Frost Fair on the frozen river Thames in winter 1683 In the year 1683, a 173,000-man Ottoman force arrives at Vienna and starts to besiege the city (Jul 14), Germantown in Philadelphia is founded as the first permanent German settlement in North America (Oct 6), the English crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties (Nov 1), the River Thames in London freezes, allowing a frost fair to be held (Dec), wild boars are hunted to extinction in Britain – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Governors Island, south of Manhattan In the year 1624, as Oslo in Norway is destroyed once again by fire, King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway decrees its rebuilding on a new site, and to be named Christiania (May 24), the first Dutch settlers arrive in New Netherland as they disembark at Governors Island (Jun), Portuguese Jesuit priest António de Andrade becomes the first European to enter Tibet (Jul-Aug), the Japanese shōgun expels the Spanish from the land, and severs trade with the Philippines - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Temple of Athena Nike at Acropolis, Athens. Built around 420 BC, excavated in the 1830s. Painting from 1877 by Carl Werner In the year 1687, the French explorer Robert Cavelier is murdered by a crew member while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River (Mar 19), Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is published in London, and becomes the foundation of modern physics (Jul 11), Venetian forces besiege the Ottoman garrison in the Acropolis of Athens whereupon the Temple of Athena Nike is demolished (Sep 23) and half the Parthenon destroyed when a cannon ball hits a powder magazine (Sep 16) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1695, the Bank of Scotland is founded (Jul 17), a window tax is imposed in England and Wales, resulting in some windows being bricked up (Dec 31), a £2 fine is imposed for swearing in England, gold is discovered in Brazil, the Great Famine caused by early frost and bad harvests begins in the Swedish Empire, the famine in Scotland goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The premises of the first coffee house in England on High Street, Oxford, England - now The Grand Cafe In the year 1651, Charles II is crowned King of Scots (Jan 1), Spanish ship San José, loaded with silver, wrecks in the coast of Chile, the surviving crew killed by indigenous Cuncos (Mar 26), laws are passed in Massachusetts forbidding poor people from adopting excessive styles of dress (Oct 13), defeated Charles II escapes from England to France (Oct 15), the first coffee house in England is opened, in Oxford - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1688, the Glorious Revolution begins as William of Orange from Netherlands lands at Torbay, England with a multinational force of 15000 mercenaries (Nov 15), William of Orange enters London (Dec 18), the earliest known mention of the balalaika is made, Edward Lloyd opens the coffee house in London (a popular meeting place of the business-minded) that later develops into Lloyd’s of London - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Reproduction of a Galilean telescope from circa 1620 In the year 1609, the Bank of Amsterdam is established (Jan 31), King Philip III of Spain signs an edict to expel all Moriscos from his country (Apr 4), Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian officials (Aug 25, Johannes Kepler publishes his first two laws of planetary motion, Cornelis Drebbel invents the thermostat - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1659, Jan van Riebeeck produces the first South African wine, at the Cape of Good Hope (Feb 2), Swedish forces attack Copenhagen, but suffer heavy losses (Feb 11), the first known cheque in existence is written, in London (Feb 16), Christiaan Huygens’s important work on astronomy, Systema Saturnium, is published (Jul), Maria Theresa brings cocoa to Paris - and all these fine peope were born: 1659-xxxx Lawrence Washington* plantation owner/grandfather of George Washington - Bridges Creek, Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia, British America (1698/c. Continue reading

Rijksdaalder silver coins from the Batavia wreck In the year 1629, Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal Charter, and the county is the first to be created in British America (Mar 4), the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia is wrecked on a reef near Beacon Island, and following mutiny among the survivors, two exiled murderers become the first Europeans to settle in Australia (Jun 4), actresses are banned in Japan - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Malpas Tunnel in today’s France In the year 1679, there is a devastating fire in Boston (Nov 27), Černín Palace in Prague is completed, Europe’s first navigable canal tunnel, the Malpas Tunnel in France, is excavated, French explorer Daniel Greysolon, Sieur (Sir) du Lhut, becomes the first know European to explore what becomes Duluth, Minnesota - and all these fine people were born: 1679-xxxx John Deane* Royal Navy captain - Nottingham, England (1761/c. Continue reading

The old square in Kristiansand, Norway In the year 1641, the Norwegian city of Kristiansand is founded by King Christian IV of Denmark (Jul 5), London theatres are ordered to close due to increase in cases of plague (Aug 5), Irish Catholics revolt against the English administration and Scottish settlers in Ireland (Oct 23), the Dutch found a trading colony on Dejima in Japan (that remains active until 1854), English law makes witchcraft a capital crime - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1633, Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition, and fire engines are used for the first time in England in order to extinguish a fire that breaks out at London Bridge (Feb 12), the Roman Catholic Church convicts Galileo Galilei of heresy (Apr 12) and forces him to recant his heliocentric view of the Solar System (Jun 22), Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu issues the Sakoku Edict outlawing Christianity and enforcing a policy of extreme isolationism - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1698, the first Scottish settlers leave for an ill-fated colony in Panama (Jul 14), English engineer Thomas Savery obtains a patent for a steam pump (Jul 25), Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards so as to move his people away from Asiatic customs (Sep 5), Christiaan Huygens argues in his posthumously published book Kosmotheoros that other planets in the solar system could contain extraterrestrial life, starting a debate that goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Tre Kronor painting by Govert Dircksz Camphuysen (1661) In the year 1697, Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead becomes the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy (Jan 8), tsar Peter the Great of Russia sets out to travel in Europe incognito (Mar 9), Charles XII becomes king of Sweden at age 14 (Apr 5), Tre Kronor castle in Stockholm burns to the ground (May 17), great famine still goes on in Northern Europe and Scotland - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1612, Axel Oxenstierna persuades the Riksdag of the Estates to grant the Swedish nobility the right and privilege to hold all higher offices of government (Jan 6), Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe Neptune, yet he mistakenly catalogues it as a fixed star (Dec 28), many people are hanged for witchcraft in England, the Nagoya Castle is completed in Japan - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1669, Samuel Pepys stops writing his diary (May 31), after 400 years of operation, the Hanseatic League holds its last official meeting in Lübeck (Jul), famine in Bengal kills 3 million people, phosphorus is discovered, Antonio Stradivari makes his first violin in Cremona - and all these fine people were born: 1669-xxxx Henrik Brenner* Finnish orientalist/Royal librarian - Kronoby, Ostrobothnia, Sweden-Finland (1732/c.63) 1669-0120 Susanna Wesley* known as mother of Methodism/25th of 25 children - London, England (1742/73) Continue reading

The flag of New York in 1664 In the year 1664, Robert Hooke discovers Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (May 9), the world’s oldest private newspaper still published - Gazzetta di Mantova - is first published in Mantua, Italy (Jun), Kronenbourg Brewery is founded in Strasbourg (Jun 9), Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam to the British, who rename the city New York (Aug 27) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Flag of the city of Wilmington, built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America In the year 1638, settlers from Sweden arrive on the ships and establish the settlement of New Sweden in Delaware, thus beginning the Swedish colonization of the Americas (Mar 29), Spanish troops defeat the Dutch in the Battle of Kallo near Antwerp (Jun 20), the Dutch settle in Ceylon and colonize Mauritius, the Finnish postal service is founded, New Haven, the first planned city in America, is founded - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1632, Munich is captured by the Swedish army (May), Charles I of England issues a charter for the colony of Maryland (Jun 20), the University of Tartu officially opens in Swedish Livonia (Oct 15), the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf is killed in action in Lützen (Nov 16), the construction of the Taj Mahal begins, Catharina Stopia of Sweden becomes perhaps the first female diplomat in Europe, the Portuguese are driven out of Bengal - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1628, Oliver Cromwell makes his first appearance in the English Parliament (Mar 17), the Swedish 64-gun sailing ship Vasa sinks on her maiden voyage in Stockholm Harbor (Aug 10, The Collegiate School, the oldest surviving educational institution in North America, is established in New Amsterdam, the first black slaves arrive in Dutch Manhattan - and all these fine people were born: 1628-0112 Charles Perrault* author/folklorist - Paris, France (1703/75) Continue reading