1694 CE
(January 11 O.S.) – The Kiev Academy, predecessor of the national university of Ukraine, receives official recognition by Tsar Ivan V of Russia. The coronation of Sultan Husayn of the Safavid dynasty as the Shah of Persia takes place in Isfahan, eight days after the death of his father Suleiman I. The Army of Algeria captures Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, after a siege of three months, bringing an end to the Tunisian–Algerian War. Mohamed Bey El Mouradi, the Bey of Tunis, flees southward while Prince Muhammad ben Cheker of Tunisia becomes the new Dey on behalf of the Dey of Algiers, Hadj Ahmed.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- February 6 – The colony of Quilombo dos Palmares, created by rebel African slaves in Brazil, is destroyed by the bandeirantes, colonial troops under the command of Domingos Jorge Velho. After a successful attack on its capital, Cerca do Macaco, the last King of Dos Palmares, Zumbi, flees after a reign of more than 13 years, but is later captured and executed.source
- March 8 – The Casa da Moeda do Brasil is formed by Peter II of Portugal.source
- July 27 – The Bank of England is founded through Royal charter by the Whig-dominated Parliament of England, following a proposal by Scottish merchant William Paterson to raise capital, by offering safe and steady returns of interest guaranteed by future taxes. A total of £1.2 million is raised for the war effort against Louis XIV of France by the end of the year, to establish the first-ever government debt.source
- December 3 – The Parliament of England passes the Triennial Act 1694, requiring general elections every three years.source
Conflict & Security
- January 18 – Sir James Montgomery of Scotland, who had been arrested on January 11 for conspiracy to restore King James to the throne, escapes and flees to France.source
- April 7 – The British Royal Navy's 40-gun warship HMS Ruby captures the French privateer Entreprenant in battle. The confiscated ship is renamed HMS Ruby Prize.source
- April 12 – The French ship Diligente, commanded by René Duguay-Trouin, covers the escape of a convoy of ships that he is escorting, but then is surrounded and attacked by six Royal Navy ships led by David Mitchell. Most of the Diligente crew is lost in the battle, and Duguay-Trouin is captured.source
- May 27 – Taking advantage of a fog, the French Army, with 24,000 troops, fights the Battle of Torroella against an equally large Spanish Army force on the banks of the Ter in Spain, near the city of Girona during the Nine Years' War. The Spaniards suffer 3,000 casualties, while the French sustain 500.source
- June 24 – The Tunisian–Algerian War begins as Algerian troops cross into Tunisia.source
- October 23 – British/American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phips, fail to seize Quebec from the French.source
- November 12 – The Army of Algeria captures Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, after a siege of three months, bringing an end to the Tunisian–Algerian War. Mohamed Bey El Mouradi, the Bey of Tunis, flees southward while Prince Muhammad ben Cheker of Tunisia becomes the new Dey on behalf of the Dey of Algiers, Hadj Ahmed.source
- The Lao empire of Lan Xang unofficially ends.source
Exploration & Expansion
- February 5 – The ship Ridderschap van Holland is lost at sea, having departed the Cape of Good Hope with a crew of 300, with a destination of Batavia (modern-day Jakarta in Indonesia), normally a voyage of two months. It never arrives and is never seen again.source
- April 2 – Sheikh Yusuf, exiled by the administrators of the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), arrives at the Dutch Cape Colony on the ship De Voetboog, at what later becomes Cape Town, South Africa, along with two wives, two concubines and twelve children. Resettled by the colonial government at a farm in Zandvliet, the Sheikh introduces Islam to South Africa.source
- Rascians establish the settlement which will become Novi Sad on the Danube.source
Religion & Belief
Technology & Infrastructure
- The Parker Tavern is built in Reading, Massachusetts.source
Science & Discovery
Health & Medicine
- October 25 – Queen Mary II of England founds the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich.source
Disasters & Accidents
- March 1 – British flagship (carrying gold coin) and twelve other ships are wrecked in a storm in the Mediterranean off Gibraltar with the loss of approximately 1,200 lives.source
- September 5 – The Great Fire of Warwick breaks out in England and destroys half the town. Donors raise £110,000 toward disaster relief, with Queen Anne contributing £1,000.source
Climate & Environment
- April 13 – The largest volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius since 1631 takes place, with lava flows towards both San Giorgio a Cremano and Torre del Greco, after explosions in the crater that began April 5. Around April 20, ash falls are experienced as far away as Calabria.source
- September 8 – The 1694 Irpinia–Basilicata earthquake causes widespread severe damage and over 6,000 deaths in the Kingdom of Naples.source
- September 27 – A hurricane hits Carlisle Bay, Barbados, sinking 27 British ships and resulting in 3,000 casualties.source
- October 19 – A major windstorm begins and continues for several days, spreading the Culbin Sands over a large area of farmland in the Scottish Highlands in the County of Moray and burying the now-abandoned village of Culbin.source
Culture & Society
- January 21 (January 11 O.S.) – The Kiev Academy, predecessor of the national university of Ukraine, receives official recognition by Tsar Ivan V of Russia.source
- January 28 – Pirro e Demetrio, an opera by Alessandro Scarlatti, is given its first performance, debuting at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. The opera is adapted in 1708 in London as Pyrrhus and Demetrius and becomes the second most popular opera in 18th century London.source
- August 24 – The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, the first official dictionary of the French language, is presented by Jacques de Tourreil and Academy members on behalf of the Académie française to King Louis XIV.source
Births
- February 21 – Richard Waldron, Colonial New Hampshire businessman and politician (d. 1753)source
- April 3 – George Edwards, English naturalist and ornithologist (d. 1773)source
- April 25 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (d. 1753)source
- July 11 – Charles-Antoine Coypel, French painter, art commentator, and playwright (d. 1752)source
- July 16 – Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone, Irish politician (d. 1763)source
- August 8 – Francis Hutcheson, Scottish philosopher (d. 1746)source
- August 10 – John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, British politician (d. 1754)source
- September 9 – John Vanderbank, British artist (d. 1739)source
- September 22 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, British statesman and man of letters (d. 1773)source
- November 5 – Ricardo Wall, Irish-born soldier, diplomat and minister in the Spanish service (d. 1777)source
- November 12 – Augustine Washington, British-American planter, slave owner, and the father of George Washington (d. 1743)source
- November 29 – Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Köthen (d. 1728)source
- December 2 – William Shirley, British governor of Massachusetts and then of the Bahamas (d. 1771)source
- December 22 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (d. 1768)source
Deaths
- January 7 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English aristocrat and soldier (b. c. 1618)source
- April 16 – Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, French noblewoman (b. 1628)source
- June 29 – The Battle of Texel is fought near the Dutch island of Texel, one of the West Frisian Islands. The French Navy force of 8 ships, commanded by Jean Bart, locates and rescues three French ships that had been captured by the Dutch Republic in late May. Bart fights a larger force commanded by Hidde Sjoerds de Vries, who dies of his wounds after being captured.source
- July 1 – Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, General in the Williamite War in Ireland (b. 1638)source
- July 25 – Robert Fleming the elder, Scottish Presbyterian Minister, died 1694 (b. 1630)source
- July 29 – Suleiman I of Persia, Shah of Persia from 1666 to 1694 (b. 1647)source
- August 6 – The coronation of Sultan Husayn of the Safavid dynasty as the Shah of Persia takes place in Isfahan, eight days after the death of his father Suleiman I.source
- August 8 – Antoine Arnauld, French theologian, philosopher, mathematician (b. 1612)source
- August 30 – Louis de Crevant, Duke of Humières, Marshal of France (b. 1628)source
- November 22 – John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1630)source
- November 29 – Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician (b. 1628)source
- December 2 – Pierre Puget, French painter, sculptor, architect and engineer (b. 1620)source
- December 4 – Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds, Marshal of France (b. 1630)source
- December 28 – Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, English Baron (b. 1607)source