Year 1721 (MDCCXXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar.

Events

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January–June

• January 6 – The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble in England publishes its findings.
• March 24 – Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg concertos completed and dedicated to Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
• April 4 – Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Great Britain (although this is more a term of disparagement at this time).^[1]
• May 8 – Pope Innocent XIII succeeds Pope Clement XI as the 244th pope.

July–December

• September 10 – The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War.
• November 2 – Peter I is proclaimed the first Emperor of All the Russias.
• December 22 – Philip V of Spain signs in Lerma a Royal Decree transforming the Seminary of Saint Rose of Lima in Caracas into the Universidad Real y Pontificia de Caracas.

Date unknown

• Regular mail service between Long Island and New England is established.^[2]
• A suggestion box is developed under the eighth shogun of Japan, Yoshimune Tokugawa.

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Births

• January 10 – Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar (d. 1740)
• February 3 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
• February 21 – John McKinly, American physician and President of Delaware (d. 1796)
• March 19 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish physician and author (d. 1771)
• April 11 – David Zeisberger, Moravian missionary (d. 1808)
• April 15 – Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765)
• April 19 – Roger Sherman, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (d. 1803)
• July 9 – Johann Nikolaus G tz, German poet (d. 1781)
• July 14 – John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (d. 1807)
• August 4 – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
• August 31 – George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, British statesman (d. 1775)
• September 14 – Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge (d. 1807)
• October 19 – Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800)
• November 9 – Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (d. 1770)
• November 22 – Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres, Swiss-born cartographer and Canadian statesman (d. 1824)
• December 6 – James Elphinston, Scottish philologist (d. 1809)
• December 6 – Guillaume-Chr tien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (d. 1794)
• December 27 – Fran ois Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher (d. 1790)
• December 29 – Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (d. 1764)

Deaths

• February 16 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician (b. 1686)
• February 24 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (b. 1648)
• March 16 – James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b. 1657)
• March 19 – Pope Clement XI (b. 1649)
• March 29 – Charles Vane, English pirate
• April 14 – Michel Chamillart, French statesman (b. 1652)
• April – Mary Read, English pirate (b. c. 1695)
• July 8 – Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (b. 1649)
• July 18 – Antoine Watteau, French painter (b. 1684)
• August 3 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-born woodcarver (b. 1648)
• August 13 – Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (b. 1665)
• September 8
  • Michael Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b. 1686)
  • Henri Arnaud, French pastor and leader of the Waldenses (b. 1641)
• September 11 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (b. 1665)
• September 18 – Matthew Prior, British poet and diplomat (b. 1664)
• September 20 – Thomas Doggett, Irish actor (b. c. 1670)
• October 11 – Edward Colston, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1636)
• December 13 – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor (original "Robinson Crusoe") (b. 1676)
• December 17 – Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1650)
• date unknown – Sultan Abdullah Khan Abdali, Persian Governor of Herat, Shah of Herat (b. 1670)

References

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