1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).
Events
- January 11 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
- January 13 - The Távora family is executed following the accusation of attempted regicide on Joseph I of Portugal
- January 15 - The British Museum opens
- April 13 - a French army defeats Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick at Brunswick
- June 27 - British Troops under Jeffrey Amherst take Fort Ticonderoga
- July 25 - Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): In Canada, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
- August 1 - Battle of Minden - Anglo-Hanoverian forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat the French army of the Duc de Broglie, but due to the disobedience of the English cavalry commander Lord George Sackville, the French are able to withdraw unmolested.
- August 10 - Ferdinand VI of Spain dies and is succeeded by his half-brother Charles III. Charles resigns the thrones of Naples and Sicily to his third son, Ferdinand IV.
- August 12 - Battle of Kunersdorf - Frederick the Great is rebuffed in bloody assaults on the combined Austro-Russian army of Peter Soltikov and Gideon von Loudon. This is one of Frederick's greatest defeats.
- August 18 - Battle of Lagos - The British fleet of Edward Boscawen defeats a French force under Commodore de la Clue off the Portuguese coast.
- September 10 - Naval Battle of Pondicherry - An inconclusive naval battle is fought off the coast of India between the French Admiral d'Aché and the British under George Pocock. The French forces are badly damaged and returned home, never to return.
- September 13 - Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): Quebec falls to British forces following General Wolfe's victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General James Wolfe are fatally wounded.
- November 20 - Battle of Quiberon Bay - The English fleet of Sir Edward Hawke defeats a French fleet under Hubert de Conflans near the coast of Brittany. This is the decisive naval engagement of the Seven Years War - after this, the French are no longer able to field a significant fleet.
- November 21 - Battle of Maxen - the Austrian army of Marshal von Daun cuts off and foces the surrender of a Prussian force under Friedrich von Finck.
- December 6 - The Germantown Union School (now called "Germantown Academy"), America's oldest nonsectarian day school, is founded.
- George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis
- Adam Smith publishes Theory of Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures
- Publication of Voltaire's Candide
- The town of Egedesminde (modern Aasiaat) is founded in Greenland.
Ongoing events
Births
- January 25 - Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
- February 15 - Friedrich August Wolf, German philologist and archaeologist (d. 1824)
- May 20 - William Thornton, American architect (d. 1828)
- May 28 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
- September 19 - William Kirby, English entomologist (d. 1850)
- October 25 - Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg, empress of Paul I of Russia (d. November 5, 1828)
- October 26 - Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (d. 1794)
- November 10 - Friedrich Schiller, German writer (d. 1805)
Deaths
- March 11 - John Forbes, British general (b. 1710)
- April 14 - George Friderich Handel, German composer (b. 1685)
- May 12 - Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)
- July 27 - Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (b. 1698)
- August 6 - Eugene Aram, English philologist (b. 1704)
- August 8 - Carl Heinrich Graun, German composer
- August 10 - King Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
- September 10 - Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (b. 1703)
- September 13 - James Wolfe, British general (b. 1727)
- September 14 - Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (b. 1712)
- October 13 - John Henley, English minister (b. 1692)
- November 29 - Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1687)