1849)
18th April » Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker (d. 1810)
2nd May » Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821)
7th May » Nikolai Arkharov, Russian police officer (d. 1814)
9th May » Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (d. 1816)
2nd June » Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (d. 1814)
27th July » Jeanne Baré, French explorer (d. 1803)
2nd August » Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general (d. 1817)
10th August » Samuel Arnold (composer) named Samuel Arnold, English organist and composer (d. 1802)
29th February » Pietro Ottoboni (cardinal) named Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
21st April » Thomas Tickell, English poet (b. 1685)
15th May » Ephraim Chambers, English publisher (b. 1680)
31st May » Frederick William I of Prussia (b. 1688)
1st June » Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (b. 1657)
6th June » Alexander Spotswood, Moroccan-American colonial and politician, List of colonial governors of Virginia e.g Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (b. 1676)
17th June » Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1687)
5th October » Jean-Philippe Baratier, German scholar (b. 1721)
20th October » Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)