1772 - Definition and Overview

Events

• February 17 - First partition of Poland, by Russia and Prussia, later including Austria
• May - Watauga Association formed in East Tennessee as the first independent Anglo-American government.
• June 9 - British vessel Gaspee is burned off of Rhode Island.
• August 5 - First Partition of Poland begins.
• August 21 - The coup d'etat by King Gustav III is completed by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and creating him an enlightened despot.
• September 1 - Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
• November 2 - American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.

Births

• March 10 - Friedrich von Schlegel, aesthetician, poet, and publicist (+ 1829)
• April 7 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (+ 1837)
• April 19 - David Ricardo, British Economist (+ 1823)
• May 2 - Novalis, German poet (+ 1801)
• May 20 - William Congreve, British rocket pioneer.
• May 22 - Ram Mohan Roy, Hindu religious and social reformer
• June 6 - Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, later wife of Emperor Francis II
• August 2 - Louis Antoine de Bourbon-Condé, Duc d'Enghien
• August 15 - Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, inventor
• August 24 - Prince William VI of Orange, later King William I of the Netherlands
• October 21 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet, philosopher, (+ 1834)
• November 23 - Duke Augustus of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
• Tuanku Imam Bonjol, Indonesian religious and military leader

Deaths

• February 8 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Dowager Princess of Wales.
• March 26 - Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (born 1704)
• March 29 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (born 1668)
• September 30 - James Brindley, British canal builder (born 1716)
• October 7 - John Woolman, American Quaker (born 1720)
• Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist and composer (born 1711)
• William Borlase, English antiquary (born 1695)
• Louis Claude Daquin, French composer (born 1694)
• Samuel Scott, English painter (born 1702)
• Georg Reutter, Austrian composer (born 1708)
• Madhavrao Peshwa, Peshwa ruler in India.