1732
George Washington Born
On a tobacco farm beside Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Augustine Washington's second wife Mary Ball bore a son named George. His father would die when George was eleven, leaving him to be raised by an elder half-brother, a surveyor's apprenticeship, and the colonial frontier. Before the century ended he would command an army, preside over a convention, and become the first president of a new republic.
Osei Tutu II and the Ashanti Golden Age
Under Opoku Ware I, successor to the founding king, the Ashanti Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, absorbing Bono, Dagomba, and Gonja into a confederation bound by the Golden Stool. Kumasi's court traded gold dust with the Dutch and adjudicated disputes with a sophistication that European visitors grudgingly admired. A network of roads radiated from the capital, and messengers carried royal decrees to vassal chiefs within days.
Covent Garden Theatre Opens
John Rich, flush with the profits of The Beggar's Opera, built a new theater on the piazza of Covent Garden and opened it with Congreve's The Way of the World. It would burn and be rebuilt twice. Generations later, after opera had colonized its stage, it became the Royal Opera House.
Georgia Colony Chartered
James Oglethorpe, a reformist MP, received a royal charter to settle debtors and persecuted Protestants in the pine barrens between Carolina and Spanish Florida. Slavery and rum would be banned, Catholics excluded. It would be the last of the thirteen English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard. It would also fail its founders.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1732?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1732. The most significant is George Washington Born: On a tobacco farm beside Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Augustine Washington's second wife Mary Ball bore a son named George.
What era was 1732 part of?
1732 falls within the Enlightenment (1651-1800). Reason, revolution, and the first global wars.
Which regions saw notable events in 1732?
The curated events from 1732 span North America, Africa and Europe.