1621 CE

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags. (September 29 O.S.) – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and Wampanoags celebrate a harvest feast (three days), later regarded as the First Thanksgiving, noted for the temporary peace between the English and the local Indians. The celebration is believed by later historians to have coincided with Michaelmas, observed on September 29 by the Anglican Communion on the calendar used in England at the time. Battle of starlings: two flocks of the birds gathered over the city of Cork and prepared for war like two trained armies before violently clashing. The attacks continued all day before a two-day recess until the fighting resumed. The fierce battle left the city deluged by broken wings and dead birds.

In the 1620s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 17 – Myles Standish is appointed as the first commander of Plymouth Colony.source
  • March 22 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.source
  • March 31 – King Philip IV of Spain begins his 44-year rule.source
  • April 26 – Treaty of Madrid signed by courtier François de Bassompierre: Valtelline restored to the Grisons and Spain allowed to reoccupy Chiavenna.Francesource
  • October 9 – The Treaty of Khotyn is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ending the First Polish-Ottoman War.source
  • November 11 – The ship Fortune arrives at Plymouth Colony, with 35 more settlers.source
  • December 31 – Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Nikolsburg is signed between Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and Gabor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania. Bethlen agrees to renounce his claims to Hungary. In return Bethlen receives several counties and lands along the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire, and Moravia is granted religious freedom.source
  • King James I of England claims royal inheritance of the whole of Upper Ossory in County Laois including the manor of Offerlane from the de Clare family at an inquisition held at Portlaoise. The king institutes a plantation of the area in 1626.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 18 – The Dutch East India Company formally names its fortress at Jayakarta in Indonesia, calling it Batavia. Upon the independence of the Dutch East Indies as Indonesia in 1945, Batavia will be renamed Jakarta.source
  • January 22 – The Tianqi era begins in Ming Dynasty China, six months after Zhu Changluo becomes the Taichang Emperor.source
  • April 9 – The Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire expires, and both sides prepare to resume the Eighty Years' War.source
  • May 30 – June 24 – Huguenot rebellions: Siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély – Royal victory.Francesource
  • May – Huguenot rebellions: Capture of Saumur by Louis XIII.Francesource
  • June 24 – Huguenot rebellions: Saint-Jean-d'Angély is taken, after a 26-day siege by Royal forces.source
  • June – Huguenot rebellions: Blockade of La Rochelle begins.Francesource
  • July 25 – Thirty Years' War – Battle of Neu Titschein: Remnants of the Bohemian army temporarily hold off the Imperial advance in Silesia.source
  • August 8 – Huguenot rebellions: The French Protestant city of La Rochelle joins in the revolt by Benjamin, Duke of Soubise.source
  • August 22 – Huguenot rebellions: Louis XIII besieges the city of Montauban, but is forced to abandon the battle by November 9.source
  • August – Huguenot rebellions: Siege of Montauban – Louis XIII besieges the Huguenot city of Montauban but is forced to abandon his siege two months later.Francesource
  • September 2 – The Battle of Khotyn begins as a force of more than 120,000 Ottoman troops attacks the Moldavian city of Khotyn. Despite the Ottomans' numerical superiority, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth wins the battle and forces a surrender five weeks later.source
  • 12 October: battle of starlings: two flocks of the birds gathered over the city of Cork and prepared for war like two trained armies before violently clashing. The attacks continued all day before a two-day recess until the fighting resumed. The fierce battle left the city deluged by broken wings and dead birds.Irelandsource
  • The Swedish city of Gothenburg is founded by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The king also grants city rights to Luleå, Piteå and Torneå (Tornio). Riga falls under the rule of Sweden.source
  • The Dutch East India Company sends 2,000 soldiers, under the command of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, to the Banda Islands, in order to force the local inhabitants to accept the Dutch trade monopoly on the lucrative nutmeg, grown almost exclusively on those islands. The soldiers proceed to massacre most of the 15,000 indigenous inhabitants.source
  • Tamblot rallies an unknown, large number of people in Bohol, Captaincy General of the Philippines to revolt against the Spanish Empire.source
  • The 1621 War Articles, the first completed organization of the Swedish law collection of military and war, is issued.Swedensource

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 16 – Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them: "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."source
  • April 1 – The Plymouth, Massachusetts colonists create the first treaty with native Americans.source
  • April 5 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, on a return trip to England.source
  • May 12 – The city of Tornio in Lapland is founded by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, becoming the northernmost city in the world at the time.source
  • The Venezuelan city of Petare is founded by Spanish conquistadors, as San Jose de Guanarito.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 29 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares the Elector of the Palatinate, Frederick V, to be a traitor to the Empire.source
  • February 9 – Papal Conclave of 1621: Pope Gregory XV succeeds Pope Paul V, as the 234th pope.source
  • May 24 – The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.source
  • Maribo Abbey closes, and its lands eventually become part of Sorø AcademyDenmarksource
  • Benedictine Congregation of Saint Maur established.Francesource
  • Soumenkielinen virskirja, a Finnish language psalm book, by Olof Elimaeus.Swedensource

Economy & Finance

Science & Discovery

  • December – The Dutch mathematician and astronomer, Willebrord Snel van Royen (1580–1626), reveals he has rediscovered the law of refraction, also known as Snellius' law.source

Health & Medicine

  • The first national wide regulation of the Guilds is issued: all handicrafts outside the guilds are banned.Swedensource

Crime & Justice

  • January 24 – Twelve days after the murder of Prince Mehmed on orders of Sultan Osman II, Constantinople is hit by bitter winter weather, leading to rioting by persons who believe that the punishment of Osman is the will of Allah.source

Climate & Environment

  • May 2 – The Panama earthquake affects the Isthmus of Panama, with an estimated magnitude of 6.9, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII.source

Culture & Society

  • October 9 (September 29 O.S.) – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and Wampanoags celebrate a harvest feast (three days), later regarded as the First Thanksgiving, noted for the temporary peace between the English and the local Indians. The celebration is believed by later historians to have coincided with Michaelmas, observed on September 29 by the Anglican Communion on the calendar used in England at the time.source
  • 10 year old Jai Singh I ascends to the throne as the Raja of Amber and the head of the Kachwaha RajputsIndiasource

Births

  • January 27 – Thomas Willis, English doctor who played an important part in the history of anatomy (died 1675)source
  • February 21 – Rebecca Nurse, Massachusetts colonist, executed as a witch (died 1692)source
  • March 31 – Andrew Marvell, English metaphysical poet and politician (died 1678)source
  • April 1 – Guru Tegh Bahadur, 9th Sikh Guru (died 1675)source
  • April 17 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh author (died 1695)source
  • April 23 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (died 1670)source
  • April 25 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Anglo-Irish soldier, statesman and dramatist (died 1679)source
  • 2 June – Jørgen Bjelke, military officer (died 1696).Norwaysource
  • June 6 – Petar Zrinski, Croatian viceroy (executed 1671)source
  • July 8 – Jean de La Fontaine, French writer (died 1695)source
  • July 8 – Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, Danish countess and author (died 1698)source
  • 8 July – Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, daughter of Christian IV and Countess of Schleswig-Holstein (died 1698)Denmarksource
  • July 22 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician (died 1683)source
  • July 22 – Thomas Hanford, New England settler, Puritan minister (died 1693)source
  • September 8 – Louis, Grand Condé, French general (died 1686)source
  • September 8 – Louis, Grand Condé, general (died 1686)Francesource
  • December 23 – Edmund Berry Godfrey, English magistrate whose mysterious death caused anti-Catholic uproar in England (died 1678)source
  • December 8th - Queen Christina of Sweden on (died 1689)Swedensource

Deaths

  • January 12 – Şehzade Mehmed, the 15-year old half-brother of Ottoman Sultan Osman II, is put to death by hanging on Osman's orders. Before dying, Mehmed prays aloud that Osman's reign as Sultan be ruined.source
  • January 28 – Pope Paul V (born 1552)source
  • January–April – The first Vardø witch trials, in which eleven women were executed by burning at the stake.Norwaysource
  • February 15 – Michael Praetorius, German composer (born 1571)source
  • March 31 – King Philip III of Spain, (Philip II of Portugal) (born 1578)source
  • June 21 – Thirty Years' War: Twenty-seven Czech lords are executed on the Old Town Square in Prague, as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain.source
  • 26 June – Christence Kruckow, noblewoman and accused witch (born c. 1558)Denmarksource
  • July 2 – Thomas Harriot, English astronomer and mathematician (born c. 1560)source
  • July 13 – Albert VII, Archduke of Austria for a few months in 1619 and (born 1559)source
  • August 13 – John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (born 1599)source
  • August 30 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, one of the main co-founders of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (born 1547)source
  • September 17 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian Roman Catholic bishop, saint, proponent of futurism (born 1542)source
  • September 24 – Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Polish military commander (born 1560)source
  • September 25 – Mary Sidney, English writer, patroness and translator (born 1561)source
  • October 16 – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch composer (born 1562)source
  • December 13 – Katarina Stenbock, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (born 1535)source
  • 13 December - Catherine Stenbock, queen consort (born 1535)Swedensource
  • Nizamuddin Ahmad, Muslim historian of late medieval India (born 1551)Indiasource