1694 CE

Henry Purcell's ode Great Parent, Hail! and John Blow's anthem I Beheld, and Lo! are performed in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, at a concert to mark the centenary of Trinity College. The Army of Algeria captures Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, after a siege of three months, bringing an end to the Tunisian–Algerian War. Mohamed Bey El Mouradi, the Bey of Tunis, flees southward while Prince Muhammad ben Cheker of Tunisia becomes the new Dey on behalf of the Dey of Algiers, Hadj Ahmed. With the death of Queen Mary II (aged 32) from smallpox at Kensington Palace, King William III becomes sole monarch.

In the 1690s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 6 – The colony of Quilombo dos Palmares, created by rebel African slaves in Brazil, is destroyed by the bandeirantes, colonial troops under the command of Domingos Jorge Velho. After a successful attack on its capital, Cerca do Macaco, the last King of Dos Palmares, Zumbi, flees after a reign of more than 13 years, but is later captured and executed.source
  • March 8 – The Casa da Moeda do Brasil is formed by Peter II of Portugal.source
  • May – the First Whig Junto is appointed to government.Englandsource
  • July 27 – The Bank of England is founded through Royal charter by the Whig-dominated Parliament of England, following a proposal by Scottish merchant William Paterson to raise capital, by offering safe and steady returns of interest guaranteed by future taxes. A total of £1.2 million is raised for the war effort against Louis XIV of France by the end of the year, to establish the first-ever government debt.source
  • December 3 – The Parliament of England passes the Triennial Act 1694, requiring general elections every three years.source
  • 3 December – Parliament passes the Meeting of Parliament Act (Triennial Act) requiring general elections every three years and an annual meeting.Englandsource
  • The Jewish Cemetery in Nørrebro is inaugurated.Denmarksource
  • The Million Lottery, the first state lottery, is drawn.Englandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 18 – Sir James Montgomery of Scotland, who had been arrested on January 11 for conspiracy to restore King James to the throne, escapes and flees to France.source
  • April 7 – The British Royal Navy's 40-gun warship HMS Ruby captures the French privateer Entreprenant in battle. The confiscated ship is renamed HMS Ruby Prize.source
  • April 12 – The French ship Diligente, commanded by René Duguay-Trouin, covers the escape of a convoy of ships that he is escorting, but then is surrounded and attacked by six Royal Navy ships led by David Mitchell. Most of the Diligente crew is lost in the battle, and Duguay-Trouin is captured.source
  • May 27 – Taking advantage of a fog, the French Army, with 24,000 troops, fights the Battle of Torroella against an equally large Spanish Army force on the banks of the Ter in Spain, near the city of Girona during the Nine Years' War. The Spaniards suffer 3,000 casualties, while the French sustain 500.source
  • June 24 – The Tunisian–Algerian War begins as Algerian troops cross into Tunisia.source
  • June 29 – The Battle of Texel is fought near the Dutch island of Texel, one of the West Frisian Islands. The French Navy force of 8 ships, commanded by Jean Bart, locates and rescues three French ships that had been captured by the Dutch Republic in late May. Bart fights a larger force commanded by Hidde Sjoerds de Vries, who dies of his wounds after being captured.source
  • June – Henry Every leads a bloodless mutiny aboard the privateer Charles II in Spain.Englandsource
  • October 23 – British/American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phips, fail to seize Quebec from the French.source
  • November 12 – The Army of Algeria captures Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, after a siege of three months, bringing an end to the Tunisian–Algerian War. Mohamed Bey El Mouradi, the Bey of Tunis, flees southward while Prince Muhammad ben Cheker of Tunisia becomes the new Dey on behalf of the Dey of Algiers, Hadj Ahmed.source
  • The Lao empire of Lan Xang unofficially ends.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 5 – The ship Ridderschap van Holland is lost at sea, having departed the Cape of Good Hope with a crew of 300, with a destination of Batavia (modern-day Jakarta in Indonesia), normally a voyage of two months. It never arrives and is never seen again.source
  • April 2 – Sheikh Yusuf, exiled by the administrators of the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), arrives at the Dutch Cape Colony on the ship De Voetboog, at what later becomes Cape Town, South Africa, along with two wives, two concubines and twelve children. Resettled by the colonial government at a farm in Zandvliet, the Sheikh introduces Islam to South Africa.source
  • Rascians establish the settlement which will become Novi Sad on the Danube.source
  • French Huguenot refugees settle in Portarlington.Irelandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 9 January – Henry Purcell's ode Great Parent, Hail! and John Blow's anthem I Beheld, and Lo! are performed in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, at a concert to mark the centenary of Trinity College.Irelandsource
  • February 26 – Silvestro Valier is elected as the new Doge of Venice to replace the late Francesco Morosinisource
  • April 27 – Frederick Augustus of Wettin, later known as "Augustus the Strong" and the future King of Poland, becomes the new Elector of Saxony upon the death of his 25-year-old older brother, John George IVsource
  • December 6 – Thomas Tenison is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.source
  • the three khans (Galdan Boshugtu Khan, et al.) of the Khalkha were formally inducted into the inner circles of the Qing aristocracyChinasource
  • c. 25 October – Jonathan Swift is appointed to the Church of Ireland prebend of Kilroot, near Carrickfergus in County Antrim (until 1696).Irelandsource
  • The foundation stone of Oslo Cathedral was laid.Norwaysource

Economy & Finance

  • 27 July – the Bank of England is established by Royal charter following a proposal by Scottish-born merchant William Paterson; John Houblon becomes its first Governor.Englandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The Parker Tavern is built in Reading, Massachusetts.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 29 – French missionary Jean-Baptiste Labat arrives in the New World, landing at the Caribbean island of Martinique.source
  • June 22 – An annular solar eclipse is visible across North America and the Atlantic Ocean.source
  • December 16 – A total solar eclipse is visible across South America.source

Health & Medicine

  • October 25 – Queen Mary II of England founds the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich.source
  • 25 October – Queen Mary II founds the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich.Englandsource
  • 28 December – with the death of Queen Mary II (aged 32) from smallpox at Kensington Palace, King William III becomes sole monarch.Englandsource

Crime & Justice

  • The Great Jewel Fraud against the Swedish National Bank is exposed, in which five women, around their leader Greta Duréel, are discovered to have stolen money for years through a deposition fraud.Swedensource

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 1 – British flagship HMS Sussex (carrying gold coin) and twelve other ships are wrecked in a storm in the Mediterranean off Gibraltar with the loss of approximately 1,200 lives.source
  • 1 March – British flagship HMS Sussex (carrying gold coin) and twelve other ships are wrecked in a storm in the Mediterranean off Gibraltar with the loss of approximately 1,200 lives.Englandsource
  • September 5 – The Great Fire of Warwick breaks out in England and destroys half the town. Donors raise £110,000 toward disaster relief, with Queen Anne contributing £1,000.source
  • 5 September – Great Fire of Warwick.Englandsource
  • The notorious voyage of the English slave ship Hannibal (part of the Atlantic slave trade out of Benin) ends with the death of nearly half of the 692 slaves aboard.source
  • Notorious voyage of the English slave ship Hannibal in the Atlantic slave trade out of Benin, ending with the death of nearly half of the 692 slaves aboard.Englandsource

Climate & Environment

  • April 13 – The largest volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius since 1631 takes place, with lava flows towards both San Giorgio a Cremano and Torre del Greco, after explosions in the crater that began April 5. Around April 20, ash falls are experienced as far away as Calabria.source
  • September 8 – The 1694 Irpinia–Basilicata earthquake causes widespread severe damage and over 6,000 deaths in the Kingdom of Naples.source
  • September 27 – A hurricane hits Carlisle Bay, Barbados, sinking 27 British ships and resulting in 3,000 casualties.source
  • October 19 – A major windstorm begins and continues for several days, spreading the Culbin Sands over a large area of farmland in the Scottish Highlands in the County of Moray and burying the now-abandoned village of Culbin.source

Culture & Society

  • January 21 (January 11 O.S.) – The Kiev Academy, predecessor of the national university of Ukraine, receives official recognition by Tsar Ivan V of Russia.source
  • January 28 – Pirro e Demetrio, an opera by Alessandro Scarlatti, is given its first performance, debuting at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. The opera is adapted in 1708 in London as Pyrrhus and Demetrius and becomes the second most popular opera in 18th century London.source
  • August 6 – The coronation of Sultan Husayn of the Safavid dynasty as the Shah of Persia takes place in Isfahan, eight days after the death of his father Suleiman I.source
  • August 24 – The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, the first official dictionary of the French language, is presented by Jacques de Tourreil and Academy members on behalf of the Académie française to King Louis XIV.source
  • 28 December – with the death of Queen Mary II, William III becomes sole monarch.Irelandsource
  • Juellund Manor is established by Jens Juel.Denmarksource

Births

  • April 3 – George Edwards, English naturalist and ornithologist (died 1773)source
  • April 25 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (died 1753)source
  • June 4 – François Quesnay, French economist (died 1774)source
  • August 8 – Francis Hutcheson, Scottish philosopher (died 1746)source
  • August 10 – John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, British politician (died 1754)source
  • 7 September – Johan Ludvig Holstein, statesman (died 1763)Denmarksource
  • September 9 – John Vanderbank, British artist (died 1739)source
  • 12 September – Johan von Mangelsen, military officer and businessperson (died 1769).Norwaysource
  • September 13 – Yeongjo of Joseon, 21st King of Joseon Dynasty in Korean history (died 1776)source
  • September 22 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, British statesman and man of letters (died 1773)source
  • September 25 – Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1754)source
  • October 4 – George Murray, Scottish Jacobite general (died 1760)source
  • 28 October - Johan Helmich Roman, composer (died 1758)Swedensource
  • November 5 – Ricardo Wall, Irish-born soldier, diplomat and minister in the Spanish service (died 1777)source
  • November 21 – Voltaire, French writer, historian, and philosopher (died 1778)source
  • December 2 – William Shirley, British governor of Massachusetts and then of the Bahamas (died 1771)source
  • December 22 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (died 1768)source
  • Wang Jun (Qing dynasty) (1694–1751), scholar and historian, taught at the Anding Academy in YangzhouChinasource

Deaths

  • January 7 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English aristocrat and soldier (born c. 1618)source
  • January 16 – Francesco Morosini, the Doge of Venice since 1688, dies after ruling the Republic for more than five years and a few months after an unsuccessful attempt to capture the island of Negropont from the Ottoman Empire during the Morean War.source
  • July 1 – Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, General in the Williamite War in Ireland (born 1638)source
  • July 25 – Robert Fleming the elder, Scottish Presbyterian Minister, died 1694 (born 1630)source
  • July 29 – Suleiman I of Persia, Shah of Persia from 1666 to 1694 (born 1647)source
  • August 1 – John Michael Wright, portrait painter (born 1617)source
  • 17 August – Christian Hansen Ernst, civil servant (born c. 1660).Norwaysource
  • 22 August - Maria Sofia De la Gardie, industrialist (born 1627)Swedensource
  • October 26 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German philosopher (born 1632)source
  • November 23 – Jean Talon, first Intendant of New France (born 1626)source
  • November 25 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer (born 1605)source
  • November 28 – Matsuo Bashō, Japanese poet (born 1644)source
  • November 29 – Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician (born 1628)source
  • December 2 – Pierre Puget, French painter, sculptor, architect and engineer (born 1620)source
  • December 4 – Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds, Marshal of France (born 1630)source
  • 27 December – Henrik Span, naval officer and shipbioæder (born 1634)Denmarksource
  • December 28 – Mary II, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland (born 1662)source
  • Noble Consort Wenxi, of the Niohuru clan (溫僖貴妃 鈕祜祿氏; d. 19 December 1694)Chinasource