1683 The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.
1707 The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
1707 The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1708 Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1709 Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria fight against France.
1718 Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
1727 George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain.
1736 Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French, under Louisiana governor Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.
1739 Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain's mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, South Carolina.
1739 War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
1755 French and Indian War: the French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.
1756 The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
1758 French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
1758 French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. Fort Pitt is built nearby and it grows into modern Pittsburgh.
1759 The British capture Quebec City.
1761 George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are crowned King and Queen, respectively, of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1762 Seven Years' War: conclusion of the Battle of Manila between Britain and Spain, which resulted in the British occupation of Manila for the rest of the war.
1765 American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
1765 The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
1770 James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1772 The British schooner ''Gaspée'' is burned off the coast of Rhode Island.
1774 American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
1774 Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
1774 First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1776 American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
1776 Delaware Separation Day – Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
1776 The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1776 World's first submarine attack: the American submersible craft ''Turtle'' attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS ''Eagle'' in New York Harbor.
1776 American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.
1776 George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the Kingdom of Great Britain's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.
1777 American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey
1777 American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
1778 American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1778 American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1779 Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar begins.
1780 American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
1781 The Battle of Groton Heights takes place, resulting a British victory.
1781 At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis' sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.
1782 American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris — In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
1783 The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
1783 American Revolutionary War: the war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1783 American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
1792 Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1794 The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
1796 The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
1798 The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize.
1799 The entire Dutch fleet is captured by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell during the Second Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 The Act of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1801 The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1829 The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.