1654 CE

Signing of the Treaty of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War, and the Dutch agree to observe the Navigation Acts. Formal diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom begins: The United Kingdom opens an embassy in Copenhagen. Denmark has an embassy in London. Sir William Petty wins the contract from the Commonwealth of England to make a survey of Ireland.

In the 1650s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

17 March – Treaty of Tienen agreed between representatives of Philip IV and Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, formally recognising the neutrality of the Prince-Bishopric of LiègeBelgium source
April 5 – The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed.source
5 April – signing of the Treaty of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War, and the Dutch agree to observe the Navigation Acts.England source
April 11 – A commercial treaty between England and Sweden is signed.source
11 April – Anglo-Swedish alliance: A commercial treaty between England and Sweden is signed.England source
April 12 – Oliver Cromwell creates a union between England and Scotland, with Scottish representation in the Parliament of England.source
April - The 1654 Anglo-Swedish alliance is forged to offset the Danish-Dutch alliance.Sweden source
6 June - Charles X Gustav succeeds his cousin Christina on the Swedish throne. After her abdication on the same day, Christina, now the former reigning queen of a Protestant nation, secretly converts to Catholicism.Sweden source
June 16 (June 6 Old Style) – Charles X Gustav succeeds his cousin Christina on the Swedish throne. After her abdication on the same day, Christina, now the former reigning queen of a Protestant nation, secretly converts to Catholicism.source
September 3 – In England, the First Protectorate Parliament assembles.source
3 September – First Protectorate Parliament assembles.England source
1 October – Formal diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom begins: The United Kingdom opens an embassy in Copenhagen. Denmark has an embassy in London.Denmark source
October 31 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, is crowned. His absolutist style of leadership becomes a benchmark for the rest of Germany.source
December 14 – Jerónimo de Ataíde, Count of Atouguia, becomes Portugal's new Governor-General of Brazil, succeeding João Rodrigues de Vasconcelos e Sousa.source
English Parliamentarian supporters take control of Galway Corporation, dismissing the previous urban elite as "the Tribes of Galway".Ireland source

Conflict & Security

January 11 – Arauco War – Battle of Río Bueno in southern Chile: Indigenous Huilliche warriors rout Spanish troops from Fort Nacimiento, who are attempting to cross the Bueno River.source
January 26 – Portugal recaptures the South American city of Recife from the Netherlands after a siege of more than two years during the Dutch-Portuguese War, bringing an end to Dutch rule of what is now Brazil. The Dutch West India Company has held the city (which they call Mauritsstad) for more than 23 years.source
February 9 – Spanish troops led by Don Gabriel de Rojas y Figueroa succeed in the capture of Fort Rocher, a pirate-controlled base on the Caribbean island of Tortuga.source
February 10 – The Battle of Tullich takes place in Aberdeenshire in Scotland during Glencairn's rising, a revolt by Scottish royalists against the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland led by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The battle is indecisive.source
March 13 – The Treaty of Pereyaslav is concluded in the city of Pereyaslav during a meeting between the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Host and Tsar Alexey I of Russia following the end to the Khmelnytsky Uprising in Ukraine, which started in 1648 and has resulted in the massacre of many thousands of Jews.source
July 5 – The Russian Army camps outside Smolensk and the Thirteen Years' War starts between Russia and Poland over Ukraine.source
August 12 – The Battle of Shklow, one of the first clashes of the Russo-Polish War, takes place at the modern-day Belarusan town of Škłoŭ during a total eclipse of the Sun visible over Eastern Europe. The Russian troops retreat.source
August 25 – Russia routs the Polish Army in the Battle of Shepeleviche.source
25 August – French forces defeat the Army of Flanders in the Battle of ArrasBelgium source
September 12 – Oliver Cromwell orders the exclusion of 120 members of Parliament who are hostile to him.source
September 23 – Smolensk falls to the Russian Army after almost three months.source
Rathmacknee Castle and lands were confiscated after Thomas Rosseter fought against Oliver Cromwell at Wexford in the Irish Confederate Wars.Ireland source

Exploration & Expansion

August 18 – Oliver Cromwell launches the Western Design with the appointment of Admiral William Penn to prepare for a fleet to leave on Christmas Day for an English expedition to the Caribbean to counter Spanish commercial interests, effectively beginning the Anglo-Spanish War (which will last until after the English Restoration in 1660). The fleet leaves Portsmouth in late December.source
August – Cromwell launches the 'Western Design', an expedition to the Caribbean to counter Spanish commercial interests, effectively beginning the Anglo-Spanish War (which will last until after the Restoration in 1660). The main fleet leaves Portsmouth on 25 December.England source
December 11 – Sir William Petty wins the contract from the Commonwealth of England to make a survey of Ireland.source
24 December – William Petty contracts to undertake an accurate survey of Ireland (the "Down Survey").Ireland source
December 25 – An English Navy fleet of 17 warships and 20 transports, carrying 325 cannons, 1,145 seamen, and 1,830 troops, under the command of Admiral William Penn departs from Portsmouth to begin Oliver Cromwell's planned surprise attack on Spain's colonies in the New World.source
Lucas van Uden, Landscape with the Flight into EgyptBelgium source

Religion & Belief

20 March – establishment of Commission of Triers which will fill empty Anglican benefices with Puritan ministers.England source
May 5 – Cromwell's Act of Grace, officially the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, is proclaimed at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh.source
August 22 – Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam: 23 Sephardic Jews arrive as refugees from Brazil and settle in New Amsterdam, forming the nucleus of what will be the second largest urban Jewish community in history, that of New York City, and of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in North America.source
13 September – Ambrosius Capello consecrated as bishop of AntwerpBelgium source
3 November – Prince-bishop of Liège posthumously rehabilitates Pierre de Bex, executed in 1651Belgium source
13 December – Jean de Wachtendonck consecrated as bishop of NamurBelgium source

Technology & Infrastructure

May 8 – Otto von Guericke demonstrates the power of atmospheric pressure and the effectiveness of his vacuum pump, using the Magdeburg hemispheres, before Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Imperial Diet in Regensburg.source
The Løkken Mine, the largest deposits of pyrite in Norway starts to operate, it is operated from 1654 to 1987.Norway source

Science & Discovery

12 August – Total solar eclipse across large parts of Jutland, Funen and Zealand.Denmark source
November 23 – French mathematician, scientist and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal experiences an intense mystical vision that marks him for life.source
Martino Martini demonstrates a magic lantern in LeuvenBelgium source

Health & Medicine

13 March – Magistrates of Antwerp issue regulations to limit the spread of plagueBelgium source
The Fraternity of Physicians of Trinity Hall, predecessor of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, is established in Dublin by Prof. John Stearne.Ireland source
The last bubonic plague outbreaks in Norway occur.Norway source

Crime & Justice

26 February – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, placed under arrest in Brussels.Belgium source
28 September – Artist Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger executed in Ghent under the sodomy laws for having sexually abused two childrenBelgium source
Michaelina Wautier, Portrait of Martino MartiniBelgium source
John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen presents Frederick III with a collection of works by Albert Eckhout from Brazil, comprising eight full-length portraits of local people of varying ethnicity, 12 still lifes of local produce and vegetation and three portraits.Denmark source

Disasters & Accidents

October 12 – The Delft Explosion, in the arsenal, devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100, among whom is Carel Fabritius (32), the most promising student of Rembrandt.source

Culture & Society

January 6 – In India, Jaswant Singh of Marwar (in the modern-day state of Rajasthan) is elevated to the title of Maharaja by Emperor Shah Jahan.source
June 3 – Louis XIV of France is crowned at Reims.source
24 October - The wedding between Charles X Gustav and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp.Sweden source
William Edmondson establishes what is probably the first Quaker Meeting in Ireland at his house in Lurgan.Ireland source

Births

January 20 – Michiel de Swaen, Flemish poet (died 1707)source
January 22 – Richard Blackmore, English physician and writer (died 1729)source
22 January – Richard Blackmore, physician and writer (died 1729)England source
March 9 – Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale, English earl, politician (died 1707)source
March 10 – Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari, Italian painter (died 1727)source
28 March – Sophie Amalie Moth, royal mistress (died 1719)Denmark source
May 4 – Kangxi Emperor of Qing China (died 1722)source
23 May - Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, architect (died 1728)Sweden source
June 23 – Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow, English politician (died 1717)source
July 1 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, French military commander (died 1712)source
July 9 – Emperor Reigen of Japan (died 1732)source
July 25 – Agostino Steffani, Italian ecclesiastic, diplomat and composer (died 1728)source
August 3 – Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (died 1730)source
October 26 – Giovanni Maria Lancisi, Italian physician (died 1720)source
November 23 – Jan van Kessel the Younger, Flemish painter in Spain (died 1708)source
23 November – Jan van Kessel the Younger, painter (died 1708)Belgium source
December 10 – Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole, Italian painter (died 1719)source
December 13 – Robert Livingston the Elder, New York colonial official (died 1728)source

Deaths

January 10 – Nicholas Culpeper, English botanist (born 1616)source
19 February – Edmund Chilmead, writer (born 1610)England source
March 22 – Théodore de Mayerne, Swiss physician (born 1573)source
May 31 – Hippolytus Guarinonius, Italian physician and polymath (born 1571)source
June 10 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor and architect (born 1598)source
June 27 – Johannes Valentinus Andreae, German theologian (born 1586)source
July 10 – Peter Vowell and John Gerard are executed in London for plotting to assassinate Oliver Cromwell.source
July 23 – Orazio Grassi, Italian Jesuit priest, architect and scientist (born 1583)source
August 19 – Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, Bohemian rabbi and liturgical poet (born 1579)source
August 28 – Axel Oxenstierna, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden since 1612 (born 1583)source
28 August - Axel Oxenstierna, politician (born 1583)Sweden source
August 31 – Ole Worm, Danish physician and antiquary (born 1588)source
September 8 – Peter Claver, Spanish Jesuit priest (born 1580)source
28 September – Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger (born 1602), sculptorBelgium source
October 30 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (born 1633)source
November 30 – John Selden, English jurist (born 1584)source
December 1 – Jakov Mikalja, Italian linguist and lexicographer (born 1601)source
Lorentz Lossius, founder of the Røros Copper Works (born in Germany c.1600).Norway source