1709 - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 12 - Two-month freezing period begins in France - The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail and at least 24.000 Parisians die
• February 2 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• June 27- Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava.
• July 8 - Battle of Poltava - In the Ukraine, Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe
• August 8 - Hot air balloon of Bartholome de Gusmao flies in Portugal
• September 11 - Battle of Malplaquet - Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria defeat France
• Emperor Nakamikado ascends to the throne of Japan
• First pianoforte built in Florence by Bartolommeo Cristofori

Ongoing events

• Great Northern War (1700-1721)
• War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713)

Births

• February 24 - Jacques de Vaucanson, inventor (died 1782)
• March 10 - Georg Steller, German naturalist (died 1746)
• August 7 - Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan, French poet (died 1784)
• September 18 - Samuel Johnson, writer (died 1784)
• December 18 - Princess Elizabeth of Russia, later reigning Empress of Russia (died 1762)
• Charles Collé, French dramatist (died 1783)
• John Cleland, novelist (died 1789)

Deaths

• September 14 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, cardinal archbishop of Toledo (born 1635)
• December 8 - Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (born 1625)
• Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (born 1675)