istoryworld
All Events
The tower of St Mary's Church is rebuilt in red brick, replacing one of flint and stone
19-year-old Alessandro Scarlatti has a great success in Rome with Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante, the first of his 115 operas
Feudal labour laws demanding corvée (compulsory unpaid labour) are imposed by the Habsburgs on the Czech peasants of Bohemia
Louis XIV persecutes the Huguenots by means of dragonnades - the billetting of unruly dragoons in the homes of villagers
The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico rise against the Spanish, killing 21 missionaries and some 400 colonists
John Bunyan publishes The Life and Death of Mr Badman, an allegory of a misspent life that is akin to a novel
Ireland becomes the first European region in which the potato is an important food crop
A comet intrigues Edmund Halley, who works out that it has been around before
A private estate on the West Field corner of Hounslow Heath comprising 12 acres of land and a substantial house becomes known as Whitton Park.
The Canal du Midi is completed in France, including at one point a 160-metre tunnel through high ground
A professional ballet company in Paris introduces female dancers and the world's first prima ballerina, Mlle de Lafontaine
Charles II grants William Penn the charter for the region that becomes Pennsylvania, in settlement of a debt to Penn's father
John Bunyan publishes The Holy War, an allegory of the devil laying siege to the human soul
Robert de la Salle travels down the Mississippi to its mouth and claims the entire region for France, naming it Louisiana
William Penn approves the Great Law, allowing complete freedom of religious belief in Pennsylvania
William Penn achieves peace for Pennsylvania by negotiating a treaty with the local Lenape (or Delaware) tribes
The emperor, Leopold I, and his court abandon Vienna on the approach of a Turkish army
Mennonites and other from Germany (later known as the Pennsylvania Dutch) begin to settle in Penn's liberal colony
The Qing emperor orders all Chinese men to shave their heads, leaving only a long pigtail
The Turks are driven from the walls of Vienna by the Polish king John Sobieski, in what proves a historic turning point
John Bunyan publishes the second part of The Pilgrim's Progress
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz publishes his account of calculus, simultaneously described in manuscript by Newton, but it is Leibniz who publishes first and names the new method
James II succeeds to the throne in Britain and immediately introduces pro-Catholic policies
Denis Papin, a French scientist working in England, demonstrates a pressure cooker fitted with a safety valve
