1654 CE
The Battle of Tullich takes place in Aberdeenshire in Scotland during Glencairn's rising, a revolt by Scottish royalists against the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland led by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The battle is indecisive. (June 6 Old Style) – Charles X Gustav succeeds his cousin Christina on the Swedish throne. After her abdication on the same day, Christina, now the former reigning queen of a Protestant nation, secretly converts to Catholicism. Sir William Petty wins the contract from the Commonwealth of England to make a survey of Ireland.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- April 5 – The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed.source
- April 11 – A commercial treaty between England and Sweden is signed.source
- April 12 – Oliver Cromwell creates a union between England and Scotland, with Scottish representation in the Parliament of England.source
- June 16 (June 6 Old Style) – Charles X Gustav succeeds his cousin Christina on the Swedish throne. After her abdication on the same day, Christina, now the former reigning queen of a Protestant nation, secretly converts to Catholicism.source
- September 3 – In England, the First Protectorate Parliament assembles.source
- October 31 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, is crowned. His absolutist style of leadership becomes a benchmark for the rest of Germany.source
- December 14 – Jerónimo de Ataíde, Count of Atouguia, becomes Portugal's new Governor-General of Brazil, succeeding João Rodrigues de Vasconcelos e Sousa.source
Conflict & Security
- January 11 – Arauco War – Battle of Río Bueno in southern Chile: Indigenous Huilliche warriors rout Spanish troops from Fort Nacimiento, who are attempting to cross the Bueno River.source
- January 26 – Portugal recaptures the South American city of Recife from the Netherlands after a siege of more than two years during the Dutch-Portuguese War, bringing an end to Dutch rule of what is now Brazil. The Dutch West India Company has held the city (which they call Mauritsstad) for more than 23 years.source
- February 9 – Spanish troops led by Don Gabriel de Rojas y Figueroa succeed in the capture of Fort Rocher, a pirate-controlled base on the Caribbean island of Tortuga.source
- February 10 – The Battle of Tullich takes place in Aberdeenshire in Scotland during Glencairn's rising, a revolt by Scottish royalists against the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland led by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The battle is indecisive.source
- March 13 – The Treaty of Pereyaslav is concluded in the city of Pereyaslav during a meeting between the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Host and Tsar Alexey I of Russia following the end to the Khmelnytsky Uprising in Ukraine, which started in 1648 and has resulted in the massacre of many thousands of Jews.source
- July 5 – The Russian Army camps outside Smolensk and the Thirteen Years' War starts between Russia and Poland over Ukraine.source
- July 10 – Peter Vowell and John Gerard are executed in London for plotting to assassinate Oliver Cromwell.source
- August 12 – The Battle of Shklow, one of the first clashes of the Russo-Polish War, takes place at the modern-day Belarusan town of Škłoŭ during a total eclipse of the Sun visible over Eastern Europe. The Russian troops retreat.source
- August 25 – Russia routs the Polish Army in the Battle of Shepeleviche.source
- September 12 – Oliver Cromwell orders the exclusion of 120 members of Parliament who are hostile to him.source
- September 23 – Smolensk falls to the Russian Army after almost three months.source
Exploration & Expansion
- August 18 – Oliver Cromwell launches the Western Design with the appointment of Admiral William Penn to prepare for a fleet to leave on Christmas Day for an English expedition to the Caribbean to counter Spanish commercial interests, effectively beginning the Anglo-Spanish War (which will last until after the English Restoration in 1660). The fleet leaves Portsmouth in late December.source
- December 11 – Sir William Petty wins the contract from the Commonwealth of England to make a survey of Ireland.source
- December 25 – An English Navy fleet of 17 warships and 20 transports, carrying 325 cannons, 1,145 seamen, and 1,830 troops, under the command of Admiral William Penn departs from Portsmouth to begin Oliver Cromwell's planned surprise attack on Spain's colonies in the New World.source
Religion & Belief
- May 5 – Cromwell's Act of Grace, officially the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, is proclaimed at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh.source
- August 22 – Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam: 23 Sephardic Jews arrive as refugees from Brazil and settle in New Amsterdam, forming the nucleus of what will be the second largest urban Jewish community in history, that of New York City, and of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in North America.source
Technology & Infrastructure
- May 8 – Otto von Guericke demonstrates the power of atmospheric pressure and the effectiveness of his vacuum pump, using the Magdeburg hemispheres, before Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Imperial Diet in Regensburg.source
Science & Discovery
- November 23 – French mathematician, scientist and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal experiences an intense mystical vision that marks him for life.source
Disasters & Accidents
- October 12 – The Delft Explosion, in the arsenal, devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100, among whom is Carel Fabritius (32), the most promising student of Rembrandt.source
Culture & Society
Births
- January 20 – Michiel de Swaen, Flemish poet (d. 1707)source
- January 22 – Richard Blackmore, English physician and writer (d. 1729)source
- March 9 – Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale, English earl, politician (d. 1707)source
- March 12 – Frederick Augustus, Duke of Württemberg-Neuenstadt (d. 1716)source
- April 27 – Charles Blount (deist), English deist and philosopher (d. 1693)source
- June 23 – Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow, English politician (d. 1717)source
- July 1 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, French military commander (d. 1712)source
- July 9 – Emperor Reigen of Japan (d. 1732)source
- July 25 – Agostino Steffani, Italian ecclesiastic, diplomat and composer (d. 1728)source
- November 23 – Jan van Kessel the Younger, Flemish painter in Spain (d. 1708)source
- November 23 – George Watson (accountant), a Scottish accountant and the founder of George Watson's College in Edinburgh (d. 1723)source
- December 13 – Robert Livingston the Elder, New York colonial official (d. 1728)source
- December 22 – Edmond Martène, French Benedictine historian and liturgist (d. 1739)source
- December 30 – Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria, youngest surviving daughter of Ferdinand III (d. 1689)source
Deaths
- January 10 – Nicholas Culpeper, English botanist (b. 1616)source
- February 6 – Francesco Mochi, Italian early-Baroque sculptor (b. 1580)source
- May 18 – Muhammad Qadiri, Punjabi founder of the Naushahia branch of the Qadri Order (b. 1552)source
- May 31 – Hippolytus Guarinonius, Italian physician and polymath (b. 1571)source
- June 10 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor and architect (b. 1598)source
- July 23 – Orazio Grassi, Italian Jesuit priest, architect and scientist (b. 1583)source
- August 19 – Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, Bohemian rabbi and liturgical poet (b. 1579)source
- August 28 – Axel Oxenstierna, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden since 1612 (b. 1583)source
- August 29 – Wouter van Twiller, Director-General of New Netherland from 1633 until 1638 (b. 1606)source
- September 6 – Christian I, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (1600–1654) (b. 1598)source
- September 8 – Peter Claver, Spanish Jesuit priest (b. 1580)source
- November 26 – Giambattista Altieri, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1589)source
- November 30 – John Selden, English jurist (b. 1584)source
- December 1 – Jakov Mikalja, Italian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1601)source