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England. The short life of the child he had with Maria Beatrice d’Este, wife of James Stuart, born in early March 1681 and died only three days later. The couple’s other children were Catherine Laura (January 21 – October 13, 1675); Isabella (1676-81); and the

Gottfried Kirch uses a telescope to discover and observe a comet.

Bubonic plague returns to Vienna

The French invade the Netherlands. The Dutch, significantly outnumbered in both resources and manpower, use their last resort to open dikes to flood their fields and put the French in difficulty. In the long run, the Netherlands will never fully recover and will never return

5.3 earthquake on the Richter scale in Rubiera (Reggio Emilia)

Cretan War. The arrival of Turkish reinforcements and the Grand Vizier’s fleet, following the Venetian defeat at Chania, sealed the fate of Candia.

Trinity College closed due to the bubonic plague, and Newton retired to Lincolnshire; in this “annus mirabilis” he devoted himself to mechanics and mathematics and began to concentrate on optics and gravitation.

The English physicist Hooke discovered the Law of Elasticity, which still bears his name today.

Isaac Newton is admitted to Cambridge, where he will become the glory

The Ottoman fleet besieges Venice for the second time.

South Africa. The Dutch’s arrival in South Africa, starting from Cape Town, did not encounter much organized resistance from the indigenous people, only a few Khoisan villages. They did not encounter dense Bantu populations as in other parts of Africa, and therefore they can rightly

With the Thirty Years’ War, the long era of pikemen, armed with 3- or 4-meter spears, ended. Gradually, musketeers, armed with firearms, gained ground.

The Treaty of Westphalia not only ended the war between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, but also several related conflicts, including that between the Spanish and the Dutch, by prohibiting, among other things, the Dutch from entering the port of Manila. The Dutch were gradually

Emigration from England to North America exceeded 100,000 people a year and remained at between 30,000 and 70,000 annually until the end of the 18th century. This deprived England of its most enterprising men and women, but it also fostered trade relations, offered enormous opportunities

In 1638, the Jews were segregated in the Modena ghetto by Duke Francesco I d’Este, and as early as 1617, the city’s conservators had formulated a similar request. The ghetto is bordered by the Via Emilia and the current Via Blasia, Via Coltellini, and Via

Manila. The gigantic Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de la Conception sets sail for Japan, then heads for California. This is the standard return leg for galleons exporting silver to China. It is the largest galleon ever built, and has a declared cargo of 4 million

Fermat discovers the so-called Fermat’s Last Theorem but does not publish the proof (as was his habit)

With the invention of the futures market (rights to unharvested harvests were sold), the price of tulips in the Netherlands multiplied 200-fold in a few months, and then collapsed dramatically. There were extreme cases, such as the one in which a poor farmer’s numerous children

Desargues’ Theorem: With 10 lines and 10 points where the lines intersect, if all but one of the points are the intersection of three lines, then the last point is also the intersection of three lines. (With 9 lines and 9 points, the theorem is

China. A series of factors led to the fall of the Ming Dynasty: political sectarianism, a severe fiscal crisis, the decline in the purchasing power of silver, famine, epidemics, rebellions, and foreign invasions.

Thanks to his solemn abjuration, Galileo’s life sentence was commuted to house arrest in Siena under the watchful eye of Archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini, a former student of Galileo. Piccolomini allowed Galileo to write and publish, even encouraging him. Galileo thus worked on his work “Dialogues

Galileo forced to recant his ideas before the Inquisition (“…and yet it moves…”). The sentence of the Holy Office tribunal reads: “You, Galileo […] have made yourself […] vehemently suspected of heresy, that is, of having held and believed a false doctrine contrary to the

India. Mumtaz Mahal (“The Palace’s Choice,” or the harem’s favorite) dies in agony during the throes of her fourteenth pregnancy. At her bedside is her husband, Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor of the Mughal dynasty, distant descendants of the Mongol hordes. He promises to build

Magdeburg, Thirty Years’ War. The Catholic League captures the Lutheran city after a long siege. The final assault comes from six directions simultaneously. Twenty thousand Magdeburgians are captured and massacred.

Magdeburg, Thirty Years’ War. The Catholic League lays siege to the Lutheran city.

English colonists found Boston, New England

Modena. The Collegio dei Nobili, later known as the Collegio San Carlo, is built, with its famous Portico del Collegio.

Jubilee celebrated by Urban VIII

The Portuguese ship Nossa Senhora da Guia runs aground on rocks in the South China Sea. It had misjudged its longitude after departing the port of Manila, bound for Macau. On board was the Jesuit Adriano de las Cortes. They were immediately spotted by local

Blaise Pascal was born in Auvergne (southern-central France). He invented a rudimentary mechanical calculator and inspired experiments that demonstrated the empirical possibility of a vacuum.

Shortly after the death of Scottish Baron John Napper (Napper, Lord of Markinston, eighth Lord of Markinston), Henry Briggs published Logarithmorum Chilias Prima, a series of tables containing the logarithms of the integers from 1 to 1,000, to 14 decimal places. In 1624, he published

Dutchman Willem Corneliusz Schouten sailed around the world with his crew. He died in 1625 off the coast of Madagascar.

The first coffee seeds manage to reach Venice: for the first time, coffee, jealously guarded by the Arabs, arrives in Europe.

Scottish Baron John Napier is considered by locals to be a sorcerer who practiced dark arts. Dressed in black, with a jet-black rooster perched on his shoulder (a familiar), he prowled furtively around his castle, muttering what his apocalyptic algebra predicted: the Last Judgement between

William Shakespeare finishes “Othello” (The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice)

William Shakespeare finishes “Macbeth” (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Rembrandt’s Birth. The great Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606, in Leiden. The son of a miller, his humble origins may explain the profound and unusual sense of compassion that characterizes all his subjects. Many of the master’s more than

Spanish Empire extends across South and Central America, the Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific islands, the Philippines, southern Italy and islands, part of Belgium

Born in Beaumont de Lomagne in southwestern France, Pierre de Fermat, mathematical genius and pioneer of differential calculus, probability theory, and number theory

Sir Walter Raleigh, on his return from Guyana, reported beings without necks or heads, and with their faces incorporated into their torsos (…). Drawings of these beings were published in Nuremberg in 1599.

Duke Cesare d’Este, coming from Ferrara, entered Modena, which became the capital of the Este State. In fact, upon the death of Alfonso II d’Este, Cesare d’Este proclaimed himself Duke of Ferrara on October 29, 1597, despite a papal clause forbidding it. The Pope was

William Shakespeare finishes “Henry IV” (King Henry the Fourth)

China. Dominican friars are tasked with converting the Chinese to Christianity. The Dominicans choose clandestine infiltration, while the Jesuits opt for official infiltration, reaching the imperial court.

Tycho Brahe, who lost his nose in a duel over a mathematical problem, keeps a pet moose, which dies drunk after falling down the stairs after secretly drinking a large quantity of beer that was being set aside for the guests at a banquet.

The Flemish philosopher Simon Stevin demonstrates that, when dropped into a void, light and heavy objects reach the ground simultaneously.

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, a supporter of the Catholic cause, is beheaded by order of the Protestant Queen of England, Elizabeth Tudor, as part of the broader religious wars plaguing Europe. She had been accused of plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth so she could

Holland. Willelm van Oranje is murdered.

Francis Drake, supported by Queen Elizabeth, circumnavigates the globe

China. The Jesuits (like Matteo Ricci) begin to enter China. They choose the main gateway: Fujian, with regular government permits, and learn and adopt local customs and traditions, eventually reaching the Emperor’s court. The Dominicans (like Angelo Cocchi), who began half a century later, instead

Venice. A fire destroys the upper floors of the Maggior Consiglio, overlooking the basin and the piazzetta. So much so that the question arises whether it would be wise to demolish the entire Doge’s Palace. After lengthy discussions, the decision is made to renovate without

Venice. A serious plague epidemic decimates a third of the population.

Massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) on St. Bartholomew’s Day. The dead, murdered on the orders of the Catholic King of France Charles IX, number over three thousand in Paris alone. Modern estimates put the death toll at between five and thirty thousand throughout France.

Pope Pius V, the main promoter of the anti-Ottoman League, dies.

Venice, tired of the war, begins to negotiate a separate peace with the Ottoman Empire.

Johannes Kepler was born in the town of Weil der Stadt in Wutterburg.

Sunday morning. Lepanto, now Greece. Opposite lie the Christian fleet and the Ottoman-Turkish fleet, both divided into two wings and a central line. On the left are Barbarigo, with the Quirini to his right, and Shuluq Mehmet; in the center are Don Juan with his

Sunday. At dawn. Don Juan orders the most experienced sailors to climb the mainmasts. There’s no longer any doubt: what fills the horizon is the entire enemy fleet. The most experienced pilot, Cecco Pisano, sets off in a frigate at full speed to count the

Messina. The League’s fleet that will fight at Lepanto is gathered in the port. It consists of 209 galleys and 6 galleasses, in addition to transports and smaller vessels. In contrast, the Ottoman Empire has 168 galleys and galleots at sea. Genoese Gian Andrea Doria

Farmagosta, Cyprus. During negotiations for the Venetians’ surrender, something goes wrong. Mustafa’ reacts with senseless violence. Bragadin is imprisoned and subjected to a horrific ordeal for about ten days, involving torture and humiliation. The pasha has his ears and nose cut off, forces him to

Farmagosta, Cyprus. After 120,000 iron balls and 43,000 stone balls fired at the fortress walls, the Italians decide to negotiate surrender. The Turks had brought to Cyprus 7,000 horses and 250,000 soldiers, including 40,000 sappers, 70 cannons, and 4 basilisks. They suffered 80,000 casualties. The

Farmagosta, Cyprus. The Turks attack the Limassol Gate and plant their standards there, but then retreat. Baglioni brings “nine heads of the Turks” back inside the gate.

Farmagosta, Cyprus. The Turks detonate the first mine, under the crescent of the Arsenal.

Zadar. The Venetian fleet, awaiting departure, suffers from epithelial typhus, which will decimate it over the next few months. The typhus victims are estimated to number in the tens of thousands, forcing the fleet to embark sailors, specialists, rowers, and soldiers at every port… ports

Matanzas, Florida: The four-ship fleet of Spaniard Pedro Menendez de Ailez exterminates the French and the French privateer bases at Fort Caroline from the Spanish base at Saint Augustine; thus ends dramatically the French attempt to conquer an outpost in the Southeast.

William Shakespeare is born. It is commonly believed that the great English playwright and poet William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, three days before the date of his baptismal registration in the church archives of Stratford-upon-Avon. However, it is impossible to establish with

Italy. Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti invented the pencil as we know it: a small cylinder of graphite inserted into a hollow wooden cylinder.

The Ottomans try again. They move towards Vienna. The Croatian city of Szigetvar is again tasked with stopping them, for the second time in fifteen years. The governor of Croatia, Miklos Zrinyi, gathers 2,500 men and garrisones the city and citadel. Summoned to surrender on

Earthquake in China (Shensi, Shansi, Kansu): 8.3 on the Richter scale, 830,000 deaths

The University of Paris is founded

Dutch shippers transported more cargo than anyone else. They worked primarily for the Portuguese, but soon they set up their own business, and thus a new colonial power was born: the Netherlands.

Venice. The price of shipbuilding materials quadrupled due to the difficulty in obtaining them. Sailors’ wages doubled during the same period.

In England and other parts of northwestern Europe, the Sun appears dim for three days, and many stars become visible at midday. The cause of this effect, if true, remains unknown, although the astronomer Kepler attributed it to the diffusion of cometary dust.

In Agricola’s De natura fossilium, minerals are classified and the term “fossil” is coined.

Rochester, England. Henry VIII finds himself facing his prospective wife, Anne of Cleves, whom until then he had only seen in a painting, let’s say optimistic about her appearance. When the King, filled with enthusiasm, sees her, so different from the portrait he had fallen

Hispaniola, Caribbean. The indigenous population collapsed from 8 million when Columbus arrived to zero in just 43 years, due to epidemics brought by the Spanish, especially smallpox.

Francisco Pizarro has the Inca emperor Atahualpa killed.

Cardano, after graduating in medicine, attempts to be admitted to the medical college but is flatly rejected. This is perhaps understandable, given that his book “On the Divergent Opinions of Physicians” had practically branded them a pack of charlatans. Cardano then turns to magicians to

Alvarez Pineda (Spain) explores the Gulf of Mexico and discovers the mouth of the Mississippi

Egypt becomes part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans replace another group of Turks, the Mameluke sultans, who had ruled Egypt for three centuries.

The first Spanish (European) mainland colony in the Americas: founded in Panama by Vasco Numez de Balboa, who thus discovered the South Sea (Pacific Ocean). At this point, little doubt remains that the true Indies lie much further west.