1665 CE
Nell Gwyn, perhaps aged just 15, makes her first definitely recorded appearance as an actress on the London stage, in John Dryden's heroic drama The Indian Emperour, having previously been a theatre orange-seller. The Battle of Vågen, Bergen, a naval battle between an English flotilla of warships and a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet, as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Robert Hooke's Micrographia is published in London, first applying the term 'cell' to plant tissue, which he discovered first in cork, then in living organisms, using a microscope.
In the 1660s, the 17th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- June 11 – Shivaji, leader of the Bhonsale clan of the Marathas in India, signs the Treaty of Purandar with the Mughal Empire, giving up 23 of the 35 forts under his control, agreeing to pay reparations to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and sending his son to stay as a hostage at Agra.source
- June 12 – England installs a municipal government in New York City (the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam).source
- 12 June – the city of New Amsterdam in the Province of New York is reincorporated as New York, named after James, Duke of York, and the first Mayor appointed.Englandsource
- June 30 – King Charles II of England issues a second charter for the Province of Carolina, which clarifies and expands the borders of the Lords Proprietors' tracts.source
- September 17 – Charles II of Spain becomes king while not yet four years old.source
- 31 October – Parliament passes the Five Mile Act preventing non-conformist ministers from coming within five miles of incorporated towns or the place of their former livings.Englandsource
- 14 November – The King's Law or Lex Regia (Danish and Norwegian: Kongeloven) was introduced.Denmarksource
- The Act of Explanation states that Cromwellian settlers (with some named exceptions) have to give up one third of the lands they received after 1652 in order to compensate innocent Catholic landowners.Irelandsource
- The town of Fredrikshald is founded (now known simply as Halden).Norwaysource
Conflict & Security
- February 21 – In India, Shivaji Bhonsale of the Maratha Empire captures the English East India Company's trading post at Sadashivgad (in the modern-day Indian state of Karnataka).source
- March 4 – The Second Anglo-Dutch War begins.source
- 4 March – beginning of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.Englandsource
- 3 June (13 June N.S.) – Second Anglo-Dutch War: English naval victory at the Battle of Lowestoft.Englandsource
- June 13 (June 3 O.S.) – Second Anglo-Dutch War – Battle of Lowestoft: The English Navy, under James Stuart, Duke of York, is victorious against the Dutch.source
- June 17 – Battle of Montes Claros between Spanish and a combined Anglo-Portuguese force ends with a decisive Portuguese victory.source
- August 2 – The Dutch fleet defeats the English in the Battle of Vågen off Norway in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.source
- 2 August – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Dutch naval victory at the Battle of Vågen off Norway.Englandsource
- 2 August – The Battle of Vågen, Bergen, a naval battle between an English flotilla of warships and a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet, as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.Norwaysource
- October 29 – Battle of Mbwila: Portuguese forces defeat and kill King António I of Kongo.source
- December 4 – Jean Racine's tragedy Alexandre le Grand is premièred by Molière's troupe at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris. 11 days later, Racine moves it to the Comédiens du Roi at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, causing a rift with Molière.Francesource
Exploration & Expansion
- July 9 – The colonization of the south Indian Ocean island Réunion begins, with Louis XIV's East India Company (Compagnie des Indes Orientales) sending 20 permanent settlers, under the command of Etienne Regnault, from the French ship Taureau.source
- July 11 – Pierre de Beausse, an envoy of France's King Louis XIV, formally claims possession of the African island of Madagascar on behalf of the French East India Company after landing on the coast in the 32-gun frigate Saint-Paul.source
- Colonisation of Réunion begins with the French East India Company sending twenty settlers.Francesource
Religion & Belief
- March 11 – A new legal code is approved for the Dutch and English towns of New York, guaranteeing all Protestants the right to continue their religious observances unhindered.source
- March 16 – Bucharest allows Jews to settle in the city, in exchange for an annual tax of 16 guilders.source
- 21 September – consecration of new chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Christopher Wren's first completed work of architecture.Englandsource
- Michael Boyle (archbishop of Armagh) is appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland, an office he will hold for more than twenty years.Irelandsource
Economy & Finance
- October 21 – Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert found the Manufacture royale des glaces of Saint Gobain, which is the oldest French company of the CAC 40, with 350 years in 2015.source
Technology & Infrastructure
- October 21 – Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs (Royal Mirror-Glass Factory, a predecessor of Saint-Gobain), is established by royal letters patent issued by Jean-Baptiste Colbert in Paris.Francesource
- Royal Navy Dockyard established at Sheerness for storage and refitting.Englandsource
- King Charles II of England and Ireland grants letters patent to Sir Robert Reading to erect six lighthouses on the coast of Ireland, at Hook Head, Old Head of Kinsale, Barry Oge's castle, the Isle of Magee (near Carrickfergus) and Howth (two).Irelandsource
- Næs Iron Works starts to operate, it is operated from 1665 to 1959.Norwaysource
- The construction of Rosendal Manor was finished.Norwaysource
Science & Discovery
- January 5 – The Journal des sçavans begins publication as the first scientific journal in France.source
- January 5 – The Journal des sçavans begins publication, the world's first scientific journal.Francesource
- March 6 – The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London begins publication in England, the first scientific journal in English and the oldest to be continuously published.source
- 6 March – the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London begins publication, the first scientific journal in English and the oldest to be continuously published.Englandsource
Health & Medicine
- February – In England, Dr. Richard Lower performs the first blood transfusion between animals. According to his account to the Royal Society journal Philosophical Transactions in December, Dr. Lower "towards the end of February... selected one dog of medium size, opened its jugular vein, and drew off blood, until its strength was nearly gone. Then, to make up for the great loss of this dog by the blood of a second, I introduced blood from the cervical artery of a fairly large mastiff, which had been fastened alongside the first, until this latter animal showed it was overfilled by the inflowing blood."source
- April 12 – The burial of Margaret Porteous is recorded; hers is the first known death during the Great Plague of London. This last major outbreak of Bubonic plague in the British Isles has possibly been introduced from the Netherlands. Two-thirds of Londoners leave the city, but over 68,000 die. The plague spreads to Derbyshire.source
- July 7 – King Charles II of England leaves London with his entourage, fleeing the Great Plague. He moves his court to Salisbury, then Oxford.source
- 7 July – the King and court leave London to avoid the plague, moving first to Salisbury, then (from 25 September) Oxford.Englandsource
- August 8 – The Great Plague forces the closure of the University of Cambridge, where Isaac Newton is a student. Newton retires to his home in Lincolnshire for safety, and stays there for two years. During this time alone, Newton will make groundbreaking discoveries in mathematics, calculus, mechanics and optics, and lay the foundations for his books Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica and Optiks.source
- 9 October – the Cavalier Parliament assembles in Oxford to avoid the Plague in London.Englandsource
Crime & Justice
- February 15 – Molière's comedy Dom Juan is first presented, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris, in its original prose version with the playwright playing Sganarelle; it is withdrawn after 15 performances following attacks on its morality.Francesource
- April 17 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (elected this year to the Académie française), begins a year's imprisonment in the Bastille for besmirching the reputation of the ladies of the French Court in Histoire amoureuse des Gaules.Francesource
- Claude Perrault begins work on the eastern wing of the Louvre.Francesource
Disasters & Accidents
Climate & Environment
Culture & Society
- February 15 – Molière's comedy Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, based on the Spanish legend of the womanizer Don Juan Tenorio and Tirso de Molina's Spanish play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra, premieres in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.source
- March – Nell Gwyn, perhaps aged just 15, makes her first definitely recorded appearance as an actress on the London stage, in John Dryden's heroic drama The Indian Emperour, having previously been a theatre orange-seller.Englandsource
- April–November – Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini is fêted in Paris.Francesource
- August 27 – Ye Bare & Ye Cubbe, the first play in English in the American colonies, is given its first performance. The presentation takes place at Cowles Tavern in Pungoteague, Virginia. The event is documented in 1958 in a historical marker with the heading "The Bear and the Cub" which says "This first play recorded in the United States was presented August 27, 1665. The Accomack County Court at Pungoteague heard charges against three men 'for acting a play,' ordered inspection of costumes and script, but found the men 'not guilty.'"source
- September 22 – Molière's L'Amour médecin is first presented, before Louis XIV, at the Palace of Versailles, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully.source
- September – Robert Hooke's Micrographia is published in London, first applying the term 'cell' to plant tissue, which he discovered first in cork, then in living organisms, using a microscope.source
- October 5 – Kiel University is founded in the Duchy of Holstein.source
- October or November — Kangxi Emperor marries Lady Hešeri, granddaughter of his regent Sonin and she becomes Empress XiaochengrenChinasource
- November 7 – The London Gazette is first published as The Oxford Gazette.source
- 7 November – The London Gazette begins publication as The Oxford Gazette.Englandsource
- December 10 – The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter.source
- Joan Blaeu completes publication of his Atlas Maior (Theatrum Orbis Terrarum) in Amsterdam.source
- An embassy from the East-India Company, a Dutch-language account of China by Johan Nieuhof is published. The book served as a major influence in the rise of chinoiserie in the early eighteenth centuryChinasource
- Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers publishes Livre d'orgue contenant cent pièces de tous les tons de l'église, the first organ collection that featured forms that became standard for the Baroque French organ school.Francesource
- King Charles II elevates the office of Mayor of Dublin to Lord Mayor of Dublin, the first holder being The Right Honourable Sir Daniel Bellingham.Irelandsource
Births
- February 6 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (died 1714)source
- 6 February – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (died 1714)Englandsource
- February 12 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (died 1721)source
- March 4 – Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, Swedish soldier (died 1694)source
- March 17 – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichordist and composer (died 1729)source
- April 19 – Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (died 1721)source
- April 29 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (died 1745)source
- 14 May – Hans Seidelin, civil servant and landowner (died 1740)Denmarksource
- June 4 – Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian soldier (died 1733)source
- July 2 – Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist, historian (died 1726)source
- August 21 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (died 1729)source
- August 27 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (died 1751)source
- 5 December – Iver Huitfeldt, naval officer (d.1710).Norwaysource
- December 25 – Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (died 1746)source
- December 28 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (died 1716)source
- date unknown – Ingeborg i Mjärhult, Swedish soothsayer (died 1749)source
- Magnus Stenbock, officer (died 1717)Swedensource
Deaths
- January 12 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (born 1607)source
- March 1 – Thomas Wentworth, 5th Baron Wentworth, English baron and politician (born 1612)source
- March 11 – Clemente Tabone, Maltese landowner and militia member (born c. 1575)source
- 7 April – Henrik Ernstt, jurist (born 1603)Denmarksource
- 12 April – the first recorded victim of the Great Plague of London dies. Over the summer it is thought to have spread as far as Derby and on 6 September the first plague death takes place in the Derbyshire village of Eyam.Englandsource
- April 21 – Jean-Joseph Surin, French Jesuit writer (born 1600)source
- May 24 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess and spiritual writer (born 1602)source
- July 11 – Kenelm Digby, English privateer (born 1603)source
- July 18 – Stefan Czarniecki, Polish general (born 1599)source
- August 28 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (born 1638)source
- August – Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, general in the Irish Confederate WarsIrelandsource
- September 1 – Walter Erle, English politician (born 1586)source
- September 17 – King Philip IV of Spain (born 1605)source
- September 25 – Maria Anna of Austria, Electress of Bavaria (born 1610)source
- November 1 – Sir John Perceval, 1st Baronet, Irish nobleman (born 1629)source
- November 19 – Nicolas Poussin, French painter (born 1594)source
- November 19 – Nicolas Poussin, painter (born 1594)Francesource
- November 20 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (born 1586)source