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The 1620s

882 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 17th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1620 CE84 entries

  • May 17 – The first merry-go-round is seen at a fair in Philippapolis, Turkey.
  • July 3 – Captain Andrew Shilling, on behalf of the English Honourable East India Company, lays claim to Table Bay in Africa.
  • September 16 (September 6 OS) – Mayflower departs from Plymouth in England on her third attempt to cross the Atlantic. The Pilgrims on board comprise 41 "saints" (English separatists largely from Holland), 40 "strangers" (largely secular planters from London), 23 servants and hired workers, together with c. 30 crew.

1621 CE79 entries

  • March 22 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
  • October 9 (September 29 O.S.) – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and Wampanoags celebrate a harvest feast (three days), later regarded as the First Thanksgiving, noted for the temporary peace between the English and the local Indians. The celebration is believed by later historians to have coincided with Michaelmas, observed on September 29 by the Anglican Communion on the calendar used in England at the time.
  • 12 October: battle of starlings: two flocks of the birds gathered over the city of Cork and prepared for war like two trained armies before violently clashing. The attacks continued all day before a two-day recess until the fighting resumed. The fierce battle left the city deluged by broken wings and dead birds.

1622 CE105 entries

  • 22 February – a patent is granted for Dud Dudley's process for smelting iron ore with coke.
  • May – Huguenot rebellions: The Huguenot city of Royan is taken by royal forces, after a short siege.
  • November 25 – King Christian IV of Denmark invites the Sephardic Jews of Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic to settle in the newly-built Danish town of Lykstad, promising them the free exercise of their religion without persecution. The city remains part of Denmark until 1864 until it is captured in the Second Schleswig War and is now part of Germany as Glückstadt.

1623 CE93 entries

  • May 8 – A Dutch East India Company party, led by explorer Jan Carstenszoon, fights a skirmish with 200 indigenous Australian Wik peoples.
  • September 10 – Murat IV, age 11, succeeds his deposed uncle Mustafa I as Ottoman Emperor. Because Murat is a minor, his mother, Kösem Sultan, serves as regent until 1632.
  • November 1 – The Battle of Anjar is fought in modern-day Lebanon as the Druze emir Fakhr al-Din II defeats an invasion by Mustafa Pasha al-Hannaq, the Ottoman Governor of Damascus, and takes him prisoner.

1624 CE111 entries

  • January 14 – After 90 years of Ottoman occupation, Baghdad is recaptured by the Safavid Empire.
  • May – The first Dutch settlers arrive in New Netherland; they disembark at Governors Island.
  • September 21: Södertälje 's mayor Z. Anthelius, and two other Swedes are executed because of their Catholic faith.

1625 CE78 entries

  • February 11 – Dutch–Portuguese War: The Battle of Hormuz, one of the largest naval battles ever fought in the Persian Gulf takes place in the Straits of Hormuz as fleets of the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company defend Persia against an attack by ships from the colony of Portuguese India.
  • July 1 – The Safavid Empire in Iran defeats an invasion from the Kingdom of Georgia in the Battle of Marabda with heavy losses on both sides, including the Georgian commander, Teimuraz I, Prince of Mukhrani. when the Iranian Safavid army defeated a Georgian force.
  • July – The Barbary pirates first attack south-western England. In August they enslave about 60 people from Mount's Bay in Cornwall.

1626 CE76 entries

  • February 10 – Battle of Ningyuan: In Xingcheng in China, after an 8-day battle, Ming dynasty commander Yuan Chonghuan defeats the much larger force of Manchu leader Nurhaci, who dies soon after and is succeeded by Huang Taiji.
  • February 11 – Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia and Patriarch Afonso Mendes declare the primacy of the Roman See over the Ethiopian Church, and Roman Catholicism the state religion of Ethiopia.
  • September 30 – Nurhaci, chief of the Jurchens and founder of the Qing dynasty, dies and is succeeded by his son Hong Taiji.

1627 CE79 entries

  • June 20 – Turkish Abductions: Barbary corsairs from Salé raid the fishing village of Grindavík in Iceland and take captives into slavery, the first of several raids.
  • July 27 – An earthquake destroys the cities of San Severo and Torremaggiore in southern Italy.
  • November 28 – Polish-Swedish War: Battle of Oliwa – A Polish-Lithuanian fleet defeats a Swedish fleet.

1628 CE89 entries

  • 1 January – the first seminarians enter into residence at the Irish College in Rome, established by Cardinal Ludovisi.
  • 18 June – Albert de Ligne, Prince of Barbançon, invested as a Knight of the Golden Fleece.
  • August 10 – The Swedish 64-gun sailing ship Vasa sinks 20 minutes into her maiden voyage, in Stockholm Harbor.

1629 CE88 entries

  • March 6 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor issues the Edict of Restitution, ordering all Catholic properties lost to Protestantism since 1552 to be restored. The Edict further provides that Catholics and Lutherans (but not Calvinists, Hussites or members of other sects) are to be allowed to practice their faith.
  • June 4 – The Dutch East India Company ship Batavia is wrecked on a reef near Beacon Island, off Western Australia, on her maiden voyage to the Indies. Following mutiny among the survivors, two exiled murderers become the first Europeans to settle in Australia. Their subsequent fate is unknown.
  • October 2 – In what is now the state of Western Australia, administered at the time by the Dutch East India Company, seven members of the crew of the Batavia are hanged on the Abrolhos Islands for their massacre of 125 passengers and crew.