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1620s

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Events

1620

January–March

  • January 7 – Ben Jonson's play News from the New World Discovered in the Moon is given its first performance, a presentation to King James I of England. In addition to dialogue about actual observations made by telescope of the Moon, the play includes a fanciful discussion of a lunar civilization a dance by the "Volatees", the lunar race.
  • January 22 – In France, Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, and his wife, the Duchess Marie de Rohan, sign a marriage contract on behalf of their one-year-old daughter to be engaged to the year-old son of Charles, Duke of Guise.
  • January 26 – Karan Singh II becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Mewar (in the modern-day state of Rajasthan in India) upon the death of his father, the Maharana Amar Singh I.
  • February 4 – Prince Bethlen Gabor secures a peace treaty with Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.
  • March 22 – King Karma Phuntsok Namgyal of Tibet dies of smallpox after a reign of less than two years, after Ngawang Namgyal of Bhutan casts a tantric spell over him.
  • March 24 – English sailor Owen Fitzpen is captured by Turkish pirates while on a trading voyage in the Mediterranean Sea and sold into slavery. He remains a slave in North Africa for seven years until he and 10 other slaves are able to take over a Turkish ship and sail back to Europe.

April–June

  • April 1 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and former King of Bohemia, sends a two-month ultimatum directing King Frederick of Bohemia (who has usurped the throne in the modern-day Czech Republic) to leave Bohemia by June 1. Frederick refuses to depart his capital at Prague.
  • April 7 – The earliest recorded earthquake in South Africa occurs at Robben Island.
  • April 20 – Mian Shahul Mouhammed Kalhoro begins his reign at Karachi as the king of Sindh, in modern-day Pakistan, and rules until 1657.
  • May 17 – The first merry-go-round is seen at a fair in Philippapolis, Turkey.
  • June 3 – The oldest stone church in French North America, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, is begun at Quebec City in modern-day Canada.

July–September

  • July 3
  • July 25 (July 15 OS) – The armed merchant ship Mayflower embarks about 65 emigrants for New England at or near her home port of Rotherhithe on the Thames east of London; about July 29 (July 19 OS) she anchors in Southampton Water.
  • August 1 (July 22 OS) – The ship Speedwell departs Delfshaven with English separatist Puritans from Leiden bound to rendezvous with the Mayflower; on August 5 (July 26 OS) she anchors in Southampton Water.
  • August 15 (probable date; August 5 OS) – Mayflower and Speedwell depart together from Southampton, but are forced to put back into Dartmouth, Devon, for repairs to a leak in the latter ship on August 22 or 23 (August 12 or 13 OS).
  • August 7
  • September 2 (August 23 OS) – Mayflower and Speedwell depart together from Dartmouth; they are well out into the Atlantic when the Speedwell is again found to be leaking.
  • September 7 (August 28 OS)
    • Mayflower and Speedwell return again to England, anchoring at Plymouth; the latter ship is given up as a participant in the voyage and on September 12 (September 2 OS) departs for London, most of her passengers and stores having been transferred to the Mayflower.
    • The Finnish town of Kokkola (Swedish: Karleby) is founded by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
  • September 16 (September 6 OS) – Mayflower departs from Plymouth in England on her third attempt to cross the Atlantic. The Pilgrims on board comprise 41 "saints" (English separatists largely from Holland), 40 "strangers" (largely secular planters from London), 23 servants and hired workers, together with c. 30 crew.
  • September 17–October 7 – Battle of Cecora: The Ottoman Empire defeats Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth–Moldavian troops.

October–December

Date unknown

  • "A Dutch Ship, putting in this Year [of 1620, before June], sold 20 Negroes to the Colony [as slaves], which were the first of that Generation, that were ever brought to Virginia."
  • A severe frost in England freezes the River Thames; 13 continuous days of snow blanket Scotland. On Eskdale Moor, only 35 of a flock of 20,000 sheep survive.
  • Witch-hunts begin in Scotland.
  • History of submarines: Cornelis Drebbel demonstrates the first navigable undersea boat in the Thames in England.
  • The modern violin is developed.
  • Juan Pablo Bonet, teacher of deaf children in the Spanish court, creates a sign alphabet.
  • Francis Bacon publishes the Novum Organum (beyond Aristotle's Organon) on logical thinking.
  • A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas and Origin and progress of the disturbances in the Netherlands by Johannes Gysius are re-published in the Netherlands.
  • Shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada begins restoring Osaka Castle in Japan. Its modern-day appearance dates from this remodeling.

Ongoing

  • The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) continues (principally on the territory of modern-day Germany).

1621

January–March

  • January 12 – Şehzade Mehmed, the 15-year old half-brother of Ottoman Sultan Osman II, is put to death by hanging on Osman's orders. Before dying, Mehmed prays aloud that Osman's reign as Sultan be ruined.
  • January 18 – The Dutch East India Company formally names its fortress at Jayakarta in Indonesia, calling it Batavia. Upon the independence of the Dutch East Indies as Indonesia in 1945, Batavia will be renamed Jakarta.
  • January 22 – The Tianqi era begins in Ming Dynasty China, six months after Zhu Changluo becomes the Taichang Emperor.
  • January 24 – Twelve days after the murder of Prince Mehmed on orders of Sultan Osman II, Constantinople is hit by bitter winter weather, leading to rioting by persons who believe that the punishment of Osman is the will of Allah.
  • January 28 – Pope Paul V (Camillo Borghese) dies at the age of 70 after 15 years as Pontiff.
  • January 29 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares the Elector of the Palatinate, Frederick V, to be a traitor to the Empire.
  • February 9 – Papal Conclave of 1621: Pope Gregory XV succeeds Pope Paul V, as the 234th pope.
  • February 17 – Myles Standish is appointed as the first commander of Plymouth Colony.
  • March 16 – Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them: "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
  • March 22 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
  • March 31 – King Philip IV of Spain begins his 44-year rule.

April–June

July–September

  • July 25 – Thirty Years' War – Battle of Neu Titschein: Remnants of the Bohemian army temporarily hold off the Imperial advance in Silesia.
  • August 8 – Huguenot rebellions: The French Protestant city of La Rochelle joins in the revolt by Benjamin, Duke of Soubise.
  • August 22 – Huguenot rebellions: Louis XIII of France besieges the city of Montauban, but is forced to abandon the battle by November 9.
  • September 2 – The Battle of Khotyn begins as a force of more than 120,000 Ottoman troops attacks the Moldavian city of Khotyn. Despite the Ottomans' numerical superiority, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth wins the battle and forces a surrender five weeks later.

October–December

  • October 9 – The Treaty of Khotyn is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ending the First Polish-Ottoman War.
  • October 9 (September 29 O.S.) – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and Wampanoags celebrate a harvest feast (three days), later regarded as the First Thanksgiving, noted for the temporary peace between the English and the local Indians. The celebration is believed by later historians to have coincided with Michaelmas, observed on September 29 by the Anglican Communion on the calendar used in England at the time.
  • November 11 – The ship Fortune arrives at Plymouth Colony, with 35 more settlers.
  • December 31 – Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Nikolsburg is signed between Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and Gabor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania. Bethlen agrees to renounce his claims to Hungary. In return Bethlen receives several counties and lands along the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire, and Moravia is granted religious freedom.
  • December – The Dutch mathematician and astronomer, Willebrord Snel van Royen (1580–1626), reveals he has rediscovered the law of refraction, also known as Snellius' law.

Date unknown

  • The Venezuelan city of Petare is founded by Spanish conquistadors, as San Jose de Guanarito.
  • The Swedish city of Gothenburg is founded by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The king also grants city rights to Luleå, Piteå and Torneå (Tornio). Riga falls under the rule of Sweden.
  • Tamblot rallies an unknown, large number of people in Bohol, Captaincy General of the Philippines to revolt against the Spanish Empire.
  • The Dutch East India Company sends 2,000 soldiers, under the command of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, to the Banda Islands, in order to force the local inhabitants to accept the Dutch trade monopoly on the lucrative nutmeg, grown almost exclusively on those islands. The soldiers proceed to massacre most of the 15,000 indigenous inhabitants.

1622

January–May

April–June

  • April 22 – Hormuz is captured from the Portuguese, by an Anglo-Persian force.
  • April 27 – Thirty Years' War – Skirmish at Mingolsheim: Protestant forces under Mansfeld and Georg Friedrich of Baden-Durlach defeat the Imperial forces under Tilly. The Protestants win, but afterwards Tilly links up with a Spanish army under Gonzalo de Córdoba, greatly increasing his strength.
  • May 6 – Thirty Years' War: While waiting for the Protestant forces of Christian the Younger of Brunswick to join them, Mansfeld and Georg Friedrich of Baden-Durlach split up their forces as a diversion for the Imperial army of Tilly. Their plan fails, as Tilly manages to cut off Georg Friedrich at Wimpfen. At the ensuing Battle of Wimpfen, Georg Friedrich's army is almost completely destroyed.
  • May 13 – The Eendracht, a VOC ship and the second recorded European ship to make landfall on Australian soil, is wrecked off the western coast of Ambon Island, Dutch East Indies.
  • May 20 – Ottoman Sultan Osman II is strangled by rebelling Janissaries, who revolted when they heard rumours that Osman II was planning to move against them.
  • May 25 – The English ship Tryall, which left Plymouth, England for Batavia (now Jakarta), wrecks on the Tryal Rocks, nine months later (the wreck is discovered in 1969).
  • May – Huguenot rebellions: The Huguenot city of Royan is taken by royal forces, after a short siege.
  • June 11 – Huguenot rebellions: The Huguenot city of Nègrepelisse is taken, after a short siege by royal forces. The entire population of the city is subsequently massacred, and the city is burned to the ground.
  • June 20 – Thirty Years' War: Imperial forces under Tilly attempt to prevent Christian the Younger of Brunswick from moving his army across the Main River, to link up with Mansfeld. At the Battle of Höchst, Tilly manages to inflict considerable casualties on the Protestant forces, as well as seizing Brunswick's baggage train. Nonetheless, the bulk of Brunswick's forces manage to unite with Mansfeld.
  • June 24 – Dutch–Portuguese War – Battle of Macau: The outnumbered Portuguese forces successfully defend Macau from the Dutch fleet, keeping a Portuguese foothold in the Far East.

July–September

  • July 13 – Thirty Years' War: After Mansfeld fails to relieve the siege of Heidelberg, Frederick V of the Palatinate cancels Mansfeld's contract and disbands his army. The unemployed army of Mansfeld and Christian the Younger of Brunswick is subsequently hired by the Dutch.
  • July 13 or July 14 – English and Dutch ships defeat the Portuguese, near Portuguese East Africa.
  • July 18 – Eighty Years' War: Bergen op Zoom is besieged by a Spanish army, under the command of Ambrogio Spinola.
  • August 29 – Thirty Years' War: While on their way to relieve the Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom in the Netherlands, the army of Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick is blocked by a Spanish army, led by Gonzalo de Córdoba. In the Battle of Fleurus, Cordoba manages to fight off the Protestant assault. The next day, Cordoba surprises the retreating Protestant army with his cavalry, resulting in the destruction of most of the Protestant army.
  • September 5 – Armand Jean du Plessis becomes Cardinal Richelieu.
  • September 6 – Spanish treasure fleet sinks off Marquesas Keys in the straits of Florida. Atocha, Margarita, and Rosario are the most heavily laden treasure ships found in the 20th century.
  • September 10 – 55 Christians are executed in Nagasaki during the Great Genna Martyrdom
  • September 19 – Thirty Years' War: Heidelberg, the capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate, is taken by the Imperial army of Tilly' after a three-month siege.

October–December

  • October 2 – Eighty Years' War: After a siege of 86 days, Bergen op Zoom is relieved by a Dutch army led by Maurice of Nassau and Ernst von Mansfeld.
  • October 18 – Huguenot rebellions: The first Huguenot rebellion ends, with the signing of the Treaty of Montpellier.
  • October 27 – Huguenot rebellions: The inconclusive Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré is fought between the Huguenot fleet of La Rochelle, commanded by Jean Guiton, and a royal fleet under the command of Charles of Guise.
  • November 2 – After a siege of 13 days, the German city of Mannheim is captured from England by a force of Spanish and Imperial Holy Roman troops led by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly.
  • November 25 – King Christian IV of Denmark invites the Sephardic Jews of Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic to settle in the newly-built Danish town of Lykstad, promising them the free exercise of their religion without persecution. The city remains part of Denmark until 1864 until it is captured in the Second Schleswig War and is now part of Germany as Glückstadt.
  • November 30 – A fleet of 43 Dutch ships from Suriname attacks the Araya Peninsula in Venezuela in an attempt to halt construction of a Spanish fortress. The Spanish drive the Dutch away after six weeks of fighting, ending January 13, 1623.
  • December 18 – Portuguese forces with Imbangala allies score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in modern-day Angola as part of the First Kongo-Portuguese War.
  • December 22 – The Spanish colonial city of Bucaramanga is founded in the colony of Nueva Grandada in what is now Colombia.

Date unknown

  • Dutch ships under Jochem Swartenhont, while escorting a convoy, repel a Spanish squadron near Gibraltar.
  • Portugal loses control of the island of Ormus, after 107 years.
  • Albertus Magnus is beatified, and Teresa of Ávila is canonized, by the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Rosicrucianism furor breaks out in Paris.
  • War between the Netherlands and Spain recommences, after the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621).
  • The Golden Horn freezes.
  • First record of bottled spring water in England at Holy Well, Malvern.

1623

January–March

  • January 21
    • Viscount Falkland, England's Lord Deputy of Ireland, issues a proclamation ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave Ireland, affecting negotiations over the "Spanish match" (which resume in March).
    • Voyage of the Pera and Arnhem to Australia: Captains Jan Carstenszoon of the Arnhem and Willem Joosten van Coolsteerdt of the Pera depart on an expedition for the Dutch East India Company from Ambon, Maluku (Amboyna) to explore the Australian coast.
  • January – Battle of Mbanda Kasi: Forces from the Kingdom of Kongo defeat the Portuguese.
  • February 7 – France, Savoy and Venice sign the Treaty of Paris, agreeing to cooperate in removing Spanish forces from the strategic Alpine pass of Valtelline.
  • February 25 – Thirty Years' War: Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria becomes Elector of the Electorate of the Palatinate.
  • March 5 – The first American temperance law is enacted, in Virginia.
  • March 7 – Charles, Prince of Wales, the future King Charles I of England, travelling incognito with royal favourite George Villiers, arrives in Madrid to pursue negotiations over the "Spanish match", the Protestant Charles's proposed marriage with the Catholic Habsburg Infanta Maria Anna of Spain.
  • March 9 – Amboyna massacre: Ten English merchants in the service of the British East India Company, together with nine Japanese and one Portuguese, are executed by agents of the Dutch East India Company in Ambon, Maluku (Amboyna).
  • March 14 – In the Korean kingdom of Joseon, Crown Prince Yi Ji is deposed and exiled to Ganghwa Island, where he dies soon after.
  • March 20 – Richard Frethorne begins writing a letter to his parents from Jamestown, Virginia.

April–June

  • April 11 – King Gwanghaegun of Joseon (in Korea) is deposed in the Injo coup and succeeded by King Injo.
  • April 29 – A fleet of 11 Dutch ships depart for the coast of Peru, seeking to seize Spanish treasure.
  • May 5 – Raja Gaj Singh of Marwar, along with Mahabat Khan and Parviz Mirza, is deputized by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in India to hunt down Jahangir's rebel son, Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram. The search fails, and Khurram will become the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after Jahangir's death in 1627.
  • May 8 – A Dutch East India Company party, led by explorer Jan Carstenszoon, fights a skirmish with 200 indigenous Australian Wik peoples.
  • May 22 – After negotiations for the release of English women taken from Jamestown in the British North American colony of Virginia, conducted between Captain William Tucker of the English settlers and Chief Opchanacanough of the Powhatan Confederacy (Tsenacommacah), the English arrange a banquet with the Powhatan, and the drinking of wine. The wine is poisoned and many of the Powhatan Indians die, while 50 more are killed while ill. This follows the massacre of 347 English colonists of March 22, 1622, in the Powhatan uprising. Opchanacanough escapes, and the 20 women never return home.
  • June 14 – The first breach-of-promise lawsuit: Rev. Gerville Pooley, in Virginia, files against Cicely Jordan, but loses.
  • June 29 – Première of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's first play, Amor, honor y poder (Love, Honor and Power), at the Court of Habsburg Spain.

July–September

  • July 8 – Pope Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi) dies from a kidney ailment after a reign of a little more than two years.
  • July 10 – The English ship Anne becomes the third vessel to bring settlers to Plymouth Colony, the Puritan settlement in modern-day Massachusetts, carrying more settlers, after the Mayflower on November 21, 1620, and the Fortune on November 9, 1621.
  • July 15 – Trịnh Tùng is deposed as ruler of the kingdom of Đại Việt in northern Vietnam after more than 50 years. His son, Trịnh Xuan, burns the palace. Trinh Tung is carried away by his servants in a sedan chair and abandoned in the road to die. Another son, Trịnh Tráng, succeeds to the throne of Đại Việt.
  • July 16 – A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, with the planets only 5 arc minutes apart, the closest between 1226 and 2874. This conjunction likely goes unobserved, as it occurs near the Sun and the telescope has been invented only recently.
  • July 30 (probable date) – The second Thanksgiving is celebrated in Plymouth Colony.
  • August 5 – The English ship Little James arrives at Plymouth Colony, 26 days after the Anne.
  • August 6
  • August 30 – Negotiations, resumed in March, of the planned "Spanish match" break down. On October 5, Prince Charles returns to England from Spain without a bride.
  • September 10 – Murat IV, age 11, succeeds his deposed uncle Mustafa I as Ottoman Emperor. Because Murat is a minor, his mother, Kösem Sultan, serves as regent until 1632.

October–December

  • October 9 – Kara Mustafa Pasha is replaced as the Ottoman Governor of Egypt on orders of Sultan Murad IV.
  • October 20 – Cardinal Antonio Marcello Barberini informs Galileo Galilei that his brother, the newly-enthroned Pope Urban VIII, wishes to receive a visit from Galileo.
  • October 26 – "Fatal Vespers": 95 people are killed when an upper floor of the French ambassador's house in London collapses under the weight of a congregation attending a mass.
  • November 1
    • The Battle of Anjar is fought in modern-day Lebanon as the Druze emir Fakhr al-Din II defeats an invasion by Mustafa Pasha al-Hannaq, the Ottoman Governor of Damascus, and takes him prisoner.
    • Fire at Plymouth Colony destroys several buildings.
  • November 8–December 5 – Publication between these dates in London of the "First Folio" (Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies), a collection of 36 of the plays of Shakespeare, half of which have not previously been printed.
  • December 4 – 50 Christians are executed in Edo, Japan, during the Great Martyrdom of Edo.

Date unknown

  • In British America:
    • On the coast of Massachusetts Bay, the settlement that will become the City of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is first inhabited by men from Dorchester, Dorset, England.
    • On the coast of New Hampshire, the settlement of Hilton's Point, which will become Dover, New Hampshire, is established by men from London, England, the first European settlers in the state.
  • The 1623 Malta plague outbreak is contained after killing around 40 people on the island of Malta.
  • Erotomania, a delusional disorder, is first mentioned, in a psychiatric treatise.
  • Johannes Rudbeck founds Rudbeckianska gymnasiet, the first gymnasium in Sweden.
  • Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, issues an order, dated at Kolozsvár/Klausenburg/Cluj, that allows Jews to settle, trade freely and practice religion in Transylvania, and exempts them from wearing the usual Jewish sign.
  • Procopius' long-lost Secret History is rediscovered, in the Vatican Library.
  • Italian poet Giambattista Marini's epic L'Adone is published in Paris.
  • Imprisoned Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella's utopian The City of the Sun is published in Latin (as Civitas Solis) in Frankfurt.
  • Wilhelm Schickard devizes a Calculating Clock, an early mechanical calculator.
  • Zildjian begins the commercial manufacture of cymbals in Turkey. The company will still be operating, from Massachusetts, in the 21st century.

1624

January–March

  • January 14 – After 90 years of Ottoman occupation, Baghdad is recaptured by the Safavid Empire.
  • January 22 – Korean General Yi Gwal leads an uprising of 12,000 soldiers against King Injo in what is called then the Joseon Kingdom, and occupies Hanseong.
  • January 24 – Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
  • February 7 – (January 28, 1623/4 old style) England first colonizes Saint Kitts and Nevis.
  • February 11 – Yi Gwal installs Prince Heungan, son of the late King Seongjo, to the Korean throne.
  • February 15 – Yi Gwal's Rebellion ends as the rebels murder Yi Gwal at the town of Mukbang-ri.
  • February 16 – Kara Mustafa Pasha becomes the Ottoman Governor of Egypt for the second time.
  • February 19
  • February 28 – A decree is issued in Norway making it illegal for Jesuits or Roman Catholic monks to be harbored in the country.
  • March 2 – The English House of Commons passes a resolution making it illegal for a Member of Parliament (MP) to quit or willfully give up his seat. Afterward, MPs who wish quit are appointed to an "office of profit", a legal fiction to allow a resignation.
  • March 25 – In a ceremony, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, renews his oath to restore Catholicism in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia.

April–June

  • April 13 – Garcia Mvemba a Nkanga is enthroned as King Garcia I of the southern African nation of Kongo (now in Angola), upon the death of his father, King Pedro II.
  • April 15 – The University of Saint Francis Xavier is founded in Bolivia.
  • April 29 – Louis XIII of France appoints Cardinal Richelieu to the Conseil du Roi (Royal Council).
  • May 8 – Capture of Bahia: A Dutch West India Company fleet captures the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia from the Portuguese Empire (at this time in the Iberian Union).
  • May 11 – a major earthquake in Fez, Morocco, estimated magnitude 6.0 , causes severe damage and thousands of casualties.
  • May 24
    • The city of Oslo, Norway, is destroyed by fire for the fourteenth time. King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway decrees its rebuilding on a new site, where it will be renamed Christiania.
    • After years of unprofitable operation, Virginia's charter is revoked, and it becomes a royal colony.
  • May 25 – The Scottish city of Dunfermline is destroyed by fire, but The Abbey, The Palace, the Abbot House and many other buildings survive.
  • May – The first Dutch settlers arrive in New Netherland; they disembark at Governors Island.
  • June 10 – Treaty of Compiègne is signed between the Kingdom of France and the Dutch Republic.

July–September

  • July 30 – A contingent of 5,000 Chinese troops and 50 warships under the command of Admiral Yu Zigao and General Wang Mengxiong attacks the Dutch fortress at the island of Magong, the largest of the Penghu islands under the command of Martinus Sonck. Outnumbered, the Dutch surrender in five days.
  • August 4 – The Dutch East India Company agrees to Chinese demands to withdraw its operations from the Penghu islands, and relocates its trading post to Fort Zeelandia and the Dutch-controlled island of Formosa, now Tainan on Taiwan.
  • August 5 – The King's Men perform Thomas Middleton's satire A Game at Chess at the Globe Theatre in London. The performances are suppressed on August 14 in view of the play's allusions to the Spanish Match.
  • August 13 – Cardinal Richelieu is appointed by Louis XIII of France to be his chief minister, having intrigued against Charles de La Vieuville, Superintendent of Finances, arrested for corruption the previous day.
  • August 24 – Jasper Vinall becomes the first person to die while playing the sport of cricket, after being struck on the head with a bat during a game at Horsted Keynes in England.
  • August 28 – The Siege of Breda begins, and will continue for just over 9 months until June 5, 1625.
  • August – Portuguese Jesuit priest António de Andrade becomes the first European to enter Tibet, arriving at Tsaparang.
  • September 4 – The Parlement of Paris registers a decree forbidding the publication of criticism of "anciently approved authors" without prior approval from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Paris, on pain of death.
  • September 13 – Ketevan, former queen consort of Kakheti (located around Gremi in what is now the Republic of Georgia), is tortured and killed in the Persian city of Shiraz after refusing to renounce Christianity to convert to Islam.
  • September 19 – Michael I, the Tsar of Russia, is married at Moscow, making Maria Dolgorukova the Tsaritsa. Maria becomes ill shortly afterward and dies five months after the marriage, on January 17.
  • September 21 – The Roman Catholic church's Dicastery for the Clergy issues a decree that no monk may be expelled from his order "unless he be truly incorrigible."

October–December

  • October 3 – A combined squadron of fifteen Neapolitan (Spain), Tuscan, and Papal galleys defeat a squadron of six Algerian ships on the island of San Pietro, near Sardinia. (details)
  • November 3 – Rodrigo Pacheco becomes the Viceroy of New Spain after arriving in Mexico City.
  • December 24 – Denmark's first postal service is launched by order of King Christian IV.

Date unknown

  • The Japanese shōgun expels the Spanish from Japan, and severs trade with the Philippines.
  • Henry Briggs publishes Arithmetica Logarithmica.
  • Jakob Bartsch first publishes a chart, showing the constellation Camelopardalis around the North Star.
  • Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba starts to rule.
  • Frans Hals produces the painting later known as the Laughing Cavalier.
  • The German-language Luther Bible is publicly burned, by order of the Pope.
  • A confrontation between Swedish and Danish councillors ends with a Swedish diplomatic victory due to Sweden's ability to mobilize quickly.

1625

January–March

April–June

July–September

  • July 1 – The Safavid Empire in Iran defeats an invasion from the Kingdom of Georgia in the Battle of Marabda with heavy losses on both sides, including the Georgian commander, Teimuraz I, Prince of Mukhrani. when the Iranian Safavid army defeated a Georgian force.
  • July – The Barbary pirates first attack south-western England. In August they enslave about 60 people from Mount's Bay in Cornwall.
  • August 6 – Ernest Casimir of Nassau-Dietz is appointed as stadtholder of Groningen.
  • August 16 – Ernest Casimir of Nassau-Dietz is appointed stadtholder of Drenthe.
  • September 8 – The Treaty of Southampton makes an alliance between England and the Dutch Republic, against Spain.
  • September 13 – A total of 16 rabbis (including Isaiah Horowitz) are imprisoned in Jerusalem.
  • September 15 – After several skirmishes in the preceding days, troops under the Marquis of Toiras successfully recapture the island of Ré, forcing the Duke of Soubise to flee to England, and ending the second Huguenot rebellion.
  • September 24 – A Dutch fleet attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico.

October–December

Date unknown

1626

January–March

  • January 7 – Polish-Swedish War: Battle of Wallhof in Latvia – Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, defeats a Polish army.
  • January 9 – Peter Minuit sails from Texel Island for America's New Netherland colony, with two ships of Dutch emigrants.
  • February 2 – King Charles I of England is crowned, but without his wife, Henrietta Maria, who declines to participate in a non-Catholic ceremony.
  • February 5 – The Huguenot rebels and the French government sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the second Huguenot rebellion.
  • February 10 – Battle of Ningyuan: In Xingcheng in China, after an 8-day battle, Ming dynasty commander Yuan Chonghuan defeats the much larger force of Manchu leader Nurhaci, who dies soon after and is succeeded by Huang Taiji.
  • February 11 – Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia and Patriarch Afonso Mendes declare the primacy of the Roman See over the Ethiopian Church, and Roman Catholicism the state religion of Ethiopia.
  • March 5 – The Treaty of Monzón is signed between France and Spain to end the Valtellina War and the First Genoese-Savoyard War.
  • March 7 – Ambrósio I Nimi a Nkanga becomes the new monarch of Kongo (in what is now Angola) after the overthrow of Garcia I Mvemba a Nkanga, restoring the Kwilu dynasty to power.
  • March 15 – Portugal declares war on Queen Nzinga of the Kingdom of Ndongo, located in what is now Angola.

April–June

July–September

October–December

Date unknown

  • 1626 influenza pandemic begins in Asia, then spreads into Europe, Africa, North America, and South America.
  • The Würzburg and Bamberg witch trials, which will lead to the mass executions of hundreds of people until 1630/31, begin.
  • Samuel de Champlain decides to build Cap tourmente (Kap toor-mont) Farm to raise livestock to provide food for settlers in Quebec, rather than depending on supplies sent from France.
  • Establishment of the coastal settlement of Salem, Massachusetts.

1627

January–March

  • January 26 – The Dutch ship 't Gulden Zeepaert, skippered by François Thijssen, makes the first recorded sighting of the coast of South Australia.
  • February 15 – The administrative rural parish of Iisalmi (Swedish: Idensalmi) is established in Savonia, by order of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
  • February 17 – England lands the first European settlers on Barbados.
  • March 3 – After the First Manchu invasion of Korea, the Joseon Dynasty of Korea becomes a tributary state of the Manchus, but still pays respects to the Ming Dynasty of China. After rejecting a Manchu alteration to the original diplomatic terms in 1636, the Manchus invade again in 1637.
  • March 17 – Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, is forced to abdicate after his spending brings Hesse-Kassel to bankruptcy. His son takes over as William V and cedes much of the landgravate in September to bring peace in its war against Hesse-Darmstadt.

April–June

  • April 10 – The 't Gulden Zeepaert reaches Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.
  • April 17 – The States of Friesland agree on the 28-point Appeal about Abuses after allowing the citizens to voice their complaints.
  • May 10 – The Kingdom of England reaches an agreement with Sidi Al-Ayyashi, a Moroccan Mujahidin leader to obtain his help in releasing English captives seized by the Barbary pirates.
  • May 13 – France and England sign an agreement on dividing the island of Saint Kitts.
  • May 23 – Ngarolamo becomes the new Sultan of Tidore in the Maluku Islands in what is now Indonesia.
  • June 15 – The States of Friesland promulgate the Resolution on the April 17 appeal about abuses.
  • June 20 – Hinchingbrooke House is sold by Sir Oliver Cromwell, to Sidney Montagu.

July–September

  • July 4 – Turkish Abductions: The Barbary pirates begin raiding Iceland in attacks that last until July 19.
  • July 20 – Eighty Years' War: Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the Siege of Grol, the last Spanish stronghold in the eastern Netherlands, and captures it after 30 days.
  • July 22 – The English, under the Duke of Buckingham, invade Ré Island in support of the Huguenots in La Rochelle; the invasion fails.
  • July 27 – An earthquake destroys the cities of San Severo and Torremaggiore in southern Italy.
  • August 16 – In a persecution of Christians in Japan, 14 Franciscan missionaries and converts are killed.
  • August 19 – Eighty Years' War: Grol, in the Spanish Netherlands, is captured after the siege started on July 20 by Prince Frederick Henry.
  • September 10 – The Siege of La Rochelle begins as the Roman Catholic nations of France and Spain move to suppress the revolt of Protestant Huguenots in the western French city.
  • September 12 – Mohammed Adil Shah begins his reign as the new Sultan of Bijapur in south India, after the death of his father, Ibrahim Adil Shah II.
  • September 24 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, landgrave of the German state Hesse-Kassel, signs the Hauptakkord with George II of Hesse-Darmstadt, ceding much of its territory.
  • September 30 – The reign of China's 21-year old ruler, the Ming dynasty Tianqi Emperor, Zhu Youjiao, ends after seven years.

October–December

  • October 2 – The Tianqi Emperor's 16-year-old brother, Zhu Youjian, is enthroned as the Chongzhen Emperor.
  • October 28 – The Mughal Emperor Jahangir dies of a respiratory illness near Bhimber while attempting to return to his palace at Lahore.
  • November 7 – Shahryar Mirza, the 22-year-old son of Jahangir and son-in-law of Jahangir's widow Nur Jahan, is installed as the new Mughal Emperor at Lahore.
  • November 20 – Thirty Years' War: Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania, signs the Capitulation of Franzburg, in which Pomerania is forced to pay for the Imperial army that Wallenstein sent to occupy it. Nonetheless, despite the treaty, Pomerania is devastated by the Imperial troops.
  • November 28 – Polish-Swedish War – Battle of Oliwa: A Polish-Lithuanian fleet defeats a Swedish fleet.
  • December 18 – La selva sin amor (The Forest without Love), written by Lope de Vega and with music by Alessandro Piccinini, premieres as the first Spanish opera.
  • December 25 – Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, dies of poor health at the age of 33. Charles I Gonzaga becomes the Duke over the objections of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy, leading to the War of the Mantuan Succession.
  • December 27 – In Madrid, ministers of King Philip IV of Spain, draw up proposals for a "Kingdom and Republic of Ireland" that would break with England, to have two Captains General to be executives of the Republic.
  • December 30 – (Jumada-l awwal 2, 1037 AH) Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram, son of the later Emperor Jahangir, enters Lahore after defeating his brother Shahryar Mirza. He is proclaimed as Shah Jahan.

Date unknown

1628

January–March

  • January 19 – (26 Jumada al-Awwal 1037 A.H.) The reign of Salef-ud-din Muhammad Shahryar as the Mughal Emperor, Shahryar Mirza, comes to an end a little more than two months after the November 7 death of his father, Jahangir, as Sharyar's older brother, Shihab defeats him in battle. Prince Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram takes the name Shah Jahan and sentences Shahryar and other members of the court to death.
  • January 23 – After being incarcerated and blinded on orders of his brother, former Mughal Emperor Shahryar Mirza is put to death, along with his nephews, co-ruler Dawar Bakhsh, and Princes Garshasp, Tahmuras and Hoshang.
  • February 3 – In what is now the South American nation of Chile, the indigenous Mapuche lay siege to the Spanish colonial settlement of Nacimiento. The Spanish captain and a force of 40 men are able to hold out until reinforcements arrive two days later, but the attackers take muskets and two cannons.
  • February 5 – The Chongzhen Era begins in Ming dynasty China after the October 2 ascension of Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor, on the first day of the Chinese New Year, and the Tianqi era formally ends.
  • February 10 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden issues an order bringing an end to the "foolishness and insanity" ("dårskap och galenskap") of religious visionary Margareta i Kumla, prohibiting Swedes from making pilgrimages to see her on pain of imprisonment, and threatening her with incarceration if she continues to preach about her visions from the angels.
  • February 14 – The coronation of Shah Jahan as ruler of the Mughal Empire takes place in Agra.
  • March 1 – Writs issued in February, by King Charles I, require every county in England (not just seaport towns) to pay ship tax by this date.
  • March 17 – Oliver Cromwell makes his first appearance in the English Parliament, as Member for Huntingdon.

April–June

  • April 6 – Damat Halil Pasha is fired from his position as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Murad IV after failing again to suppress the rebellion started by Abaza Mehmed Pasha or to win the war of the Ottomans against Persia. Halil is replaced by Gazi Hüsrev Pasha.
  • April 8 – A decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of the Roman Catholic Church is made to prohibit the veneration of saints whose sanctity has not been declared by the Holy See.
  • April 21 – Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein of the Holy Roman Empire is made Admiral of the Baltic Sea by Emperor Ferdinand II.
  • April 26 – Cardinal Girolamo Grimaldi-Cavalleroni is appointed as the Governor of Rome by Pope Urban VIII.
  • May 5 – Catholic League Field Marshal Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, succeeds in taking control of the German city of Stade after a long siege. Tilly allows the remaining 3,500 Danish and English defenders safe passage out of Germany, and captures most of the Duchy of Bremen except for the city of Bremen itself, which he turns to next.
  • May 13
    • In North America, Matthew Cradock is elected by shareholders as the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company.
    • Thirty Years' War: As a result of its refusal to accept the capitulation of Franzburg, the siege of Stralsund is begun by Field Marshals Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg and Wallenstein's of the Holy Roman Imperial Army, and lasts until August 4.
  • May 21 – (17 Ramadan 1037 AH) Muhsin ibn Husayn, Emir of Mecca and King of Hejaz, surrenders control to Ahmad ibn Abd al-Muttalib.
  • May 31 – Mehmed III Giray, the Khan of Crimea, is forced to leave after an invasion of 4,000 Cossacks and a four week siege of the capital Bakhchysarai. The attack is led by Mykhailo Doroshenko, who is killed in the battle.
  • June 7 – King Charles I reconvenes the English Parliament, and accepts the Petition of Right as a concession to gain his subsidies.

July–September

  • July 9 – Prince Minyedeippa assassinates his father, Anaukpetlun, King of Burma and takes over the throne upon the death of his father. Minyedeippa is arrested by the palace guards a year later and turned over to Anaukpetlun's brother, Thalun, for execution.
  • August 4 – Thirty Years' War: With the help of Danish and Swedish reinforcements, Stralsund is able to resist Wallenstein's siege until the landing of a Danish army, led by Christian IV of Denmark, forces Wallenstein to raise the siege, and move his army to confront the new threat.
  • August 10 – The Swedish 64-gun sailing ship Vasa sinks 20 minutes into her maiden voyage, in Stockholm Harbor.
  • August 22 – Sultan Agung of Mataram (located on the island of Java sends a fleet of ships to besiege the Dutch fort at Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia). The siege fails after four months.
  • August 23 – English courtier George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton.
  • September 2 – Thirty Years' War – Battle of Wolgast: Wallenstein defeats Christian IV of Denmark's army.
  • September 6 – Puritans settle Salem, which will later become part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  • September 7–8 – Eighty Years' War – Battle in the Bay of Matanzas: Dutch admiral Piet Hein captures 16 ships of the Spanish treasure fleet. The immense booty taken brings in over 11 million guilders, part of which is used to fund the entire army of the Dutch Republic for eight months.
  • September 8 – In a persecution of Christians in Japan, 21 Christian converts are executed on the same day.

October–December

  • October 22 – Abaza Mehmed Pasha surrenders to Ottoman forces, ending the Abaza rebellion.
  • October 28 – The siege of La Rochelle ends with the surrender of the Huguenots.
  • November 29 – English Army Lieutenant John Felton, who stabbed the Duke of Buckingham to death on August 23, is hanged at Tyburn prison.
  • December 3 – The attempt by the Mataram Sultanate to drive the Dutch East India Company from the western part of the island of Java fails after 103 days.
  • December 11 – Muhammad Imaduddin I becomes the Sultan of Maldives and reigns for the next 29 years.
  • December 12 – At the age of 15, Chetthathirat is crowned as the new King of Thailand upon the death of his father, Intharacha III. Prince Chetthathirat takes the regnal name of Borommaracha II and is killed less than a year later.
  • December 16 – In the Joseon Kingdom of Korea, O Yun-gyeom becomes the new Yeonguijeong (Chief of the State Council, similar to Prime Minister) during the reign of King Injo.

Date unknown

  • The War of the Mantuan Succession breaks out over Mantua and Montferrat. The war is fought between the Duke of Savoy, who is supported by Spain, and the Duke of Nevers, who is supported by France.
  • William Harvey publishes Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus in Frankfurt, containing his findings about blood circulation.
  • Publication of Sir Edward Coke's Institutes of the Lawes of England begins with A Commentary upon Littleton. This will remain an influential legal text on both sides of the Atlantic for three centuries.
  • The Collegiate School, the oldest surviving educational institution in the United States, is established.
  • The first black slaves arrive in Dutch Manhattan.

1629

January–March

April–June

July–September

  • July 19 – Anglo-French War (1627–1629): New France's Samuel de Champlain surrenders the city of Quebec to an English force led by David Kirke.
  • July 20 – In Morocco, the city of Salé is bombarded by French Admiral Isaac de Razilly with a fleet composed of the ships Licorne, Saint-Louis, Griffon, Catherine, Hambourg, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Jean; his forces destroyed three corsair ships
  • July 24 – Later Jin invasion of Joseon: In the Kingdom of Joseon (now Korea), Mao Wenlong is executed for smuggling and other crimes after being captured by Ming Chinese general Yuan Chonghuan.
  • August 19 – Eighty Years' War: The Spanish garrison of Wesel is surprised by a small Dutch army, and the city is taken by the Dutch Republic. As Wesel functioned as the principal supply base of Hendrik van den Bergh's army, the loss of supply forces him to retreat to the Spanish Netherlands, leaving him unable to intervene in the ongoing siege of 's-Hertogenbosch.
  • August 21 – Huguenot rebellions: Montauban, one of the last Huguenot strongholds, surrenders without a fight to Richelieu's troops.
  • August 26 – The Cambridge Agreement is signed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America, providing for the colony to be under the control of stockholders who actually emigrate to New England.
  • August 29 – As a result of the Cambridge Agreement, the Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes a self-governing entity.
  • September 7 – Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630): A Spanish expedition, led by Fadrique de Toledo, wipes out the English colony on St. Kitts.
  • September 14 – Eighty Years' War: After a five-month-long siege, 's-Hertogenbosch surrenders to Frederick Henry. As a result of the capture of this key fortress, Spain's situation along the Spanish–Dutch border worsens greatly.
  • September 20 – 1629–1631 Italian plague: the plague arrives in the nation-state of Milan as German soldiers are granted a stay at the Forte di Fuentes.
  • September 22 – (5 Safar 1039 AH) Ahmad ibn Abd al-Muttalib, who had become Emir of Mecca and King of the Hejaz by force 16 months earlier, is assassinated by order of Kansuh Pasha, Governor of Yemen.
  • September 25 – Polish–Swedish War (1626–1629): Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth sign the Truce of Altmark, ending the war in highly favourable terms for Sweden.

October–December

  • October 2 – In what is now the state of Western Australia, administered at the time by the Dutch East India Company, seven members of the crew of the Batavia are hanged on the Abrolhos Islands for their massacre of 125 passengers and crew.
  • October 24 – Portuguese Navy Captain Pedro Teixeira leads 2,000 men in the capture of Fort Taurege from England in what is now Brazil.
  • November 30 – The St Etienne baronets British nobility title is created.
  • December 22 – (Kan'ei 6, 8th day of the 11th month) Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan abdicates the throne in favor of his daughter, Princess Okiko, who becomes Empress Meishō.
  • December 23 – Giovanni I Cornaro, Doge of the Republic of Venice since 1625, dies and is succeeded by Nicolò Contarini.

Undated

  • Fort Santo Domingo is built in Formosa by the Spanish East Indies.
  • Chongzhen, the Chinese emperor of the Ming dynasty, reiterates the state prohibition against female infanticide, while the empire and the Chinese economy begins to crumble. In the same year, a third of the courier stations are closed down due to lack of government funds to sustain them.
  • The rule of Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba ends.
  • Actresses are banned in Japan.
  • William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling briefly establishes a Scottish colony at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.

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