Directory

1624 CE

After 90 years of Ottoman occupation, Baghdad is recaptured by the Safavid Empire. King Filipe III of Portugal issues a decree prohibiting the enslavement of Chinese people in Portugal or in its colonies. The first Dutch settlers arrive in New Netherland; they disembark at Governors Island.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 16 – Kara Mustafa Pasha becomes the Ottoman Governor of Egypt for the second time.source
  • February 19 – The last parliament of King James I of England begins its session.source
  • February 19 – King Filipe III of Portugal issues a decree prohibiting the enslavement of Chinese people in Portugal or in its colonies.source
  • 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 to quit are appointed to an "office of profit", a legal fiction to allow a resignation.source
  • May 24 – After years of unprofitable operation, Virginia's charter is revoked, and it becomes a royal colony.source
  • June 10 – Treaty of Compiègne is signed between the Kingdom of France and the Dutch Republic.source
  • A confrontation between Swedish and Danish councillors ends with a Swedish diplomatic victory due to Sweden's ability to mobilize quickly.source
  • Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba starts to rule.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 14 – After 90 years of Ottoman occupation, Baghdad is recaptured by the Safavid Empire.source
  • 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.source
  • February 15 – Yi Gwal's Rebellion ends as the rebels murder Yi Gwal at the town of Mukbang-ri.source
  • 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).source
  • 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.source
  • 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.source
  • August 28 – The Siege of Breda begins, and will continue for just over 9 months until June 5, 1625.source
  • November 3 – Rodrigo Pacheco becomes the Viceroy of New Spain after arriving in Mexico City.source
  • The Japanese shōgun expels the Spanish from Japan, and severs trade with the Philippines.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 7 – (January 28, 1623/4 old style) England first colonizes Saint Kitts and Nevis.source
  • May – The first Dutch settlers arrive in New Netherland; they disembark at Governors Island.source
  • August – Portuguese Jesuit priest António de Andrade becomes the first European to enter Tibet, arriving at Tsaparang.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 24 – Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.source
  • February 28 – A decree is issued in Norway making it illegal for Jesuits or Roman Catholic monks to be harbored in the country.source
  • March 25 – In a ceremony, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, renews his oath to restore Catholicism in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia.source
  • April 29 – Louis XIII of France appoints Cardinal Richelieu to the Conseil du Roi (Royal Council).source
  • May 25 – The Scottish city of Dunfermline is destroyed by fire, but The Abbey, The Palace, the Abbot House and many other buildings survive.source
  • 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.source
  • 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.source
  • 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."source
  • 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)source
  • The German-language Luther Bible is publicly burned, by order of the Pope.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • December 24 – Denmark's first postal service is launched by order of King Christian IV.source

Science & Discovery

  • Henry Briggs publishes Arithmetica Logarithmica.source
  • Jakob Bartsch first publishes a chart, showing the constellation Camelopardalis around the North Star.source

Crime & Justice

  • 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.source
  • 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.source
  • 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.source
  • Frans Hals produces the painting later known as the Laughing Cavalier.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • 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.source

Climate & Environment

  • May 11 – a major earthquake in Fez, Morocco, estimated magnitude 6.0 , causes severe damage and thousands of casualties.source

Culture & Society

  • February 11 – Yi Gwal installs Prince Heungan, son of the late King Seongjo, to the Korean throne.source
  • April 15 – The University of Saint Francis Xavier is founded in Bolivia.source

Births

  • January 7 – Guarino Guarini, Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque (d. 1683)source
  • January 18 – Thyrsus González de Santalla, Spanish theologian elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1705)source
  • March 20 – William Jones, English lawyer, Deputy Governor of Connecticut (d. 1706)source
  • March – Jane Leade, English esotericist (d. 1704)source
  • April 4 – François Marie, Prince of Lillebonne, French nobleman and member of the House of Lorraine (d. 1694)source
  • June 11 – Jean-Baptiste du Hamel, French cleric and natural philosopher (d. 1706)source
  • July 18 – Francis Pemberton, English judge, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench (d. 1697)source
  • July – George Fox, English founder of the Quakers (d. 1691)source
  • August 27 – Koxinga, Chinese military leader (d. 1662)source
  • September 10 – Thomas Sydenham, English physician (d. 1689)source
  • October 9 – Murad Bakhsh, Mughal prince (d. 1661)source
  • October 21 – Edward Harley, English politician (d. 1700)source
  • December 18 – John Hull, American colonial merchant and politician (d. 1683)source
  • December 25 – Angelus Silesius, German writer (d. 1677)source

Deaths

  • February 12 – George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist (b. 1563)source
  • February 16 – Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, Scottish nobleman and politician (b. 1574)source
  • March 27 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (b. 1578)source
  • April 13 – William Bishop, first Roman Catholic bishop after the English Reformation (b. 1553)source
  • 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.source
  • May 27 – Diego Ramírez de Arellano, Spanish sailor and cosmographer (b. c. 1580)source
  • July – Alonso Fajardo de Entenza, governor of the Philippinessource
  • 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.source
  • September – Marco Antonio de Dominis, Dalmatian archbishop and apostate (b. 1560)source
  • November 10 – Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, English patron of the theatre (b. 1573)source
  • November 17 – Jakob Böhme, German mystic (b. 1575)source
  • December 9 – Flaminio Scala, Italian playwright and stage actor (b. 1552)source
  • December 14 – Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman (b. 1536)source
  • December 28 – Charles of Austria, Bishop of Wroclaw, Prince-bishop of Wroclaw (b. 1590)source