1776

1776 (MDCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1776th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 776th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 18th century, and the 7th year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1776, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

• July 4 - the United States of America say that they are no longer part of England (the Declaration of Independence)
• July 12 - Captain James Cook starts his third, and final, voyage to the Pacific Ocean
• The city of San Francisco is founded in California, USA (San Francisco was then part of Spain).
• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is published. It is an important book in the history of economics.

• January 24 - E.T.A. Hoffmann, German writer, composer, and painter (died 1822)
• February 11 - Joannis Capodistrias, Greek governor of Troezen (died 1831)
• March 10 - Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia (died 1810)
• April 1 - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (died 1831)
• June 11 - John Constable, English painter (died 1837)
• August 9 - Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist (died 1856)
• Muttusvami Dikshitar, Indian composer

• August 25 - David Hume, Scotish philosopher