(16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries)

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700.

Events

• 1602: Dutch East India Company founded. Its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age.
• 1603: Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
• 1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu granted title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan and establishes the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, Japan. This ends the Azuchi-Momoyama period and begins the Edo period.
• 1603: Samuel de Champlain maps the Saint Lawrence River.
• 1603: Safavids capture Baghdad from the Ottomans.
• 1605: Gunpowder Plot foiled in England.
• 1607: The London Company establishes the Jamestown Settlement in North America.
• 1608: Quebec City founded by French settlers in Canada.
• 1613: The Time of Troubles in Russia ends with the establishment of the House of Romanov.
• 1615: The Mughal Empire grants extensive trading rights to the British East India Company.
• 1618 - 1648: Thirty Years' War in Europe
• 1625: New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch West India Company in North America.
• 1630: Boston founded by the Massachusetts Bay Company in North America.
• 1636: Harvard University founded.
• 1637: The Dutch Tulip Mania bubble bursts.
• 1637: The Pequot War, the first of the American Indian Wars
• 1639 - 1651: Wars of the Three Kingdoms, religious civil wars throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England
• 1640: Torture is outlawed in England.
• 1641: The Tokugawa Shogunate institutes Sakoku- foreigners are expelled and no one is allowed to enter or leave Japan.
• 1643: Louis XIV crowned King of France.
• 1644: The Manchu conquer the Chinese Ming Dynasty and begin the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China.
• 1648: Peace of Westphalia
• 1648 - 1653: Fronde civil war in France.
• 1648 - 1667: The Deluge wars leave Poland in ruins.
• 1648 - 1669: Siege of Candia after which the Ottoman Empire captures Crete from the Venetians
• 1652: Cape Town founded by the Dutch East India Company in South Africa.
• 1652: Anglo-Dutch Wars begin.
• 1653: The Taj Mahal in India is completed.
• 1655 - 1661: The Northern Wars cement Sweden's rise as a Great Power.
• 1660: English Restoration
• 1661: The reign of the Kangxi Emperor of China begins.
• 1664: British troops capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York.
• 1665: Portugal defeats the Kongo Empire.
• 1670: The Hudson's Bay Company is founded in Canada.
• 1674: Maratha empire founded in India by Shivaji.
• 1676: Russia and the Ottoman Empire commence the Russo-Turkish Wars.
• 1682 - 1699: The Great Turkish war is fought between the Ottoman Empire and a Holy League.
• 1682: Peter the Great becomes joint ruler of Russia (sole tsar in 1696).
• 1682: La Salle explores the length of the Mississippi River and claims Louisiana for France.
• 1683: China annexes Taiwan.
• 1685: Edict of Fontainebleau outlaws Protestantism in France.
• 1685: European traders restricted to Guangzhou in China.
• 1688 - 1689: Glorious Revolution in England.
• 1688 - 1697: The War of the Grand Alliance between France and the Grand Alliance.
• 1689: Nerchinsk Treaty establishes a border between Russia and China.
• 1692: Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
• 1700: The Great Northern War between Sweden and a coalition begins.

Significant people

• Sir Thomas Browne, English author, philosopher and scientist (1605-1682).
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish Author (1574 - 1616)
• Queen Christina of Sweden, high profile Catholic convert, matron of arts (1626 - 1689)
• Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England (1599 - 1658)
• René Descartes, French philosopher and mathematician (1596 - 1650)
• Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist (1564 - 1642)
• Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (1588 - 1679)
• Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer (1629 - 1695)
• Gottfried Leibniz, German philosopher and mathematician (1646 - 1716)
• John Locke, English philosopher (1632 - 1704)
• Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 - 1705)
• Louis XIV, King of France, (1638 - 1715)
• John Milton, English author and poet (1608 - 1674)
• Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (1642 - 1727)
• Blaise Pascal, French theologian, mathematician and physicist (1623 - 1662)
• Henry Purcell, English composer (1659 - 1695)
• Cardinal Richelieu, French Cardinal, Duke, and politician (1585 - 1642)
• Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter (1606 - 1669)
• William Shakespeare, English author and poet (1564 - 1616)
• Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (1632 - 1677)
• Seathrún Céitinn, Irish historian (ca. 1569 - ca. 1644)
• Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland (1629 - 1696)

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Major changes in philosophy and science take place, often characterized as the Scientific revolution.

• Calculus is invented and used to formulate classical mechanics.
• First measurement of the speed of light, 1676.
• Telescope
• Microscope
• Barometer
• Vacuum pump
• Slide rule
• Mechanical calculator
• Pendulum clock
• Ice cream
• Tea and coffee become popular in Europe.

Decades and years