The Accademia dei Lincei publishes “History and Demonstrations on Sunspots” with the imprimatur of the Church.

Galileo Galilei sighted the planet Neptune a second time, unknowingly. It was discovered only in 1846 by the Berlin Observatory, based on the indications provided by Adams and le Verrier. He noted its position, changed from January 6th, in a different color of ink on a piece of paper, which was found much later. It’s unknown what happened next, but Galileo probably forgot about it, and in any case, he never published anything about it. One can only imagine how history would have changed if we had discovered Neptune two and a half centuries earlier, even before Uranus. On December 27, 1612, Galileo drew the positions of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto in surprising agreement with the JPL ephemeris, and also drew a dotted line that extended to the margin of the paper, where he wrote “fixa” (fixed star). The line indicated that the object was visible in the telescope’s field of view, but it could not be made to fit within the margins of the paper, with a scale representation. According to the ephemeris consulted by Kowal and Drake, Neptune was close to stationary, with a magnitude of 7.8 m, easily within the range of Galileo’s instrument, and was also located in the extension of the line drawn by Galileo, at a distance of 41 Jovian radii. Although the astronomer did not record his distance, the identification of the fixa with Neptune proved reliable, because examination of modern star charts showed that there was no fixed star observable through a telescope in that area of the sky. From December 28th to January 1st, the sky was too overcast to allow reliable observations. On January 28th, around 11:00 a.m., Galileo marked the position of the planet that would be discovered over two centuries later, Neptune, creating a complex drawing.

Galileo Galilei sighted the planet Neptune for the first time, unconsciously. It was discovered only in 1846 by the Berlin Observatory, according to indications provided by Adams and le Verrier. On December 27, 1612, Galileo drew the positions of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto in surprising agreement with the JPL ephemeris, and also drew a dotted line that extended to the margin of the sheet, where he wrote “fixa” (fixed star). The line indicated that the object was visible in the telescope’s field of view, but could not be fitted within the margins of the sheet, with a scaled representation. According to the ephemeris consulted by Kowal and Drake, Neptune was close to stationary, with a magnitude of 7.8, easily within the range of Galileo’s instrument, and was also located in the extension of Galileo’s line, at a distance of 41 Jovian radii; Even though the astronomer did not record his distance, the identification of the fixa with Neptune proved reliable, because examination of modern star charts showed that there was no fixed star observable through a telescope in that area of the sky. From December 28th to January 1st, the sky was too overcast to allow reliable observations. On January 28th, around 11:00 a.m., Galileo marked the position of the planet that would be discovered over two centuries later, Neptune, creating a complex drawing.

The Dutch discovered an alternative trade route to the East Indies (present-day Indonesia). After passing the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, the route continued southeast, reaching 40 degrees south to catch favorable winds and currents, and finally turned north to reach Java, completely cutting off India and thus shortening the route by several months, albeit in more extreme sea and weather conditions.

Beijing, China. Jesuit Matteo Ricci dies. His tomb is still venerated. He bore the Chinese name of Li Madou, meaning “the sage from the West.” Father Ricci continued Marco Polo’s work, but on a different level: a multi-talented intellectual, a formidable math expert, exceptionally curious, and possessing extraordinary learning abilities. He translated Confucius into Latin. Two other Jesuit scientists, Father Rho and Father Schall, later came to lend him support, bringing with them the works of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. Father Schall was also awarded the title of Mandarin for having accurately predicted the 1645 eclipse, which calculations based on Chinese models had missed by half an hour and those based on Islamic models by an hour.

terrible winter on the East Coast of North America. The (few) settlers of Jamestown, the newly founded town on the James River, are nearly decimated by cold and disease, while the men have mostly died defending the fort from the Powhatan Indians (those of Princess Pocahontas, so to speak). It will be discovered, from the remains of a 14-year-old girl discovered only in 2013, that someone even resorted to cannibalism, with evident marks on the girl’s femur and skull, inflicted not by a butcher, but by an inexperienced individual.

Indonesia. The Dutch establish a permanent trading post at Bantam, on the western tip of the island of Java.

Rosicrucian movement in France and Germany: a secret society with a Christian religious background; they believe in a superior race, claim to be immortal and invisible, and possess the philosopher’s stone; they are strongly anti-Catholic (anti-papal)

London. The Gunpowder Plot (also known as the Jesuit Treason) deals a mortal blow to the Catholic cause in England. At the opening of Parliament, 36 barrels of gunpowder were hidden in the Westminster vaults, which were intended to blow up the king, his family, and all members of Parliament during the inaugural session. The plotters were discovered and executed. The plot was hatched on May 20, 1604, by Robert Catesby, who argued that all peaceful avenues to achieve a policy of tolerance for Catholics had already been exhausted; in the face of unrelenting persecution, only violence remained. His initial companions were Thomas Winter, Jack Wright, Thomas Percy, and Guy Fawkes. The five plotters were later joined by Thomas Bates, Robert Keyes, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Everard Digby, and Francis Tresham. The plan was revealed by a mysterious letter, now preserved in the Public Record Office, delivered to Lord Monteagle on October 26 and presented to the king on Friday, November 1, 1605. On the night of November 4, Fawkes was found in possession of thirty-six barrels of gunpowder; he was then arrested and tortured. The conspirators were subsequently hanged, and Fawkes was quartered after his death.

England annexes Scotland

Upon the return of the first major successful English expedition from the Indies, the cargo of pepper, to everyone’s surprise, remained largely unsold. The price began to drop dramatically from 8 shillings a pound to 1 shilling a pound, and even at this eight-fold lower price, it remained unsold for several years. Such sudden crises would recur in London, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. The reason was obviously oversupply. By the mid-17th century, the price in London had fallen to 7 pence a pound (12 pence = 1 shilling). Pepper consumption had become widespread, and its trade no longer had the high added value it once had.

French explorer Samuel Champlain sailed up the St. Lawrence River toward the Great Lakes and named the region Canada. His goal was to establish a series of trading alliances with the local populations. He encountered the Anadabijou of the Montagnais tribe, and then the Mohawks, the Iroquets, and the Hurons. The Iroquets (or Iroquois) of five nations (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca), later six nations (with the addition of the Tuscarora in 1722), expanded enormously westward during the 17th and early 18th centuries, multiplying the territory they controlled.

Over 3 million porcelain artefacts were imported by sea by the Dutch VOC in the first half of the 17th century.

The Dutch leaving Holland for Asia aboard the ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) initially numbered 8,500 per year, rising to as many as 40,000 annually by the middle of the century. In total, more than a million people, mostly young men, left Holland during the 17th and 18th centuries.

London. Queen Elizabeth I grants the East India Company, a joint-stock company, the rights to manage India. The company was modeled after Dutch ones (which in turn had similarities to Venetian commercial practices, such as issuing bonds). But the East India Company goes further: it also had the right to print money, recruit armies, fight wars, and forge alliances with other nations on behalf of the English crown.

In his treatise De magnete, magneticisque corporibus, William Gilbert describes the magnetic properties of the earth and electricity.

Venice. The monetary reserves, set aside for wartime purposes, are estimated to be 12–14 million gold ducats. During the same years, Western Europe was flooded with enormous quantities of American silver.

The historian David Wooton reminds us of the type of knowledge that a typical educated Englishman had, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution: “He believes witches can summon up storms that sink ships at sea… he believes in werewolves, although there happen not to be any in England – he knows they are to be found in Belgium… he believes Circe really did turn Odysseus’ crew into pigs. He believes mice are spontaneously generated in piles of straw. He believes in contemporary magicians… He has a unicorn’s horn, but not a unicorn He believes that a murdered body will bleed in the presence of the murderer. He believes that there is an ointment which, if rubbed on a dagger which has caused a wound, will cure a wound. He believes that the shape, color and texture of a plant can be a clue to how it will work as a medicine because God designed nature to be interpreted by mankind vacuum. He believes the rainbow is a sign from God and that comest bringing evil. He believes that dreams predict the future, if we know how to interpret them. He believes, of course, that the earth stands still and the sun and stars turn around the earth once every twenty-four hours.”

William Shakespeare ends “Much Ado About Nothing”

With the Devolution of 1598, Ferrara and the territory vacated by the Este family passed under the direct political and administrative control of the Papal States, under whose rule they remained, with the exception of the Napoleonic period, until 1859, when Ferrara became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. This transition marked the inevitable decline of the city. On the other hand, it allowed the preservation of the medieval and Renaissance fabric of the city, “saving” it from the oversized and somewhat rhetorical intrusions of subsequent centuries.

Don Juan de Onate travels for the first time through the semi-desert Jornada del Muerto region of New Mexico. Five centuries later, the region would be the site of the first nuclear explosion in history.