1670s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	16th century – 17th century – 18th century
Decades:	1640s 1650s 1660s – 1670s – 1680s 1690s 1700s
Years:	1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1670s: events by year

Contents: 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679

January–June

• January 21 – Highwayman Claude Duval is executed in Tyburn, Middlesex.
• April 29 – Pope Clement X succeeds Pope Clement IX as the 239th pope.
• May 2 – The Hudson's Bay Company is founded in England, but located in Canada.
• May 26 – In Dover, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover ending hostilities between their kingdoms. Louis XIV will give Charles 200,000 pounds annually. In return Charles will relax the laws against Catholics, gradually re-Catholicize England, support French policy against the Dutch and convert to Catholicism himself.

July–December

• August – Spanish frigates attack Charleston, South Carolina.
• September 1 – September 5 – William Penn and William Mead are tried in London for preaching a Quaker sermon.
• November 24 – Louis XIV of France authorises work to commence on the construction of Les Invalides.

Date unknown

• Phosphorus is discovered by Hennig Brand.
• Blaise Pascal's Pensées is posthumously published.
• England gains formal possession of Jamaica.
• First French settlers arrive in modern-day Senegal.
• The rebellion of Cossacks in the Ukraine is crushed.
• Henry Morgan captures Panama.
• Niani, capital of the Mali Empire, is sacked by the Bambara of the emerging Segou Empire.
• The rebellion of Stenka Razin begins.

January–June

• March – The Synod of Jerusalem brings together bishops and representatives from the whole of Eastern Orthodox Christendom to discuss Orthodox dogma against the challenge of Protestantism.
• March 12 – The Kingdom of England declares war on the Dutch Republic.
• March 15 – Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence.
• April 8 – The Kingdom of France declares war on the Dutch Republic.
• May 2 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
• June 1 – Münster and Cologne begin their invasion of the Dutch Republic. 1672 becomes known as het rampjaar (the disaster year) in the Netherlands.
• June 7 – Battle of Solebay, a sea battle between the Dutch Republic and the joined forces of England and France.
• June 12 – French forces under king Louis XIV cross the Rhine into the Netherlands. Utrecht (city) is occupied by the French Army.

July–December

• July 4 – William III of Orange is appointed Stadtholder of Holland, and in Zeeland on the 16th.
• August 20 – Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, is slaughtered by a mob in The Hague.
• September – Raimondo Montecuccoli and the Great Elector assemble at Halberstadt to attack the French and the bishops of Münster and Cologne in their back. Bernard von Galen withdraws from Groningen (city) slowly to the South.
• October – Spain begins construction on the masonry fort that will become Castillo de San Marcos, to protect St. Augustine, Florida.
• October 18 – Treaty of Buchach between Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

January–June

• January 22 – Impostor Mary Carleton is hanged in Newgate prison in England for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation.
• May 17 – In America, trader Louis Joliet and Jesuit missionary-explorer Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.
• June 7 – First Battle of Schooneveld: In a sea battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, fought off the Netherlands coast, the Dutch win with the fleet of the United Provinces (commanded by Michiel de Ruyter) against the allied Anglo-French fleet commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
• June 14 – Second Battle of Schooneveld: The Dutch fleet again defeats the Anglo-French fleet.
• June 17 – French explorers Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet reach the headwaters of the Mississippi River and descend to Arkansas.

July–December

• July 6 – French troops conquer Maastricht.
• July 11 – The Netherlands and Denmark sign a defense treaty.
• July 24 – Edmund Halley enters Queen's College at Oxford, as an undergraduate.
• August 8 – In the American colonies, a Dutch battle fleet of 23 ships demands the surrender of New York City.
• August 9 – Dutch forces under Admiral Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge recapture New York from English (regained by English in following year, 1674).
• August 21 – Battle of Kijkduin: The Dutch United fleet under Michiel de Ruyter defeats the English and French fleet.
• August 30 – Leopold I, Spain, Netherlands and the Lutherans form an anti-French covenant.
• September 12 – Prince Willem III occupies Naarden.
• November 9 – King Charles II of England removes Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, from his position as Lord Chancellor.
• November 11 – Polish and Lithuanian military units under the command of soon-to-be-king Jan Sobieski defeat the Turkish army in the Battle of Khotyn. In this battle, rockets of Kazimierz Siemienowicz are successfully used.
• November 13 – Dutch troops commanded by Prince Willem III and Raimundo earl Montecuccoli conquer Bonn.
• November 14 – Christopher Wren is knighted.

Date unknown

• France begins its expedition against Ceylon.
• Jean-Baptiste Lully writes his first opera, Cadmus et Hermione.
• Chelsea Physic Garden, the second oldest botanic garden in England, is founded by the Society of Apothecaries for the study of medicinal and other plants.
• The Mitsui family's trading and banking house is founded in Japan.
• The Stalactic grotto of Antiparos (Aegean Sea) is discovered.
• Archpriest Petrovich Avvakum writes his Zhitie (Life) as the first Russian autobiography.
• Test Act: Those who refuse to receive the sacrament of the Church of England cannot vote, hold public office, preach, teach, attend the universities and assemble for meetings.
• The Imaginary Invalid (written by Molière) is first performed in France.

January–June

• February 19 – England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renames it New York.
• May 21 – John III Sobieski is elected by the nobility as King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (to 1696).
• June 6 – Shivaji is crowned as Chatrapati Shivaji at Raigad Fort in India.

July–December

• August 11 – Battle of Seneffe: The French army under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé defeats the Dutch-Spanish-Austrian army under William III of Orange.
• November 10 – Anglo-Dutch War: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster of 19 February, Netherlands cedes New Netherlands to England.
• December 4 – Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illinois people (the mission would later grow into the city of Chicago).

Date unknown

• The Duke of York (later James II) becomes increasingly unpopular in England because of his Catholicism; agitation heightens throughout the country with a petition to exclude him from the succession.
• The East India Company arranges a trading treaty with the Maratha Empire that has recently been founded by Shivaji Bhonsle in central India.
• The bones of the Princes in the tower were supposedly found

January–June

• January 5 – Franco-Dutch War – Battle of Turckheim: In Turckheim, Alsace, France, the French defeat Austria and Brandenburg.
• January 29 – John Sassamon, an English-educated Native American Christian, dies at Assawampsett Pond, an event which will trigger a year-long war between English American colonists of New England and Algonquian Native American tribes.
• April– – English merchant Anthony de la Roché, blown off course having rounded Cape Horn eastabout, makes the first discovery of land south of the Antarctic Convergence, landing on South Georgia and (probably) Gough Island.
• June 8 – John Sassamon's alleged murderers are executed at Plymouth.
• June 11 – Armed Wampanoags are reported traveling around Swansea, Massachusetts.
• June 14–June 25 – Colonial authorities of Rhode Island, Plymouth, and Massachusetts attempt a negotiation with Metacomet (King Philip), leader of the Wampanoags, and seek guarantees of fidelity from the Nipmuck and Narragansett tribes.
• June 24 – King Philip's War breaks out as the Wampanoags attack Swansea.
• June 26 – Massachusetts troops march to Swansea to join the Plymouth troops.
• June 26–June 29 – Wampanoags assault Rehoboth and Taunton; the natives elude colonial troops and leave Mount Hope for Pocasset, Massachusetts. The Mohegan tribe travels to Boston in order to side with the English colonists against the Wampanoags.
• June 28 – Battle of Fehrbellin: Brandenburg defeats the Swedes.

July–December

• July 15 – The Narragansett tribe signs a peace treaty with Connecticut.
• July 16 – July 24 – An envoy from Massachusetts attempts to negotiate with the Nipmuck tribe.
• August 2 – August 4 – The Nipmucks attack Massachusetts troops and besiege Brookfield, Massachusetts.
• August 10 – King Charles II of England places the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London; construction begins.
• August 13 – The Massachusetts Council orders that Christian Indians are to be confined to designated praying towns.
• September 1 – September 2 – While Wampanoags and Nipmucks attack Deerfield, Massachusetts, Captain Samuel Moseley commands Massachusetts troops in an attack on the Pennacook tribe.
• September 12 – English colonists abandon Deerfield, Squakeag, and Brookfield due to a coalition of Indian attacks.
• September 18 – The Narragansetts sign a treaty with the English in Boston; meanwhile, Massachusetts troops are ambushed near Northampton, Massachusetts.
• October 5 – The Pocomtuc tribe attacks and destroys Springfield, Massachusetts.
• October 13 – The Massachusetts Council convenes and agrees that all Christian Indians should be ordered to move to Deer Island.
• November 2–November 12 – Commissioners of the Thirteen Colonies organize a united force to attack the Narragansett tribe.
• November 11
  • Guru Gobind Singh becomes the tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
  • Gottfried Leibniz uses infinitesimal calculus on a function.
  • Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth prophet of the Sikhs, is executed by Mughal rulers. He prefers execution to defend the right of Hindus to practice their own religion.
• December 19 – United colonial forces attack the Narragansetts at the Great Swamp Fight.

Date unknown

• Cassini discovers Saturn's Cassini Division.
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek begins to use a microscope for observing human tissues and liquids.

January–June

• January – Six months into King Philip's War, Metacomet (King Philip), leader of the Algonquian tribe known as the Wampanoag, travels westward to the Mohawk nation, seeking an alliance with the Mohawks against the English colonists of New England; his efforts in creating such an alliance are a failure.
• January 29 – Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
• February 10 – After the Nipmuck tribe attacks Lancaster, Massachusetts, the colonist Mary Rowlandson is taken captive and lives with the Indians until May.
• February 14 – Metacomet and his Wampanoags attack Northampton, Massachusetts; meanwhile, the Massachusetts Council debates whether a wall should be erected around Boston.
• February 23 – While the Massachusetts Council debates how to handle the Christian Indians they had exiled to Deer Island on October 13, 1675, a coalition of Indians led by Metacomet attacks colonial settlements just 16 km (9.9 mi) outside of Boston.
• March 29 – Providence, Rhode Island is attacked and destroyed by the Indians.
• May 2–May 3 – Mary Rowlandson is released from captivity and returns to Boston.
• May 26 – A fire destroys the Town Hall and 624 houses in Southwark in England.
• May 31 – The Massachusetts Council finally decides to move the Christian Indians from Deer Island to Cambridge, Massachusetts (approximate date).
• June – Bacon's Rebellion begins in the Virginia Colony.
• June 1 – Battle of Öland
• June 12 – The Indian coalition attacks Hadley, Massachusetts, but are repelled by Connecticut troops.
• June 19 – Massachusetts issues a declaration of amnesty to any Indian who surrenders.

July–December

• July 2 – Major John Talcott and his troops begin sweeping Connecticut and Rhode Island, capturing large numbers of Native Americans from Algonquian tribes and exporting them out of the Thirteen Colonies as slaves.
• July 4 – Captain Benjamin Church and his soldiers begin sweeping Plymouth Colony for any remaining Wampanoag tribesmen.
• July 11 – The Wampanoags attack Taunton, Massachusetts, but are repelled by colonists.
• July 17 – In France, Madame de Brinvilliers is executed for poisoning her father and brothers. The case also scares the king Louis XIV into starting a series of investigations about possible poisonings and witchcraft, later called the Affair of the Poisons.
• July 27 – Nearly 200 Nipmuck tribesmen surrender to the English colonists in Boston.
• August 2 – Captain Benjamin Church captures Metacomet's wife and son.
• August 12 – King Philip (Metacomet), the chief of the Wampanoags that had waged war throughout southern New England in a war that bore his name, is killed by an Indian named Alderman, a soldier led by Captain Benjamin Church.
• September 19 – Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.
• September 21 – Pope Innocent XI succeeds Pope Clement X as the 240th pope.
• October 17 – Treaty of Żurawno between Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• November 16 – A prison is founded on Nantucket Island in the English colony of Massachusetts.
• December – Ole Rømer makes the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
• December 4 – Battle of Lund, Sweden. A battle in the Scanian War.

Date unknown

• King Philip's War continues, between the settlers in New England and the indigenous tribes led by Metacomet.
• The Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681) begins.
• Emperor Yohannes I decrees that Muslims must live separately from Christians throughout Ethiopia.
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovers microorganisms.
• The States of Finland meet in Turku.
• The French East India Company founds its principal Indian base at Pondicherry, on the Coromandel Coast.
• Edmond Halley observes the transit of Venus.

January–June

• January 1 – Jean Racine's tragedy Phèdre is first performed.
• April 11 – Battle of Cassel: Philippe I, Duke of Orléans defeats William of Orange.
• April 16 – The Statute of frauds is passed into English law.
• May 29 – The Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Indians.
• May 31 – Danish ships clash with Swedish ships under Niels Juel between Fehmarn and Warnemünde; the Danish defeat the Swedish and capture a number of ships.
• June 25–June 26 – Siege of Malmö.

July–December

• July 14 – Battle of Landskrona: Sweden defeats the Danes.
• October 29 – Michel le Tellier becomes chancellor of France.
• November 4 – The future Mary II of England marries William of Orange.
• November 16 – French troops occupy Freiburg.

Date unknown

• Elias Ashmole gifts the collection that begins the Ashmolean Museum to Oxford University.
• Francis Aungier is made the first Earl of Longford.
• The Second London Baptist Confession is written (published in 1689).
• Charles II of England makes Henry Purcell court musician.
• Jules Hardouin-Mansart begins la place Vendôme in Paris (completed in 1698).
• Antoni van Leeuwenhoek observes spermatozoa under the microscope.
• The population of Paris first exceeds 500,000.
• Ice cream becomes popular in Paris.
• The John Roan School is established.
• Gottfried Leibniz gave a complete solution to the tangent problem.

January–June

• January 27 – The first fire engine company in what will become the United States goes into service.
• February 18 – John Bunyan publishes his novel, The Pilgrim's Progress.
• May 11 – French admiral d'Estrees runs his whole fleet aground in Curaçao.
• June – French buccaneer Michel de Grammont leads 6 pirate ships and 700 men in a daring raid on Spanish-held Venezuela, reaching inland as far as Trujillo, Venezuela.
• June 25 – Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia becomes the first woman to be awarded a university degree, a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Padua.

July–December

• August 10 – The Treaties of Nijmegen end the Franco-Dutch War.
• September 6 – Titus Oates begins to present allegations of the Popish Plot, a Catholic conspiracy to assassinate king Charles II of England.
• October 17 – British magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey is found murdered in Primrose Hill, London. Titus Oates claims it as a proof of his allegations.

Date unknown

• About 1,200 Irish families sail from Barbados to Virginia and the Carolinas.
• The first chrysanthemums are planted in Europe.
• In Ireland, the Diocese of Kildare is united with Leighlin to form the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.
• Rebellion breaks out in Southern China.

January–June

• January 24 – King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.
• March 6 – In England, the Habeas Corpus Parliament (or First Exclusion Parliament) assembles for the first time.
• May 27 – The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 is passed in England.
• June 1 – Battle of Drumclog: Scottish Covenanters defeat a small government force.
• June 22 – Battle of Bothwell Bridge: The Duke of Monmouth subdues the Covenanters.

July–December

• August 7 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes.
• November 27 – A fire in Boston, Massachusetts, burns all of the warehouses, 80 houses, and all of the ships in the dockyards.

Date unknown

• European explorers discover Niagara Falls.
• The city of Duluth, Minnesota is founded.
• Aurangzeb reimposes jizya.