1728
Events
January–June
- February 28 - Battle of Palkhed: Maratha Peshwa Bajirao I defeats the Mughal Governor of Deccan, Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asif Jah I, Nizam-ul-Mulk.
- March 14 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau leaves Geneva for the first time.
- May 31 - The Royal Bank of Scotland extends the first overdraft.
July–December
- July 14-August 14 - Vitus Bering sails northward from the Kamchatka Peninsula, through the Bering Strait, and round Cape Dezhnev.
- Late Summer - Voltaire ends his exile in England.
- August 29 - The City of Nuuk is founded in Greenland, as Fort Godt-Haab, by royal governor Claus Paarss.
- October 20-23 - The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 burns.
Date unknown
- English astronomer James Bradley uses stellar aberration to calculate the speed of light, and observes nutation of the Earth's axis.
- The Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de la Habana, the oldest university in Cuba, is founded in Havana.
- Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II of Great Britain, arrives in Britain for the first time, aged 21.
Births
- January 9 - Thomas Warton, English poet
- February 3 - Charles Rainsford, British general
- February 21 - Emperor Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great
- February 25 - John Wood, the Younger, English architect
- March 28 - Anton Raphael Mengs, German-Bohemian painter
- April 16 - Joseph Black, Scottish physicist and chemist
- June 22 - Anna Jabłonowska, Polish magnate and politician
- August 26 - Johann Heinrich Lambert, Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer
- August 28 - John Stark, American Revolutionary War general
- September 3 - Matthew Boulton, English manufacturer, lifelong key partner of James Watt
- September 14 - Mercy Otis Warren, American playwright
- October 5 - Chevalier d'Eon, French diplomat, spy, soldier and transvestite
- October 7 - Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence
- October 27 - James Cook, British naval commander and explorer
- November 10 - Oliver Goldsmith, Irish writer
- December 28 - Justus Claproth, German jurist, inventor of the de-inking process of recycled paper
- date unknown
- * Josefa Ordóñez, Spanish-Mexican actress, courtesan
- * James Armstrong, American politician and Major of the Continental Army
- Juan Albano Pereira Márquez godfather and tutor of Bernardo O'Higgins.
Deaths
- January 26 - Paolo de Matteis, Italian painter
- February 12 - Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat, composer
- February 13 - Cotton Mather, New England Puritan minister
- February 16
- * Maria Aurora von Königsmarck, Swedish noblewoman of Brandenburg extraction
- * Heinrich of Saxe-Weissenfels, Count of Barby, German prince
- February 25 - Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten, German general
- March 4 - Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, eldest daughter of Peter the Great
- March 7 - Frederick Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
- March 18 - George Stanhope, Dean of Canterbury
- March 20 - Camille d'Hostun, duc de Tallard, Marshal of France
- May 26 - William Cheyne, 2nd Viscount Newhaven, English politician
- April 3 - James Anderson, Scottish historian
- April 10 - Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, Swedish architect
- April 21 - Filippo Antonio Gualterio, Italian Catholic cardinal
- April 23 - Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, Spanish composer, musician and organist
- May 7 - Rose Venerini, Italian saint, educational pioneer
- May 14 - Louise Marie d'Orléans, Mademoiselle, French princess
- May 23 - William Delaune, English academic administrator and clergyman
- June 6 - David Leslie, 3rd Earl of Leven, British politician
- June 17 - Matthieu Petit-Didier, French Benedictine theologian
- June 30 - Otto Friedrich von der Groeben, Prussian traveller, soldier and author
- July 21 - Nathaniel Gould, English politician
- August 3 - Abraham de Peyster, United States politician
- August 7 - Jacques L'enfant, French Protestant pastor
- August 11 - William Sherard, English botanist
- August 15 - Marin Marais, French viol player and composer
- August 26
- * William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
- * Anne Marie d'Orléans, Queen consort of Sicily and Sardinia
- September 23 - Christian Thomasius, German jurist
- September 24 - Frederik Krag, Danish nobleman and senior civil servant
- October 1 - Robert Livingston the Elder, New York colonial official
- October 15 - Bernard de la Monnoye, French lawyer
- November 10 - Fyodor Apraksin, Russian admiral
- November 15 - Élie Benoist, French Protestant minister
- November 19 - Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince
- November 22
- * Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia, Russian grand duchess
- * Joseph Boyse, Presbyterian minister
- December 8 - Camillo Rusconi, Italian artist
- December 28 - Thomas Johnson, English politician
- date unknown
- * Giovanni Barbara, Maltese architect and military engineer
- * Dionysius Andreas Freher, German mystic
- * Stokkseyrar-Dísa, Icelandic Galdrmistress
- * Serfoji I, third Raja of the Bhonsle Dynasty
- * Maria Guyomar de Pinha, Siamese cook
