On his first voyage, Captain James Cook of HMS Endeavour landed at Botany Bay, then charted Australia's east coast and claimed it for Britain.
British soldiers fire into a crowd in Boston, killing five people and heightening tensions between the colonies and Britain.
James Watt's patent for a separate condenser makes steam engines far more efficient, driving the Industrial Revolution.
Colonists protesting British taxation dump an entire shipment of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.
The first clashes between colonial militia and British troops in Massachusetts begin the American Revolutionary War.
The Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the 13 colonies free from Britain.
British General John Burgoyne surrenders to the Continental Army at Saratoga, a victory that helps bring France into an alliance with the Americans.