January–March •
January 6 – The
Fifth Monarchists, led by
Thomas Venner, unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London;
George Monck's
regiment defeats them. •
January 29 – The
Rokeby baronets, a
British nobility title is created. •
January 30 – The body of
Oliver Cromwell is exhumed and subjected to a
posthumous execution in London, along with those of
John Bradshaw and
Henry Ireton. •
February 5 – The
Shunzhi Emperor of the Chinese
Qing Dynasty dies, and is succeeded by his 7-year-old son the
Kangxi Emperor. •
February 7 –
Shah Shuja, who was deprived of his claim to the throne of the Mughal Empire by his younger brother
Aurangzeb, then fled to Burma, is killed by Indian troops in an attack on his residence at
Arakan. •
February 14 –
George Monck’s regiment becomes ''The Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards'' in England (which later becomes the
Coldstream Guards). •
March 9 – Following the death of his mentor,
Cardinal Jules Mazarin, who had been Minister of State since before the birth of King
Louis XIV, King Louis, now 22, starts to rule independently without need for a regent. •
March 23 – General
Zheng Chenggong of China, known as "Koxinga" leads an invasion of the island of
Taiwan, at the time under the control of the
Dutch East India Company (VOC), bringing 25,000 soldiers and sailors on hundreds of boats to claim the territory.
April–June •
April 7 – The
siege of Fort Zeelandia, the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) headquarters on the Chinese island of
Taiwan (near modern
Taoyuan City) is started by Koxinga and his invading force from China. •
April 23 (May 3 N.S.) – King
Charles II of England,
Scotland, and
Ireland is crowned in
Westminster Abbey. •
May 8 – The "
Cavalier Parliament", the longest serving Parliament in British history, is opened following the first parliamentary elections since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The first session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords lasts until June 30 and then reopens on November 20. The Cavalier Parliament continues meeting, without new elections, until being dissolved on January 24,
1679. •
May 11 – The Indian city and territory of
Bombay is ceded by Portugal to England in accordance with the
dowry of King Joao IV of Portugal for the marriage of his daughter Catherine to King Charles II of England. •
May 17 – Leaders of the
indigenous Taiwanese villages in the plains and mountains of the Dutch-ruled island begin surrendering to the Chinese forces led by
Koxinga and agreeing to hunt down and execute Dutch people on the island. •
May 27 – The
Marquess of Argyll, one of the first of the Scottish-born people sentenced to death as a
regicide for his role in the conviction and execution of King Charles I of England and Scotland in 1649, is beheaded at the Tolbooth Prison in
Edinburgh using the "
Scottish Maiden," almost immediately after his conviction of collaboration with the government of
Oliver Cromwell. His head is then placed on a spike outside the prison. •
June 1 – At Edinburgh, the public execution of Presbyterian minister
James Guthrie, followed by Captain
William Govan, takes place at the
Mercat Cross at Parliament Square, days after both have been convicted of treason for their roles in the execution of King Charles I. The heads are severed from the corpses and displayed on spikes in the square. •
June 3 –
Pye Min, younger brother of King
Pindale Min of
Burma, leads a bloody coup d'etat and ascends the throne. Pindale Min and his family (including his primary wife, a son and a grandson) are drowned in the
Chindwin River. Pye Min reigns until 1672. •
June 14 – General
Zheng Chenggong of China takes control of most of the island of
Taiwan from the Dutch East India Company and proclaims the
Kingdom of Tungning, with himself as the ruler. •
June 23 – The "
Marriage Treaty" is signed between representatives of King
Charles II of England and King
João IV of Portugal, providing a military alliance between the two kingdoms and a marriage between Charles of the
House of Stuart and João's daughter Catherine of the
House of Braganza on May 21, 1662. The treaty also sets the transfer of Portuguese territory in India (at
Bombay) and in North Africa (
Tangier) to England as well as military aid from England to Portugal. •
June 28 – The innovative
Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre opens in London with the first system for interchangeable scenery on a stage in the British Isles, and a production of
William Davenant's opera
The Siege of Rhodes.
July–September •
July 1 – The
war between the empires of Russia and Sweden is ended with the signing of the
Treaty of Cardis in what is now the
Estonian city of
Kärde. Russia returns those portions of
Livonia and
Ingria that it had taken earlier from
Sweden. •
August 6 –
Portugal and the
Dutch Republic sign the
Treaty of The Hague, whereby the Dutch Republic's South American colony of
Nieuw-Holland is sold to Portugal for the equivalent of roughly of gold, and incorporated into
Brazil. The territory includes much of what will later become the Brazilian states of
Ceará,
Maranhão,
Paraíba,
Pernambuco and
Rio Grande do Norte. Among the major Dutch settlements lost are Mauritsstad (
Recife), Fort Schoonenborch (
Fortaleza), Nieuw-Amsterdam (
Natal), and Frederikstadt (
João Pessoa). •
September 5 –
Nicolas Fouquet, the
Superintendent of Finances for
France, is arrested in
Nantes and charged with embezzlement of the state treasury. Spared the death penalty by a jury, Fouquet spends the rest of his life in prison until his death in 1680.
October–December •
October 6 –
Guru Har Krishan becomes eighth of the ten
Sikh gurus, and at age 5 the youngest, following the death of his father
Guru Har Rai. •
October 31 –
Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha is appointed as the new
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire at the request of his late father, the Grand Vizier
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, serving under the Sultan
Mehmed IV for 15 years and continuing the
Köprülü family dynasty whose members will serve as Viziers until 1711. •
November 4 – Polish and Lithuanian forces, led by
King Jan II Kazimierz (who is also the Grand Duke of Lithuania) defeat the Russian Army at the
Battle of Kushliki. •
December 14 – Prince
Murad Bakhsh, younger brother of the Mughal Emperor
Aurangzeb, is executed at Gwailor Fort on order of his brother. •
December 16 –
Abraham Cowley's comedy
The Cutter of Coleman Street premieres at the
Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse in
London as a production of the
Duke's Company. •
December 21 – General
Wu Sangui of
China arrives in Burma with 20,000 troops and demands that the Burmese surrender
Yongli, the last of the
Ming dynasty rulers of Southern China before the
Qing dynasty consolidated its rule. Burma's King
Pye Min hands Yongli over to General Wu on January 15, and Yongli is subsequently executed. •
December 24 – The Indian city of
Quilon (now Kollam in the
Kerala state), ruled by Portugal since
1498, is captured by the Dutch East India Company.
Date unknown • The first modern bank notes are issued in
Stockholm, Sweden. •
Great Clearance in China: evacuation of
Guangdong is required. == Births ==