1768
Cook's Endeavour Sails from Plymouth
A Yorkshire coal-ship's master, commissioned lieutenant, sailed south with astronomers, a botanist named Banks, and sealed orders: observe the Venus transit from Tahiti, then search for a southern continent. James Cook would not return for three years. He would return having added a continent's coastline to the map. The voyage would also yield botanical, zoological, and ethnographic collections that transformed European knowledge of the Pacific.
Russo-Turkish War Begins
The Ottomans, egged on by France, declared war on Russia over Polish incursions. Catherine welcomed the excuse. Her fleet would sail from the Baltic around Europe to the Aegean; her armies would march to the Danube. The Ottoman Empire was about to discover that Russia had become a Black Sea power.
First Partition Negotiations on Poland Begin
Russia, Prussia, and Austria began discussing how to carve up their weak neighbor. Catherine's armies were already in Warsaw installing a puppet king. Frederick proposed sharing. The idea would take four years to implement - but Poland's death was already in the diplomatic pouches of three capitals. The Poles, whose liberum veto made reform impossible, could only watch as their neighbors negotiated away their sovereignty.
Royal Academy Founded in London
George III chartered the Royal Academy of Arts with Joshua Reynolds as its first president. In his fifteen Discourses, Reynolds gave British painting a philosophy; Turner would later enroll at fourteen. London at last had an institution to tell artists what great painting was - and to ignore when necessary.