1774 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events

• January 21 - Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid I.
• May 10 - Louis XVI becomes King of France.
• June 2 - Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to let British soldiers into their homes, is reenacted.
• July 21 - Russo-Turkish War, 1768-74: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending six years of war. The treaty does give Russia the right to intervene in Ottoman politics to protect its Christian subjects.
• September 5 - First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• The British pass the Quebec Act setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America.

Births

• February 11 - Hans Jarta, Swedish political activist/administrator/publicist
• February 17 - Raphael Peale , painter
• February 24 - Prince Adolphus of Great Britain, 1st Duke of Cambridge
• August 12 - Robert Southey, English Romantic poet, biographer (d. 1843)

Deaths

• January 21 - Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
• April 4 - Oliver Goldsmith, English playwright
• May 10 - King Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
• August 25 - Niccolò Jommelli, composer
• September 22 - Pope Clement XIV
• December 2 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, composer