In the year 1656, the first Jewish doctor in the Thirteen Colonies of America, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland (Jan 24), the Dutch capture the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, marking the start of Dutch Ceylon (May 12), the pendulum clock is invented by Christiaan Huygens (Dec), the Stockholm Banco, the first bank to issue banknotes, is founded in Stockholm, Sweden – and all these fine people were born: 1656-xxxx Petronella Oortman* Dutch dollhouse enthusiast - Amsterdam (1716/60) Continue reading

Pocahontas (c.1595-1617), daughter of Chief Powhatan, wife of John Rolfe In the year 1607, Jamestown, Virginia, is established as the first permanent English settlement in North America, beginning the American frontier (May 14), the first known performance of a Shakespeare play outside England in English takes place as Hamlet is performed aboard the East India Company ship Red Dragon off the coast of Sierra Leone (Sep 5), Halley’s Comet is seen by Johannes Kepler (Oct 27), Captain John Smith of the Jamestown Colony is captured by the Opchancanough tribe, and sent to Chief Powhatan for execution, but Pocahontas rescues him (Dec), Spain is effectively bankrupt - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1673, impostor Mary Carleton is hanged at Newgate Prison in London (Jan 22), Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid premiers in Paris (Feb 10), Test Act decreed that Roman Catholics and others who refuse to receive the sacrament of the Church of England cannot vote, hold public office, preach, teach, attend the universities or assemble for meetings in England (Mar 29), Dutch forces recapture New York from the English; the city is known as New Orange until regained by the English the following year (Aug 9) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Hudson River, originating in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flowing southward toward the Atlantic Ocean In the year 1611, Denmark declares war on Sweden, then captures Kalmar (Apr 4), the Authorized King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time, in London (May 2), a mutiny on the ship Discovery leads to captain Henry Hudson (for whom both Hudson River and Hudson Bay are named), his son and seven crewmen to being set adrift in or near Hudson Bay, never to be seen again (Jun 22), Gustav II Adolf becomes the King of Sweden (Oct 30) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Prime Meridian passing through it, the Royal Greenwich Observatory gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to UTC In the year 1675, Native American Christian John Sassamon from the Massachusett tribe is killed (Jan 29), the killers convicted (Jun 8), and this helps spark the conflict known as King Philip’s (Metacomet) War, breaking out as the Wampanoags attack Swansea in Massachusetts (Jun 24), Brandenburg defeats the Swedes in the Battle of Fehrbellin (Jun 28), construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London begins (Aug 10), the Narragansetts sign a treaty with the English in Boston (Sep 18), United colonial forces attack the Narragansetts at the Great Swamp Massacre in New England (Dec 19), the American Indian Wars go on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1680, the first documented tornado in America takes place in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Jul 8), Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe, New Mexico from the Spanish (Aug 21), the Whigs, opposing catholicism, burn effigies of the Pope in London (Nov 14), the city of Karlskrona is founded in Sweden, the first Portuguese governor is appointed to Macau - and all these fine people were born: 1680-xxxx Gundill Trabeen** mother of Petter Carlsson Hällström/married to Carl Esbjörnsson Skotte - Helsingborg, Swedish Empire (1711/30-31) Continue reading

In the year 1681, the first recorded boxing match in England takes place (Jan 6), Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will become Pennsylvania (Mar 4), Canal du Midi in southern France is completed, creating a connection from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea (May 15), Roman Catholic Archbishop Oliver Plunkett is hanged in London and becomes the last Catholic martyr to die in England (Jul 1), France annexes the city of Strasbourg, previously a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire (Sep 30) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Photo credit Wally Gobetz In the year 1682, Robert de La Salle claims the territory at the mouth of the Mississippi River as La Louisiane for France (Apr 9), Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles (May 6), the reign of Peter the Great officially begins in Russia (May 7), three women are hanged for witchcraft in Exeter, the last known in England (Aug 25), the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn (Oct 27) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

A Pinellas County fire engine in Largo, Florida In the year 1678, the first fire engine company in the future United States goes into service (Jan 27), the_ Test Act_ provides that members of both the House of Lords and House of Commons of England must swear an anti-Catholic oath, before taking office (Dec 3), about 1,200 Irish families sail from Barbados to Virginia and the Carolinas, the first chrysanthemums are planted in Europe – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Sampling Officials by Rembrandt, 1662 In the year 1662, a short-lived experiment of the first public buses (holding eight passengers) begins in Paris (Mar 18), the hearth tax is introduced in England and Wales - a property tax considered among the first types of progressive tax (May 16), Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to his cousin Louis XIV of France (Oct 27), Rembrandt paints The Sampling Officials - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Republic of Venice and its main territories over the course of its existence. Photo credit Ariel196 In the year 1684, the severe months-long frost in Britain, which even froze the River Thames, ends (Mar), the Republic of Venice declares war on the Ottoman Empire (Apr 25), René-Robert Cavelier sails again from France in order to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico (Jul 24), Edmond Halley goes to Cambridge to discuss planetary motion with Isaac Newton (Aug), the British East India Company receives Chinese permission to build a trading station at Canton, the Swedification of Scania is accelerated by getting rid of the Danish-speaking teachers in the schools there - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1690, the clarinet is said to have been invented in Nuremberg, Germany (Jan 14), the Massachusetts Bay Colony issues the first paper money in North America (Feb 3), King William III of England defeats the deposed James II, who returns to exile in France (Jul 11), the English East India Company founds the future city of Calcutta (Aug 24), Barclays is founded in London, England (Nov 17), Uranus is first sighted and recorded, but mistakenly catalogued as a star (Dec) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Schickard’s Calculating Clock In the year 1623, forces from the Kingdom of Kongo defeat the Portuguese in the Battle of Mbanda Kasi (Jan), the ship Anne arrives from England carrying more settlers to New Plymouth, Plymouth Colony (Jul), Rudbeckianska gymnasiet, the first gymnasium in Sweden, is founded, Wilhelm Schickard invents his Calculating Clock, an early mechanical calculator - and all these fine people were born: 1623-xxxx Jürgen Ovens* German portrait painter/art dealer - Tönning, Duchy of Schleswig (1678/55) Continue reading

In the year 1692, the Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with three women being charged of witchcraft (Mar 1), the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty issues the Edict of Toleration, recognizing the Roman Catholic Church and legalizing missions and their conversion of Chinese people (Mar 22), the last of those convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials are hanged, and the remainder are eventually released (Sep 22), a slave revolt is crushed in Barbados (Oct 21) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

A humpback whale fluke - all unique like human fingerprints In the year 1615, forces under shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan, and thus begins a period of peace which lasts nearly 250 years (Jun 4), several Spanish Basque whalers on a whaling expedition to the Westfjords Peninsula of Iceland are killed as they end up in a conflict with the locals (Oct) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1647, the Truce of Ulm ends for a while the power struggle in Bavaria between Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden (Mar 14), Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company (Aug), England’s Puritan rulers ban Christmas, the word geysir is first used in Iceland - and all these fine people were born: 1647-0102 Nathaniel Bacon* Virginia colonist/rebel - Friston Hall, Suffolk, England (1676/29) Continue reading

The plaque of Café Procope on Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie in Paris In the year 1686, New York City and Albany are granted city charters by the colonial governor (Jul 22), the Swedish Church Law 1686 confirms Sweden as a Lutheran state, whereby even the Romani people are to be incorporated to the Lutheran Church and all children need to learn to read the scriptures (which more or less eradicates illiteracy in Sweden), Café Procope, the oldest coffeehouse in Paris, frequented by Marie Antoinette and Napoleon Bonaparte, is opened - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The ruins of Heidelberg Castle near Mannheim, Germany In the year 1693, a major earthquake kills thousands in Sicily and Malta (Jan 11), the Palantine forces at Heidelberg Castle surrender to France (May 23), John Locke publishes his influential book Some Thoughts Concerning Education, while William Penn, the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, publishes his proposal for European federation, a religious schism in Switzerland leads to the formation of the Mennonite Amish sect, the Nine Year’s War goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Othello and Desdemona, a painting by Fradelle from circa 1827 In the year 1604, Duke Carl becomes King Carl IX of Sweden (Mar 22), the Dutch begin contructing the city of Gothenburg in Sweden (Aug 21), William Shakespeare’s Othello is performed, probably for the first time, in London (Nov 1), construction of the Kajaani castle by order of King Carl IX begins in eastern Finland, France begins settling Acadia which becomes the first successful French North American colony, the first known English dictionary to be organized by alphabetical ordering, the Table Alphabeticall, is published - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1676, as the leader of the Wampanoags nation Metacomet attacks Northampton, Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Council debates whether a wall should be erected around Boston (Feb 14), Metacomet, having waged a war throughout southern New England, is killed by another Indian (Aug 12), Sweden defeats the forces of Denmark in the Battle of Lund (Dec 4), Ole Rømer makes the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light (Dec 7), Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovers microorganisms, first coffeehouse in North America opens in Boston - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading