istoryworld
France timeline
Louis XIV commissions a well-established team of designers to provide him with a spectacular palace and garden at Versailles
The first successful human blood transfusion is achieved in Paris by Jean Baptiste Denis, apparently saving the life of a 15-year-old boy
French dramatist Jean Racine's first great success, Andromaque, finds tragic drama in a quadrangle of love
Robert de La Salle makes his first exploration of the Ohio valley, providing the basis for France's later claim to the area
Giovanni Domenico Cassini, working in the Paris royal observatory, calculates the distance from the earth to the sun and is only 7% out
Molière falls fatally ill when acting in his own play Le Malade Imaginaire
Sébastien de Vauban's new technique for conducting the siege of a town shows its effectiveness at Maastricht
Ole Roemer, a Danish astronomer working with Cassini in Paris, calculates the speed of light with an error of only 25%
Louis XIV persecutes the Huguenots by means of dragonnades - the billetting of unruly dragoons in the homes of villagers
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
Robert de la Salle travels down the Mississippi to its mouth and claims the entire region for France, naming it Louisiana
400,000 Huguenots leave France after Louis XIV deprives them of their rights by revoking the Edict of Nantes
Sébastien de Vauban's socket bayonet is introduced in the French army
A Grand Alliance against France is formed by almost all the other powers in Europe
France by now has six fortified trading settlements around the coast of India, of which Pondicherry is the most important
In the Treaty of Rijswijk, Spain cedes the western half of Hispaniola to France, which names its new colony Saint-Domingue
The War of the Spanish Succession breaks out between French and Austrian claimants to the Spanish throne
Strasbourg and Alsace are ceded to Louis XIV and become part of France
Louis XIV dies after seventy-two years on the throne
The lighter rococo style, beginning in France, becomes an extension of the baroque
The postchaise, introduced in France, provides the first chance of reasonably comfortable travel by land
Shares in John Law's Louisiana Company rise spectacularly and then collapse, in what becomes known as the Mississippi Bubble
Jean-Antoine Watteau paints the most splendid shop sign in history, for his friend Gersaint
