1676 CE

Six months into King Philip's War, Metacomet (King Philip), leader of the Algonquian tribe known as the Wampanoag, travels westward to the Mohawk nation, seeking an alliance with the Mohawks against the English colonists of New England; his efforts in creating such an alliance are a failure. Bacon's Rebellion begins in the Virginia Colony. On July 30, Nathaniel Bacon and his followers issue the Declaration of the People of Virginia. A prison is founded on Nantucket Island, in the English colony of Massachusetts.

In the 1670s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 29 – Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.source
February 23 – While the Massachusetts Council debates how to handle the Christian Indians they had exiled to Deer Island on October 13, 1675, a coalition of Indians led by Metacomet attacks colonial settlements just 16 km outside of Boston.source
May 2 – Mary Rowlandson is ransomed from captivity by Native Americans by a subscription raised by women of Boston.source
July 2 – Major John Talcott and his troops begin sweeping Connecticut and Rhode Island, capturing large numbers of Native Americans from Algonquian tribes and exporting them out of the English colonies as slaves.source
July 31 – the title Viscount Lanesborough is first created in the Peerage of Ireland in favour of George Lane, 2nd Baronet, of Tulsk.Ireland source
August 28 – The Irish Donation of 1676 is shipped from Dublin, to relieve Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.source
August 28 – Irish Donation of 1676 is shipped from Dublin to relieve Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.Ireland source
October 17 – The Treaty of Żurawno is signed, between the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.source
November 16 – A prison is founded on Nantucket Island, in the English colony of Massachusetts.source
An Åbo Lantdag (assembly) meets in Turku, Finland.source
The Revolt of the Three Feudatories continuesChina source

Conflict & Security

8 January – Battle of Stromboli, part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678)France source
February 14 – Metacomet and his Wampanoags attack Northampton, Massachusetts; meanwhile, the Massachusetts Council debates whether a wall should be erected around Boston.source
March 29 – Providence, Rhode Island is attacked and destroyed by Native Americans.source
April 21 – Sudbury Fight: The village of Sudbury, Massachusetts is attacked by Metacom's Wampanoag Confederation as one of the last major battles of King Phillip's War. Captain Samuel Wadworth and 28 of his men are killed in the defense of the town.source
April 22 – The Battle of Augusta is fought in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of Sicily during the Franco-Dutch War. The French Navy and the combined Dutch Republic and Spanish forces each lose over 500 men.source
May 19 – Peskeomskut Massacre: Battle of Turner's Falls – Captain William Turner leads a raid at first light on an encampment consisting mainly of women and children. An estimated 300-400 lives are taken in less than half an hour, first from gunshot directly into the sleeping tents, then by sword and by drowning as the victims try to flee. This incident happens on the west bank of the Connecticut River, just above the falls known as Turner's Falls in Gill, Massachusetts.source
June 1 – Scanian War: Battle of Öland – A combined fleet of the Dutch Republic and Denmark–Norway decisively defeats the Swedish Navy, which loses its flagship Kronan.source
1 June – The naval Battle of Öland results in a decisive Danish-Dutch victory against a Swedish fleet and Danish naval supremacy that was upheld throughout the war.Denmark source
1 June - Danish victory in the Battle of Öland and Danish invasion of the Swedish province of Scania.Sweden source
8 June – Norwegian forces led by Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve invades Bohuslen from Norway.Norway source
June 12 – The Indian coalition attacks Hadley, Massachusetts, but are repelled by Connecticut troops.source
June 19 – Massachusetts issues a declaration of amnesty to any Indian who surrenders.source
29 June – A Danish fleet transports 14,500 soldiers across the Sound, landing them just south of Helsingborg, and Scania becomes the main battle ground for the remainder of the war.Denmark source
June – Bacon's Rebellion begins in the Virginia Colony. On July 30, Nathaniel Bacon and his followers issue the Declaration of the People of Virginia.source
July 4 – Captain Benjamin Church and his soldiers begin sweeping Plymouth Colony, for any remaining Wampanoag tribesmen.source
July 27 – Nearly 200 Nipmuc tribesmen surrender to the English colonists in Boston.source
July 30 – Virginia colonist Nathaniel Bacon and his makeshift army issue a Declaration of the People of Virginia, instigating Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.source
August 2 – Captain Benjamin Church captures Metacomet's wife and son.source
12 August – 16 September – Siege of Bohus Fortress.Norway source
August 17 – Battle of Halmstad (fought at Fyllebro): Sweden gains a decisive victory over Denmark–Norway.source
September 19 – The Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681) begins, with Russo-Ukrainian troops forcing pro-Ottoman Hetman Ivan Samoylovych to surrender Chyhyryn.source
September 19 – Bacon's Rebellion: Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon.source
October 13 – Battle of Gegodog: Trunajaya defeats the Mataram Sultanate.source
December 4 – Scanian War – Battle of Lund: Sweden defeats the forces of Denmark.source
Shang Zhixin revolts against the Qing, placing Guangdong under his rule and moving his troops north into JiangxiChina source
Geng Jingzhong surrenders to the Qing, has his title Prince of Jingnan restored and pledges to fight the other revolting feudatories.China source

Exploration & Expansion

January – Six months into King Philip's War, Metacomet (King Philip), leader of the Algonquian tribe known as the Wampanoag, travels westward to the Mohawk nation, seeking an alliance with the Mohawks against the English colonists of New England; his efforts in creating such an alliance are a failure.source
February 10 – After the Nipmuc tribe attacks Lancaster, Massachusetts, colonist Mary Rowlandson is taken captive, and lives with the Indians until May.source
July 11 – The Wampanoags attack Taunton, Massachusetts, but are repelled by colonists.source
The French East India Company founds its principal Indian base at Pondicherry, on the Coromandel Coast.source
Dutch Golden Age painter Jacob Koninck moves to Denmark.Denmark source
Creation of the Snapphane movement to resist the Swedes in the province of Scania.Sweden source

Religion & Belief

May 31 – The Massachusetts Council finally decides to move the Christian Indians from Deer Island to Cambridge, Massachusetts (approximate date).source
23 June – The County of Schackenborg is established by Otto Didrik Schack, 1st Count of Schackenborg from the manors of Schackenborg, Sødamgård, Solvig and Store Tønde.Denmark source
September 21 – Pope Innocent XI succeeds Pope Clement X, as the 240th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.source
December 21 – Sands baronets created in the Baronetage of Ireland.source
Emperor Yohannes I of Ethiopia decrees that Muslims must live separately from Christians throughout his realm.source
Consecration of the first Greek Orthodox church in England, at Hog Lane, London.England source
Jens Toller was ennobled, and given the noble family name Rosenheim.Norway source

Technology & Infrastructure

The first coffeehouse in North America opens in Boston.source
Construction begins on Trinity College Library in Cambridge, designed by Sir Christopher Wren.England source

Science & Discovery

18 February – Isaac Newton observes to Robert Hooke that "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".England source
December 7 – Ole Rømer makes the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.source
Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovers microorganisms.source
Rømer's determination of the speed of light: Danish physicist Ole Rømer makes the first ever quantitative measurements of the speed of light in Paris.Denmark source
The first fossilised bone of what is now known to be a dinosaur is discovered by Robert Plot, the femur of a Megalosaurus from a limestone quarry at Cornwell near Chipping Norton.England source
The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, designed by Wren, is completed this summer.England source

Health & Medicine

September to November – major influenza epidemic; the first to be recorded as such.England source

Crime & Justice

11 March – Peder Griffenfeld is arrested at Copenhagen Castle and brought to Kastellet where he is imprisoned.Denmark source
April 2 – Chief Canonchet of the Narragansett people is captured by mercenaries of the Pequot, Mohegan and Niantic nations who have been hired by English settlers. He is offered a chance to live if he makes peace with the English, refuses, and is executed the next day in Stonington, Connecticut.source
April 12 – Richard Raynsford becomes the new Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.source
26 May – The show trial against Griffenfeld ends with his conviction of all charges against him for simony, bribery, oath-breaking, malversation and lèse-majestéand and treason. He is sentenced to loss of honour, life and estate.Denmark source
6 June – Griffenfeld is pardoned on the scaffold, at the very moment when the axe was about to descend, and his sentence is commuted to lifelong imprisonment.Denmark source

Disasters & Accidents

May 26 – A fire destroys the town hall and 624 houses in Southwark, London.source
26 May – fire in Southwark destroys 625 houses.England source
November 27 – A fire in Boston, Massachusetts, is accidentally set by a careless and sleepy apprentice, who drops a lighted candle, or leaves it too near some combustible substance; this is the largest fire known at this time in the district. The Rev. Increase Mather’s church, dwelling and a portion of his personal library are destroyed.source

Culture & Society

January 31 – Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, the oldest institution of higher education in Central America, is founded.source
2 March – first performance of George Etherege's play The Man of Mode.England source
8 May – Dutchman Cornelis Tromp becomes Admiral-General in the Royal Danish Navy and knight in the Order of the Elephant.Denmark source
11 December – first performance of William Wycherley's play The Plain Dealer.England source
Froinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh's Lucerna fidelium, seu, Fasciclus decerptus ab authoribus magis versatis qui tractarunt de doctrin a Christiana (Lochrann na gCreidmheach), an Irish language catechism of Catholic Church doctrine is published by the Congregation of Propaganda Fide in Rome.Ireland source

Births

4 March – Hans Schack, 2nd Count of Schackenborg (died 1719)Denmark source
March 17 – Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (died 1732)source
March 27 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian rebel against the Habsburgs (died 1735)source
April 23 – King Frederick I of Sweden (died 1751)source
May 26 – Maria Clara Eimmart, German astronomer, engraver and designer (died 1707)source
May 28 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (died 1754)source
June 17 – Louise de Maisonblanche, illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV of France (died 1718)source
June 21 – Anthony Collins, English philosopher (died 1729)source
July 3 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (died 1747)source
August 26 – Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1745)source
26 August – Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1745)England source
September 13 – Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, duchess and regent of Lorraine (died 1744)source
13 September – Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, duchess (died 1744)France source
September 18 – Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg (died 1733)source
October 19 – Rodrigo Anes de Sá Almeida e Meneses, 1st Marquis of Abrantes, Portuguese diplomat (died 1733)source
November 8 – Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, duchess of Maine, daughter-in-law of Louis XIV (died 1753)source
date unknown – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish-born sailor (died 1721)source
Nils Reuterholm, governor (died 1756)Sweden source

Deaths

January 29 – Tsar Alexis of Russia (born 1629)source
27 February – Hans Schack, noble and commander-in-chief of the Danish army (born 1608)Denmark source
March 22 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (born 1590)source
April 20 – John Clarke, English-born Baptist minister, deputy governor of Rhode Island and physician (born 1609)source
April 29 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (born 1607)source
July 17 – Madame de Brinvilliers, French serial poisoner, executed (born 1630)source
July 17 – In France, Madame de Brinvilliers is executed for poisoning her father and brothers. The case also scares King Louis XIV into starting a series of investigations about possible poisonings and witchcraft (later called the Affair of the Poisons).source
July 22 – Pope Clement X (born 1590)source
July – Jesse Wharton, colonial governor of Marylandsource
July - Carl Gustaf Wrangel, commander (born 1613)Sweden source
August 12 – King Philip (Metacomet), chief of the Wampanoags that had waged a war throughout southern New England that bore his name, is killed by an Indian named Alderman, a soldier led by Captain Benjamin Church.source
August – Niels Hanssøn Meng, timber trader and Mayor (born 1604).Norway source
September 4 – John Ogilby, Scottish-born impresario and cartographer active in Dublin and London (born 1600)source
September 10 – Gerrard Winstanley, English religious reformer (born 1609)source
September 17 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi, kabbalist and founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement (born 1626)source
December 25 – Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England (born 1609)source
December 25 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English soldier, politician and writer (born 1592)source
25 December – Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice (born 1609)England source