- Jan 4 Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, laden with gold and jewellery bound for Spain, sinks off the coast of the Bahamas, only 45 of 650 people survive (most eaten by sharks) [1]
- Jan 8 Oldest surviving commercial newspaper, "Weeckelycke Courante van Europa", now known as "Haarlems Dagblad", still in printed circulation begins publication in Haarlem, Netherlands
- Jan 17 Brandenburg & Sweden sign Treaty of Königsberg
Lettres provinciales
Jan 23 French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his "Lettres provinciales"
- Jan 24 1st Jewish doctor in North American colonies, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
- Feb 22 New Amsterdam granted a Jewish burial site
- Mar 13 Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam
- Apr 10 Dutch fleet occupiers Colombo, Ceylon
- Apr 28 Dutch ship Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon) laden with eight chests of silver, wrecks on the western coast of Australia with the loss of 118 lives [1]
- Jul 1 Siege of Warsaw: Polish King Jan II Casimir recaptures Warsaw from Swedish occupiers
- Jul 11 The first Quakers to land in America (Boston), Englishwomen Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, are arrested and jailed by the Puritan colonial government. After 5 years imprisonment they are deported back to Barbados
Rembrandt Declares Insolvency
Jul 26 Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn declares he is insolvent after living beyond his means and spending too much on artwork and rare items. Leads to the most experimental and exuberantly creative period of his career.
- Jul 30 Battle of Warsaw: Swedish King Charles X Gustav beats Polish-Lithuanian King Jan II Casimir and re-occupies Warsaw
- Sep 15 England & France sign peace treaty
- Sep 19 Treaty of Labiau: Sweden gives Prussia, Brandenburg
- Sep 22 All female jury hears case of Judith Catchpole, accused of killing her child (acquit her) in Patuxent County, Maryland
- Oct 2 English North American colony of Connecticut passes law against Quakers
- Oct 24 Treaty of Vilnius: Russia & Poland sign anti-Swedish covenant
- Nov 3 Treaty of Vilnius: Russia & Poland sign anti-Swedish covenant [NS]
- Dec 1 Germany promises Poland aid against Sweden
- Dec 14 Artificial pearls 1st manufactured by M. Jacquin in Paris made of gypsum pellets covered with fish scales
Pendulum Clock
Dec 25 Dutch astronomer and mathematician Christiaan Huygens creates the first pendulum clock
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists