monarchy. 1704: End of Japan's Genroku period. 1704: First Javanese War of Succession. 1706–1713: The War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the battles of Ramillies and Turin. 1707: Death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb leads to the fragmentation of the Mughal Empire. 1707: The Act of Union is passed, merging the Scottish and English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1708: The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and English Company Trading to the East Indies merge to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies. 1708–1709: Famine kills one-third of East Prussia's population. 1709: Foundation of the Hotak Afghan Empire. 1709: The Great Frost of 1709 marks the coldest winter in 500 years, contributing to the defeat of Sweden at Poltava. 1710: The world's first copyright legislation, Britain's Statute of Anne, takes effect. 1710–1711: Ottoman Empire fights Russia in the Russo-Turkish War and regains Azov. 1711: Bukhara Khanate dissolves as local begs seize power. 1711–1715: Tuscarora War between British, Dutch, and German settlers and the Tuscarora people of North Carolina. 1713: The Kangxi Emperor acknowledges the full recovery of the Chinese economy since its apex during the Ming. 1714: In Amsterdam, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the mercury-in-glass thermometer, which remains the most reliable and accurate thermometer until the electronic era. 1715: The first Jacobite rising breaks out; the British halt the Jacobite advance at the Battle of Sheriffmuir; Battle of Preston. 1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the present-day India-Pakistan border. 1716–1718: Austro-Venetian-Turkish War. 1718: The city of New Orleans is founded by the French in North America. 1718–1720: War of the Quadruple Alliance between Spain, France, Britain, Austria, and the Netherlands. 1718–1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire. 1719: Second Javanese War of Succession. 1720: The South Sea Bubble. 1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille. 1720: Qing forces oust Dzungar invaders from Tibet. 1721: The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War. 1721: Sack of Shamakhi, massacre of its Shia population by Sunni Lezgins. 1722: Siege of Isfahan results in the handover of Iran to the Hotaki Afghans. 1722–1723: Russo-Persian War. 1722–1725: Controversy over William Wood's halfpence leads to the Drapier's Letters and begins the Irish economic independence from England movement. 1723: Slavery is abolished in Russia; Peter the Great converts household slaves into house serfs. 1723–1730: The "Great Disaster", an