1773

Years: 1770 1771 1772 - 1773 - 1774 1775 1776
Decades: 1740s 1750s 1760s - 1770s - 1780s 1790s 1800s
Centuries: 17th century - 18th century - 19th century

1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar).

Events

January 12 - The first American museum open to the public is opened in (Charleston, South Carolina).
January 17 - Captain James Cook becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle
April 27 or May 10 - The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
May 8 - Ali Bey dies of wounds received in a skirmish with Ottoman rebels
October 12 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Williamsburg, Virginia
October 14 - Commission of National Education (Polish Komisja Edukacji Narodowej) formed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is considered to be the first ministry of education in the history of mankind
December 16 - Boston Tea Party

Antigua Guatemala is destroyed by an earthquake and the capital of Guatemala is moved to Guatemala City
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II expels Jesuits from the Empire, and Pope Clement XIV orders the dissolution of the Society of Jesus.
Baron de Morveau experiments with chlorine as a disinfectant
Daniel Boone leads some pioneers into Kentucky. "Native American Indians" attack, and Boone's son is killed
Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea

January 27 - Prince Augustus of Great Britain, later Duke of Sussex, sixth son of King George III
February 9 - William Henry Harrison, American military leader and U.S. President (d. 1841)
March 14 - John Holmes, American politician
March 16 - Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and political figure (d. 1836)
March 26 - Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician and author of The American Practical Navigator (d. 1836)
April 9 - Étienne Aignan, French writer, librettist, and playwright (d. 1824)
May 3 - Giuseppe Acerbi, Italian explorer (d. 1846)
May 15 - Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, statesman (d. 1859)
May 19 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (d. 1854)
May 31 - Ludwig Tieck, German writer (d. 1853)
July 5 - Prince Louis of Bourbon-Parma , later King of Etruria
July 23 - Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer and Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)
August 22 - Aimé Bonpland, French explorer and botanist (d. 1858)
October 6 - Louis Philippe, Duc de Chartres, later Duc d'Orleans and King of the French. (d. 1850)
December 21 - Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (d. 1858)
December 27 - Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer.
Henry Hunt, British politician (d. 1835)