1763

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Events

January–March

January 27 – The seat of colonial administration in the Viceroyalty of Brazil is moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro.
February 1 – The colonial authorities in the Province of North Carolina establish Mecklenburg County from the western portion of Anson County. The county is named for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who married George III in 1761.
February 10 – Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war, and France cedes Canada (New France) to Great Britain.<ref name="Pocket On This Day">Template:Cite book</ref>
February 15 – The Treaty of Hubertusburg puts an end to the Seven Years' War between Prussia and Austria, and their allies France and Russia.
February 23 – The Berbice Slave Uprising starts in the former Dutch colony of Berbice.
March 1 – Charles Townshend becomes President of the Board of Trade in the British government.

April–June

April 6 – The Théâtre du Palais-Royal, home to the Paris Opera for almost 90 years, is destroyed in an accidental fire.<ref>Pannill Camp, The First Frame: Theatre Space in Enlightenment France (Cambridge University Press, 2014) p148</ref>
April 16 – George Grenville takes office as the new Prime Minister of Great Britain, after the Earl of Bute resigns amid criticism over Britain's concessions in the Treaty of Paris.<ref>Richard Archer, As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2010) p1</ref>
April 18 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau is hanged near her home at Saint-Vallier, Quebec before being gibbeted after being found guilty by a military tribunal of twelve officers of murdering her husband.<ref> F. Murray Greenwood and Beverley Boissery, Uncertain Justice: Canadian Women and Capital Punishment, 1754-1953 (Dundurn, 2000) p. 54</ref> She becomes famous in French Canadian folklore as "la Corriveau".
April 19 – Teedyuscung, known as the "King of the Delaware Indians" (the Lenape tribe) is assassinated by arsonists who burn down his home in Pennsylvania while he is sleeping, in an apparent retaliation for signing the Treaty of Easton to relinquish Lenape claims to the Province of New Jersey.<ref>Kevin Kenny, Peaceable Kingdom Lost: The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn's Holy Experiment (Oxford University Press, 2011) p116</ref>
April 23 – The controversial Issue 45 of John Wilkes's satirical newspaper The North Briton is published as a response to a speech four days earlier by King George III praising the end of the Seven Years' War.<ref>Amelia Rauser, Caricature Unmasked: Irony, Authenticity, and Individualism in Eighteenth-century English Prints (University of Delaware Press, 2008) p51</ref> In what will become a test case for freedom of speech, Wilkes, a member of Parliament, is arrested for libel of the King and imprisoned, then exiled to France.
April 27 – Outraged by the British success in taking control of land in North America formerly occupied by the French, Pontiac, chief of the Odawa people, convenes a conference near Detroit and convinces the leaders of 17 other nations of the need to attack British outposts.<ref name=Dunn>Walter S. Dunn, People of the American Frontier: The Coming of the American Revolution (Greenwood, 2005) p37</ref>
May 7 – Chief Pontiac begins "Pontiac's War" by attacking the British garrison at Fort Detroit, but the surprise attack is given away by a young native girl who informs the British of the plan.<ref name=Dunn/> Two days later he begins the Siege of Fort Detroit.
June 2 – Pontiac's War: At what becomes Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
June 28 – A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shakes Hungary and Slovakia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Damage is limited, but 83 are killed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

July–September

July 7 – The British East India Company declares Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, to be deposed.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology322">Template:Cite book</ref>
July 9 – The Mozart family grand tour of Europe began, lifting the profile of child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
August 2 – Mir Qasim is routed at Odwa Nala.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology322"/> He flees to Patna, where he massacres the English garrison, but is subsequently defeated at Katwa, Murshidabad, Giria, Sooty, Udayanala and Munger.
August 3 and 4 – Amsterdam banking crisis: The spectacular bankruptcies of Leendert Pieter de Neufville and Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky lead to a financial contagion which in the following days affects many merchants in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin and Stockholm.
August 5 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run, in the Pennsylvania backcountry.
August – Fire in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, destroys 2,600 houses.
September 1 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow.

October–December

October 7 – The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is issued by George III of Great Britain, restricting the westward expansion of British North America, and stabilizing relations with the indigenous peoples of the Americas, by barring white settlement of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
November 24 – Bayes' theorem is first announced.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
December 2 – Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, is dedicated; by the end of the 20th century, this will be the oldest surviving synagogue in North America.
December 14 – The Paxton Boys massacre six Conestoga Indians in their homes in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When the 16 survivors are sheltered in the Lancaster workhouse (jail), the Paxton Boys ride into town and kill them as well, on December 27.