1687 CE
The Roman Catholic Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland. Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, known as the Principia, is published by the Royal Society of London. In it, Newton describes his law of universal gravitation, explains the laws of mechanics, and gives a formula for the speed of sound. The writing of Principia Mathematica ushers in a tidal wave of changes in thought, significantly accelerating the Scientific Revolution by providing new and practical intellectual tools, and becomes the foundation of modern physics. Morean War: Battle of Patras – The Republic of Venice defeats the Ottomans, which flee in panic, allowing the Venetians to capture the fortresses of Patras, Rio, Antirrio, and Lepanto unopposed.
In the 1680s, the 17th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 3 – With the end of latest of the Savoyard–Waldensian wars in the Duchy of Savoy between the Savoyard government and Protestant Italians known as the Waldensians, Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, carries out the release of 3,847 surviving prisoners and their families, who had forcibly been converted to Catholicism, and permits the group to emigrate to Switzerland.source
- January 8 – Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, is appointed as the last Lord Deputy of Ireland by the English crown, and begins efforts to include more Roman Catholic Irishmen in the administration. Upon the removal of King James II in England and Scotland, the Earl of Tyrconnell loses his job and is replaced by James, who reigns briefly as King of Ireland until William III establishes his rule over the isle.source
- May 6 – Emperor Higashiyama succeeds Emperor Reigen, on the throne of Japan.source
- July 2 – King James II of England disbands the English parliamentsource
- October 31 – The legend of the Charter Oak begins as a successful attempt to hide the 1662 Royal Charter of the British colony (and now a U.S. state) of Connecticut after Edmund Andros, the Governor of the Dominion of New England, makes a mission of attempting to confiscate the founding documents for the seven colonies that make up the new administrative area. After Governor Andros arrives in Hartford and comes to the tavern of Zachariah Sanford to demand the Connecticut Colony charter, Captain Joseph Wadsworth spirits the parchment away from the and hides the Charter in a hollowed out portion of a white oak tree on Wyllys Hyll until Andros is recalled to London.source
- November 8 – Suleiman II succeeds the deposed Mehmed IV, as Ottoman Emperor.source
- Conquest of the Deccan by Emperor Aurungzebe; Hyderabad becomes the residence of the governor of the Deccan.Indiasource
- Lasse Cock elected to Assembly.Swedensource
Conflict & Security
- February 11 – In India, troops under the command of Job Charnock of the East India Company, preparing to go to war against the Nawab of Bengal, Shaista Khan of the Mughal empire, destroy his fortresses located at Thana.source
- March 19 – The men under explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle mutiny, while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River. Pierre Duhaut murders La Salle, near what is now Navasota, Texas.source
- April 26 – The Spanish city of Guayaquil (now part of Ecuador) is attacked and looted by English and French pirates under the command of George Hout (English), Pierre Le Picard and Francois Groniet (French). Of more than 260 pirates, 35 are killed and 46 were wounded; 75 defenders of the city died and more than 100 are wounded.source
- June 14 – In one of the few actions on land in the Anglo-Siamese War, English sailors on the coast of Mergui in Burma (now Myeik, Myanmar) are massacred by Siamese troops.source
- July 24 – Morean War: Battle of Patras – The Republic of Venice defeats the Ottomans, which flee in panic, allowing the Venetians to capture the fortresses of Patras, Rio, Antirrio, and Lepanto unopposed.source
- August 12 – Great Turkish War: Battle of Mohács – The Habsburg imperial army, and allies under Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, defeat the Ottoman Turks, and enable Austria to conquer most of Ottoman-occupied Hungary.source
- September 21 – Morean War: The navy of the Republic of Venice raids the Dalmatian coast, and attacks Ottoman Turkish strongholds in Greece.source
- September 22 – The Siege of Golconda, ordered by Emperor Aurangzeb of India's Mughal Empire against the capital of the Golconda sultanate, ends after nine months when a traitor inside the walled city, Sarandaz Khan, opens the first of several entrances into the fortress. The Sultan Abul Hasan Qutb Shah is taken prisoner by General Mir Shahab ud-Din, and Golconda (now part of Hyderabad in the Telangana state).source
- The imperial court promulgates a plan requiring garrison officers to ascertain that candidates (whether Manchu, Mongol, or Chinese) were in some degree proficient in horsemanship and archery before being admitted to the entry-level imperial examinationsChinasource
Exploration & Expansion
- March – Embassy of Loubère-Céberet to Siam, consisting of a French expeditionary force of 1,361 soldiers, missionaries, envoys and crews aboard five warships.Francesource
- December 31 – In response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a group of Huguenots set sail from France, and settle in the recently established Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope, where, using their native skills, they establish the first South African vineyards.source
Religion & Belief
- January 8 – the Roman Catholic Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland.Irelandsource
- February 7 – The Arjeplog blasphemy trial begins for Erik Eskilsson and Amund Thorsson, two practitioners of the Sami religion who had resisted Sweden's efforts at their conversion to Christianity. Eskilsson and Thorsson are acquitted of the charges after agreeing to convert to Christianity.source
- February 7 - The Arjeplog blasphemy trial begins against Erik Eskilsson and Amund Thorsson for maintaining their practice of Sami shamanism during the Christianization of the Sami. Both were acquitted of all charges after agreeing to convert to Christianity.Swedensource
- February 12 – The Declaration of Indulgence is issued in Scotland by King James VII as one of the first steps in establishing freedom of religion in the British Isles, eliminating enforcement of criminal penalties against persons who failed to conform with Anglicanism. As King James II of England, he issues a similar declaration on April 4.source
- March – Adolph Esmit succeeds Christopher Heins as Governors of St. Thomas and St. John.Denmarksource
- April 4 – King James II of England issues the Declaration of Indulgence (or Declaration for the Liberty of Conscience), suspending laws against Roman Catholics and nonconformists.source
- 4 April – King James II issues the Declaration of Indulgence (or Declaration for the Liberty of Conscience), suspending laws against Roman Catholics and nonconformists.Englandsource
- April 23 – Ignatius George II becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (or April 22).source
- 1 May – King James II attends the consecration of Ferdinando d'Adda, Papal Nuncio to London, as titular Archbishop of Amasia in the Royal Chapel of St James's Palace.Englandsource
- October – the Roman Catholic Thomas Nugent is appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in succession to William Davys.Irelandsource
- Abraham Salomon becomes the first rabbi in Copenhagen. From 1766 until 1795, around 1,500 Jews worshipped in a small synagogue until it burned down.Denmarksource
- Founding of Calcutta by Job Charnock, an East India merchant.Indiasource
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
Science & Discovery
- 15 April – Christian V's Norwegian Code was introduced.Norwaysource
- November 5 – An annular solar eclipse is visible from Arabia across the Indian Ocean and across the south of Australiasource
- Five French Jesuits arrive in Beijing and later help the emperor in the Bureau of Astronomy and in the field of medicineChinasource
Health & Medicine
Crime & Justice
- January 27 – In one of the most sensational cases in England in the 17th century, midwife Mary Hobry murders her abusive husband, Denis Hobry, after he beats her up for the last time. Mary then dismembers his body and scatters the remains in a dunghill and in several outhouses (or privies) in the area. Despite a defense of justifiable homicide, Mary is convicted of murder and burned at the stake.source
- 27 January – French-born Catholic midwife Mary Hobry murders her abusive husband, Denis, dismembers his body and conceals the remains in London. She will be convicted of murder and burned at the stake on 2 March.Englandsource
- Early – the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Charles Porter, is dismissed on a charge of taking bribes and replaced by Sir Alexander Fitton, a Protestant who converts to Catholicism.Irelandsource
Disasters & Accidents
- September 26 – Half of the Parthenon is destroyed in Athens after mortar shells are fired by Republic of Venice forces under the command of Francesco Morosini in a battle against the Ottoman Empire for control of the city. The strike ignites a stock of gunpowder that the Ottomans had stored inside the 2,200-year-old temple, which had been completed in 438 BC as a shrine to the goddess Athena. During the fighting September 23 and September 29 for control of the Acropolis in the Morean War, the Temple of Athena Nike is demolished and the Propylaea suffers damage.source
- Midsommardagen (midsummer’s day), June 24th, 1867, an enormous copper mine in Falun collapsed while everyone was at the midsummer celebration, so it claimed no lives.Swedensource
Climate & Environment
- October 20 – An estimated 8.7 magnitude earthquake strikes 50 km off of the coast of Peru and kills at least 5,000 people, primarily from a tsunami that washes away the city of Pisco and causes severe damage to the Spanish colonial cities of Lima, Callao and Ica.source
- The "Jew clause" of 1687 was introduced. It banned Jews from entering or staying in Norway without a special royal safe-conduct (leidebrev), carrying a heavy fine of 1,000 riksdaler for violators.Norwaysource
Culture & Society
- 9 July – The Copenhagen Royal Fire Brigade os founded.Denmarksource
- July 11 – Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, known as the Principia, is published by the Royal Society of London. In it, Newton describes his law of universal gravitation, explains the laws of mechanics, and gives a formula for the speed of sound. The writing of Principia Mathematica ushers in a tidal wave of changes in thought, significantly accelerating the Scientific Revolution by providing new and practical intellectual tools, and becomes the foundation of modern physics.source
- 4 September – King James II tries to expel the Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, for refusing to Catholicise their institution.Englandsource
Births
- January 4 – Henry Beekman, politician and landowner from the Thirteen Colonies (died 1775)source
- January 19 – Sebastián de la Cuadra, 1st Marquess of Villarías, Spanish statesman (died 1759)source
- January 27 – Johann Balthasar Neumann, German architect (died 1753)source
- January 31 – Cornelis Schrijver, Dutch States Navy officer and diplomat (died 1768)source
- February 24 – Isham Randolph of Dungeness, American planter (died 1742)source
- March 16 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Frederick William I (died 1757)source
- April 19 – Charles-Philippe de Patin, prominent figure in the Austrian Netherlands (died 1773)source
- June 13 – Paolo Rolli, Italian Rococo librettist, poet and translator (died 1765)source
- June 24 – Johann Albrecht Bengel, German scholar (died 1752)source
- 23 September – Adam Christopher Knuth, 1st Count of Knuthenborg (died 1736)Denmarksource
- October 4 – Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician (died 1768)source
- October 14 – Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician and Professor of Mathematics (died 1768)source
- November 7 – William Stukeley, English archaeologist (died 1765)source
- 7 November – William Stukeley, archaeologist (died 1765)Englandsource
- December 5 – Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist and composer (died 1762)source
- Shahzada Assadullah Khan Abdali, Persian Governor of Herat (died 1720)source
- Li Wei (1687?–1738) a native of Xuzhou, Jiangsu and instrumental in carrying out Yongzheng's nationwide reforms in his role in various regional governing positions.Chinasource
- Hedvig Elisabet Strömfelt, royal governess (died 1751)Swedensource
Deaths
- January 28 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer (born 1611)source
- February 16 – Charles Cotton, English poet and angler (born 1630)source
- 17 March Dorothea Elisabeth Christiansdatter, princess (born 1629)Denmarksource
- March 19 – Daniel Gookin, American soldier and politician (born 1612)source
- March 19 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, French explorer and fur trader in North America (born 1643)source
- March 22 – Jean-Baptiste Lully, French composer, established opera in France (born 1632)source
- March 28 – Constantijn Huygens, Dutch writer, poet and composer (born 1596)source
- April 16 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman and poet (born 1628)source
- 6 May – Daniel Danielsen Knoff, civil servant and politician (born 1614).Norwaysource
- September 1 – Henry More, English philosopher (born 1614)source
- September 12 – John Alden, Mayflower passenger and New World colonist (born 1598)source
- October 13 – Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer (born 1633)source
- October 21 – Edmund Waller, English poet and politician (born 1606)source
- 24 October- Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken, princess (born 1625)Swedensource
- November 14 – Nell Gwyn, English actress, a mistress of Charles II of England (born 1650)source
- 14 November – Nell Gwynne, actress, a mistress of Charles II of England (born 1650)Englandsource
- December 16 – Sir William Petty, English scientist, philosopher, statistician, economist (born 1623)source
- date unknown – Josias Fendall, Colonial governor of Maryland (born c. 1628)source