Directory

1648 CE

The year 1648 has been suggested as possibly the last time in which the overall human population declined, coming towards the end of a broader period of global instability which included the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, the latter of which ending in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 17 – By a vote of 141 to 91, England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I, and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.source
  • January 20 – France's Royal Council votes to create the Académie royale after accepting the proposal of Martin de Charmois.source
  • January 30 – The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish Empire recognizes the Dutch Republic of United Netherlands as a sovereign state (governed by the House of Orange-Nassau and the States General), which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. The treaty is ratified by the Netherlands on May 15.source
  • May 15 – The Peace of Münster is ratified by both the United Netherlands and the Spanish Empire.source
  • August 8 – Mehmed IV (1648–1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640–1648), as Ottoman Emperor.source
  • October 31 – A treaty is signed between the Arabs and the Portuguese. The terms include a provision that the Portuguese should build fortresses at Kuriyat, Dibba Al-Hisn (Sharjah) and Muttrah (Oman).source
  • November 11 – France and the Netherlands agree to divide the Caribbean island of Saint Martin between them.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 26 – The Khmelnytsky Uprising in Ukraine, at the time part of the Republic of Both Nations (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), begins as Bohdan Khmelnytsky becomes Hetman of the Cossacks.source
  • April 19 – First Battle of Guararapes: The Portuguese army defeats the Dutch army, in the north of Brazil.source
  • May 16 – England's Commonwealth Army massacres 70 Cornish royalists at Penzance, leading to a rebellion against England's Parliamentarians.source
  • June 1 – The Roundheads defeat the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.source
  • July 19 – The last major battle of the Thirty Years' War, the Battle of Prague ends in a Swedish victory after three days of fighting over the army of Bohemia. The troops loot the Prague Castle and steal many of Bohemia's most valuable artifacts.source
  • August 16 – The Imam of Oman, Nasir bin Murshid, dispatches an army to recapture Muscat from Portuguese occupiers, who eventually surrender the town on January 23, 1650.source
  • August 20 – The French Army, under the command of the Prince of Condé, defeats the Spaniards at the Battle of Lens. Upon learning of the victory, Cardinal Mazarin orders the arrest of the members of the Fronde Parlementaire, leading to an insurrection in Paris.source
  • September 12 – At the Battle of Stirling in Scotland, the "Engagers" achieve victory over the Kirk Party.source
  • December 6 – "Pride's Purge" in England: Elements of the New Model Army, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell invade London and expel a majority of the Long Parliament, resulting in the creation of the Rump Parliament.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • June 20 – Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnyov departs from Srednekolymsk to begin the first recorded voyage through the Bering Strait, between Asia and North America, and arrives in September.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 15 – Manchu invaders of China's Fujian province capture Spanish Dominican priest Francisco Fernández de Capillas, torture him and then behead him. Capillas will be canonized more than 350 years later in 2000 in the Roman Catholic Church as one of the Martyr Saints of China.source
  • May 12 – Construction of the Kaunghmudaw Pagoda is completed in the Kingdom of Burma on the 6th waning of Kason, 1010, near the end of the reign of King Thalun. Hmannan Yazawinsource
  • August – The Cambridge Platform, a new, localized system of Christian church governance, is agreed upon and written down in New England.source
  • The epic poem Padmavati is written by Alaol.source
  • George Fox founds the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • In India, building of the Red Fort in Shahjahanabad is completed.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 11 – England's parliament passes stricter laws against performance of stage plays, providing for demolition of seats in theatres, imprisonment for actors and fines for spectators. The vote comes six days after the King's Men Players are arrested at the Cockpit Theatre during an illegal performance of Rollo Duke of Normandy.source
  • The Dutch artist Rembrandt produces the works Rembrandt drawing at a window and Beggars at the Door.source

Climate & Environment

  • March 31 – A major earthquake strikes Van in Ottoman Armenia.source

Culture & Society

  • January 15 – Alexis, Tsar of Russia, marries Maria Miloslavskaya, who later gives birth to two future tsars (Feodor III and Ivan V) as well as Princess Sophia Alekseyevna, the regent for Peter I.source
  • Sabbatai Zevi declares himself the Messiah at Smyrna.source
  • Giacomo Carissimi composes Historia di Jephte, one of the first significant Latin oratorios.source

Births

  • February 23 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)source
  • April 4 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-British sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England (d. 1721)source
  • April 5 – Nicolas Pasquin, early pioneer in New France (now Quebec) (d. 1708)source
  • April 7 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)source
  • April 13 – Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic (d. 1717)source
  • May 14 – René de Froulay de Tessé, French Marshal and diplomat (d. 1725)source
  • July 21 – John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Scottish general (d. 1689)source
  • September 10 – Nicolas Desmarets, Controller-General of Finances under Louis XIV of France (d. 1721)source
  • September 24 – Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston, English politician (d. 1695)source
  • November 12 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican Hieronymite nun and polymath (d. 1695)source
  • November 15 – Juan María de Salvatierra, Italian Jesuit priest and missionary (d. 1717)source
  • November 16 – Charles Duncombe, English banker and politician (d. 1711)source
  • December 20 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian Jesuit mathematician from Milan (d. 1737)source
  • December 23 – Robert Barclay, Scottish Quaker (d. 1690)source

Deaths

  • January 15 – St. Francisco Fernandez de Capillas, Spanish saint (b. 1607)source
  • March 14 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (b. 1584)source
  • May 17 – Peter Melander Graf von Holzappel, Protestant military leader (b. 1589)source
  • May 20 – Wladyslaw IV Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, dies after a reign of 15 years. The throne remains vacant for six months until Wladyslaw's younger half-brother, John II Casimir Vasa, is elected by Poland's Parliament.source
  • July 4 – Antoine Daniel, Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (b. 1601)source
  • August 2 – Claude Françoise de Lorraine, Princess of Lorraine (b. 1612)source
  • August 5 – Ivan III Drašković, Croatian nobleman and soldier (b. 1603)source
  • August 12 – Peter Sainthill, English politician (b. 1593)source
  • August 18 – Ibrahim, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1615)source
  • August 20 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583)source
  • August 24 – Juan Damián López de Haro, Spanish Catholic bishop of Puerto Rico (b. 1581)source
  • August 25 – Joseph Calasanz, Spanish priest and founder of Piarists (b. 1557)source
  • September 1 – Marin Mersenne, French mathematician (b. 1588)source
  • October 11 – George I Rákóczi, Hungarian prince of Transylvania (b. 1593)source