1771

Year 1771 (MDCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1771

January–June

• January 5 – Great Kalmyk (Torguud) Migration back to the homeland
• January 9 – Emperor Go-Momozono accedes to the throne of Japan, following his aunt's abdication.
• March – War of the Regulation: North Carolina Governor William Tryon raises a militia to put down the long running uprising of backcountry militias against North Carolina's colonial government.
• March 12 – The North Carolina General Assembly establishes Wake County (named for Margaret Wake, the wife of North Carolina Royal Governor William Tryon) from portions of Cumberland, Johnston and Orange counties. Bloomsbury (later known as Wake Courthouse) is made the informal county seat.
• May 11 – War of the Regulation: North Carolina Governor William Tryon marches his militia out of Hillsborough to come to the aid of General Hugh Waddell's beleaguered forces. Tryon's army stops at Alamance Creek, 5 miles (8.0 km) away from the Regulator army.
• May 16 – War of the Regulation: The Battle of Alamance commences after Regulators reject an appeal by Governor Tryon to peacefully disperse. Governor Tryon's forces crush the rebellion, causing many Regulators to move to frontier areas outside of North Carolina.
• 23 May – Battle of Lanckorona: A force of 4,000 Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat a Polish formation of 1,300 men.
• May – The Three battles of Sarbakusa: an alliance of three of the most powerful aristocrats of Ethiopia -- Goshu of Amhara, Wand Bewossen, and Fasil of Damot -- defeats Ras Mikael Sehul and Emperor Tekle Haymanot I, taking control of Ethiopia.

July–December

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex in Chengde, China is completed.

• July 17 – Bloody Falls Massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
• August 8 – The first recorded town cricket match is played at Horsham; the Horsham Cricket Club is later formed.
• September 8 – In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission San Gabriel Arcangel in what is now San Gabriel, California.
• October 9 – The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks near the coast of Finland; Captain Raymund Lourens and his crew escape unharmed.
• November 16 – During the night the Tyne floods, destroying many bridges and killing several people; the main bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne is not completed until 1781.
• November 17 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15.

Undated

• The territory of Baden-Baden is inherited by the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, forming Baden.
• Plague in Moscow kills 57,000.

Plague Riot in Moscow, 1771

• The trade monopoly with Iceland is transferred to the Danish crown.
• Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russian forces under Prince Vasily Dolgorukov occupy the Crimea.
• The North Carolina General Assembly passes an act establishing the town of Martinsborough, named for Royal Governor Josiah Martin, on the land of Richard Evans, which will serve as the county seat of Pitt County.
• Construction of the Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex in Chengde, China is completed during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
• István Küzmics the Hungarian Slovene writer and Evangelic pastor issues the Nouvi Zákon, a translation of the Holy Gospel in prekmurian language, with discrete artwork in the South Slavic in Slovene literature.

Ongoing events

• Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774.
• War of the Regulation (1764–1771).
• Captain James Cook's first voyage (1768–1771).

Births

• April 13 – Richard Trevithick, English inventor (d. 1833)
• April 18 – Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820)
• April 27 – Jean Rapp, French general (d. 1821)
• May 16 – Louis Henri Loison, French general (d. 1816)
• June 5 – Ernest Augustus I of Hanover (d. 1851)
• August 15 – Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and poet (d. 1832)
• September 5 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Austrian general and statesman (d. 1847)
• September 23 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
• October 9 – Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick (d. 1815)
• October 23 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d. 1813)
• November 14 – Marie François Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and physiologist (d. 1802)

Deaths

• January 5 – John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)
• January 11 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)
• February 12 – King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (b. 1710)
• February 20 – Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)
• March 8 – Louis August le Clerc, French-born sculptor (b. 1688)
• May 21 – Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)
• June 8 – George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English statesman (b. 1716)
• July 30 – Thomas Gray, English writer (b. 1716)
• September 17 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (b. 1721)
• November 6 – John Bevis, English physician and astronomer (b. 1695)
• November 13 – Konrad Ernst Ackermann, German actor (b. 1712)
• December 6 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (b. 1682)
• December 23 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian saint (b. 1701)
• December 26 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
• December 27 – Henri Pitot, Italian-born French engineer (b. 1695)