Editing 1708 (section)

=== Date unknown ===
* Fearful of a [[Sweden|Swedish]] attack, the Russians blow up the city of [[Tartu]], [[Duchy of Estonia (1561–1721)|Estonia]].
* The Russians burn the city of [[Porvoo]], [[Finland]] (at the time part of Sweden).<ref>[https://porvoossa.fi/historia/ Historia – Porvoossa.fi] (in Finnish)</ref><ref>[https://metalsafaris.com/porvoo/?lang=fi About Porvoo – Metal Safaris]</ref>
* One third of the population of [[Masuria]] dies of the [[Great Northern War plague outbreak|plague]].
* [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] is appointed as chamber musician and organist, at the court in [[Weimar]].
* Italian philosopher [[Giambattista Vico]] delivers his inaugural lecture to the University of Naples, which will be published in [[1709]] as his first book, ''De Nostri Temporis Studiorum Ratione'' (''On the Order of the Scholarly Disciplines of Our Times'').
* Calcareous [[hard-paste porcelain]] is produced for the first time in Europe, at [[Dresden]], [[Saxony]], by [[Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus]], and developed after his death (October) by [[Johann Friedrich Böttger]].
* The Company of Merchants of London Trading (with consent of the [[Parliament of Great Britain]]) merges with the East Indies, and the more recently established English Company Trading to the East Indies, to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, known as the [[Honourable East India Company]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://victorianweb.org/history/empire/india/eic.html|title=The British East India Company — the Company that Owned a Nation (or Two)|first=George P.|last=Landow|work=The Victorian Web|year=2010|access-date=2011-11-22}}</ref></onlyinclude>