Enlightenment · North America · Culture

1715

Samson the Elephant in Boston

May 30, 1715

A young Indian elephant, shipped from Bengal to Massachusetts by a sea captain as a curiosity, was exhibited to paying crowds in Boston: the first elephant ever seen in North America. Puritan ministers disapproved; small boys stared. The commerce of the exotic, and the age of the American sideshow, had discreetly begun.

More from 1715 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1715 (3 other events on record)

Death of Louis XIV · Europe · Politics
The First Jacobite Rising · Europe · War
Spanish Treasure Fleet Wrecked · North America · Exploration

Before and after in North America

Before: April 6, 1712: New York Slave Revolt
After: November 22, 1717: Blackbeard Captures La Concorde

Before and after in Culture

Before: May 1, 1713: Kangxi's Imperial Encyclopedia
After: June 24, 1717: Grand Lodge of London Formed

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.