Events January–March January 2 – Alexander Pope's poem Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot is published in London. January 8 – George Frideric Handel's opera Ariodante is premièred at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. February 3 – All 256 people on board the Dutch East India Company ships Vliegenthart and Anna Catherina die when the two ships sink in a gale off of the Netherlands coast. The wreckage of Vliegenthart remains undiscovered until 1981. February 14 – The Order of St. Anna is established in Russia, in honor of the daughter of Peter the Great. March 10 – The Russian Empire and Persia sign the Treaty of Ganja, with Russia ceding territories in the Caucasus mountains to Persia, and the two rivals forming a defensive alliance against the Ottoman Empire. March 11 – Abraham Patras becomes the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) upon the death of Dirck van Cloon. April–June April 13 – Emperor Sakuramachi accedes to the throne of Japan. April 16 – Alcina, George Frideric Handel's Italian opera, premieres at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. May 22 – George Hadley publishes the first explanation of the trade winds. June 15 – Lê Thuần Tông, Emperor of Đại Việt since 1732, dies at the age of 36 and is succeeded by Lê Ý Tông. June 25 – In Great Britain, the Engraving Copyright Act 1734, the first of a series of copyright protection laws, takes effect after being given royal assent by King George II. July–September July 11 – Pluto (not known at this time) enters a fourteen-year period inside the orbit of Neptune, which will not recur until 1979. August 14 – Freedom of the press: The New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true. September 4 – Al-Husayn I ibn Ali, the first Bey of Tunis (now Tunisia) is defeated at the Battle of Smindja by Abu l-Hasan Ali I with the help of Ibrahim ben Ramdan, the Dey of Algiers. September 14 – The Kingdom of France approves the issue of "card money" in the total amount of 200,000 livres to serve as currency in its Louisiana territory in America. September 22 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, becomes the first British premier to