1683 CE

Battle of Vienna: The Ottoman siege of the city is broken with the arrival of a force of 70,000 Poles, Austrians and Germans under Polish–Lithuanian king Jan III Sobieski, whose cavalry turns their flank. The victory marks a turning point in the Ottoman Empire's fortunes and the end of the Turkish attempt to expand its control into Western Europe. The English crown colony of the Province of New York is subdivided into 12 counties: Albany, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, and Westchester (upstate); Kings, New York County, Queens, Richmond (within New York City); Suffolk (eastern Long Island), and two areas not in New York state, Dukes County (now in Massachusetts) and Cornwall County (now 11 counties in Maine). Dominic Maguire, O.P., is elected as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

In the 1680s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 5 – The Brandenburger-African Company, of the German state of Brandenburg, signs a treaty with representatives of the Ahanta tribe (in modern-day Ghana), to establish the fort and settlement of Groß Friedrichsburg, in honor of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. The location is later renamed Princes Town, also called Pokesu.source
  • March 31 – Authorized representatives of King John III Sobieski of Poland and Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire sign a military alliance treaty in Warsaw.source
  • September 12 – Pedro II becomes the King of Portugal after having served as regent since 1668 for his older brother Afonso VI.source
  • November 1 – The English crown colony of the Province of New York is subdivided into 12 counties: Albany, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, and Westchester (upstate); Kings, New York County, Queens, Richmond (within New York City); Suffolk (eastern Long Island), and two areas not in New York state, Dukes County (now in Massachusetts) and Cornwall County (now 11 counties in Maine).source
  • The end of the rebel stronghold and capture of the Ming princes allowed the Kangxi Emperor to relax the Sea Ban and permit resettlement of the Fujian and Guangdong coasts. The financial and other incentives to new settlers particularly drew the Hakka, who would have continuous low-level conflict with the returning Punti people for the next few centuries.Chinasource
  • The titles of Viscount Mountjoy and Baron Stewart of Ramelton in the Peerage of Ireland are conferred upon Sir William Stewart, 3rd Baronet, of Ramelton.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 27 – Gove's Rebellion breaks out in the Province of New Hampshire in North America as a revolt against the Royal Governor, Edward Cranfield. Most of the participants, and their leader Edward Gove, are arrested. Gove is convicted of treason but pardoned three years later.source
  • March 14 – Ageng Tirtayasa, Sultan of Banten on the island of Java (part of modern-day Indonesia), is captured by soldiers hired by the Dutch East India Company.source
  • March 17 – In a battle at Kalyan (near Bombay) between the Maratha Empire and the Mughal Empire in India, Maratha General Hambirrao Mohite defeats the local Mughal official, Ranamast Khan.source
  • May 3 – Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire enters Belgrade.source
  • June 12 – The Rye House Plot to assassinate Charles II of England is discovered.source
  • 12 June – the Rye House Plot to assassinate Charles II is discovered; at least 11 people will be executed for their connections with it.Englandsource
  • July 14 – A 173,000-man Ottoman force arrives at Vienna, and starts to besiege the city.source
  • July 16–17 – Battle of Penghu: Qing Chinese admiral Shi Lang defeats the naval forces of Zheng Keshuang decisively.source
  • July 21 – The gruesome execution of Lord Russell, for his role in the 1683 Rye House Plot to assassinate King Charles II of England, is carried out by the royal executioner Jack Ketch, who wields his axe in a manner requiring multiple blows to make Russell suffer as much as possible during the beheading.source
  • August 20 – Bahadur, son of the Emperor Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire in India, is dispatched along with other Mughal nobles on an invasion of Konkan, the area on the southwestern Indian coast under the control of the Maratha Empire.source
  • September 5 – Qing Chinese admiral Shi Lang receives the formal surrender of Zheng Keshuang, ushering in the collapse of the Kingdom of Tungning, which is then incorporated into the Qing Empire.source
  • September 12 – Battle of Vienna: The Ottoman siege of the city is broken with the arrival of a force of 70,000 Poles, Austrians and Germans under Polish–Lithuanian king Jan III Sobieski, whose cavalry turns their flank. The victory marks a turning point in the Ottoman Empire's fortunes and the end of the Turkish attempt to expand its control into Western Europe.source
  • October 3 – Shi Lang reaches Taiwan and occupies modern-day Kaohsiung.source
  • December 25 – George Ducas, the Prince of Moldavia installed by the Ottomans in 1678, is arrested by Polish authorities while on his way back to Bucharest from the defeat by Poland in the Battle of Vienna. Ducas is replaced by Ștefan Petriceicu.source
  • December 27 – Richard Keigwin leads a rebellion against the East India Company to take over as Governor of Bombay and most of the British territory in India, driving out Governor Sir John Child and arresting the Deputy Governor, Charles Ward. Keigwin surrenders the office less than a year later.source
  • Wild boars are hunted to extinction in Britain.source
  • the Qing sent most of the 17 Ming princes, including Prince Zhu Shugui of Ningjing and Prince Honghuan (w:zh:朱弘桓), the son of Zhu Yihai, still living on Taiwan back to mainland China, where they spent the rest of their lives. The Prince of Ningjing and his five concubines, however, committed suicide rather than submit to capture. Their palace was used as Shi Lang's headquarters in 1683, but he memorialized the emperor to convert it into a Mazu temple as a propaganda measure in quieting remaining resistance on Taiwan. The emperor approved its dedication as the Grand Matsu Temple the next year and, honoring the goddess Mazu for her supposed assistance during the Qing invasion, promoted her to "Empress of Heaven" (Tianhou) from her previous status as a "heavenly consort" (tianfei).Chinasource
  • The naval forces of the Ming loyalists on Taiwan—organized under the Zheng dynasty as the Kingdom of Tungning—were defeated off Penghu by 300-odd ships under the Qing admiral Shi Lang. Koxinga's grandson Zheng Keshuang surrendered Tungning a few days later and Taiwan became part of the Qing Empire. Zheng Keshuang moved to Beijing, joined the Qing nobility as the "Duke Haicheng" (海澄公), and was inducted into the Eight Banners as a member of the Han Plain Red BannerChinasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • July 8 – Admiral Shi Lang of Qing dynasty China leads 300 ships with 20,000 troops out of Tongshan, Fujian, and sails towards the Kingdom of Tungning, in modern-day Taiwan and Penghu, in order to quell the kingdom in the name of the Qing.source
  • October 6 – Germantown, Philadelphia is founded as the first permanent German settlement in North America (in 1983 U.S. President Ronald Reagan declares a 300th Year Celebration, and in 1987, it becomes an annual holiday, German-American Day).source

Religion & Belief

  • April 10 – Charles V, Duke of Lorraine is appointed commander of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire.source
  • September 17 – The newly constructed St Mary's Church, Blessington, County Wicklow is dedicatedIrelandsource
  • December 14 – Dominic Maguire, O.P., is elected as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.Irelandsource

Economy & Finance

  • August 25 – The Earl of Limerick, Irishman Thomas Dongan, takes office as the new British Colonial Governor of the Province of New York and makes major reforms to restore public order and rescue the province from bankruptcy.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • December – The River Thames in England freezes, allowing a frost fair to be held.source
  • Christiansfjell Fortress was built.Norwaysource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 25 - Yaoya Oshichi sets fire to her home in the hopes of being able to meet a young priest with whom she fell in love while seeking shelter from a previous fire. The fire destroyed a large section of Edo (present day Tokyo). Oshichi was later caught and punished for her crime by being burned at the stake. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-eighth Day of the Twelfth Month, 1682)Japansource
  • March 22 – Great fire in Newmarket, Suffolk, England, consuming half the houses and forcing King Charles II (who is in residence) to flee the town.source
  • 22 March – great fire in Newmarket, Suffolk, consuming half the houses and forcing Charles II (who is in residence) to flee the town.Englandsource

Climate & Environment

  • 12 December – start of exceptional cold spell. The River Thames freezes, allowing a frost fair to be held (pictured).Englandsource

Culture & Society

  • January 6 – The tragic opera Phaëton, written by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Philippe Quinault, is premiered at the Palace of Versailles.source
  • February 7 – The opera Giustino by Giovanni Legrenzi and about the life of the Byzantine Emperor Justin, premieres in Venice.source
  • February 19 – the Evans Baronetcy, of Kilcreene in the County of Kilkenny, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland in favour of William Evans.Irelandsource
  • May 24 – The Ashmolean Museum opens in Oxford (England), as the world's second university museum, after the establishment of the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1661 by the University of Basel.source
  • 24 May – the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, opens as the world's first purpose-built university museum.Englandsource
  • June 23 – the Caldwell Baronetcy of Wellsborough in County Fermanagh, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland in favour of James Caldwell, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh.Irelandsource
  • 28 July – The Lady Anne, the King's niece and fourth in line of succession, marries Prince George of Denmark in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace, London.Englandsource
  • August 18 – Francesco Maria Imperiale Lercari becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa.source
  • October 9 (possible date) – Louis XIV of France makes a morganatic marriage with Madame de Maintenon in a secret ceremony following the death on July 30 of his queen consort, Maria Theresa of Spain.source
  • October 15 – first meeting of the Dublin Philosophical Society, established by William Molyneux.Irelandsource
  • The Danish Code is officially completed, providing the first codification of Danish legislation. Some statutes are still active today.Denmarksource
  • The London Jilt; or, the Politick Whore, probably by Alexander Oldys, is published.Englandsource
  • Orpolapsen vaikerrus by Maria Simointytär, first published poem by a female in the province of FinlandSwedensource

Births

  • January 13 – Christoph Graupner, German composer (died 1760)source
  • January 14 – Gottfried Silbermann, German builder of keyboard instruments (died 1753)source
  • 25 February - Jakob Benzelius, Archbishop of Uppsala in the Church of Sweden (died 1747)Swedensource
  • February 28 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (died 1757)source
  • March 1 – Caroline of Ansbach, British queen and regent, wife of George II of Great Britain (died 1737)source
  • March 12 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-born British natural philosopher, assistant to Isaac Newton (died 1744)source
  • 23 March – Anna Krefting, businesswoman (died 1766).Norwaysource
  • March 24 – Mark Catesby, English naturalist, studied the flora and fauna of the New World (died 1749)source
  • September 11 – Farrukhsiyar, Mughal Emperor (died 1719)source
  • September 25 – Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer (died 1764)source
  • 26 October – Christian Berregaard, Supreme Court justice, government official and landowner (died 1750)Denmarksource
  • November 10 – King George II of Great Britain (died 1760)source
  • November 21 – Lucy Burwell Berkeley, white American aristocrat of the Burwell family of Virginia (died 1716)source
  • 28 November — Yun'e (1683–1741), born Yin'e, was a Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty of China. He was a relatively unremarkable prince who was primarily known to be a crony of his older brother Yunsi.Chinasource
  • December 4 – Shem Drowne, colonial coppersmith and tinplate worker in Boston (died 1774)source
  • December 13 – Bernardo de' Dominici, Italian art historian and minor painter (died 1759)source
  • December 19 – King Philip V of Spain (died 1746)source
  • December 27 – Conyers Middleton, English clergyman (died 1750)source

Deaths

  • January 21 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, British politician (born 1621)source
  • March 6 – Guarino Guarini, Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque (born 1624)source
  • 16 March - Henrik Bjelke, admiral (born 1615).Denmarksource
  • July 21 – William Russell, Lord Russell, English politician (born 1639)source
  • July 21 — Zhu Shugui (朱術桂, 1617 – 1683 ), courtesy name Tianqiu and art name Yiyuanzi, formally known as the Prince of Ningjing, was a Ming dynasty prince and the last of the pretenders to the Ming throne after the fall of the Ming EmpireChinasource
  • 21 July – Lord Russell is beheaded by Jack Ketch at Lincoln's Inn Fields for his part in the Rye House Plot.Englandsource
  • July 30 – Maria Theresa of Spain, French queen, married to Louis XIV of France (born 1638)source
  • August 4 – Turhan, in the powerful role of the Valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire since 1648 as the mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, dies at the age of 56, bringing an end to the era in Ottoman history known as the "Sultanate of Women". Upon the overthrow of Mehmed IV four years later, the role of the mother of the Ottoman Sultan is less powerful.source
  • August 4 – Turhan Hatice Sultan, Ottoman Valide Sultan, married to Ibrahim and the mother of Sultan Mehmed IV (born 1627)source
  • August 24 – John Owen, English non-conformist theologian (born 1616)source
  • September 6 – Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French minister of finance (born 1619)source
  • October 1 – John Hull, colonial American merchant and politician (born 1624)source
  • October 25 – William Scroggs, lord chief justice of England (born c. 1623)source
  • 16 November - Margareta Huitfeldt, landowner and donor (born 1608)Swedensource
  • December 7 – Algernon Sidney, English politician (born 1623)source
  • December 7 – Algernon Sidney, opponent of King Charles II of England and author of the rebel tract Discourses Concerning Government is beheaded after having been arrested on June 25 and found guilty on November 7.source
  • December 15 – Izaak Walton, English writer (born 1593)source
  • December 25 – Kara Mustafa Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire since 1676, is executed on orders of Sultan Mehmed IV after being blamed for the Ottoman loss of the Battle of Vienna on September 12. The execution is carried out in Belgrade as Kara Mustafa is strangled with a silk cord. The Sultan appoints Bayburtlu Kara Ibrahim Pasha as the new Grand Vizier.source