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Giordano Bruno
The Italian philosopher Giordani Bruno is burned at the stake. -
The Spice Islands
The Dutch defeat the Portuguese in a naval battle in the Indonesian Archipelago. -
Shah Abbas
Shah Abbas of Iran drives the Portuguese from Bahrain. -
Leyasu / Shakespeare
Leyasu rules Japan, moves capital to Edo (Tokyo).
Shakespeare's Hamlet. -
Cervantes's
Cervantes's Don Quixote de la Mancha, the first modern novel. -
Pocahontas
Jamestown, Virginia was established- the first permanent English Colony on the American mainland. Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, saves the life of John Smith. -
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain establishes the French colony of Quebec. The Relation, the first newspaper, debuts in Germany. -
Galileo
Galileo sees the moons of Jupiter through his telescope -
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus elected King of Sweden. King James Version of the Bible published in England. Rubens paints his Descent from the Cross. -
John Napier
John Napier discovers logarithms. -
Thirty Years' War
Start of the Thiry Years' War; Protestants revolt against Catholic oppression; Denmark, Sweden, and France will invade Germany in later phases of the war. Kepler proposes the last of three laws of planetary motion -
First African Slave
A Dutch ship brings the first African slaves to British North America. -
Pilgrims
Pilgrims, after a three-month voyage in Mayflower, land at Plymouth Rock. Francis Bacon's Novum Organum. -
New Netherland
New Netherland founded by the Dutch West India Company. -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
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Maryland founded by Lord Baltimore
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Inquisition
Inquisition forces Galileo (astronomer) to recant his belief in the Copernican theory. -
English Civil War.
English Civil War. Cavaliers, supporters of Charles I, against Roundheads, parliamentary forces. -
Taj Mahal completed.
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End of Ming Dynasty in China—Manchus come to power. Descartes's Principles of Philosophy.
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Thirty Years' War
End of the Thirty Years' War. German population about half of what it was in 1618 because of war and pestilence. -
Cromwell
Cromwell dies; son Richard resigns and Puritan government collapses. -
English Parliament
English Parliament calls for the restoration of the monarchy; invites Charles II to return from France. -
Charles II
Charles II is crowned King of England. Louis XIV begins personal rule as an absolute monarch; starts to build Versailles. -
British
British take New Amsterdam from the Dutch. English limit “Nonconformity” with reestablished Anglican Church. Isaac Newton's experiments with gravity. -
Great Plague in London kills 75,000.
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Great Fire of London. Molière's Misanthrope.
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Milton
Milton's Paradise Lost, widely considered the greatest epic poem in English. -
Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
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War of European powers
War of European powers against the Turks (to 1699). Vienna withstands three-month Turkish siege; the high point of Turkish advance in Europe. -
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's calculus published.
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James II succeeds Charles II in England
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Peter the Great becomes Czar of Russia—attempts to westernize nation and build Russia as a military power
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William III of England defeats former king James II and Irish rebels at Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. John Locke's Human Understanding.
