Overview of the 17th Century

Britain

Europe

Asia

Africa

America

Science & Technology

1605: Guy Fawkes arrested accused of trying to blow up Parliament; Shakespeare - “King Lear”, “Macbeth”;

1611: Authorised version (1st English translation) of the Bible published;

1612: Last recorded burning of heretics in England; Shakespeare - “Henry VIII”;

1616: Shakespeare dies; “Stuart collars” become fashionable for men & women;

1618: Sir Walter Raleigh executed; Puritans object to playing of popular sports;

1624: Monopolies made illegal; England declares war on Spain;

1625: James I dies & is succeeded by Charles I of England & Scotland; Sir Thomas Coventry made Lord Keeper;

1633: trial of the Lancashire witches; Witherings reforms the English postal service; The Royal Scots military established;

1638: torture abolished;

1639: 1st Bishop's War in Scotland;

1640: 2nd Bishop's War in Scotland;

1641: massacre of Ulster Protestants; Catholic rebellion in Ireland;

1642: income & property tax tax introduced; all theatres closed by Puritan order;

1642, civil war broke out between the Puritan dominated parliament & supporters of the Crown with the Puritan Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) raising a regiment of cavalry to fight on the side of the Parliament of which in 1645 he became commander in the crucial Battle of Marston Moor which he won earning he & his men the name Ironsides. His leadership again was decisive in the Battle of Naseby (June 14, 1645) which destroyed the king's army. When fruitless negotiations with the king divided the victors, Cromwell sided with the army faction, which favoured religious toleration, against the intransigent Presbyterians in Parliament. The arguing stopped when the king escaped, made an alliance with the Scots, & renewed the civil war in 1648. Cromwell quelled an uprising in Wales then crushed the Scots at Preston (Aug. 1648). Cromwell approved a purge of the army's opponents from Parliament & was involved in the king's trial & subsequent execution on Jan 30, 1649.

1649, Cromwell becomes a virtual dictator of England, proclaiming a Commonwealth and his 1st task was the subjection of Ireland & Scotland which resulted in massacres that always seemed excessive & resulted from his hatred for the Irish & for Roman Catholics. Cromwell's war crime of unspeakable murder (3000 butchered, most after they had surrendered and given up their arms, many more burnt alive) against the Irish has resulted in perpetual hatred of the English by the Irish. In 1951, Cromwell crushed a Scottish army.

in April 1653, walked into Parliament with musketeers & shut it down making himself a virtual dictator & thus ironically doing the same thing that he had accused Charles I of doing!

1653, after several failed Parliaments, Cromwell accepts the Instrument of Government (Dec 1653), a written constitution creating a protectorate & naming himself Lord Protector - “authority but not tyranny”. His primary concerns were to provide a stable government & to give toleration to all Puritan sects. 

1655, the pious Cromwell set his major generals of the army against fornicators, evil & banning Christmas, resulting in public outcry forcing him to back off, & thus in pragamatic mode allows Jews back into England after being excluded since 1290, as the Jews had knowledge of foreign trade. His vigorous foreign policy & the success of his army & navy gave England prestige abroad it had not seen since Elizabeth I.

Cromwell ironically is responsible for laying down the vision for England's new democratic parliamentary system.

1658, allied with France, they capture Dunkirk from Spain, gaining a foothold on the Continent to take the place of Calais, which had been lost a hundred yrs before. Cromwell died Sep 3 1658 & named his son Richard his successor but he was unable to retain his power, resulting in temporary anarchy and loss of order.

1661, Charles II restored to the throne & Cromwell's body was disinterred from Westminster Abbey & hanged as that of a traitor, his head put on a pole mounted above Westminster Hall, & his body buried at the foot of the gallows. 11 other “king killers” were hanged or drawn & quartered. Thus started the golden age of ogling with plunging necklines and hedonism - a backlash against the pious reign of Cromwell.

1662: last silver pennies minted; Charles II marries Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal;

1663: 1st gold guinea coins in England; Hearth tax; Turnpike tolls introduced;

1664: a bright comet appears which religious superstition warned would herald the apocalypse of pestilence & war and the end of hedonism

1665: almost 1/6th of London, 70,000 die in the Great Plague of London;

1666: the number of the devil 666 & thus came Great Fire of London (Feb 2-9) burning over 13,200 houses, and buildings such as St Paul's Cathedral.

1673: Test Act excludes Roman Catholics from office in England;

1675: Greenwich Observatory established;

1676: influenza epidemic;

1678: “Popish Plot” revealed; Catholics persecuted, trials of many leading Roman Catholics; the catholic-converted heir - James, Charles II's brother created a crisis; Import ban on French goods;

1683: Dampier begins circumnavigation of world; Wild boars extinct in England;

1684: 1st attempts in London to light the streets;

1685: Charles II dies & is succeeded by his Catholic brother James II; French Huguenots begin silk manufacture in Great Britain;

1686: Roman Catholics readmitted into English army;

1688: James II alienates his supporters; Seven English Lords invite William of Orange to England (the “Glorious Revolution”); William of Orange main concern was his Dutch interests & the great European fight against the Catholic French King Louis XIV, but his Dutch armada was successful in scaring James II who escaped to France;

1689: Declaration of Rights; William III & Mary II proclaimed King & Queen, but the British monarchy would never be the same again.

1690: Act of Grace passed; James II went to catholic Ireland & led an army against the protestant English at the Battle of Boyne, the Irish again became pawns in someone else's chess game, this time with no winners.

1691: New East India company formed;  Treaty of Limerick ends Irish rebellion;

1692: massacre of Clan Macdonald at Glencoe; French invasion of England thwarted by destruction of the French navy

1693: National Debt begins; Scotland impoverished in famine. 

1694: Bank of England founded; Q. Mary II dies; salt tax doubled;

1695: end of government press censorship;

1698: Scottish Darian scheme to commence trading post in Panama to facilitate trade between Japan & England, but the Darian fleet colonists met disaster with malarial-ridden swamps. The English were banned from supporting this scheme. The failed scheme consumed 2/3rds of Scotland's capital putting an end to Scotland's desire for economic independence and further cemented anti-Anglo sentiment, but set the scene for England to bail out Scotland financially in 1707 in return for union with England - “Brittania Incorporated” or “Great Britain”; 

1600: Harps used in orchestras; Amsterdam Bank founded; wigs & dress trains become fashionable; Henry IV of France marries Maria de'Medici; 

1602: Dutch East India Company founded;

1602-27: War between Persia & Turkey

1605: 1st public library in Rome; 

1606: Joseph Scaliger “Thesaurus temporum” - chronology of ancient times; 1st open air opera in Rome; Portugese navigator de Torres sails between New Guinea & Australia; Extensive program of road building commences in France;

1609: 12yrs truce between Spain & Holland; Tea shipped from China to Europe for the 1st time;

1610: Denmark declares war on Sweden

1613: House of Romanov started in Russia; Turks invade Hungary; Amsterdam Exchange built;

1616: War between Venice & Austria (ends in 1618); Notre Dame Cathedral finished (begun 1352);

1620: War between Sweden & Poland; Turks defeat Polish army; German inflation (till 1623);

1621: Potatoes planted in Germany for the 1st time;

1625: Order of Sisters of Mercy founded in Paris by Vincent de Paul; Introduction of full-bottomed wigs in Europe;

1626: Royal edict condemns anyone to death who kills his adversary in a duel in France; Peace b/n Huguenots & French crown;

1629: Peace of Susa ends war between England & France;

1630: Beginning of High Baroque period (- 1680) in Italy; Sweden invades Germany; Kepler dies;

1631: earthquake in Naples; Mt Vesuvius erupts;

1640: French finish occupation of Alsace; Swedes withdraw from Bohemia; Portugal becomes independent;

1641: Rise of Swedish iron industry; Renaudot in France publishes his plan for free medicinal treatment of the needy but he is then banned from practising!

1642: inflation in Spain; Galileo dies;

1643: Monteverdi the opera composer dies; 

1645: Turk-Venetian war over Crete ( - 1669); mythology of Vampires used to control the population in Eastern Europe;

1648: Naples restored to Spanish rule; German population sinks from 17m in 1618 to 8m owing to war, famine & plague; 

1649: war of the Fronde begins in France;

1652: English defeat Dutch at Battle of Downs before they declare war; 1st opera house in Vienna; 1st letter boxes in Paris;

1654: Treaty of Westminster ends Anglo-Dutch war & Dutch recognise the Navigation Act; War between Russia & Poland;

1655: Sweden invades Poland; outbreak of 1st Northern War; 1st regular newspaper in Berlin;

1658: Charles X starts 2nd Northern War;

1662: Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for £400,000;

1663: Turks declare war on Holy Roman Empire, invade Transylvania & Hungary;

1664: French horn becomes an orchestral instrument; French furniture prevails in European palaces & castles; large periwig style;

1665: allied British & Portugese defeat Spain, securing independence for Portugal;

1666: France & Dutch declare war on England; Stradivari labels his 1st violin;

1667: War of Devolution begins as France invades Netherlands; 

1669: Venetians lose Crete to Turks;

1671: Turks declare war on Poland;

1672: Britain declares war on Dutch; France declares war on Dutch;

1673: Emperor Leopold I declares war on France;

1675: War between Sweden & Denmark; Paris becomes centre of European culture with pop. 0.5m;

1678: War between Sweden & Russia; Hungarian rebellion against Hapsburgs; 1st chrysanthemums arrive in Holland from Japan;

1680: 1st ballets arrive in Germany from France; Stradivari's 1st cello;

1683: Spain declares war on France;

1685: J.S Bach, George Frederick Handel & Scarlatti all born this year.

1686: Russia declares war on Turkey;

1687: War between France & the Empire;

1689: Louis XIV declares war on Great Britain; Peter the Great becomes Czar of Russia; German diet declares war on France;

1690: Spain joins Great Alliance against France; Turks reconquer Belgrade;

1692: French navy destroyed as it tries to invade England;

1693: French sack Heidelberg for 2nd time; French defeat English merchant fleet; Louis XIV begins peace policy;

1699: Peter the Great decrees that in Russia, New Year will be on Jan 1 instead of Sep 1.

1605: Santa Fe, New Mexico founded;

1606: French trading post established at Nova Scotia;

1607: John Smith, one of the members of the expedition that established Jamestown, Va, organises trade with Indians & was captured by Indian chief Powhatan, but was saved from being put to death by the chief's daughter Pocahontas;

1608: Jesuit state of Paraguay established; Champlain founds a French settlement at Quebec;

1609: Hudson explores Delaware Bay & Hudson River;

1612: Bermuda colonised; Dutch use Manhattan as fur-trading centre; Tobacco planted in Virginia;

1613: English colonists in Virginia destroy French settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia & prevent French colonisation of Maryland;

1614: Pocahontas marries John Rolfe; John Smith returns to America & explores & maps the New England region;

1619: 1st Negro slaves in Nth America arrive in Virginia;

1620: Pilgrim fathers having left Plymouth, England in the “Mayflower”, land at New Plymouth, Mass. to found Plymouth Colony;

1621: England attempts to colonise Newfoundland & Nova Scotia;

1625: 1st English settlement in Barbados;

1629: Colony of Massachusetts founded;

1630: Winthrop, English Puritan leader arrives in Mass. with 1000 settlers & founds Boston, 16,000 more settlers follow;

1632: Charles I issues charter for the colony Maryland, under control of Lord Baltimore;

1634: Jean Nicolet lands on Green Bay & explores Wisconsin;

1635: Council of New England dissolved;

1641: French settle in Michigan;

1642: Montreal founded;

1646: English occupy Bahamas;

1650: Beginning of the extermination of the Nth American Indians;

1654: Portugese finally drive Dutch out of Brazil;

1655: English capture Jamaica from the Spanish;

1656: Dutch take Colombo from Portugese;

1663: Colbert forms Nth Am. colony of New France into a province with Quebec as capital;

1664: British annexe New Netherlands from Connecticut to Delaware & rename New Amsterdam (which had surrendered under Peter Stuyvesant) as New York.

1665: 1st known turf race in New York;

1669: John Locke's constitution for Carolina approved; S. Carolina founded;

1673: French explorers Marquette & Joliet reach headwaters of Mississippi River & descend to Arkansas;

1678: Robert de La Salle explores the Great Lakes

1682: La Salle claims Louisiana territory for France & takes possession of Mississippi Valley; Great Charter of Pennsylvania;

1683: Peace treaty between William Penn & N.Amer. Indians; 1st German immigrants to Nth America;

1685: 1st French settlers in Texas;

1686: James II forms the Federation of New England in order to remodel British colonies in Nth Amer.; 1st French settlers in Arkansas;

1693: Kingston, Jamaica founded;

 

1644: Dutch settle Mauritius

1645: Capuchin monks sail up the Congo river;

1651: Dutch settle at Cape of Good Hope;

1660: Dutch peasants (Boers) settle in Sth Africa; Royal African Company founded;

1679: French Jesuit Louis Hannepin discovers Niagara Falls

1686: French annexe Madagascar;

1600: Dutch opticians invent the telescope;

1602: Galileo investigates laws of gravitation & oscillation;

1606: Galileo invents proportional compass;

1608: Galileo constructs astronomical telescope;

1609: tin-enamelled wares made at Delft;

1610: Galileo discovers Jupiter's moons; Harriott discovers sunspots; Pieresc discovers Orion nebula;

1612: Pitiscus uses decimal point in his trigonometric tables;

1613: copper coins come into use;

1614: Sir Walter Raleigh - “History of the World”; development of glass industry in England;

1615: Galileo faces the Roman Inquisition for the 1st time;

1616: Snellius discovers laws of refraction, then establishes technique of trigonometric triangulation for cartography;

1618: Kepler's 3rd law of planetary motion;

1619: Harvey discovers circulation of blood;

1620: Drebbel discovers scarlet “bow dye”; Gunter's treatise on logarithms; Oughtred invents sliderule;

1623: Patents law in England to protect inventors;

1624: van Helmont coins the name 'gas' for compressible liquid

1625: Glauber discovers Glauber's salt; 1st fire engines in London; Hackney coaches in London;

1626: Santorio measures human temperature;

1629: Gerard uses brackets & other abbreviations in mathematics;

1630: Public advertising begins in Paris; the card game cribbage invented;

1631: Oughtred proposes symbol 'X' for multiplication;

1632: 1st coffee shop opens in London;

1636: Gascoigne's micrometer; commercial collapse of Dutch tulip trade;

1639: quinine used as a medicinal treatment; 1st printing press in Nth America;

1640: coke made from coal;

1641: arsenic prescribed for medicinal purposes; cotton goods begin to be manufactured in Manchester;

1642: Pascal's adding machine;

1643: Torricelli invents the barometer;

1646: Kircher constructs 1st projection lantern;

1648: Glauber obtains hydrochloric acid; mirrors & chandeliers manufactured;

1649: 1st British navy frigate constructed;

1651: Riccioli introduces on his lunar map many of the modern names of lunar features;

1654: Pascal & Fermat state the theory of probability;

1657: Huygens designs pendulum for clocks; drinking chocolate in London; stockings & fountain pens in Paris;

1658: Swammerdam discovers red blood cells; Hooke invents balance spring for watches; Browne advocates cremation; 1st bank note;

1659: Willis describes 1st typhoid fever;

1660: Staedtler founds pencil factory in Nuremberg; Water closets arrive from France to England;

1661: Huygens invents manometer;

1663: Guericke constructs a frictional electrical machine; Newton discovers the binomial theorem;

1666: Newton measures the moon's orbit; 1st cheddar cheese;

1667: French army uses hand grenades;

1668: Newton constructs reflecting telescope;

1669: Brande prepares phosphorus; Steno begins the modern study of geology;

1670: Willis describes symptoms of diabetes; 1st minute hands on watches;

1672: ipecacuanha used as medicinal in Europe; flexible hose for fighting fires;

1675: Leibniz invents integral calculus; Romer discovers the finite velocity of light;

1676: Ravenscroft adds lead oxide to glass and discovers “crystal” with more brilliant light and easier to hand cut

1677: ice cream becomes popular in Paris;

1678: geometrical theorem on the nature of concurrency; polarised light; medical treatise on measles;

1680: dodo becomes extinct; 1st checks in England;

1683: Newton explains tides;

1686: Halley draws 1st meteorological map;

1687: Newton “Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica”;

1688: plate glass being cast for 1st time;

1690: Papin devises steam pump; calico printing introduced to England from France;

1691: 1st directory of addresses in Paris;

1695: Epsom salts isolated;