1718
New Orleans Founded
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville chose a crescent in the Mississippi delta, above swamps and below bluffs, and had his men cut a grid from the cane. He named it for the Regent of France. In time the river town would speak French, Spanish, English, Creole, and jazz. Built below sea level and rebuilt after every flood and fever, it became America's most improbable and irreplaceable city.
Treaty of Passarowitz
Austria and Venice signed peace with the Ottomans in a Serbian village. Austria gained Belgrade and northern Serbia; Venice lost the Morea. Ottoman diplomats took home a new fashion for tulips and French gardens. The era of Turkish advance into Europe was definitively over; the era of Turkish decline had begun.
Charles XII Killed at Fredriksten
Charles XII of Sweden, besieging a Norwegian fortress at night, rose above the parapet to survey the lines. A musket ball, or some have whispered ever since, an assassin's bullet, struck him in the temple. The Warrior King was dead at thirty-six. Sweden's age of empire died beside him. The parliament that succeeded him stripped the monarchy of its absolute power and inaugurated an Age of Liberty.
Blackbeard Killed at Ocracoke
Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy cornered Edward Teach in a shallow inlet of the North Carolina Outer Banks. The pirate fought hand-to-hand on Maynard's deck, taking five musket-balls and twenty cuts before he fell. Maynard hung the severed head from his bowsprit. The Caribbean's most theatrical monster was gone.
Want 1718 in context? Print the whole 18th century as a one-sheet timeline chart.
Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1718?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1718. The most significant is New Orleans Founded: Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville chose a crescent in the Mississippi delta, above swamps and below bluffs, and had his men cut a grid from the cane.
What era was 1718 part of?
1718 falls within the Enlightenment (1651-1800). Reason, revolution, and the first global wars.
Which regions saw notable events in 1718?
The curated events from 1718 span North America, Middle East and Europe.