October 7

3761 BC – The epoch reference date (start) of the modern Hebrew calendar. 1403 – Venetian–Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon. 1477 – Uppsala University is inaugurated after receiving its corporate rights from Pope Sixtus IV in February the same year. 1513 – War of the League of Cambrai: Spain defeats Venice. 1571 – The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Ottoman Navy suffers its first defeat. 1691 – The charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued. 1763 – King George III issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat British forces under general John Burgoyne in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, compelling Burgoyne's eventual surrender. 1780 – American Revolutionary War: American militia defeat royalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina, often regarded as the turning point in the war's Southern theater. 1800 – French corsair Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship La Confiance, captures the British 38-gun Kent. 1826 – The Granite Railway begins operations as the first chartered railway in the U.S. 1828 – Morea expedition: The city of Patras, Greece, is liberated by the French expeditionary force. 1840 – Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands. 1864 – American Civil War: A US Navy ship captures a Confederate raider in a Brazilian seaport. 1868 – Cornell University holds opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment is 412, the highest at any American university to that date. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Léon Gambetta escapes the siege of Paris in a hot-air balloon. 1879 – Germany and Austria-Hungary sign the "Twofold Covenant" and create the Dual Alliance. 1912 – The Helsinki Stock Exchange sees its first transaction. 1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving vehicle assembly line.