Directory

1663 CE

An earthquake estimated at least 7.3 magnitude strikes Canada's Quebec Province. King Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter for the American colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act, requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 23 – The Treaty of Ghilajharighat is signed in India between representatives of the Mughal Empire and the independent Ahom Kingdom (in what is now the Assam state), with the Mughals ending their occupation of the Ahom capital of Garhgaon, in return for payment by Ahom in silver and gold for costs of the occupation, and King Sutamla of Ahom sending one of his daughters to be part of the harem of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.source
  • July 8 – King Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter for the American colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.source
  • July 27 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act, requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.source
  • November 19 – Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy is appointed by King Louis XIV of Frances as the new Governor General of the French West Indies as the colonies of Saint-Domingue, Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Croix are put under a unified rule for the colonies in the Caribbean Sea for the first time since 1651.source
  • November 24 – The General Court of Commissioners for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations convenes for the final time, meeting in Newport to formally receive the Rhode Island Royal Charter issued on July 8 by King Charles II.source
  • December 27 – Jacob Hustaert becomes the new Governor of Dutch Ceylon.source
  • The first Maroon community arises in Suriname.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 10 – The army of the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) captures Chiang Mai from the Kingdom of Burma (now Myanmar), using it as a base for launching a larger attack on the Burmese coast in November.source
  • March 5 – Emperor Go-Sai's reign ends, and Emperor Reigen ascends to the throne of Japan.source
  • April 17 – The Ottoman Empire declares war against Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, beginning the Austro-Turkish War.source
  • June 7 – Under the pretext of working out a treaty with Dutch settlers in the colony of New Netherland, the Esopus tribe of the Delaware people enter the fortress at Wiltwijck (now the U.S. city of Kingston, New York) and stage a surprise attack. Unbeknownst to the Wiltwijck residents, another group of Esopus warriors had destroyed the village of Nieu Dorp (now Hurley, New York) earlier in the day. The episode begins the Second Esopus War.source
  • June 8 – The Portuguese and some English auxiliaries defeat the Spanish Army in the Battle of Ameixial.source
  • July 19 – Acting as intermediaries between the Dutch and Esopus war parties, a group of three Mohawk Indians obtain the release of the first four hostages who had been taken hostage in the Esopus attack on Wildwyck, two women and two children.source
  • August 15 – Oratam, leader of the Hackensack tribe of the Lenape nation, meets in New Amsterdam (now New York City) with Weswatewchy, Memshe and Wemessamy, three chiefs of the Monsiyok tribe, to ask for the Hackensacks to supply a cannon to defend their fort, and to confirm that the Monsiyok are not allied with the other major division of the Lenape, the Esopus tribe.source
  • September 5 – Dutch Captain Martin Kregier and Lieutenant Couwenhoven lead an attack against the Esopus Indians from the right and Lieutenant Stilwil and Ensign Niessen the left wing. In the battle, near what is now Mamakating, New York, Chief Papequanaehen and 14 other Esopus warriors are killed, along with seven civilians; three Dutch soldiers are killed, but 23 Dutch prisoners are rescued.source
  • September 13 – After a siege of more than a month, the Hungarian fortress at Érsekújvár (now Nové Zámky in Slovakia) surrenders to the Ottoman Empire. In accordance with the treaty of surrender negotiated by the Hungarian commander, Count Ádám Forgách, the European residents are allowed free passage to Austria, and the Ottoman Grand Vizier, Fazil Ahmed Pasha provides a document certifying that the fort's defenders fought bravely.source
  • September 13 – The Gloucester County Conspiracy, the first slave rebellion in British North America, is foiled after one of the plotters, John Birkenhead, reveals the plan of African slaves and English indentured servants to kill their masters. Birkenhead is freed by his master as a reward for betraying the rebels.source
  • October 16 – With 2,000 men under his command, Petar Zrinski, the Viceroy of Croatia within the Holy Roman Empire, defeats a much larger force of 8,000 Ottoman soldiers in the Battle at Jurjeve Stijene, near the modern town of Otočac. The Croatians lose 10 soldiers killed; the Ottoman invasion force suffers over 1,500 deaths.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 4 – The Prince Edward Islands in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean are discovered by Barent Barentszoon Lam, of the Dutch ship Maerseveen, and named Dina (Prince Edward) and Maerseveen (Marion).source

Religion & Belief

  • March 24 – King Charles II of England issues the Charter of Carolina, establishing the Province of Carolina, and dividing it between eight Lords Proprietors.source
  • September 8 – Diego de Salcedo becomes the new Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, replacing Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, who had served for more than 10 years. Salcedo is overthrown in 1668.source
  • Publication at Cambridge in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of the "Eliot Indian Bible" (Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God), which becomes the first complete Bible published in the Americas, a translation by English-born Puritan missionary John Eliot of the Geneva Bible, from English into the Massachusett language (Natic or Wômpanâak) variety of the Algonquian languages.source

Economy & Finance

  • January 10 – The Royal African Company is granted a Royal Charter by Charles II of England.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • May 7 – The King's Theatre, now called "Drury Lane", opens in London.source

Science & Discovery

  • Robert Hooke discovers that cork is made of "tiny little rooms", which he first calls "Cells".source
  • Baruch Spinoza publishes Principia philosophiae cartesianae, which is the only book he would publish under his name, in his life.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 8 – English pirates led by Christopher Myngs and Edward Mansvelt carry out the sack of Campeche in Mexico, looting the town during a two week occupation that ends on February 23.source
  • October 12 – The Farnley Wood Plot, a conspiracy in the English county of West Yorkshire to overthrow the recently-restored monarchy and to return to the military rule that had been established by the late Oliver Cromwell, fails when only 26 men gather at Farnley. The group is arrested and 21 of the rebels are later executed for treason.source

Climate & Environment

  • February 5 – An earthquake estimated at least 7.3 magnitude strikes Canada's Quebec Province.source
  • August 21 – Concerned about the wintry weather, the Parliament of England holds an intercessory fast.source
  • August 28 – In an unseasonably cold summer, severe frost hits England.source
  • December 12 – The Dutch Republic prohibits practice of the common law custom of jus naufragii, the doctrine that permitted people to seize property that had washed ashore on their land after a shipwreck.source

Culture & Society

  • November 6 – The Kingdom of Sweden adopts a law creating the flag in use in the nation now, a yellow Nordic cross on a blue background. The original version, used as a state flag and on ships, had three pennants.source
  • The Prix de Rome scholarship is established in France for students of the arts.source

Births

  • January 19 – Nicholas Trott, colonial magistrate, South Carolina Chief Justice (d. 1740)source
  • January 27 – George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, English Royal Navy admiral (d. 1733)source
  • February 1 – Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, Filipino religious sister (d. 1748)source
  • February 4 – Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield, English peer (d. 1716)source
  • February 12 – Cotton Mather, American theologian (d. 1728)source
  • February 25 – Pierre Antoine Motteux, French-born English dramatist (d. 1718)source
  • March 22 – August Hermann Francke, German Lutheran clergyman, philanthropist, Biblical scholar (d. 1727)source
  • May 20 – William Bradford, English-born printer in North America (d. 1752)source
  • May 28 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (d. 1736)source
  • August 31 – Guillaume Amontons, French scientific instrument inventor and physicist (d. 1705)source
  • September 20 – Louis-François Duplessis de Mornay, Catholic bishop of Quebec (d. 1741)source
  • October 24 – Stephen Delancey, major colonial New York figure (d. 1741)source
  • November 13 – Árni Magnússon, Icelandic scholar and manuscript collector (d. 1730)source
  • December 20 – Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man (d. 1755)source

Deaths

  • January 6 – George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich, English soldier, politician (b. 1585)source
  • January 22 – Giancarlo de' Medici, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1611)source
  • April 29 – Margaret Yolande of Savoy, duchess consort of Parma (b. 1635)source
  • May 11 – Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, Prince of France (b. 1595)source
  • June 4 – William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1582)source
  • June 25 – John Bramhall, Archbishop of Armagh, Anglican controversialist (b. 1594)source
  • July 2 – Thomas Selle, German baroque composer (b. 1599)source
  • September 18 – Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (b. 1603)source
  • September 27 – Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (b. 1584)source
  • October 20 – Raphael Cotoner, Spanish 60th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1601)source
  • December 17 – Queen Ana Nzinga of the Kingdom of Ndongo and the Kingdom of Matamba, both located in the northern part of what is now the Republic of Angola in Africa, dies after a 39-year reign in Ndongo and 32 years after conquering Matamba. She is succeeded by her sister, Barbara Mukambu Mbandi, who rules for less than three years.source
  • December 21 – Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin, Scottish nobleman (b. 1599)source
  • December 27 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (b. 1606)source
  • December 28 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician, physicist (b. 1618)source