istoryworld
All Events
Peter Stuyvesant accepts the reality of the military situation and yields New Amsterdam to the British without a shot being fired
Robert Hooke publishes Micrographia, in which he coins the word 'cell' because the living components of plants seen through his microscope remind him of monks' cells
The first recorded attempt at blood transfusion, at the Royal Society in London, proves that the idea is feasible
The Five Mile Act prevents Nonconformist ministers in England from coming closer than five miles to any town where they have ministered
The Great Plague of London causes as many as 7000 deaths in a week and perhaps a total of 100,000 by the end of the year
A new Danish constitution (the Kongeloven or King's Law) makes the monarchy hereditary and grants the king absolute power
Isaac Newton spends a creative period in Lincolnshire, at home in Woolsthorpe Manor, apples or no apples
New Amsterdam is renamed New York by the recently established English regime
The Great Fire of London rages for four days, destroying 13,200 houses and 81 churches
John Bunyan publishes his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, written in Bedford Gaol
Michiel de Ruyter sails up the Thames to destroy much of the English fleet at its base in the Medway
The first successful human blood transfusion is achieved in Paris by Jean Baptiste Denis, apparently saving the life of a 15-year-old boy
Bernini's great curving colonnade is completed, to form the piazza in front of St Peter's
French dramatist Jean Racine's first great success, Andromaque, finds tragic drama in a quadrangle of love
Paradise Lost is published, earning its author John Milton just £10
Wood-carver Grinling Gibbons arrives from Holland to begin an immensely successful career in England
In the treaty of Breda, England keeps New Amsterdam and New Netherland, and Holland keeps the English-held territory of Surinam
The Jesuits establish a mission at Sault Sainte Marie which becomes the starting point for French exploration south of the Great Lakes
England's East India Company is granted a lease on Bombay by Charles II, who has received it from his Portuguese bride
Spain finally accepts the independence of the kingdom of Portugal, after nearly a century of Spanish rule
The Bank of Sweden is founded, and survives today as the world's oldest bank
The duke of York, heir to the English and Scottish thrones, is secretly received into the Roman Catholic church
Robert de La Salle makes his first exploration of the Ohio valley, providing the basis for France's later claim to the area
Samuel Pepys ends his diary, after only writing it for nine years
The Dutch develop a new pattern of middle-class urban life and architecture, later copied in England
