Directory

1690 CE

In India, the fort and trading settlement of Sutanuti is founded on the Hooghly River by the English East India Company, following the signing of an Anglo-Mughal treaty. An earthquake with strength 5.2 occurs in Caernarfon, Wales, causing tremors that can be felt as far away as London and Dublin. Barclays, which will continue to be active into the 21st century as a multinational bank and lending institution, is founded in London by John Freame and Thomas Gould as Freame & Gould. The bank changes its name in 1736 when James Barclay becomes a partner.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 27 – The Convention Parliament is dissolved in England.source
  • February 6 – King William III of England calls for new elections for the 512-member House of Commonssource
  • March 20 – The 2nd Parliament of William III and Mary II is assembled in London, split almost equally with 243 Whigs, 241 Tories, and 28 independent members.source
  • August 24 – In India, the fort and trading settlement of Sutanuti is founded on the Hooghly River by the English East India Company, following the signing of an Anglo-Mughal treaty.source
  • December 20 (December 10, 1690 O.S.) — The General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay creates the first authorized paper money issued by any government in the Western World as a substitute for coins. The first money is printed on February 13, 1691 (N.S.) and is dated "Feb. 3, 1690" based on the British old style calendar in use at the time.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 2 – The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbian rebels and Austrian troops in battle at Kaçanik Gorge, prompting more than 30,000 Serb refugees to flee northward from Kosovo, Macedonia and Sandžak to the Austrian Empire.source
  • February 8 – The Schenectady massacre takes place in the village of Schenectady in the colony of New York, when 200 Frenchmen, Mohawk and Algonquin warriors kill or capture most of the inhabitants in retaliation for the Lachine massacre.source
  • May 16 – The Battle of Port Royal takes place in Nova Scotia after an invasion by a militia of 446 soldiers and 226 sailors from the Massachusetts Bay Colony on seven warships. With only 90 French colonial soldiers to defend Port-Royal, Acadian Governor Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Menneval surrenders before the end of the day.source
  • June 8 – Siddi general Yadi Sakat razes the Mazagon Fort in Mumbai.source
  • June 14 – King William III of England (William of Orange) lands in Ireland to confront James II.source
  • July 10 (June 30 O.S.) – Battle of Beachy Head: the Anglo-Dutch navy is defeated by the French, giving rise to fears of a Jacobite invasion of England.source
  • July 11 (July 1 O.S.) – Battle of the Boyne in Ireland: King William III of England (William of Orange) defeats the deposed James II, who returns to exile in France. The rebellion in Ireland continues for a further year until the Orange army gains full control.source
  • July 26 – A French landing party raids and burns Teignmouth in Devon, England. However, with the loss of James II's position in Ireland, any plans for a real invasion are soon shelved, and Teignmouth is the last French attack on England.source
  • October 6 – Massachusetts Puritans, led by Sir William Phips, besiege the city of Quebec; the siege ends in failure after six days.source
  • October 8 – Great Turkish War: The Ottomans recapture Belgrade.source
  • December 10 –Playwright Henry Nevil Payne is tortured for his role in the Montgomery Plot to restore James II to the throne — the last time a political prisoner is legally subjected to torture in Britain.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 27 – The crew of the ship HMS Welfare, commanded by John Strong, become the first European people to land at the Falkland Islands.source
  • The Hearth Tax is abolished in Scotland, one year after its abolition in England and Wales.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 6 – At the age of 11 years old, Prince Joseph, son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, is named as "King of the Romans", the next in line to become the Emperor.source
  • April 25 – The Parliament of Scotland passes an Act to abolish episcopy in the presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Anglican Episcopal Church in Scotland continues as a separate denomination, retaining bishops.source
  • May 20 – England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of the deposed James II.source
  • October 16 – Lawrence Justinian (1381–1456) and John of Sahagún (c. 1430–79) are canonized by Pope Alexander VIII.source
  • Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Crnojević leads the first of the two Great Serbian Migrations into the Habsburg Empire, following Ottoman atrocities in Kosovo.source

Economy & Finance

  • November 17 – Barclays, which will continue to be active into the 21st century as a multinational bank and lending institution, is founded in London by John Freame and Thomas Gould as Freame & Gould. The bank changes its name in 1736 when James Barclay becomes a partner.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 7 – The first recorded full peal is rung, at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, marking a new era in change ringing.source
  • French physicist Denis Papin, while in Leipzig and having observed the mechanical power of atmospheric pressure on his 'digester', builds a working model of a reciprocating steam engine for pumping water, the first of its kind, though not efficient.source
  • The construction of Fort Longueuil, a stone fort in Longueuil, in Quebec, Canada, is completed. It is one of the only buildings in Canada that could ever be considered a castle (fortified residence for a noble), and out of those buildings it most resembles the castles of Europe.source
  • The Barrage Vauban, a defensive work in the city of Strasbourg (in modern-day France), is completed.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 10 – An annular solar eclipse is visible across the south of the Pacific Ocean.source
  • December 13 – The planet Uranus is first sighted and recorded, by England's first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who mistakenly catalogs it as a star 34 Tauri.source
  • Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiter's atmosphere.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 13 – Captain Thomas Pound, after being captured with his crew the previous month, is tried in Boston and found guilty of piracy although he is later reprieved.source
  • January 27 – William Coward is hanged for acts of piracy, following his capture after seizing the ketch Elenor anchored in Boston Harbor the previous year.source
  • November 9 – Near South Mimms, England, several highwaymen stop a convoy carrying taxes from the Midlands to London and take £15,000.source

Climate & Environment

  • April 16 – An estimated 8.0 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Caribbean Sea less than 10 mi from Barbuda and also affects St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as Antigua.source
  • June – An earthquake in Brazil of estimated magnitude 7, with epicenter on the left bank of the Amazon River about 45 km downstream from Manaus, spreads seismic waves through the forest and is felt up to 1000 km away.source
  • October 6 – An earthquake with strength 5.2 occurs in Caernarfon, Wales, causing tremors that can be felt as far away as London and Dublin.source
  • December 4 – A destructive earthquake in the Eastern Alps causes 24 casualties and results in damage in the Villach, Carinthia area.source
  • December 29 – An earthquake hits Ancona, in the Papal States of Italy and causes 10 deaths.source
  • Possible year of the disappearance of the western part of the island of Buise, in St. Peter's Flood.source

Culture & Society

  • February 21 – The opera Orphée by Louis Lully receives its first performance at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera).source
  • April 6 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor issues a document inviting Serbians to resettle in Hungary, at this time a part of the Empire.source
  • September 25 – The only issue of Publick Occurrences is published in Boston, Massachusetts, before being suppressed by the colonial authorities.source
  • October 21 – The play Amphitryon by John Dryden, based on Molière's 1668 play of the same name, receives its first performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.source
  • November 7 – The opera Énée et Lavinie (Aeneas and Lavinia) by the French composer Pascal Collasse receives its first performance at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera).source
  • The French dictionary and encyclopaedia Dictionnaire universel, contenant generalement tous les mots françois, compiled by Antoine Furetière, is published posthumously.source
  • Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens publishes his book Treatise on Light. The book is considered a pioneering work of theoretical and mathematical physics.source

Births

  • January 1 – Susanna Montgomerie, Countess of Eglinton, Scottish literary patron and society hostess (d. 1780)source
  • January 13 – Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, Spanish musician (d. 1749)source
  • February 1 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (d. 1768)source
  • February 17 – Samuel Phillips, American clergyman (d. 1771)source
  • February 26 – Samuel van der Putte, Dutch traveler and explorer (d. 1745)source
  • February 28 – Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Russian Tsarevich (d. 1718)source
  • April 13 – Joachim Wagner, organ builder (d. 1749)source
  • April 15 – John Wallop, 1st Earl of Portsmouth, English politician and nobleman (d. 1762)source
  • April 22 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, British statesman (d. 1763)source
  • September 28 – James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl, British politician (d. 1764)source
  • September 28 – Michel Fourmont, French religious servant and professor (d. 1746)source
  • October 28 – Peter Tordenskjold, Norwegian sea officer (d. 1720)source
  • November 13 – Ernst Johann von Biron, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1772)source
  • December 1 – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, English lawyer, politician, Lord Chancellor (d. 1764)source

Deaths

  • February 22 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and art theorist (b. 1619)source
  • April 15 – Michael I Apafi, Hungarian Prince of Transylvania (b. 1632)source
  • April 21 – Jacob de Graeff, member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age (b. 1642)source
  • April 25 – David Teniers the Younger, Flemish painter (b. 1610)source
  • April 27 – Sultan Toloko ibn-Sibori becomes the new Sultan of Ternate, located on the Maluku Islands in the Dutch East Indies after the death of his father, Sultan Sibori Amsterdam.source
  • May 12 – John Rushworth, English author of Historical Collections (b. c. 1612)source
  • May 21 – John Eliot, Puritan missionary to the American Indians (b. 1604)source
  • July 11 – Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg, Marshal of France (b. 1615)source
  • July 21 – Gregorio Carafa, Calabrian-born 62nd Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1615)source
  • September 2 – Philip William, Elector Palatine, German-born ruler (b. 1615)source
  • October 1 – Girolamo Corner, Venetian statesman and military commander (b. 1632)source
  • October 9 – John Maynard, English lawyer and politician; (b. 1604)source
  • October 15 – Adam Frans van der Meulen, Flemish painter (b. 1632)source
  • October 17 – Margaret Mary Alacoque, Catholic Saint and Mystic (b. 1647)source