January–March •
January 7 – The
Republic of Genoa forbids the unauthorized printing of newspapers and all handwritten newssheets; the ban is lifted after three months. •
January 12 – Scottish minister
James Renwick, one of the
Covenanters resisting the Scottish government's suppression of alternate religious views, publishes the Declaration of
Lanark. •
January 21 – The Ottoman Empire army is mobilized in preparation for a war against Austria that culminates with the 1683
Battle of Vienna. •
January 24 – The first public theater in Brussels, the
Opéra du Quai au Foin, is opened. •
February 5 – In Japan, on the 28th day of the 12th month in the year Tenna 1, a major fire sweeps through Edo (now Tokyo). •
February 9 –
Thomas Otway's classic play ''
Venice Preserv'd or A Plot Discover'd'' is given its first performance, premiering at the
Duke's Theatre. •
March 11 – Work begins on construction of the
Royal Hospital Chelsea for old soldiers in London,
England.
April–June •
April 7 –
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, exploring rivers in America, reaches the mouth of the
Mississippi River. •
April 9 – At the mouth of the
Mississippi River, near modern
Venice, Louisiana, Robert de La Salle buries an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory as
La Louisiane for France. •
May 6 –
Louis XIV of France moves his court to
Versailles. •
May 7 (April 27 O.S.) – Upon the death of the Tsar
Feodor III of Russia, Feodor's younger brother, 15-year-old
Ivan is passed over in favor of a half-brother, 10-year-old
Peter. •
May 11 – The
Moscow uprising of 1682 occurs when a mob, outraged by the rejection of Prince Ivan and upset over rumors that Ivan has been strangled, invades the
Kremlin and lynches the leading boyars and military commanders. Ivan V and Peter I are named co-rulers of Russia as a result of a compromise between Peter's mother
Natalya Naryshkina and Ivan's mother
Maria Miloslavskaya and both are crowned a month later. •
June 8 – The English trading freighter
Johanna is wrecked off of the coast of South Africa with the loss of 10 of her 114 crew, becoming the first of Britain's
East India Company fleet to be lost. •
June 17 – The Indonesian city of
Bandar Lampung is founded on the island of
Sumatra. •
June 25 (June 15 O.S.) – Ivan V and Peter I are crowned as joint Tsars of Russia at the
Cathedral of the Dormition in Moscow, with actual power exercised by their older sister,
Sophia Alekseyevna for the next seven years.
July–September •
July 19 –
Iyasus succeeds his father
Yohannes I as
Emperor of Ethiopia. •
August 6 – The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Holy Roman Empire and makes plans to attack
Vienna. •
August 12 –
Vesuvius begins a period of volcanic activity lasting for 10 days. •
August 23 – A
comet that will later become known as
Comet Halley, is observed from several locations on Earth after reaching magnitude 2 and becoming visible to the naked eye.
Arthur Storer sees it from the North American colony of Maryland, while German astronomer
Johannes Hevelius measures it from
Danzig (now Gdansk in Poland).
Edmond Halley successfully predicts that it will return in
1758. •
August 25 – Following the
Bideford witch trial, three women (probably) become the penultimate known to be hanged for witchcraft in England, at
Exeter. •
September 14 –
Bishop Gore School is founded in
Swansea, Wales. •
September 24 –
Trịnh Căn becomes the new ruler of
Tonkin (located in the northern part of
Vietnam as far south as the
Hà Tĩnh province upon the death of his father,
Trịnh Tạc, and begins a program of reforms.
October–December •
October 12 – Sultan
Mehmed IV departs
Istanbul for
Adrianople. •
October 19 –
Kara Mustafa departs with the Ottoman army to
Adrianople. •
October 27 – The city of
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania is founded by
William Penn. •
November 22 – Nearly 1,000 houses in
Wapping, London are destroyed in a fire. •
December 11 –
William Penn meets with
Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore for the first discussion of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, fixed at
40 degrees north. Recognizing that 40° north would remove Pennsylvania's access to the sea, Penn proposes a purchase of some of Maryland's territory. •
December 27 – Colonists from the German electorate of Brandenburg arrive at
Akwidaa on the Brandenburger Gold Coast at what is now
Ghana and, five days later, begin building a fort at what is now Princes Town.
Date unknown •
Celia Fiennes, noblewoman and traveller, begins her journeys across Britain, in a venture that will prove to be her life's work. Her aim is to chronicle the towns, cities and great houses of the country. Her travels continue until at least
1712, and will take her to every county in England, though the main body of her journal is not written until the year
1702. • The
Richard Wall House, believed to be the longest continuously inhabited residence in the US, is built in
Pennsylvania. == Births ==