The 18th century opened in 1701 as new ideas from the Enlightenment began to ripple through European salons and academies, questioning divine right and aristocratic privilege. Thinkers like Voltaire and Locke argued for reason, individual rights and social contracts, planting seeds that would later sprout in revolutionary zeal.Mid-century the Industrial Revolution quietly gathered steam in Britain’s textile mills and ironworks, transforming rural crafts into factory lines and reshaping societies. At sea the Age of Sail reached its zenith, carrying colonists, convicts and goods across oceans while intensifying European empires in North America, Asia and Africa.Along those same Atlantic routes the slave trade expanded, tragically transporting millions into bondage even as Russia and China began to curb similar practices at home. Meanwhile, mounting tensions over taxes and governance ignited the American Revolution in 1775, inspiring further upheaval.By 1789 the French Revolution shattered old hierarchies, toppling a monarchy and ushering in republican fervour—only to be darkened by the Reign of Terror and continental wars that pitted revolutionary France against coalitions of monarchies fearful of losing power.The century closed in 1800 with Europe battered by conflict, Britain secure as a global naval power, and former colonies forging new nations. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lay partitioned between empires, while Enlightenment ideals and industrial machines set the stage for the modern age.

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18th Century Town