On This Day: October 7th

The epoch reference date (start) of the modern Hebrew calendar.

French corsair Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship La Confiance, captures the British 38-gun Kent.

American Revolutionary War: American militia defeat royalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina, often regarded as the turning point in the war's Southern theater.

American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat British forces under general John Burgoyne in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, compelling Burgoyne's eventual surrender.

King George III issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements.

The charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued.

The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Ottoman Navy suffers its first defeat.

War of the League of Cambrai: Spain defeats Venice.

Uppsala University is inaugurated after receiving its corporate rights from Pope Sixtus IV in February the same year.

Venetian-Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon.