1756
Dyrehavsbakken in Denmark is re-opened to the public by Frederick V, after a period of private use by the royal family. First opened in 1583, Bakken is the world’s oldest operating amusement park.
1762
British Army officer Thomas Davies becomes the first man to survey Niagara Falls, painting the first eyewitness watercolour of the falls.
1765
Scottish engineer, James Watt, revolutionises the steam engine, helping to bring about the beginning of the industrial revolution and advances in shipping power.
1769 - 1770
Captain James Cook sails around both islands of New Zealand, proving that they are not part of the perceived land mass Terra Australis Incognita.
1769 - 1770
Captain James Cook discovers the eastern coast of Australia between Cape Howe and Cape York.
1772
Lieutenant Governor of the Californias, Pedro Fages discovers the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
1773 - 1775
Captain James Cook is the first to cross the Antarctic Circle.
1774
Queen Charlotte Islands, Dall Island and Vancouver Island are discovered by Spanish explorer Juan Peréz on an exploratory voyage along the northern Pacific coast for the Spanish Empire.
1775
The mouth of the Columbia River is discovered by Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta y Dudagoitia on his second Pacific expedition.
1775 - 1783
The American War of Independence is fought between Great Britain and the colonies in North America. British forces under General Cornwallis surrender at Yorktown and the United States of America begin to govern themselves as an independent nation.
1776
Lawrence Bailey starts work on Blackpool’s only shoreline hotel, now called the Grand Metropole Hotel. The hotel opens with 34 bedrooms, three dining rooms and a coffee lounge and is one of only four hotels in the fledgling resort.
1776
Utah Lake is discovered by Spanish explorers Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante as they follow the Rio Grande northwards. They are looking for an overland route from Santa Fe to Monterey.
1777 - 1778
Captain James Cook discovers Hawaii and the Christmas Islands.
1777 - 1778
Captain James Cook explores the coastline of Alaska as far as Icy Cape.
1780 - 1940
White Sulpher Springs, West Virginia, becomes a popular health resort with claims that the waters can be used to cure various complaints such as rhuematism, indigestion, fevers and 'female complaints'.
1786
Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat complete the first successful summit of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain of the Alps.
1787
The first successful trial of a steamboat is completed by John Fitch on 22 August on the Delaware River.
1788
Captain Arthur Phillip and the 'First Fleet' arrive in Botany Bay on the coast of Sydney, Australia intending to establish the first penal colony in New South Wales.
1789
King George III bathes at Weymouth, making the 'seaside holiday' a legitimate pastime for the British public.
1789 - 1799
The French Revolution sweeps away aristocratic privilege and the monarchy. King Louis XVI is guillotined on 21 January 1793 and the 'Reign of Terror' begins.
1791 - 1794
Oregon, Washington, the Alaska Panhandle and the coast of British Columbia are charted by Captain George Vancouver and British Naval officers William Broughton, Peter Puget, James Johnstone and Joseph Whidbey.
1793
The first modern zoo is built in Paris, comprising of the menageries of French aristocrats and royalty taken by leaders of the French Revolution and relocated to the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes.
1793
The Union Public Hotel in Washington D.C. becomes the first American building to officially be called a 'hotel'.
1796
Explorer Mungo Park reaches the upper Niger river in western Africa.
1797 - 1798
British naval surgeon George Bass explores the area from Cape Howe to Western Port in Australia and discovers the Bass Strait. This stretch of water between Australia and Tasmania will cut the journey time of shipping, but not without considerable risk to life.
1798 - 1799
Captain Matthew Flinders and British naval surgeon George Bass circumnavigate Tasmania.
1800
British navigator James Grant charts the Australian coastline from Cape Banks to Cape Otway.
1800
The Sheepshead Bay Race Track opens on Coney Island.
1801
The population of Blackpool is less than 500.
1802
Explorer John Murray discovers Port Phillip Bay in southern Victoria, Australia.
1802 - 1803
Captain Matthew Flinders circumnavigates Australia, charting much of the coastline in Southern Australia.
1803
The United States acquire 828,000 square miles of Louisiana territory from France for $15,000,000. This contains land from modern-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and a portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi.
1803 - 1815
Great Britain fights the Napoleonic Wars against Napoleon and France. Napoleon is defeated in 1814 and sent into exile on the island of Elba. He escapes captivity and returns to power, only to be finally routed at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
1805 - 1806
Meriweather Lewis and William Clark explore the territory gained from the Louisiana Purchase to claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon County for the United States. The pair follow the Missouri river, cross the Continental Divide to Idaho and descend to the Columbia river before returning on separate routes. This will be later known as the 'Lewis and Clark Expedition'.
1807
Restoration work begins on the Colosseum in Rome and continues sporadically into the twentieth century, under the initial belief propagated by various Papal authorities that it was a place of Christian martyrdom.
1807
The Clermont, built by Robert Fulton, becomes the first commercially successful steamboat. It sails from New York City to Albany and takes 32 hours to complete the 150 mile trip.
1808
Scottish explorer and fur trader Simon Fraser reaches the mouth of the Fraser River at the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada.
1811 - 1812
American fur trader Robert Stuart is the first person to tread the 'Oregon Trail', discovering South Pass in the Rocky Mountains.
1812
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt is the first Westerner to discover the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. It becomes a much visited tourist site.
1812 - 1815
The War of 1812 is fought between the United States and Great Britain. Primarily fought at sea, the United States declare war on Britain due to increasing trade restrictions and the pressing of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
1814
The first British pier is built on the Isle of Wight.
1820 - 1829
This decade sees the introduction of new and more benign medicinal practices such as homeopathy, electromagnetism and hydrotherapy. In turn, the benefits of exercise, hygiene and fresh air begin to be advocated, leading to an increase in people seeking environments which could improve their health, such as natural springs.
1820 - 1920
Saratoga Springs, NY, becomes a popular health resort due to claims that the mineral waters could cure all manner of ills; from gout and rheumatism to gall stones, diabetes and anaemia.
1823
Lake Chad is sighted for the first time by European explorers Dixon Denham, Walter Oudney and Hugh Clapperton.
1824
The Pilgrim Hall Museum is established in Plymouth, Massachusetts and becomes the oldest continually operating museum in the United States. It tells the Plymouth settlement story.
1824 - 1825
Great Salt Lake in Utah is discovered independently by Canadian fur traders Peter Skene Ogden and Étienne Provost and American guide James Bridger, as American pioneers expand westwards.
1826
Much of the Alaskan coastline is charted by British naval officer Frederick William Beechey.
1826
British explorer Major Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach the city of Timbuktu in Mali. He is killed days later. René Caillié would conduct the same trip two years later and became the first European to return alive.
1827
Joseph Nicephore Niepce produces the first photographic image using a camera obscura.
1827
American frontier explorer Jedediah Smith crosses the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin.
1829
Tremont House is designed and built by Isaiah Rogers in Boston, Massachusetts. The first deluxe hotel built in Boston, it becomes famous for its several innovations, including indoor plumbing, indoor toilets and baths, a reception area, locked rooms for guests, free soap, bell boys and an "à la carte" menu. Famous guests include Charles Dickens, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, Daniel Webster and Davy Crockett.
1829
The idea of Coney Island as a resort starts with the building of the Coney Island Hotel.
1829
Coney Island is linked to Brooklyn by the building of the Shell Road.
1830
The world’ longest pleasure pier is opened in Southend-on-Sea. It stretches some 1.33 miles (2.14 km) from shore.
1831
Philadelphia physician John Bell publishes his 'Treatise on Baths and Mineral Waters', discussing the medicinal benefits of thermal and mineral waters.
1833
Holt’s Hotel in New York City is opened. At six stories high, the hotel is the first to provide its guests with a steam-driven elevator lift for guests’ luggage.
1833
Russian explorers Andrei Glazunov and Semyon Lukin reach the mouth of the Yukon River in British Columbia, Canada.
1834
L'Hôtel des Bergues is built on the shore of Lake Geneva, in Switzerland. The hotel is now owned and operated by hotel chain Four Seasons, and is their only hotel in Switzerland.
1835
The Great Western Railway company is created to build a railway line between Bristol and London.
1837
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens, closely followed by the London and Birmingham Railway.
1838
The first telegram is sent in the United States on 11 January. It is in morse code.
1838
The London and South Western Railway opens, extending into Devon and Cornwall from London Waterloo.
1839
Louis Daguerre expands on the work of Joseph Nicephore Niepce by creating the daguerreotype, a forerunner to the modern camera.
1839 - 1840
The London and Croydon Railway and London and Brighton Railway become the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.
1839 - 1842
Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China's sovereignty culminate in the First Opium Wars. At the concluding Treaty of Nanjing, China cedes Hong Kong to Britain in perpetuity.
1840
American naval officer Charles Wilkes maps 1,500 miles of the Antarctic coast, proving that Antarctica is a continent.
1840
The first known picture postcard is sent from London to Theodore Hook, depicting a caricature of workers in a post office. He is believed to have sent it to himself as a practical joke.
1840
The railway arrives in Blackpool.
1841
London to Brighton railway line opens. The journey between London and Brighton takes 1 hour and 45 minutes.
1841
The 'Bayerischer Hof' opens in Munich. The hotel is almost completely destroyed by bombs in 1944, with only the hall of mirrors left intact. In 1945, the hall of mirrors is used to host Munich’s first post-war restaurant.
1841
Thomas Cook begins his international travel company on 5 July with a one-day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough.
1841 - 1952
The Hotel des Anglais (later renamed Shepheard’s Hotel) opens in Cairo, Egypt. Rebuilt on the site of an ancient city-centre harem, the hotel becomes Cairo’s leading luxury hotel. During the First World War, the hotel serves as the British Headquarters for the Near East. The hotel burns down in 1952.
1842
Frances Graeter publishes 'Hydriatics, or The Cold Water Cure: especially as practiced by Vincent Priessnitz in Graefenberg' in support of hydrotherapy as a method of improving health and curing disease.
1842
The l'Hôtel des Trois Couronnes is built on the ruins of the Belles Truches castle in Vevey, Switzerland.
1842
Chemin du Centrifuge, the world’s first looping gravity railway is exhibited at Frascati Gardens, Paris.
1843
Launched on 19 July, SS Great Britain becomes the first iron hulled, propeller driven steamship.
1843
John Lloyd Stephens publishes his book 'Incidents of Travel in Yucatan' and consequently popularises the Maya Yucatán as a tourist destination. This includes Chichen Itza, which soon becomes one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico.
1843
The Inn at Saratoga opens, and remains the oldest operating hotel in historic Saratoga Springs, New York.
1843 - Present
Designed as an amusement park and pleasure garden, Tivoli Gardens in Denmark opens to the public. Its famous wooden roller coaster, Rutschebanen, is built in 1914 and is still in use today.
1844
P&O introduces their first passenger cruising service, offering tours from Southampton to Gibraltar, Malta and Athens.
1844
The Midland Railway forms after the merger of the North Midland Railway, the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway.
1845
Inventor Samuel Colt builds an observation tower on the peninsula of Coney Island but quickly abandons the project.
1845
Thomas Cook organises his first trip for profit, a railway journey to Liverpool from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. Passengers can pay slightly more to travel by special steamer to North Wales.
1846
A branch rail line to Blackpool, from the main Preston to Fleetwood line, is opened. Talbot Road Station (now called Blackpool North Station) is built and holiday makers start to arrive in their thousands.
1846
Candido José da Costa Cardoso discovers African great lake, Lake Malawi.
1846
Central heating is first used in the Eastern Exchange Hotel, Boston.
1846
Rodrigues Graça makes the journey from Angola to Katanga in the Congo.
1846
The London and York Railway and the Direct Northern Railway come together to form the Great Northern Railway.
1846
The London and North Western Railway is formed, incorporating the London and Birmingham Railway; the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; the Grand Junction Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway.
1847
London Zoo opens its doors to the public in Regents Park. Set up and run by the Zoological Society of London, the park is originally only open to its members, but a drive for funds results in its conversion into the United Kingdom’s first modern zoo.
1847
A ferry line is introduced to Norton's Point on Coney Island, bringing the middle classes to the resort.
1847
The first undersea telegraph cables are laid between Great Britain and France.
1847
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway is incorporated, amalgamating the Manchester and Leeds Railway and the East Lancashire Railway.
1847 - 1848
Portuguese trader António Francisco Ferreira da Silva Porto reaches the upper Zambizi River.
1848
German missionary and explorer Johannes Rebmann becomes the first European to see Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
1849
English explorers David Livingstone and William Cotton Oswell cross the Kalahari Desert, reaching Lake Ngami in Botswana.
1849
The first public 'ski tour' is organised in Trondheim, Norway.
1850
Queen Victoria sells the Royal Pavilion to the Corporation of Brighton for £53,000.
1850
3,000 miles of railway track now exist in Britain.
1850
9,000 miles of railroad are operational in the US.
1850
There are now 70 daguerreotype studios in New York City.
1850
Sondre Norheim of Norway invents the first toe-and-heel binding for skis, allowing skiers to ski down hills without worrying about their skis coming off.
1850 - 1854
Irish explorer Sir Robert McClure crosses the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean, charting over 1,700 miles of new coastline.
1850 - 1859
The word 'vacation' starts to be used in America for the first time in both published works and private journals.
1850 - 1859
The mainstream press begins to report on the health benefits of taking a vacation to rural areas; advice which has previously only been published in medical works and circles.
1850 - 1859
Japan opens her ports to trade with various countries including Great Britain and the United States. Prior to this only the Dutch have been allowed to trade with Japan.