1637 CE

Chinese encyclopedist Song Yingxing publishes his Tiangong Kaiwu ("Exploitation of the Works of Nature"), considered one of the most valuable encyclopedias of classical China. Introduction of a new Scottish Prayer Book is met with widespread demonstrations, notably that of Jenny Geddes at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, who is said to have thrown a stool at the Dean's head. The Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan, when 30,000 peasants in the heavily Catholic area of northern Kyūshū revolt.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 23 – John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen arrives from the Netherlands to become the Governor of Dutch Brazil, and extends the range of the colony over the next six years.source
April 30 – King Charles I of England issues a proclamation, attempting to stem emigration to the North American colonies.source
July 23 – After a court battle, King Charles I of England hands over title to the North American colony of Massachusetts to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the founders of Plymouth Council for New England.source

Conflict & Security

January 16 – The siege of Nagpur ends in the modern-day Maharashtra state of India, as Kok Shah, the King of Deogarh, surrenders his kingdom to the Mughal Empire.source
January 28 – Qing invasion of Joseon: The Manchu armies of China complete their invasion of northern Korea with the surrender of King Injo of the Joseon Kingdom.source
February 18 – Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point – Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.source
May 26 – Pequot War: Mystic massacre – A band of English settlers under Captain John Mason, and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies, set fire to a fortified village of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe near the Mystic River. Between 400 and 700 people, mostly women, children and old men, are killed.source
August 25 – Eighty Years' War: A force of 17,000 Spanish troops, led by the Spanish Netherlands Governor-General, Don Fernando de Austria, recaptures the city of Venlo from the Dutch Republic after a five-day siege.source
August 29 – Fighting in the modern-day West African nation of Ghana, troops of the Dutch West India Company capture the Portuguese territory of the Gold Coast after the five-day Battle of Elmina.source
December 17 – The Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan, when 30,000 peasants in the heavily Catholic area of northern Kyūshū revolt.source

Exploration & Expansion

April 10 – Plymouth Colony grants the "tenn menn of Saugust" a new settlement on Cape Cod, later named Sandwich, Massachusetts.source
June 27 – The first English venture to China is attempted by Captain John Weddell, who sails into port in Macau and Canton during the late Ming dynasty with six ships. The voyages are for trade, which is dominated here by the Portuguese (at this time combined with the power of Spain). He brings 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses, perhaps the first recorded European-made eyeglasses to enter China.source
August 16 – Adam Olearius, sent along with Philipp Crusius and Otto Bruggemann by the German Duke of Holstein-Gottorp to establish a trade deal with Persia, is welcomed by the Safavid ruler, the Shah Safi at the Persian capital, Isfahan.source
Scottish army officer Robert Monro publishes Monro, His Expedition With the Worthy Scots Regiment Called Mac-Keys in London, the first military history in English.source
Elizabeth Poole becomes the first female founder of a town (Taunton, Massachusetts) in the Americas.source
France places a few missionaries in the Ivory Coast, a country it will rule more than 200 years later.source

Religion & Belief

March 25 – The Blessed Virgin is proclaimed Queen of Genoa.source
July 23 – Introduction of a new Scottish Prayer Book is met with widespread demonstrations, notably that of Jenny Geddes at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, who is said to have thrown a stool at the Dean's head.source
September 29 – The last five of the "16 Martyrs of Japan" are executed for illegally attempting to spread Christianity in Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz, Guillaume Courtet, Michael de Aozaraza, Vincent Shiwozuka and Lazarus of Kyoto are all put to death by the slow hanging torture of ana-tsurushi. They will be canonized 350 years later as saints of the Roman Catholic Church, on October 18, 1987.source

Science & Discovery

Pierre de Fermat makes a notation, in a document margin, claiming to have proof of what will become known as Fermat's Last Theorem.source
René Descartes promotes intellectual rigour in his Discourse on the Method, and introduces the Cartesian coordinate system in its appendix La Géométrie (published in Leiden).source

Climate & Environment

February 3 – Tulip mania collapses in the Dutch Republic.source

Culture & Society

January 5 – Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy Le Cid is first performed, in Paris, France.source
March 6 – The world's first opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice with the premiere of L'Andromeda, with music by Francesco Manelli and libretto by Benedetto Ferrari.source
May – Chinese encyclopedist Song Yingxing publishes his Tiangong Kaiwu ("Exploitation of the Works of Nature"), considered one of the most valuable encyclopedias of classical China.source
November 18 – The coronation as the new Holy Roman Emperor of Ferdinand III, Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, takes place in Vienna.source
Richard Norwood's book The Seaman's Practice is published for the first time.source

Births

January 18 – Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, Spanish religious writer, Catholic prelate and bishop (d. 1699)source
February 10 – Countess Henriette Catherine of Nassau, daughter of Frederick Henry (d. 1708)source
February 11 – Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer (d. 1718)source
February 12 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and microscopist (d. 1680)source
February 21 – William Beveridge, English Bishop of St. Asaph (d. 1708)source
March 5 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch Baroque-era painter (d. 1712)source
March 14 – Fitz-John Winthrop, Governor of the Connecticut Colony (d. 1707)source
May 31 – Louis Laneau, French bishop active in the kingdom of Siam (d. 1696)source
June 1 – Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (d. 1675)source
August 27 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Colonial governor of Maryland (d. 1715)source
October 3 – George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (d. 1720)source
October 24 – Lorenzo Magalotti, Italian philosopher (d. 1712)source
December 6 – Edmund Andros, English colonial administrator in North America (d. 1714)source
December 10 – Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville (d. 1710)source

Deaths

January 23 – Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby, Baroness Ellesmere and Viscountess Brackley (b. 1559)source
March 19 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (b. 1570)source
June 24 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (b. 1580)source
July 1 – Christopher von Dohna, German politician and scholar (b. 1583)source
August 27 – Princess Catherine Beatrice of Savoy, daughter of the Duke of Savoy (b. 1636)source
September 8 – Robert Fludd, English mystic (b. 1574)source
September 14 – Theodoor Rombouts, Flemish painter (b. 1597)source
September 22 – Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b. 1580)source
September 27 – Lorenzo Ruiz, Filipino saint (b. c.1600)source
November 26 – Humilis of Bisignano, Italian Franciscan friar and saint (b. 1582)source
December 4 – Nicholas Ferrar, English trader (b. 1592)source
December 19 – Christina of Lorraine, Tuscan regent (b. 1565)source
December 24 – Juan López de Agurto de la Mata, Spanish Catholic prelate (b. 1572)source
December 31 – Christian, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen (1588–1637) (b. 1585)source