7. 1722
Afghan forces defeat the Safavid Empire at the Battle of Gulnabad. The defeat fatally weakens Safavid rule and accelerates the collapse of one of Persia’s most powerful dynasties.
8. 1736
Nader Shah is crowned ruler of Iran, founding the Afsharid dynasty. His rise ends the Safavid era and begins a new period of Persian imperial expansion.
9. 1775
Thomas Paine publishes the essay ‘African Slavery in America’, one of the earliest printed attacks on slavery in the American colonies, arguing for emancipation and condemning human bondage.