1778 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events

• The term thoroughbred was first used in the United States in an advertisement in a Kentucky gazette to describe a New Jersey stallion called Pilgarlick.
• January 18 - Third Pacific expedition of Capt. James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, first view O'ahu then Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands."
• February 5 - South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
• February 6 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
• February 23 - American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the Continental Army.
• July 3 - American Revolutionary War: Battle and Massacre of Wyoming takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., ending in a terrible defeat of the local colonists.
• July 10 - American Revolutionary War: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• July 27 - American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant - British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
• August 26 - Triglav, at 2,864 metres above sea level the highest peak of Slovenia, was ascended for the first time by four brave men: Luka Korošec, Matevž Kos, Štefan Rožič and Lovrenc Willomitzer on Sigismund Zois's initiative.
• September - The Massachusetts Banishment Act, providing punishment for Loyalists, is passed.
• November 26 - In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to discover Maui.
• France introduced the first state-controlled brothel.
• The first settlement was made in the area of what is now Louisville, Kentucky by 13 families under Col. George Rogers Clark.
• Phillips Academy, the most prestigious secondary boarding school in the United States, was founded by Samuel Phillips Jr.
• first Ironbridge

Births

• January 3 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (d. 1861)
• February 22 - Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
• March 19 - Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
• April 10 - William Hazlitt, English essayist (d. 1830)
• May 18 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British politician (d. 1854)
• August 11 - Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German patriot (d. 1852)
• September 8 - Clemens Brentano, German poet (d. 1842)
• September 19 - Henry Peter Brougham, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1868)
• November 1 - Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. 1837)
• November 25 - Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer (d. 1856)
• December 17 - Sir Humphry Davy, English chemist (d. 1829)
• December 19 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte (d. 1851)
• December 28 - Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d. 1846)

Deaths

• January 10 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (b. 1707)
• February 18 - Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)
• February 20 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
• March 5 - Thomas Augustine Arne, English compoer (b. 1710)
• March 7 - Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (b. 1720)
• March 13 - Charles le Beau, French historian (b. 1701)
• April 22 - James Hargreaves, English weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b. 1720)
• May 16 - Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat and politician (b. 1718)
• May 30 - Voltaire, French philosopher (b. 1694)
• June 12 - Philip Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1716)
• June 16 - Konrad Ekhof, German actor (b. 1720)
• June 24 - Pieter Burmann the Younger, Dutch philologist (b. 1714)
• July 2 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (b. 1712)
• July 2 - Bathsheba Ruggles, American murderer (b. 1746?)
• August 5 - Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
• August 12 - Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)
• November 9 - Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (b. 1720)
• November 20 - Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726)

1778

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