17th century
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| Centuries: | 16th century - 17th century - 18th century |
| Decades: | 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s 1660s 1670s 1680s 1690s |
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700 in the Gregorian calendar.
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu is the founder of Japan's last shogunate, which lasted well into the 19th century.
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Events
- 1602: Dutch East India Company founded. Its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age.
- 1603: Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
- 1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu seizes control of Japan and establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate which rules the country until 1868.
- 1603-23: After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands Persia by capturing teritory from the Ottomans and the Portuguese.
- 1605: Gunpowder Plot foiled in England.
- 1607: The London Company establishes the Jamestown Settlement in North America.
- 1608: Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain in New France (present-day Canada).
- 1613: The Time of Troubles in Russia ends with the establishment of the House of Romanov which rules until 1917.
- 1615: The Mughal Empire grants extensive trading rights to the British East India Company.
- 1618-48: The Thirty Years' War devastates Central Europe.
- 1624-42: As chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu centralizes power in France.
- 1625: New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch West India Company in North America.
- 1630: Boston founded by the Massachusetts Bay Company in North America.
- 1636: Harvard University founded.
- 1637: The Dutch tulip mania bubble bursts.
- 1637: The Pequot War, the first of the American Indian Wars
- 1638: Completion of the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, instigated by Shah Abbas I of Safavid Persia.
- 1639-51: Wars of the Three Kingdoms, civil wars throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England.
- 1640: Portugal regains its independence from Spain bringing an end to the Iberian Union.
- 1640: Torture is outlawed in England.
- 1641: The Tokugawa Shogunate institutes Sakoku- foreigners are expelled and no one is allowed to enter or leave Japan.
- 1644: The Manchu conquer China ending the Ming Dynasty. The subsequent Qing Dynasty rules until 1912.
- 1648: The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War and marks the ends of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire as major European powers.
- 1648-53: Fronde civil war in France.
- 1648-67: The Deluge wars leave Poland in ruins.
- 1648-69: The Ottoman Empire captures Crete from the Venetians after the Siege of Candia.
- 1652: Cape Town founded by the Dutch East India Company in South Africa.
- 1652: Anglo-Dutch Wars begin.
- 1653: The Taj Mahal in India is completed.
- 1655-61: The Northern Wars cement Sweden's rise as a Great Power.
- 1660: The Commonwealth of England ends and the monarchy is brought back during the English Restoration.
- 1661: The reign of the Kangxi Emperor of China begins.
- 1662: Koxinga captures Taiwan from the Dutch and founds the Kingdom of Tungning which rules until 1683.
- 1664: British troops capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York.
- 1665: Portugal defeats the Kongo Empire.
- 1670: The Hudson's Bay Company is founded in Canada.
- 1674: Maratha empire founded in India by Shivaji.
- 1676: Russia and the Ottoman Empire commence the Russo-Turkish Wars.
- 1682-99: The Great Turkish war halts the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Europe.
- 1682: Peter the Great becomes joint ruler of Russia (sole tsar in 1696).
- 1682: La Salle explores the length of the Mississippi River and claims Louisiana for France.
- 1683: China conquers the Kingdom of Tungning and annexes Taiwan.
- 1685: Edict of Fontainebleau outlaws Protestantism in France.
- 1688-89: After the Glorious Revolution, England becomes a constitutional monarchy and the Dutch Republic goes into decline.
- 1688-97: The Grand Alliance sought to stop French expansion during the Nine Years War.
- 1689: Nerchinsk Treaty establishes a border between Russia and China.
- 1692: Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
- 1700-21: Russia supplants Sweden as the dominant Baltic power after the Great Northern War.
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Significant people
- Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (1594-1632).
- Francis Bacon, English philosopher and politician (1561-1626).
- Sir Thomas Browne, English author, philosopher and scientist (1605-1682).
- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish Author (1574 - 1616)
- Charles I of England (1600 - 1649).
- Charles II of England (1630 - 1685).
- Queen Christina of Sweden, high profile Catholic convert, matron of arts (1626 - 1689)
- Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland (1599 - 1658)
- Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland (1626 - 1712).
- René Descartes, French philosopher and mathematician (1596 - 1650)
- John Donne, English metaphysical poet (1572 - 1631)
- Elizabeth I of England (1533 - 1603).
- Galileo Galilei, Italian natural philosopher (1564 - 1642)
- Andreas Gryphius, German poet and dramatist(1616 - 1664)
- Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher and mathematician (1588 - 1679)
- Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer (1629 - 1695)
- Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (1571 - 1630)
- Gottfried Leibniz, German philosopher and mathematician (1646 - 1716)
- John Locke, English philosopher (1632 - 1704)
- James I of England (1566 - 1625).
- James II of England (1633 - 1701).
- Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 - 1705)
- Louis XIV, King of France, (1638 - 1715)
- Mary II of England (1662 - 1694).
- Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh (d.1671), Irish historian and genealogist.
- John Milton, English author and poet (1608 - 1674)
- Musashi Miyamoto, famous warrior in Japan, author of The Book of Five Rings, a treatise on strategy and martial combat. (1584 - 1645)
- Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (1642 - 1727)
- Blaise Pascal, French theologian, mathematician and physicist (1623 - 1662)
- Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist (1633 - 1703)
- Henry Purcell, English composer (1659 - 1695)
- Samarth Ramdas, Hindu Saint (1608 - 1681)
- Cardinal Richelieu, French Cardinal, Duke, and politician (1585 - 1642)
- Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter (1606 - 1669)
- William Shakespeare, English author and poet (1564 - 1616)
- Shivaji Bhonsle, Hindu King, 1st Maratha ruler, established Hindavi Swaraj. (1630-1680)
- Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (1632 - 1677)
- Seathrún Céitinn, Irish historian (ca. 1569 - ca. 1644)
- Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland (1629 - 1696)
- Albrecht von Wallenstein, German General in the Thirty Years' War, Catholic (1583 - 1634)
- William III of England (1650 - 1702).
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Inventions, discoveries, introductions
List of 17th century inventions
Major changes in philosophy and science take place, often characterized as the Scientific revolution.
- Calculus is invented and used to formulate classical mechanics.
- First measurement of the speed of light, 1676.
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