Small Spanish force arrives in Ireland, Montjoy attempts to suppress Irish Rebellion, James Lancaster sets off on first East India Company voyage (returns 1603),
Elizabeth I's 'Golden Speech', Abolition of Monopolies
Dutch navigator, Olivier van Noort, returns after circumnavigating the world (begun 1598)
Bartolomew Gosnold explores 'New England', Lancaster's fleet welcomed as trading alternative to Portuguese, Spanish and Irish rebel forces defeated at Kinsala
Tokugawa Shogunate established in Japan, West African Bornu leader, Idris Aloma, dies, Samuel de Champlain and Francois du Pontgrave explore the Saguenay and St. Lawrence Rivers
Popham Colony abandoned, Virginia Colony reinforced - Chesapeake mapped by Captain Smith, Ulster Plantations, Henry Hudson searches Barents sea looking for NE Passage, The Hector is the first EIC ship to reach India - a trading concession is granted from Mughal Emperor
Dutch Republic recognised, French clash with Five Nations Iroquois, Dutch establish trading factory at Hirado in Japan, Tea arrives by ship in Europe for first time
Galileo's telescope, Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
1610
Ulster Plantations, Virginia Colony abandoned but restarted when fresh supplies and settlers meet the fleeing colonists, Hudson's fourth voyage to search for NW Passage - reaches Hudson's Bay
James I prorogues Parliament, Parliament later reassembles
Louis XIII becomes King of France
Caravaggio dies
Gallileo views moons of Jupiter with telescope
1611
Hudson marooned by mutineers at James Bay, Muscovy Company sends out first whaling ship
Dissolution of Parliament by James I
Danes declare war on Sweden
Authorised version of King James Bible published, The Tempest, The History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh
Japanese begin persecuting Christians, Dutch sign Treaty with King of Kandy in Ceylon, Dutch establish fur trading fort at Manhattan
John Smith publishes his Map of Virginia, Samuel Purchas publishes Hakluytus Posthumus about his travels
Bartholomew Pitiscus uses decimal point in his trigonometrical tables
1613
Hirado factory established in Japan, English colonists in Virginia destroy French settlement, Port Royal, in Nova Scotia and prevent French colony being established in Maryland, Belfast Incorporated
Princess Elizabeth marries Elector Palatine whose Protestant zeal enmeshes England into Continental political intrigue, Globe Theatre burns down
Romanov dynasty established in Russia, Turks invade Hungary, Champlain explore Ottawa River to Alumette Island
Henry VIII by Shakespeare
Hugh Myddleton constructs 'New River' cut to bring water to London
1614
Bermuda becomes Colony, John Rolfe marries Pocahontas, Virginia settlers resist French settlement attempts at Maine and Nova Scotia
James I's Second Parliament 'The Addled Parliament' meets but refuses to discuss finance and so is dissolved
Dutch traders found Fort Nassau at Albany on the River Hudson, Danish East India Company is founded, Cornelius Jacobsen Mey explores Lower Delaware
English ships defeat Portuguese fleet off Bombay in dispute over Trading Rights
Lady Arbella Stuart (with her own claim to the English throne) dies as a prisoner in Tower of London
Drinking Chocolate arrives in Europe from the New World, Dutch seize the Moluccas from Portuguese, Champlain discovers Lake Huron
Cervantes' Don Quixote, George Chapman completes translation of Homer's 'Odyssey'
Galileo faces Inquisition for first time
1616
Banda Islands reoccupied, William Baffin discovers Baffin Bay whilst searching for North West Passage
James I starts process of selling peerages to raise money
Japan ejects European Missionaries, William Adams sails from Japan to Siam on trading expedition, War between Venice and Austria, Dutch round Cape Horn for first time
Death of William Shakespeare
Willebrord Snellius discovers the law of refraction
1617
Sir Walter Raleigh released from custody and begins voyage to find 'El Dorado', Smallpox epidemic sweeps through New England reducing Indian population to barely 1,000, Pocahontas dies of Smallpox in England
James I returns to Scotland and addresses Scottish Parliament
Russia and Sweden end war
Ben Jonson becomes Poet Laureate
Willebrord Snellius establishes use of trigonometrical triangulation for cartography
First slaves arrive in Virginia carried by a Dutch privateer, 90 English women arrive in Jamestown, First representative colonial assembly in America at Jamestown under Governor Sir George Yeardley
Battle of the White Mountain near Prague sees Catholic League defeat King Frederick of Bohemia
Imperial Palace of Katsura in Kyoto is completed
Francis Bacon's Novum Organum Scientiarum, Edmund Gunter's Canon triangulorum - treatise on logarithms, Cornelius Droebbel tests a prototype of a submarine in the Thames
1621
Sir Francis Wyatt arrives as a new governor in Virginia with new regulations for its organisation, Banda Islands abandoned, Formal attempts to colonise Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
Parliament impeaches Francis Bacon but he is pardoned by James I
Philip IV King of Spain, Huguenot rebellion against Louis XIII, War between Holland and Spain restarts, Dutch West India Company chartered and takes possession of Holland's American claims
Van Dyck's Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Rubens' Portrait of his son, Nicholas
Kepler's work banned by Catholic Church
1622
Ferdinando Gorges receives grant of land to Maine in North America, Persians with help from the English East India Company drive Portuguese from Hormuz (William Baffin dies as a result of this action), William Bradford becomes governor of Plymouth
James I dissolves Parliament
Persian Forces take Kandahar from Mughals, Battle of Wiesloch
Rubens' The Medici Cycle
Francis Bacon's Historia Naturalis et Experimentalis, Edmund Gunter discovers magnetic variation of compasses based on location
1623
Hirado factory abandoned in Japan, St Christopher established, Dutch massacre English at Amboina and eject English East India Company from Spice Islands
Sir Edward Conway made Secretary of State
Persia conquers Baghdad, New Netherlands recognised as Dutch colony in North America
First Folio of Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies
George Sandys makes first translation of a classic in America - Ovid's Metamorphoses
King sells titles to raise money
Dutch buy Manhattan from Wappiner Confederacy, French settle in Madagascar, First French settlement in Senegal, French 'Company for the Islands of America' Incorporated
Rembrandt van Rijn's Baptism of the Eunuch, John Donne's Five Sermons
Santorio Santorio measures human temperature with a thermometre for the first time
War between England, Scotland and France, Charles I grants charter to the Guiana Company, English fleet sails to help Huguenots at La Rochelle but fails to relieve them
Korea becames vassal state of China, Reykjavik attacked by Pirates, Company of the Hundred Associates established in France - given control of New France and monopoly of fur trade from Arctic to Florida, Swedish South Seas Company founded
Rembrandt's The Money Changer
Kepler compiles Rudolphine Tables which explained location of 1005 fixed stars
1628
Salem is founded on Massachusetts Bay
Duke of Buckingham murdered as he prepares to relieve La Rochelle
Dutch take Java, La Rochelle surrenders - Huguenots cease to be an armed power in France
Poussin's Mars and Venus, Taj Mahal constructed
William Harvey's Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis, First harbour with sluices constructed at Le Havre
1629
Edwin Sandys becomes governor of Virginia, Peace of Susa resolves war between England, Scotland and France, Quebec and Cape Breton captured by English/Scots but returned under terms of Peace of Susa, Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason establish New Hampshire
Charles dissolves Parliament - it does not meet again until 1640
Portuguese plant the first America crops in Africa - Cassava and Maize, Peace of Lubeck, Truce of Altmark
Van Dyck's Rinaldo and Armida
Albert Gerard introduces brackets and other abbreviations into mathematical notations for the first time
1630
Portsmouth is founded in New Hampshire, John Winthrop arrives in Salem, Boston is founded and Massachusetts Bay becomes a Colony,
Treaty of Madrid between England and France
Pirates begin to settle in Tortuga and use as a base of operations
Gregorio Allegri's Miserere, Cribbage invented by Sir John Suckling
Kepler dies
1631
Leeward Islands established, Boston opens first shipyard, Blessing of the Bay is the first ship built in Massachusetts
Dutch West India Company founds settlement at the Delaware River, Peter Minuit is recalled by Dutch authorities from Nieuw Amsterdam for corruption and excessive concentration of power, Battle of Breitenfield breaks power of Catholicism in Central Europe
Rembrandt's Portrait of his Mother, John Donne dies
William Oughtred proposes using the symbol 'X' for multiplication
1632
Charles I issues charter for Maryland named for his wife Queen Henrietta Maria and under the control of Lord Baltimore, Antigua and Montserrat settled
First coffee shop opens in London, Sir Francis Windebank made chief Secretary of State
French establish Acadia at Nova Scotia, Gustavus wins victories at Nuremberg and Lutzen but is killed in action, Portuguese driven out of Bengal
Van Dyck made court painter to Charles I, John Milton's On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-Three
Galileo restates his belief in the Copernican system with the publication of Dialogo de Massimi Sistemi del Mondo
1633
English trading post established in Bengal, Edward Winslow becomes Governor of Plymouth Colony
William Laud becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, Royal Scots the oldest regular regiment are established, Trial of Lancashire witches
Japanese persecution of Christians intensifies, Dutch settle in Connecticut
Galileo forced by Catholic Church to retract his defence of the Copernican model
1634
Lord Calvert arrives in Maryland to establish settlement for both Catholics and Protestants, The English establish a settlement at Cochin
In England, Oxford University Press receives a charter
Tulipmania reaches hysterical heights in Amsterdam, Jean Nicolet explores Lake Michigan and Wisconsin in search of the elusive North West Passage, Russo-Polish War ends, Cura'ao is captured by the Dutch
Connecticut begins to be settled by English, Council of New England dissolved, The Great Colonial Hurricane hit the Virginia Colony at Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Guadeloupe and Martinique are colonized by France, Dominica claimed by French, Dutch invade and occupy Northern Brazil, Dutch Delaware settlements destroyed by Indians, Dutch occupy Formosa, France declares war on Spain, Portuguese ships banned from Japan
Van Dyck's Charles I, Rubens'Apotheosis of James I on the ceiling of Whitehall
World's first free medical clinic opened in Paris by Theophraste Renaudot, Willem and Joan Blaeu publish the first edition of their Atlas Novus in Amsterdam.
Harvard College founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1637
Massachusetts colonists have first hostile encounter with Indians with incident known as Hankins' Scissors resulting in the Pequot War. English emigration to New Word restricted by royal proclamation, English traders establish themselves at Canton, Ferdinando Gorges given title to Massachusetts after court battle
William Prynne, Puritan Parliamentarian condemned to be pilloried and mutinied for seditious writing
Commercial collapse of Dutch tulip trade, Dutch take Elmina fort from Portuguese and establish more forts on Gold Coast to ensure supply of slaves to New World, New Sweden Company incorporated to establish colonies in the New World, French traders set up fort at mouth of Senegal River, Japanese prohibited from all European contact except very limited Dutch trade through Hirado
Ben Jonson dies
Descartes' Geometrie
1638
Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts and settles in Rhode Island, Treaty of Hartford ends the Pequot War
Scottish Covenant drawn up and signed, Charles abandons liturgy and canon in Scotland, Torture abolished in England
Swedish settle on Delaware River, Ottomans reconquer Baghdad from Persians, Dutch arrive on Mauritius, Kandyan Treaty signed between the Singhalese and Dutch to rid Ceylon of the Portuguese
Galileo's Mathematical Discourses, Dutch on Mauritius start clubbing Dodos into extinction
1639
English settle at Madras, First printing press in North America at Cambridge, Connecticut's Constitution adopted, The Barbados House of Assembly meets for the first time
Gerard Desargues publishes book on modern geometry, Jeremiah Horrocks observes transit of Venus, Quinine used for medicinal purposes for first time
1640
First book, Bay Psalm Book, published in North America
Second Bishop's War, Short Parliament and Long Parliament
Portugal regains independence from Spain
Peter Paul Rubens dies
Coke made from coal for the first time
1641
Massacre of Ulster Protestants by Catholics, General Court of Massachusetts Bay Company codifies 100 laws
Cotton Goods begin to be manufactured in Manchester, William Laud sent to Tower of London, King Charles I of England gives his assent to the Triennial Act, reluctantly committing himself to parliamentary sessions of at least fifty days every three years, English law makes witchcraft a capital crime
Portugal is ousted from Malacca by the Dutch, French settle in Michigan, Tsar bans sale of tobacco, Dutch moved from Hirado to Nagasaki, Portugal and the Dutch Republic sign a Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance but it is ignored by both sides
Van Dyck dies
Ren' Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy
1642
Sir William Berkeley becomes Governor of Virginia
Charles attempts to arrest 5 MPs, English Civil War breaks out, Edgehill, Income and Property Taxes introduced to England
Montreal founded by French, Portugal cedes Gold Coast to Dutch, Abel Tasman discovers Tasmania and New Zealand, Dutch drive Spanish from Taiwan
Rembrandt's The Night Watch
Pascal invents adding machine
1643
Christmas Island sighted and named by Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company, Confederation of New England formed
English Civil War continues, Battle of Newbury
Abel Tasman discovers the island of Tonga and Fiji, Dutch slaughter Wappinger Indians at Nieuw Amsterdam
English Civil War comes to end after Battle of Naseby
Dutch occupy St. Helena, Capuchin Monks sail up Congo River, Ottomans and Venetians fight over Crete, Portuguese colonists rise against Dutch in Brazil
John Milton's L'allegro and Il Penseroso
Preliminary meeting of London Scientists as a precursor to the formation of the Royal Society in 1662
Spain and the Netherlands sign a temporary cease fire
Henry Vaughan's Poems
Athanasius Kircher constructs first projection lantern
1647
Yellow Fever in Barbados, English Parliamentary forces fight in Ireland
The Society of Friends (Quakers) begin in Leicestershire, Scots sell Charles I to English Parliament, Charles escapes from Isle of Wight and signs new secret treaty with Scots
Treaty of Ulm, Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's Comedies and Tragedies
Johann Hevel's Selenographia about the lunar surface
1648
King Charles and Scots defeated at Preston, Charles is brought to trial
Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years War, Naples returned to Spanish rule, The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of M'nster ending Eight Year War, Portuguese defeat Dutch in the north of Brazil, Semyon Dezhnyov makes first recorded voyage through the Bering Strait between Asia and North America, Arabs besiege Portuguese in Muscat, France and the Netherlands agree to divide the Caribbean island of Saint Martin between them
Rembrandt's The Pilgrims at Emmaus
John Wilkins' Mathematical Magic
1649
Royalist exiles arrive in Virginia in large numbers, Cromwell arrives in Ireland and sacks Drogheda and Wexford, Puritan exiles from Virginia settle in Maryland, Maryland passes Act of Toleration professing belief in Holy Trinity
Charles I beheaded for Treason, England declared a Commonwealth, English replaces Latin as official language for all legal documents, First English Frigate, Constant Warwick, is constructed
John Milton's The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, Descartes' Passions of the Soul
Isbrand de Diemerbrock publishes study of plague called 'De Peste'
1650
Catholic Landowners in Ireland exiled to Connaught, Dutch and English come to agreement about extent of territories in North America
Montrose returns to lead a Royalist uprising but is captured and executed, Charles II returns to Scotland, Parliamentarians defeat Scots at Dunbar and capture Edinburgh, Tea first drunk in England, Coldstream Guards raised
Treaty of Nuremberg between Holy Roman Emperor and Sweden confirms and amplifies Treaty of Westphalia and bringing a peace to Continental Europe
Thomas Hobbes' Human Nature
Sir Richard Weston advocated cultivation of Turnips to help restore nutrients to soil in lieu of leaving them fallow
1651
Navigation Act introduced to limit Dutch involvement in Imperial Trade and force all intra-colonial trade to be conducted in English and Imperial ships,
Royalists defeated at Battle of Worcester, Charles II flees to France after travelling through countryside in disguise
Treaty between Tsar of Russia and Cossacks
Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, John Milton's The Life and Reign of King Charles
Giovanni Riccioli produces map of the moon with many of the modern names of the lunar features
1652
First Anglo-Dutch War (until 1654), English defeat Dutch at Battle of Downs, Governor William Stone of Maryland is deprived of his office by Cromwell
English Parliament passes Act of Pardon and Oblivion to reconcile Royalists
Chinese pirate Zheng Chenkong ravages Chinese coast with over 3,000 armed junks, Dutch settlers in Manhattan build a wall to protect themselves from English colonists (Wall Street)
Rembrandt's Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, Peter Lely's Oliver Cromwell
Johann Schultes' book on surgical instruments and procedures is published posthumously
1654
Treaty of Westminster ends Anglo-Dutch War with Dutch agreeing to recognise validity of Navigation Act
Treaty of Commerce between England and Sweden, War between Poland and Russia, Portuguese finally drive Dutch out of Brazil
Rembrandt's Portrait of Jan Six, John Milton's Defensio Secundia
Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat state the theory of probability, Otto von Guericke proves the existence of atmospheric pressure
1655
Admiral Penn captures Jamaica starting new war with Spain
Cromwell dissolves Parliament, England divided into military districts
The Dutch capture the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka, Dutch East Indies Shares plunge on Amsterdam stock exchange
Rembrandt declared bankrupt due to falls on Amsterdam stock exchange
The pendulum clock is invented by Christiaan Huygens, Thomas Wharton describes anatomy of glands
1657
Admiral Blake leads an English naval force in destroying the Spanish West Indies fleet at Santa Cruz, The Flushing Remonstrance representing the the earliest declaration of religious tolerance in the American colonies
Oliver Cromwell rejects offer of becoming King and remains Lord Protector but nominates his own House of Lords, Drinking Chocolate introduced to London
, Pierre Radisson explores the western end of Lake Superior, English and French defeat Spanish force at Battle of the Dunes, English take Dunkirk
Pieter de Hooch's Courtyard of a House in Delft
Jan Swammerdam describes red blood vessels for first time, Sir Thomas Browne advocates the use of cremation
1659
Richard Cromwell overthrown, Constitutional crisis between Parliament and Army
Peace of the Pyrenees between France and Spain, Swedes driven out of Prussia, Pierre Radisson and Medart Chouart de Groselier reach Minnesota
Vermeer's Girl With A Flute
Thomas Willis describes typhoid fever
1660
Royal African Company founded, Navigation Acts ensure that tobacco, sugar, wool, indigo and apples from the American colonies are only exported to England and not to any rival powers
Declaration of Breda, Army invites Charles II back to the throne of England
Peace of Oliva ends Northern War between Austria, Poland, Sweden and Brandenburg, Peace of Copenhagen ends war between Denmark and Sweden, Dutch peasants begin to settle in South Africa (Boers) sparking off Dutch Khoisan War
Samuel Pepys begins his Diary
Water closets make first appearance in England
1661
Charles II receives Tangier, Bombay and '300,000 as a Dowry present for marrying Catherine de Braganza
Cavalier Parliament meets
Peace of Kardis between Russia and Sweden, In China the entire coastal population is ordered 10 miles inland in order to counter raids by Zheng Chenkong
Moliere's L'Ecole des maris and Les Facheux, Peter Lely is made court painter to Charles II
Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist Christian Huyghens invents manometer for ascertaining elastic force of gases
Turnpike tolls introduced to England for first time, Gold Guineas coined
Turks declare war on Holy Roman Empire, Colbert forms New France as a colony with Quebec as its capital
Vermeer's Woman with a Water Jug
Nicolaus Steno teaches that the heart is a muscle, Guericke constructs a frictional electrical machine
1664
Marathas sack Surat, Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam to an English naval squadron commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls.
The Admiral's Regiment is formed in England, later known as the Royal Marines
Colbert founds French East India Company
John Dryden's The Rival Ladies
Robert Hooke discovers Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
1665
Second Dutch War (until 1667), King Charles II of England issues a second charter for the Province of Carolina
Plague of London
Battle of Mbwila where a Portuguese force defeat s and kills King Ant'nio I of Kongo
Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring
Robert Hooke's Micrographia published in London, The first using of the term 'cell' for plant tissue, Isaac Newton discovers binomial theorem
1666
English Privateers take Tobago, Puritans from Connecticut settle in Newark New Jersey, Dutch and French declare war on England, Four Days Battle where the Dutch fleet defeats English fleet
Fire of London
Expulsion of the Portuguese from the Bengal port city of Chittagong by Mughal forces of Emperor Aurangzeb, French take Antigua, Montserrat and St. Christopher
Vermeer paints The Art of Painting
Sir Isaac Newton invents calculus, uses a prism to split sunlight into its component colors and measures the moon's orbit
1667
The Treaty of Breda ends Second Anglo-Dutch War and recognizes Acadia as a French possession
Russo-Polish War ends, The War of Devolution begins
Milton's Paradise Lost
The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr Jean-Baptiste Denys, Robert Hooke demonstrates that the alteration of the blood in the lungs is essential for respiration
1668
The English East India Company takes over Bombay, Government of Maine reverts to Massachusetts
The Triple Alliance of 1668 is formed between England, Sweden and the United Provinces against France, Forces Louis to halt his war and sign the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle with Spain, Henry Morgan sacks Portobello, Sault Sainte Marie is first permanent European settlement between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, Spain forced to recognise Portugal
John Dryden becomes Poet Laureate
Isaac Newton builds the first Reflecting telescope, Leeuwenhoek describes red blood corpuscles, Robert Hooke's Discourse on Earthquakes
Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover ending hostilities between their kingdoms, First French settlers arrive in Senegal, Henry Morgan captures Panama.
John Milton's The History of Britain
Phosphorus is discovered by Hennig Brand, Minute hand appears on clocks for first time, Gabriel Mouton proposes a decimal system for first time in France
1671
Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan captures Panama City - He is later tried for breaking Anglo-Spanish agreement but is reprieved by Charles II who later knighted him and made him governor of Jamaica
Thomas Blood attempts to steal the Crown Jewels, English Crown resumes direct control of Customs
The Ottoman Empire declares war on Poland, French Senegal Company founded
Royal African Company granted Charter to exploit slave trade, Third Dutch War (until 1674), Customs duties on inter colony trade in Americas introduced, Tobacco from Americas begins arriving in Glasgow for processing
Royal Declaration of Indulgence suspends penal laws against Protestant nonconformists
Treaty of Buchach between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jacques Marquette explores Missouri River
George Villiers' The Rehearsal
Flexible hose for fire-fighting invented y Jan van der Heyde
1673
Dutch capture New York
Test Acts - Those who refuse to receive the sacrament of the Church of England cannot vote, hold public office, preach, teach, attend university or assemble for meetings, Royal Declaration of Indulgence withdrawn
Trader Louis Joliet and Jesuit missionary-explorer Jacques Marquette explore the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes, Fort Frontenac founded, France begins expedition against Ceylon, Dutch flood Amsterdam to save it from French occupation
Treaty of Westminster ends Third Anglo-Dutch War - A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renames it New York, in exchange for the British colonies of Berbice and Essequibo, Delaware is also returned to England, The East India Company arranges a trading treaty with the Maratha Empire
Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illinois people (later becomes known as Chicago)
Death of John Milton
John Mayow on the nature of combustion
1675
King Philip's War between colonists of New England and Algonquian Indians (until 1678), English merchant Anthony de la Roche, blown off course having rounded Cape Horn eastabout, makes the first discovery of land south of the Antarctic Convergence, landing on South Georgia
Charles II receives 500,000 crowns from Louis XIV which allows him to prorogue Parliament for 15 months
Alliance between France and Poland
Jan Vermeer dies
King Charles II of England places the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek begins to use a microscope for observing human tissues and liquids
French Court moves to Versailles, La Salle reaches mouth of Mississippi and names region Louisiana in honour of the French king
John Dryden's The Medall
Pressure Cooker invented
1683
Peace Treaty between William Penn and North American Indians
Rye House Plot where Whigs conspired to kill Charles II, Wild Boars extinct in Britain
Vienna besieged by Ottomans, Chinese take Taiswan, Dutch traders admitted to Canton, Jean Colbert dies in France leading to a decline in the power of the French Navy, League of the Hague against France, First German immigrants arrive in North America
Isaac Newton explains mathematical theory on tides under gravitational attraction of sun, moon and earth
1684
Court of Chancery annuls charter of Massachusetts, East India Company given permission to establish trading factory at Canton
First attempts at street lighting in London, Thames freezes in one of the coldest winters in English history, Five shillings at pound import duty on tea
Holy League of Linz formed to fight Turks, German explorer Engelbert Kampfer travels to Persian Gulf, Java and Japan
Second part of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
Giovanni Cassini's Les Elements d'Astronomie
1685
East India Company forced to relocate its Spice Islands trading operation to Benkulen
Charles II dies and replaced by his Catholic brother James II, Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion fails, Titus Oates found guilty of perjury
French introduce Code Noir to attempt to establish more humane treatment of slaves, French Guinea Company founded to trade in slaves from West Africa, Edict of Nantes revoked leading to Huguenot exodus - many to England, Chinese ports declared open to foreign trade, First French settlers arrive in Texas
Edmund Waller's Of Divine Love
David Abercromby's De Pulsis Variatione
1686
Federation of New England formed by James II to remodel organisation of English colonies in North America, East India Company moves trading station from Hooghly to a more defendable site nearer the mouth of the Ganges - what will become Calcutta
Roman Catholics readmitted to serve in English army
League of Augsburg against Louis XIV, Russia declares war on Turkey, French annex Madagascar, First French settlers in Arkansas
Sir Hans Sloane begins botanical collection with visit to Jamaica
James II issues Declaration of Indulgence for liberty and conscience
Parthenon damaged by Venetians liberating Athens from Turks, Brandenburg establishes colony at Arguin in Guinea, French explorer La Salle is killed by his own men on the Gulf of Mexico
Matthew Prior's The Country Mouse and the City Mouse
Siege of Londonderry, James II's Dominion of New England overthrown by Williamite supporters
Bill of Rights settles succession to the throne and grants rights to Parliament, Royal Dockyard at Plymouth Dock created by William III
Louis XIV declares war on England, The War of the League of Augsburg sees Dutch channel resources into land war against French and so gives English ships an opportunity to expand their activities, Indians destroy French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, Treaty of Nerchinsk ends conflict between Russia and China whereby Russia settlers agreed to withdraw from the Amur basin, Natal becomes a Dutch colony
John Locke's On Civil Government
Death of Thomas Sydenham
1690
Calcutta formally founded by East India official John Charnock
Battle of Beachy Head sees French fleet defeat English fleet, Battle of Boyne confirms William of Orange as King over Charles II, Calico printing arrives in England for first time
John Dryden's Amphitryon and John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Denis Papin devises a pump with a piston raised by steam, Huyghens publishes his theory of the undulation of light
1691
Massachusetts issued with new charter and absorbs Plymouth Colony within it
Irish and Jacobite forces in Ireland surrender at Limerick - permission is granted to all Irish soldiers who wish to go into exile to France
Turks defeated at Szcelankeman
Racine's Athalie
Leibniz' Protogaea about geology, Death of Robert Boyle
1692
Earthquake in Jamaica destroys Port Royal, William and Mary take proprietorship of Pennsylvania from William Penn, Salem Witch trials in Massachusetts
Glencoe Massacre, Destruction of French Navy at La Hogue by English ends invasion threat
Kingston in Jamaica founded, Carolina formally divided into North Carolina and South Carolina, Foundation of College of William and Mary in Virginia
Battle of Cape St. Vincent sees Anglo-Dutch fleet defeated by French, Battle of Lagos sees French defeat English fleet off Portugal, William III instigates creation of National Debt
Bank of England established, Death of Queen Mary, Salt tax doubled in England, English bombard Dieppe, Le Havre and Dunkirk, Greenwich Naval Hospital opened
Guillaume Amontons invents pendant barometer, Nehemiah Grew isolates Magnesium Sulphate at Epsom (known as Epsom Salts)
1696
Captain Shaddock takes Polynesian pomelo tree to Barbados a mutation of its seed will become known as grapefruit, English Navigation Acts forbid American colonies from exporting to Scotland or Ireland, Board of Trade and Plantations founded, Act strengthening enforcement of Navigation Acts, Act prohibiting Irish colonial trade, Fort William constructed in Calcutta
Assassination attempt on William III, Habeas Corpus suspended
Russia conquers Kamchatka, Russians capture Azov from Turks
Thomas Southern adapts Oroonoko for stage
John Ray describes the aromatic herb peppermint for first time
Civil List Act provides funds for Royal Household members, Whitehall Palace burns down
Treaty of Ryswick sees France recognise William of Orange as King of England, China conquers western Mongolia, French attempt to colonise West Africa, Spanish destroy remains of Mayan civlisation in Yucatan, Gold discovered in Brazil triggering off Gold Rush, Battle of Zenta
New East India Company chartered to rival existing EIC, Royal African Company loses monopoly on Slave Trading, Captain Kidd begins career as pirate, Molyneux's Case of Ireland
, Cribbage invented by Sir John Suckling
, Rubens' The Three Graces, Covent Garden by Inigo Jones
is first performed
