1699 CE
The Republic of Venice, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Holy Roman Empire sign the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottoman Empire, marking an end to the major phase of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars. The treaty marks a major geopolitical shift, as the Ottoman Empire subsequently abandons its expansionism and adopts a defensive posture while the Habsburg monarchy expands its influence. Thomas Savery demonstrates his first steam pump to the Royal Society of London. The Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye, negotiated by Johann Patkul, is signed at a palace of the Tsar of Russia Peter the Great, and representatives of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony to provide for the partition of Swedish Empire between Saxony, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Kingdoms of Denmark-Norway and the Russian Empire. The attack on Sweden, which takes place on February 22, starts the Great Northern War.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 26 – The Republic of Venice, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Holy Roman Empire sign the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottoman Empire, marking an end to the major phase of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars. The treaty marks a major geopolitical shift, as the Ottoman Empire subsequently abandons its expansionism and adopts a defensive posture while the Habsburg monarchy expands its influence.source
- May 1 (O.S.) – A series of five student orations at the College of William & Mary precipitate the Colony of Virginia's capital moving from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, resulting in the establishment of Williamsburg.source
- June 11 – England, France and the Dutch Republic agree on the terms of the Treaty of London (1700) (Second Partition Treaty) for Spain.source
- October – An edict by King Louis XIV establishes an office of police magistrate in almost every village in France, with the title of lieutenant general de police created.source
- November 22 – The Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye, negotiated by Johann Patkul, is signed at a palace of the Tsar of Russia Peter the Great, and representatives of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony to provide for the partition of Swedish Empire between Saxony, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Kingdoms of Denmark-Norway and the Russian Empire. The attack on Sweden, which takes place on February 22, starts the Great Northern War.source
Conflict & Security
- January 20 – The Parliament of England (under Tory dominance) limits the size of the country's standing army to 7,000 'native born' men; hence, King William III's Dutch Blue Guards cannot serve in the line. By an Act of February 1, it also requires disbandment of foreign troops in Ireland.source
- February 4 – A group of 350 rebels in the Streltsy Uprising are executed in Moscow.source
- March 4 – Jews are expelled from Lübeck, Germany.source
Exploration & Expansion
- May 1 – Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville founds the first European settlement in the Mississippi River Valley, at Fort Maurepas (Ocean Springs, Mississippi).source
- July 26 – William Dampier's expedition to New Holland (Australia), in HMS Roebuck, reaches Dirk Hartog Island, at the mouth of what he calls Shark Bay in Western Australia, and he begins producing the first known detailed record of Australian flora and fauna.source
- October 3 – The Liverpool Merchant, the first slave ship to depart from the Port of Liverpool, sets sail for West Africa where it embarks hundreds of African slaves and sails for Barbados, arriving there on September 18, 1700 with 220 slaves on board.source
Religion & Belief
- April 13 – The 10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, creates the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib.source
Technology & Infrastructure
- June 14 – Thomas Savery demonstrates his first steam pump to the Royal Society of London.source
Science & Discovery
Crime & Justice
- July 6 – Scottish-born pirate captain William Kidd is arrested and imprisoned in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, after being tricked by his former patron New York Governor Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont.source
Climate & Environment
Culture & Society
- March 2 – The Edinburgh Gazette is first published in Scotland.source
- March 26 – The first performance of Amadis de Grèce, an opera by French composer André Cardinal Destouches, takes place at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris.source
- May 10 – Billingsgate Fish Market in London is sanctioned as a permanent institution by an Act of Parliament, with the provision "that after the tenth of May, 1699, Billingsgate Market should be, every day in the week except Sunday, a free and open market for all sorts of fish, and that it should be lawful for any person to buy or sell any sort of fish without disturbance."source
- October 11 – The opera Marthésie, première reine des Amazones (Marthesia, First Queen of the Amazons), composed by André Cardinal Destouches, is performed for the first time, premiering at Fontainebleau near Paris.source
- December 3 – Baron Jacob Hop is appointed as the treasurer-general of The Hague.source
- December 20 – Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed, from September 1 (the start of the Byzantine year) to January 1.source
Births
- January 11 – Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix, Royal Prussian Lieutenant General (d. 1765)source
- February 2 – Hugh MacDonald, Roman Catholic bishop, Vicar Apostolic of the Highland District of Scotland 1731–1773 (d. 1773)source
- February 11 – Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, French naval officer and colonial administrator (d. 1753)source
- February 17 – Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, painter and architect in Prussia (d. 1753)source
- March 23 – John Bartram, American botanist (d. 1777)source
- May 13 – Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)source
- May 23 – William Parks, 18th-century printer and journalist in England and Colonial America (d. 1750)source
- May 31 – Alexander Cruden, Scottish author of an early concordance to the Bible (d. 1770)source
- June 6 – Alamgir II, the fifteenth Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1759)source
- June 26 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French salon holder (d. 1777)source
- August 29 – Mastani, daughter of Chhatrasal and Ruhani Bai Begum (d. 1740)source
- September 29 – Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland (d. 1751)source
- November 18 – Gerrit Braamcamp, successful Roman Catholic distiller (d. 1771)source
- December 11 – Sarah Chapone, English legal theorist, pamphleteer, and prolific letter writer (d. 1764)source
Deaths
- January 3 – Mattia Preti, Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta (b. 1613)source
- January 27 – Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, English statesman and essayist (b. 1628)source
- February 6 – Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, son of Maximilian II Emanuel (b. 1692)source
- March 20 – Erhard Weigel, German mathematician, astronomer and philosopher (b. 1625)source
- March 22 – William Chaloner (b. 1650)source
- March 27 – Edward Stillingfleet, British theologian and scholar (b. 1635)source
- May 22 – James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon, English nobleman (b. 1653)source
- June 22 – Josiah Child, English Governor of the East India Company (b. 1630)source
- July 2 – Hortense Mancini, favourite Italian niece of Cardinal Mazarin (b. 1646)source
- July 3 – Johann Just Winckelmann, German writer and historian (b. 1620)source
- August 4 – Maria Sophia of Neuburg, Queen consort of Portugal (b. 1666)source
- October 8 – Mary Beale, English portrait painter (b. 1633)source
- November 15 – Kosa Pan, Siamese diplomat and minister who led the second Siamese embassy to France sent by King Narai in 1686 (b. 1633)source
- November 29 – Patrick Gordon, general and rear admiral in Russia (b. 1635)source