1671 CE

A tornado kills more than 600 people in the city of Cádiz in Spain. The Royal Navy launches 102-gun HMS Royal James at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, its first warship to have a frame reinforced by iron bars rather than an all wooden ship, an innovation by naval architect Anthony Deane. In the Battle of Saraighat in India, fought in mid-March, General Lachit Borphukan of the Ahom kingdom, located in what is now the Indian state of Assam defeats a larger force of Mughal Empire troops on the outskirts of what is now Guwahati.

In the 1670s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 13 March – The Parliament of England addresses the King against the growth of popery.Englandsource
  • March 13 – the Parliament of England addresses the King against the growth of popery.Irelandsource
  • July 24 – Awashonks, the female sachem who leads the Sakonnet Indians in what is now the U.S. state of Rhode Island, signs a peace agreement with the English leaders of the neighboring Plymouth Colony (now part of Massachusetts), along with chiefs Totatomet, Tattacommett and Somagaonet.source
  • August 1 – Prince Rupert of the Rhine heads his first commission into land settlement in Ireland.Irelandsource
  • October 30 – The Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire sign a treaty delineating the borders between their territories in modern-day Greece, with Venice acknowledging the loss of the island of Crete in the Cretan War.source
  • November 19 – Lê Gia Tông, age 10, is installed as the figurehead Emperor of Vietnam (a kingdom known as Đại Việt or Annam) by the warlord Trịnh Tạc, after the death, three days earlier, of Lê Huyền Tông. He reigns until his death on April 3, 1675.source
  • The titles Landgrave and Land Baron are introduced as the highest noble ranks in Denmark with the creation of counties and baronies.Denmarksource
  • The military Garnisons Cemetery is inaugurated outside Copenhagen's Eastern City Gate.Denmarksource

Conflict & Security

  • January 5 – The Battle of Salher is fought in India as the first major confrontation between the Maratha Empire and the Mughal Empire, with the Maratha Army of 40,000 infantry and cavalry under the command of General Prataprao Gujar defeating a larger Mughal force led by General Diler Khan.source
  • March 31 – England's Royal Navy launches its first warship to have a frame reinforced by iron bars rather than an all wooden ship, an innovation by naval architect Anthony Deane. The state of the art, 102-gun ship is commissioned on January 18, 1672, as the flagship for Admiral Edward Montagu but is sunk less than five months later in the Battle of Solebay. Iron-framed ships are not attempted again for almost 50 years.source
  • March – In the Battle of Saraighat in India, fought in mid-March, General Lachit Borphukan of the Ahom kingdom, located in what is now the Indian state of Assam defeats a larger force of Mughal Empire troops on the outskirts of what is now Guwahati.source
  • June 22 – The Ottoman Empire declares war on Poland.source
  • November 18 – In southwest Africa, troops of the Army of Portugal, under the command of Luís Lopes de Sequeira, win the Battle of Pungo Andongo, capturing the fortress capital of the Kingdom of Ndongo after nine months and deposing King Ngola Hari. The kingdom is annexed into the Portuguese colony of Angola.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 28 – Henry Morgan's Panama expedition – the city of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Panamá, founded more than 150 years earlier at the Isthmus of Panama by Spanish settlers and the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Ocean, is destroyed by the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan. The last surviving original structures are now part of Panama City, capital of the Central American nation of Panama.source
  • April 22 – Navigation Act passed by the Parliament of England prohibits direct imports from the English colonies to Ireland.Irelandsource
  • August 15 – Jamaica's Governor Thomas Lynch offers a general pardon to pirates who are willing to come under Jamaican jurisdiction.source
  • September 6 – The Court of King Charles II of England dispatches a letter to the "King of Formosa" (Zheng Jing, ruler of the Kingdom of Tungning) confirming that English ships will be welcome to trade at the "City of Tywan", referring to Taipei on the island of Taiwan.source
  • 6 September – The Royal Court dispatches a letter to the "King of Formosa" (Zheng Jing, ruler of the Kingdom of Tungning) confirming that English ships will be welcome to trade at the "City of Tywan" (Taipei on the island of Taiwan).Englandsource
  • The first Jewish families settle in Berlin, moving from Vienna at the invitation of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.source
  • Because poor, marginal lands were exempted from the annual land tax, and the Qing court rewarded officials who could induce people to expand cultivated land. Therefore, the Viceroy of Chuan-Hu, Cai Yurong, observed that “there is an abundance of cultivated land in Szechwan, but there are not enough people to cultivate it,” the throne decreed that “those who were willing to settle in Szechwan were to be tax-exempt for a period of five years and that any local official who could attract three hundred immigrants would be promoted immediately. (See 湖廣填四川)Chinasource
  • The city of Laurvig (now spelled Larvik) was founded by Ulrik Fredrik Gyldenløve, the first count of Laurvig.Norwaysource

Religion & Belief

  • January 18 – Royalist Sir Richard Talbot petitions King Charles II on behalf of the Catholic nobility and gentry.Irelandsource
  • March 22 – Sabine baronets title is created in England for John Sabine.source
  • 22 March – The Sabine baronetcy is created for John Sabine.Englandsource
  • April 2 – In Rome, Pope Clement X canonizes Rose of Lima, making her the first Catholic saint of the Americas.source
  • May 26 – John O'Molony is appointed Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe.Irelandsource
  • 29 September - King Christian V established the Countship of Larvik.Norwaysource
  • November 8 – Dionysius IV, bishop of Larissa, is elected as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christians, after Parthenius IV is sent into exile.source
  • December 7 – The first Seventh Day Baptist church in America is founded with a service on a Saturday at Newport, Rhode Island, by Stephen Mumford and four Sabbatarians who believed that Christian church services should be held on Saturday, the seventh and last day of the week, in keeping with the commandment of remembering the Sabbath.source
  • The Order of the Dannebrog is instituted, comprising only a single class of 50 noble knights, plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons.Denmarksource
  • Agdesiden amt was divided into Lister og Mandals amt and Nedenæs amt.Norwaysource
  • The second Kvam Church was built.Norwaysource

Economy & Finance

  • March 11 – The Danish West India Company, a charter ship company whose operations include human trafficking of African slaves to the Western Hemisphere by its Danish Africa Company subsidiary, is founded.source
  • Danish West India Company is founded and will settle on St. Thomas the following year, founding the Danish West Indies.Denmarksource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 31 March – The Royal Navy launches 102-gun HMS Royal James at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, its first warship to have a frame reinforced by iron bars rather than an all wooden ship, an innovation by naval architect Anthony Deane.Englandsource
  • 9 November – The Duke of York's Theatre is opened at Dorset Garden in London by the players of the Duke's Company.Englandsource

Science & Discovery

  • February 27 – The Ortenau meteorite lands in Germany.source
  • October 25 – Italian-born French astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini discovers Iapetus, the second known moon of the planet Saturn. Christiaan Huygens had discovered the Saturnian moon Titan on March 25, 1655.source

Health & Medicine

Crime & Justice

  • January 1 – The Criminal Ordinance of 1670, the first attempt at a uniform code of criminal procedure in France, goes into effect after having been passed on August 26, 1670.source
  • May 9 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught, because he is too drunk to run with the loot. He is later condemned to death, and then mysteriously pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.source
  • 9 May – "Colonel" Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London but is caught before he can get away with the loot. He is later condemned to death and then pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.Englandsource
  • Abraham Wuchters is appointed Painter to the Danish Court.Denmarksource
  • The Sami drums is forcibly collected and burned during the ongoing Christianization of the Sami people.Swedensource

Disasters & Accidents

  • February – Nell Gwyn retires from the stage and moves into a brick townhouse at 79 Pall Mall, London.Englandsource
  • November 9 – The Duke of York's Theatre is opened in London by the players of the Duke's Company, rivals to the "King's Company" at the Theatre Royal, which burns down two months later. The site is now the Dorset Garden Theatre.source

Climate & Environment

  • March 15 – A tornado kills more than 600 people in the city of Cádiz in Spain.source

Culture & Society

  • January 17 – The ballet Psyché, with music composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, premieres before the royal court of King Louis XIV at the Théâtre des Tuileries in Paris.source
  • February 1 – The Tsar Alexis of Russia marries Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, who gives birth 16 months later to the future Peter the Great.source
  • March 3 – Pomone, written by Robert Cambert and considered by modern scholars to be the first French opera, is given its first performance. Using innovative costumes, and machinery for special stage effects, the premiere performed by the Académie d'Opéra at the Salle de la Bouteille theater in Paris is a success.source
  • March – Charles Bertie (senior) is named British envoy-extraordinary to Denmark.Denmarksource
  • June 7 – The coronation ceremony of Christian V of Denmark-Norway takes place at the Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, north of Copenhagen. Christian had assumed the throne on February 9, 1670, upon the death of his father, Frederick III.source
  • June 10 – the King permits Sir George Hamilton to raise a regiment for service in France.Irelandsource
  • August 4 – Viscount Ranelagh undertakes to manage revenues of the Crown in Ireland.Irelandsource
  • 20 September – Princess Wilhelmine Ernestine is married to Charles, the heir of the Electorate of the Palatinate at Sophie Amalienborg in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • December 30 – The Académie royale d'architecture is founded by Louis XIV of France in Paris as the world's first school of architecture.source
  • 30 December – The Académie royale d'architecture is founded by Louis XIV in Paris, the world's first school of architecture.Francesource
  • c. 23 April – First record of ice cream being served in England, to the King at Windsor.Englandsource
  • Late – French lady-in-waiting Louise de Kérouaille becomes a mistress to the King.Englandsource
  • The King grants the nobility Court leet.Swedensource

Births

  • January 11 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (died 1745)source
  • February 26 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (died 1713)source
  • March 7 – Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (died 1734)source
  • April 6 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (died 1741)source
  • April 21 – John Law, Scottish economist (died 1729)source
  • May 24 – Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1737)source
  • June 8 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (died 1751)source
  • June 21 – Christian Detlev Reventlow, Danish diplomat and military leader, brother-in-law of king Frederick IV of Denmark (died 1738)source
  • July 9 – Margareta von Ascheberg, Swedish land owner, countess and acting regimental colonel (died 1753)source
  • 9 July - Margareta von Ascheberg, acting colonel and landowner (died 1753)Swedensource
  • July 14 – Jacques d'Allonville, French astronomer and mathematician (died 1732)source
  • 14 July – Jacques d'Allonville, French astronomer and mathematician (died 1732)Francesource
  • October 1 – Guido Grandi, Italian mathematician (died 1742)source
  • October 11 – King Frederick IV of Denmark (died 1730)source
  • 11 October – Frederick IV, king of Denmark (died 1730)Denmarksource
  • November 6 – Colley Cibber, English actor-manager and poet laureate (died 1757)source
  • 6 November – Colley Cibber, poet laureate, playwright and actor-manager (died 1757)Englandsource
  • November 15 (bapt.) – Anne Bracegirdle, English actress (died 1748)source

Deaths

  • January 6 – Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (born 1643)source
  • February 22 – Adam Olearius, German scholar (born 1599)source
  • 15 March – Axel Urup, military engineer and commander (born 1601)Denmarksource
  • March 31 – Anne Hyde, wife of the future James II of England (born 1637)source
  • April 23 – Theodorick Bland of Westover, American politician (born 1629)source
  • April 30 – Fran Krsto Frankopan, Croatian poet and nobleman (born 1643)source
  • April 30 – Petar Zrinski, Croatian Ban (title) and nobleman (born 1621)source
  • May 5 – Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, English politician (born 1602)source
  • June 25 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian astronomer (born 1598)source
  • July 4 – Jan Cossiers, Flemish painter (born 1600)source
  • July 14 – Méric Casaubon, English classical scholar (born 1599)source
  • August 3 – Antonio Barberini, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1607)source
  • September 11 – Roshanara Begum, Mughal princess (born 1617)source
  • October 26 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician (born 1593)source
  • November 12 – Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English Civil War general (born 1612)source
  • 12 November – Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Civil War general (born 1612)Englandsource
  • Geng Jimao, Ming-turned-Qing generalChinasource
  • Maria Sofia De la Gardie (1632–1671) – A Swedish noblewoman and the wife of the influential Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie.Swedensource