| Year |
Austen |
Literary history |
Political history |
| 1770 |
|
- Publication of Goldsmith's poem The Deserted Village
|
- January – Frederick, Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain (1770–1782)
|
| 1771 |
- 8 June – Henry-Thomas Austen (Jane's brother) born at Steventon
|
- Publication of the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica completed (begun 1768)
|
- Richard Arkwright opens the first cotton mill in Cromford, Derbyshire, England
|
| 1772 |
|
- Publication of final volumes of plates of L'Encyclopedie (begun 1751)
|
- 22 June – Slavery is effectively outlawed in England
|
| 1773 |
- 9 January – Cassandra Elizabeth Austen (Austen's sister) born at Steventon
- 23 March – Rev. Austen becomes rector of Deane parish in addition to Steventon
- Pupils live at Steventon from 1773 to 1796
|
|
- 16 December – American colonists protest against British policies by dumping tea into Boston Harbour
|
| 1774 |
- 23 April – Francis-William (Frank) Austen (Jane's brother) born at Steventon
|
- Publication of Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther
|
- May – Louis XVI (pictured) ascends to the throne of France
- Warren Hastings becomes the first Governor-General of India
|
| 1775 |
- 16 December – Jane Austen born at Steventon
|
- Publication of Samuel Johnson's travel narrative A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
|
- 19 April – American War of Independence begins with the Battle of Lexington (1775–1783)
|
| 1776 |
|
- Publication of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
|
|
| 1778 |
|
- Publication of Frances Burney's novel Evelina
- Publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Reveries of a Solitary Walker
|
|
| 1779 |
- 23 June – Charles John Austen (Jane's brother) born at Steventon
- 3 July – James Austen matriculates at St. John's College, Oxford
|
- Publication of Johnson's (pictured) biographies Lives of the Poets (1779–1781)
|
|