-
In present-day Arizona and New Mexico, members of the Franciscan order from the Spanish settlements in Mexico establish missions in Hopi Indian tribe areas.
-
Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in South American recorded history
-
Earl Mauritius van Nassau beats Spanish Army.
-
Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold
-
Queen Elizabeth died of blood poisoning. A relative of the Tudors from Scotland became king. Conflict in parliament erupted when James I had a view of absolute monarchy
-
Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns.
-
Merga Bien arrested for witchcraft in Fulda, Germany, part of Fulda witch trials. She and about 250 people later burned at the stake.
-
Gunpowder Plot: Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament. Plot discovered, Guy Fawkes caught, tortured and later executed along with seven others. Celebrated ever since as Guy Fawkes Day, where his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, accompanied by fireworks.
-
Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe
-
Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New York setting the stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for the next 150 years
-
Galileo Galilei discovers the first three moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa & Ganymede
-
The history of Jamestown continues with the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe, who would bring tobacco seeds to the colony and begin its harvesting this year. Their marriage led to eight years of peace among the colonists and Indians.
-
Thirty Years War started in 1618 and ended in 1648. It was between the Catholics and the Protestants in Europe. It involved all of Europe except England.
-
Smallpox epidemic wipes out 90% of the Native Americans in the Massachusetts Bay area.
-
The Bohemian Revolt was one of four phases in the Thirty Years War. An assembly of Protestants seized two Catholic councillors and threw them out of the palace window. This event, known as the (Second) Defenestration of Prague, started the Bohemian Revolt
-
The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World
-
King Charles I disbands English parliament
-
During the Thirty Years War, the Treaty of Stettin was signed by Sweden and Pomerania. This created a close alliance between them. Also, gave Sweden full military control over Pomerania
-
John Winthrop is elected 1st Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
-
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun
-
1st recorded north American hurricane hits the Plymouth Colony
-
Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts founded
-
Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn
-
The English Civil War started in 1642 and ended in 1651. This war led to the execution of Charles I. It also established the republican of commonwealth
-
King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacks the English parliament
-
Louis XIV becomes King of France aged 4
-
Joseph Jenkes receives the 1st patent in North America for making scythes from the General Court of Massachusetts
-
1st labor organization forms in North American colonies (Boston Shoemakers)
-
Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck
-
Rhode Island enacts 1st law declaring slavery illegal
-
The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, lasting for almost 18 years of the quarter century reign of Charles II of England. It is also known as the Pensioner Parliament
-
Peter the great became czar of Russia when he was only a child. One of the first things he did when he was in rule was to storm Azov. This disaster led him to build an army, then the Turks who held Azov surrendered
-
In this book John Locke states that the purpose of government was to protect peoples rights. It also conveyed the importance of fairness in the law. He believed that the government failed to protect the peoples rights.
-
Thomas Neale granted English patent for American postal service
-
First people are accused of witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a West Indian slave
-
1st women's magazine "Ladies' Mercury" published (London)
-
Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposes a tax on beards
-
Russian Tsar Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1
