Directory

1640 CE

Ibrahim I succeeds his brother Murad IV (r. 1623–1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; he will rule until his death in 1648. 13 – Siege of Galle: Dutch troops take the strategic fortress at Galle, Sri Lanka from the Portuguese. The Short Parliament assembles, as King Charles I of England attempts to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • May 5 – The Short Parliament is dissolved without agreeing to the King's demands.source
  • July 15 – The first university of Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku, is inaugurated in Turku.source
  • October 26 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between the Scottish Covenanters and Charles I of England.source
  • November 3 – The English Long Parliament is summoned; it will not be dissolved for 20 years.source
  • December 1 – The end of the Iberian Union of Spain and Portugal begins, as a revolution organized by the nobility and bourgeoisie causes John IV of Portugal to be acclaimed as king, thus ending 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain, and the rule of the House of Habsburg (also called the Philippine Dynasty). The Spanish Habsburgs do not recognize Portugal's new dynasty, the House of Braganza, until the end of the Portuguese Restoration War in 1668.source
  • December 1 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg begins to rule.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 6 – The Siege of Salses in Catalonia ends almost six months after it had started on June 9, 1639, with the French defenders surrendering to the Spanish attackers.source
  • January 17 – Action of 12–17 January 1640: A naval battle, part of the Dutch invasions of Brazil, between ships of the Dutch Republic and those of the Kingdom of Portugal, ends after five days of fighting with the Dutch driving the Portuguese away from the port of Recife.source
  • March 8–13 – Siege of Galle: Dutch troops take the strategic fortress at Galle, Sri Lanka from the Portuguese.source
  • May 22 – The Reapers' War (Guerra dels Segadors or Catalan Revolt) breaks out in Catalonia.source
  • June 7 – Catalan rebels assassinate Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma, beginning the three-day Corpus de Sang riots.source
  • August 20 – Second Bishops' War: A Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland in England.source
  • August 28 – Second Bishops' War: Battle of Newburn – The Scottish Covenanter army led by Alexander Leslie defeats the English army near Newburn in England.source
  • September 20 – The Siege of Turin (began May 22) ends in Italy with the French and Piedmontese recapturing the city from Spain.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • September 7 – Portuguese missionary Sebastien Manrique reaches Dhaka and stays for 27 days, leaving on October 4.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 9 – Ibrahim I succeeds his brother Murad IV (r. 1623–1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; he will rule until his death in 1648.source
  • April 13 – The Short Parliament assembles, as King Charles I of England attempts to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.source
  • May 11/12 – Following the Short Parliament's dissolution, an angry and armed mob makes an attack on Lambeth Palace in London in the hope of killing the unpopular Archbishop William Laud.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The first known European coffeehouse perhaps opens in Venice.source

Crime & Justice

  • July 9 – John Punch, a servant of Virginia planter Hugh Gwyn, is sentenced to a life of servitude after attempting to escape, making him the "first official slave in the English colonies".source
  • August 9 – Forty-one Spanish delegates to Japan at Nagasaki are beheaded.source

Climate & Environment

  • June 13 – The eruption of the Hokkaido Koma-ga-take (Mount Komagatake) volcano takes place in Japan. Although the eruption causes few direct injuries, the heavy ashfall poisons local crops and causes the Kan'ei Great Famine that causes more than 50,000 deaths from starvation.source

Culture & Society

  • The first book to be printed in North America (the Bay Psalm Book) is published.source

Births

  • January 17 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, prominent early American settler of Woodbridge Township (d. 1724)source
  • January 25 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)source
  • February 29 – Benjamin Keach, English Particular Baptist preacher (d. 1704)source
  • March 18 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1718)source
  • June 15 – Bernard Lamy, French Oratorian mathematician and theologian (d. 1715)source
  • June 29 – Elizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield, second wife of Philip Stanhope (d. 1665)source
  • July 8 – Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I (d. 1660)source
  • September 21 – Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII of France and his wife (d. 1701)source
  • September 23 – Date Tsunamune, Japanese daimyō of Sendai han (d. 1711)source
  • October 28 – Streynsham Master, English colonial administrator (d. 1724)source
  • November 14 – Jonathan Corwin, American judge of the Salem witch trials (d. 1718)source
  • November 18 – George Hooper, Bishop of St Asaph Bishop of Bath and Wells (d. 1727)source
  • November 27 – Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (d. 1709)source
  • December 14 (probable date) – Aphra Behn, English author (d. 1689)source

Deaths

  • January 14 – Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, English lawyer and judge (b. 1578)source
  • January 25 – Robert Burton, English scholar (b. 1577)source
  • March 17 – Philip Massinger, English dramatist (b. 1583)source
  • April 2 – Paul Fleming, German physician and poet (b. 1609)source
  • April – Uriel da Costa, Portuguese philosopher (suicide) (b. 1585)source
  • May 30 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (b. 1577)source
  • June 3 – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician (b. 1584)source
  • August 30 – Thomas Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Haddington, Scottish noble (b. 1600)source
  • October 1 – Claudio Achillini, Italian philosopher, theologian, mathematician, poet, jurist (b. 1574)source
  • October 6 – Wolrad IV, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg (b. 1588)source
  • November 27 – Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (b. 1587)source
  • December 1 – Miguel de Vasconcelos, Portuguese prime minister (b. 1590)source
  • December 3 – Christopher Wandesford, English administrator and politician (b. 1592)source
  • December 30 – John Francis Regis, French saint (b. 1597)source