1670 CE

The Muslim emperor Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire in India issues an order for the destruction of all Hindu temples and schools in the empire, including the Keshvadeva Temple in Mathura. O.S. – by the Treaty of Madrid (Godolphin treaty), Spain recognises Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as English possessions. (July 8, O.S.) – The Treaty of Madrid, also known as the Godolphin Treaty, is signed between England and Spain to formally end hostilities left over from the Anglo-Spanish War, in the Caribbean, that ended ten years earlier. For the first time, Spain acknowledges that it is not entitled to all territory in the Americas west of Brazil, as provided by the 1493 line of demarcation decreed by Pope Alexander VI, and by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal. Spain acknowledges that Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are English possessions.

In the 1670s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

2 May – a royal charter is granted to the Hudson's Bay Company with the jurisdiction to control administration and commerce in Rupert's Land, governed for the crown by Rupert, Duke of Cumberland, the King's cousin, a 1.5 million square mile area around Hudson Bay in North America.England source
May 23 – Cosimo III de' Medici becomes the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at the time an independent nation in Italy, upon the death of his father Ferdinando de' Medici.source
June 1 – At Dover, England, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover, ending hostilities between their kingdoms. Louis will give Charles 200,000 pounds annually. In return Charles will relax the laws against Catholics, gradually re-Catholicise England, support French policy against the Dutch Republic (leading England into the Third Anglo-Dutch War), and convert to Catholicism himself. The treaty is ratified three days later. The terms will not become public until the early 19th century. Louis is represented in the negotiations by Charles' sister Princess Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans, who dies suddenly soon after returning to France.source
1 June – the secret Treaty of Dover is signed between King Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France, ending hostilities between their kingdoms. Louis will give Charles 200,000 pounds annually. In return Charles promises to relax the laws against Catholics, gradually re-Catholicize England, support French policy against the Dutch Republic (leading England into the Third Anglo-Dutch War), and convert to Catholicism himself when conditions permit. The treaty is ratified on 4 June. The terms will not become public until the early 19th century. Louis is represented in the negotiations by Charles' sister, Princess Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans, who dies suddenly on 30 June soon after returning to France.England source
1 June – At Dover, England, Louis XIV and Charles II of England sign the Secret Treaty of Dover, ending hostilities between their kingdoms. Louis will give Charles 200,000 pounds annually. In return, Charles will relax the laws against Catholics, gradually re-Catholicize England, support French policy against the Dutch Republic, and convert to Catholicism himself.France source
June 10 – King Louis XIV of France issues an ordinance prohibiting the French colonies in the Americas from trading with any other nation except France.source
8 July O.S. – by the Treaty of Madrid (Godolphin treaty), Spain recognises Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as English possessions.England source
July 11 – Representatives of England (led by King Charles II) and Denmark (led by King Christian V) sign a treaty of alliance and commerce, the Treaty of Copenhagen.source
11 July – The Treaty of Copenhagen is signed in Copenhagen.Denmark source
11 July – the Treaty of Copenhagen is signed between Charles II and King Christian V of Denmark to promote alliance and commerce.England source
July 18 (July 8, O.S.) – The Treaty of Madrid, also known as the Godolphin Treaty, is signed between England and Spain to formally end hostilities left over from the Anglo-Spanish War, in the Caribbean, that ended ten years earlier. For the first time, Spain acknowledges that it is not entitled to all territory in the Americas west of Brazil, as provided by the 1493 line of demarcation decreed by Pope Alexander VI, and by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal. Spain acknowledges that Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are English possessions.source
August 26 – The Parliament of France enacts a uniform criminal code for the nation with the passage of the Criminal Ordinance of 1670, which takes effect on January 1. The code remains in force until October 9, 1789, when it is abrogated during the French Revolution.source
21 December – The Cabal Ministry in London signs a treaty with France based on June's secret Treaty of Dover but with the conversion clause removed.England source
William Robinson is appointed Surveyor General of Ireland.Ireland source

Conflict & Security

February 4 – The Battle of Sinhagad takes place in India (in the modern-day Maharashtra state) as the Maratha Empire army, led by Tanaji Malusare, leads an assault on the Kondhana Fortress that had been captured by the Mughal Empire. Tanaji, called "The Lion" by his followers, captures the fortress by guiding the successful scaling of the walls of the fortress with ladders created from rope, but is killed in the battle. The Maratha emperor Shivaji orders the fortress named Sinhagad, the Marathi language words for "Lion's Fort".source
March 18 – Petar Zrinski, the Viceroy of Croatia within the Holy Roman Empire, issues a proclamation urging Croatians to rebel against the Habsburg rulers. The uprising fails and Zrinski and his brother-in-law, Krsto Frankopan, are quickly arrested. Both are beheaded in Vienna on April 30, 1671.source
June 9 – Taking advantage of a monsoon, the Maratha Empire's Shivaji orders an attack on areas that had been turned over to the Mughal Empire and its emperor Aurangazeb in 1665. Within 15 days, the cities of Pune, Baramati, Supi and Indapur, along with the Rohida fort, are recaptured by the Maratha Army.source
October 3 – In India, Chhatrapati Shivaji maharaj, the ruler of the Maratha Empire, leads an attack on the British settlement at Surat near Bombay. British Governor Gerald Aungier secures the British fortress at Surat and saves the lives and property of British citizens.source
October 18 – The Battle of Kitombo takes place in southwest Africa in Angola, when colonial soldiers of the Army of Portugal invade Soyo, an independent BaKongo kingdom, with the intent of annexing it to Portuguese West Africa. The 400 Portuguese troops, led by João Soares de Almeida, encounter a stiff resistance. Soyo's Estevao da Silva, whose army has the benefit of weapons supplied by the Dutch Republic, is joined in battle by troops from the neighboring Kingdom of Ngoyo on the other side of the Congo River. General Soares de Almeida is killed, and most of his troops die or are captured; Soyo's General da Silva is killed in the process of winning the battle. Because of the defeat, Portugal makes no further attempt to conquer Soyo or Ngoyo.source
December 27 – Henry Morgan captures Fort San Lorenzo, on Panama's Caribbean coast.source
Stenka Razin begins the rebellion of Cossacks in Russia.source
mid-August – Three Spanish frigates from Spanish Florida, sailing from St. Augustine and under the command of Juan Menendez Marques, arrive at Charleston harbor, preparing to attack the English settlement in South Carolina. The English settlers have been warned in advance by Indians who had found out about the invasion. Because of a storm, and the English preparations for a siege, Captain Menendez abandons the colony without attempting an attack.source
Niani, capital of the Mali Empire, is sacked by the Bambara people of the emerging Segou Empire.source

Exploration & Expansion

February–April – William Penn visits the Quaker William Morris at Castle Salem, Cork.Ireland source
March 15 – The first English settlers arrive at the modern-day U.S. state of South Carolina, at this time the Province of Clarendon carved out of the Province of Carolina, and construct a settlement at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River.source
May 2 – The Hudson's Bay Company is granted a royal charter in England with the jurisdiction to control administration and commerce in "Rupert's Land", governed for the crown by Rupert, Duke of Cumberland, the cousin of King Charles II. The land is a 1.5 million square mile area of what is now Canada around Hudson Bay. The area controlled covers all of the modern province of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, and significant portions of Alberta and Nunavut, as well as parts of what are now Ontario and Quebec, and parts of the U.S. states of Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana.source
December 15 – Henry Morgan, a Welsh privateer in English service, recaptures Santa Catalina Island, Colombia.source
December 31 – The expedition of John Narborough leaves Corral Bay having surveyed the coast and lost four hostages to the Spanish.source
The first French settlers arrive on the Petite Côte of modern-day Senegal.source
The first French settlers arrive at the Petite Côte of modern-day Senegal.France source

Religion & Belief

9 February – Christian V becomes King of Denmark and NorwayDenmark source
February 22 – Laurentius Stigzelius is appointed as the new Swedish archbishop. When he was ordained shortly afterwards by Bishop Enander in Linköping, it was the last time before 1914 that a Swedish archbishop was ordained (all archbishops between Stigzelius and Nathan Söderblom are already bishops at the time of accession).Sweden source
March 7 – Oliver Plunkett, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh since 1669, is allowed to return to Ireland for the first time in more than 22 years, after a new policy of tolerance of Catholicism is enacted in England. Plunkett had departed for Rome in 1647 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Executed in 1681 on false charges of plotting an invasion of Ireland, Plunkett is canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1975.source
March 7 – Oliver Plunkett, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, sets foot on Irish soil for the first time in 23 years.Ireland source
11 April – Conventicles Act 1670 receives royal assent, imposing fines for attendance at "seditious conventicles" (any religious assembly other than of the Church of England).England source
April 18 – King Christian V of Denmark fires Christoffer Gabel, who had been the corrupt chief adviser to King Frederick III, and replaces him with Peder Griffenfeld.source
April 29 – After more than four months, the papal conclave to elect a successor to the late Pope Clement IX selects Cardinal Emilio Altieri with 56 of the 59 votes. Altieri, 79 years old at the time, remains the oldest person ever to be elected pope. He announces that he will take the name of Pope Clement X in honor of Clement IX, who had made him a cardinal. He serves for six years until his death in 1676 shortly after his 86th birthday.source
4 May – The funeral of Frederick III of Denmark takes place at Roskilde Cathedral.Denmark source
18 August – John Dryden is appointed as historiographer royal.England source
The Kangxi Emperor's Sacred Edict (聖諭) first issued. It consists of sixteen maxims, each seven characters long, to instruct the average citizen in the basic principles of Confucian orthodoxyChina source
Ransäter's parish was created by breaking away from Övre Ullerud's parish.Sweden source

Economy & Finance

The Danish East India Company is revived.Denmark source

Technology & Infrastructure

21 January – French-born 'gentleman highwayman' Claude Duval is hanged at Tyburn gallows in London and subsequently buried in St Paul's, Covent Garden.England source
June 15 – The first stone of Fort Ricasoli is laid down in Malta.source
Barrack Bridge is constructed over the River Liffey in Dublin.Ireland source
The first sods are taken to Carlsburg at the mouth of the river Weser. The city is supposed to become a Swedish support point for trade competition, but the project failsSweden source

Science & Discovery

Jean Picard calculates the Earth radius to within 0.44% of the modern value.France source

Health & Medicine

November 24 – Louis XIV inaugurates the construction of Les Invalides, a veterans' hospital in Paris.source
24 November – Louis XIV authorises work to commence on construction of Les Invalides, the veterans' hospital in Paris.France source

Crime & Justice

14 August – Quakers William Penn and William Mead preach in Gracechurch Street in the City of London, in defiance of the new Conventicles Act, and are arrested and tried but on 5 September the jury refuses to convict.England source
September 5 – William Penn and William Mead are found not guilty of violating the Conventicles Act 1670, after a five day jury trial in London. The two had been arrested on August 14 in front of a meeting house Gracechurch Street after preaching a Quaker sermon outside following a ban on preaching indoors. The defiance by the jury leads to the landmark English decision in Bushel's Case.source
9 November – Bushel's Case, following the trial of Penn, establishes that members of a jury may not be punished for delivering a verdict according to their conscience even if contrary to the view of the judge.England source
21 December – John Coventry, MP is maimed for making a joke about the King, resulting in passing of the Maiming Act, making lying in wait to maim anyone a felony.England source
Rock salt is discovered near Northwich in Cheshire.England source
Six people decapitated for witchcraft in KungsälvSweden source

Disasters & Accidents

January 27 – The Muslim emperor Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire in India issues an order for the destruction of all Hindu temples and schools in the empire, including the Keshvadeva Temple in Mathura.source
March 31 – The British warship HMS Sapphire is wrecked beyond repair when her captain, John Pearce, orders the ship to be run aground at Sicily while fleeing what he believes to be four Algerian pirate ships, rather than attempting to fight. The ships turn out to have been friendly, and Pearce and his lieutenant, Andrew Logan, are court-martialed for their cowardice and executed on September 17.source
31 March – warship HMS Sapphire is wrecked beyond repair when her captain, John Pearce, orders the ship to be run aground at Sicily while fleeing what he believes to be four Algerian pirate ships, rather than attempting to fight. The ships turn out to have been friendly, and Pearce and his lieutenant, Andrew Logan, are court-martialed for their cowardice and executed on 17 September.England source
August 17 – A joint fleet of warships from England (commanded by Commodore Richard Beach on HMS Hampshire) and from the Dutch Republic (led by Admiral Willem Joseph van Ghent on Spiegel) rescue 250 Christian slaves and then sink six Algerian pirate ships in a battle in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of Morocco at Cape Spartel.source
17 August – a joint fleet of warships from England (commanded by Commodore Richard Beach on HMS Hampshire) and from the Dutch Republic (led by Admiral Willem Joseph van Ghent on Spiegel) rescue 250 Christian slaves and then sink six Barbary pirate ships in a battle in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of Morocco at Cape Spartel.England source
December 26 – upper gallery of the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin collapses for the first time.Ireland source

Culture & Society

January – Françoise-Marguerite, daughter of Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, marries the Comte de Grignan.France source
February 9 – Christian V becomes the king of Denmark-Norway upon the death of his father, Frederick III.source
February 27 – The royal wedding in Poland, between King Michal Wisniowiecki (who is also the Grand Duke of Lithuania) and Eleonore of Austria (daughter of the late Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor), with ceremonies taking place at the Denhoff Palace in Kruszyna.source
20 September – production of Mrs Aphra Behn's first play, The Forced Marriage, at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre by the Duke's Company, with Thomas Betterton in the lead.England source
October 14 – Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, a five-act comedy and ballet authored by Molière, is given its first performance, presented before King Louis XIV at the Château de Chambord. Public performances begin on November 23 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.source
14 October – The première of Molière's 5-act comédie-ballet Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is performed by his troupe with himself in the title rôle before Louis XIV and the royal court at the Château de Chambord, with incidental music by Jean-Baptiste Lully.France source
21 November – The première of Racine's tragedy Berenice takes place with the Comédiens du Roi at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris.France source
First recognized precursor to modern Gaelic football is played in County Meath.Ireland source

Births

January 24 – William Congreve, English playwright (died 1729)source
February 25 – Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer (died 1720)source
February 28 – Benjamin Wadsworth, American president of Harvard University (died 1737)source
12 April - Gustav, Duke of Zweibrücken, prince (died 1731)Sweden source
May 8 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (died 1726)source
8 May – Christian Frederik Bielke, army officer and landowner (died 1709)Denmark source
May 12 – King Frederick Augustus I of Poland (died 1733)source
June 22 – Eva von Buttlar, German mystic sectarian (died 1721)source
July 18 – Giovanni Bononcini, Italian composer (died 1747)source
July 19 – Richard Leveridge, English bass player and composer (died 1758)source
August 21 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French military commander (died 1734)source
21 August – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, soldier, illegitimate son of James, Duke of York and Arabella Churchill, in France (died 1734)England source
November 15 – Bernard Mandeville, Dutch-born economic philosopher (died 1733)source
December 4 – John Aislabie, English politician, director of the South Sea Company (died 1742)source
12 December – Axel Rosenkrantz, landowner, baron and civil servant (d 1723).Norway source
date unknown – Sultan Abdullah Khan Abdali, Persian Governor of Herat, Shah of Herat (died 1721)source

Deaths

January 3 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (born 1608)source
3 January – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, soldier (born 1608)England source
January 6 – Charles of Sezze, Italian Franciscan friar and saint (born 1613)source
January 17 – Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France, is burned at the stake after being accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a child who had disappeared from the village of Glatigny. The prosecutor applies to King Louis XIV for an order expelling all 95 Jewish families from Metz, but the king refuses.source
February 9 – King Frederick III of Denmark (born 1609)source
9 February – Frederick III of Denmark, king of Denmark and Norway (born 1609)Denmark source
28 April – Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, aristocrat, statesman and military leader (born 1596 or 1603)France source
April – Ahom King Swargadeo Chakradhwaj Singha or Supangmung of Assam, Indiasource
May 10 – Claude Vignon, French painter (born 1593)source
May 19 – Ferdinando Ughelli, Italian Cistercian monk, church historian (born 1595)source
May 21 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (born 1586)source
June 12 – Hasanuddin of Gowa, 16th Ruler of the Sultanate of Gowa (born 1631)source
June 30 – Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans, English and French princess (born 1644)source
August 10 – Richard Ottley, English politician (born 1626)source
September 16 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (born 1621)source
September 26 – Abraham Teniers, Flemish painter (born 1629)source
September – Lisbet Nypan was executed by burning at the stake, while her husband Ole Nypan was beheaded, both in Trondheim.Norway source
November 15 – Comenius, Czech writer (born 1592)source