1773

January–March

• January 1 - The hymn that becomes known as Amazing Grace, at this time titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17", is first used to accompany a sermon led by curate John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
• January 12 - The first museum in the American colonies is established in Charleston, South Carolina; in 1915, it is formally incorporated as the Charleston Museum.
• January 17 - Second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.
• January 18 - The first opera performance in the Swedish language, Thetis and Phelée, performed by Carl Stenborg and Elisabeth Olin in Bollhuset in Stockholm, Sweden, marks the establishment of the Royal Swedish Opera.
• February 8 - The Grand Council of Poland meets in Warsaw, summoned by a circular letter from King Stanisław August Poniatowski to respond to the Kingdom's threatened partition between three foreign powers.
• February 27 - The construction of Christ Church, known for being the house of worship for George Washington and the visiting site for subsequent U.S. presidents, is completed.
• March 9-19 - Second voyage of James Cook: Tobias Furneaux in explores the coast of Van Diemen's Land.
• March 15 - The popular comedy She Stoops to Conquer, by Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith, is performed for the first time, premiering at London's Covent Garden Theatre.

  April–June

• April 27 - The Parliament of Great Britain 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 - In Egypt, Ottoman rebels revolt, killing Ali Bey, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.
• June 10 - The Regulating Act is given royal assent by King George III, creating the office of Governor General, with an advising council, to exercise political authority over the territory under British East India Company rule in India.

  July–September

• July 14 - The first annual conference of American Methodists is convened at Philadelphia in St. George's Church.
• July 21 - Under pressure from the Bourbon courts, Pope Clement XIV suppresses the Society of Jesus. Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, expels the order from his territories.
• July 29 - Guatemala earthquake: The Santa Marta earthquake hits, with an estimated epicentral magnitude of 7.5 M_i, strikes Guatemala; numerous aftershocks last until December. The city of Antigua Guatemala is virtually destroyed, leading to the decision to move the country's capital to La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción.
• August 11 - Second voyage of James Cook in the Tuamotus: Captain Cook discovers Tekokota, which he names Doubtful Island.
• August 12 - Second voyage of James Cook in the Tuamotus: Captain Cook discovers Marutea Nord, which he names Furneaux Island.
• September 11 - The Public Advertiser publishes a satirical essay titled , written by Benjamin Franklin.

  October–December

• October 10
• * Daniel Boone leads the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement in Kentucky, but is turned back in an attack by Native Americans, in which his son is killed.
• * Paul Revere marries Rachel Walker, his second wife.
• October 12 – America's first insane asylum opens, for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds, in Williamsburg, Virginia.
• October 13 – French astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting, grand design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years, in the constellation Canes Venatici.
• October 14 – The Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, formed in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, is considered to be the world's first ministry of education.
• November 10 – Four ships— the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, the Beaver and the William— depart Britain for America, carrying the first Indian tea to be subject to the newly enacted taxes. The William is lost in a storm; the Dartmouth is the first ship to reach Boston, docking on November 28.
• December 16 – Boston Tea Party: A group of American colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, steal aboard ships of the East India Company and dump their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor, in protest against British tax policies.

  Date unknown

• Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russian forces fail to take Silistria.
• Emelian Pugachev starts Pugachev's Rebellion in Russia, attacking and occupying Samara.
• John Harrison's wins the Longitude prize, for his invention of the marine chronometer.
• Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea.
• Istanbul Technical University is established as the world's first comprehensive institution of higher learning dedicated to engineering education.
• In China, written work begins on the Siku Quanshu, the largest literary compilation of books in China's history. Upon completion in 1782, the books are bound in 36,381 volumes with more than 79,000 chapters, comprising about 2.3 million pages, and approximately 800 million Chinese characters.
• Scottish judge James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, begins publication of Of the Origin and Progress of Language, a contribution to evolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment.
• Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock publishes the last five cantos of his epic poem Der Messias in Hamburg.