Climate & Environment in the 17th century

101 sourced entries, 1600 CE to 1699 CE, oldest first. Also see Climate & Environment across every century or everything else in the 17th century.

• 1600February 19 – The Huaynaputina volcano in Peru erupts, in what is still the worst recorded volcanic eruption in South America.source
• 1601A rainy summer in the Tsardom of Russia causes a bad harvest, leading to the Russian famine of 1601–03 which kills about two million people.source
• 1604December 29 – The 1604 Quanzhou earthquake, with an estimated 8.1 magnitude, shakes the Taiwan Strait leaving several dead.source
• 1605February 3 – The 1605 Keichō earthquake, of estimated 7.9 magnitude, strikes Japan south of the island of Honshu, and triggers a tsunami that washes away hundreds of houses and kills thousands of people.source
• 1605July 13 – The 1605 Guangdong earthquake, of 7.5 magnitude, strikes China's Hainan Province causing widespread damage and thousands of deaths.source
• 1607January 30 – Coastal flooding around Britain, probably a storm surge, including Bristol Channel floods in which a massive wave sweeps along the Bristol Channel, killing an estimated 2,000 people.source
• 1608February 14 – The brutal winter of 1607-1608 in England ends after 10 weeks of sub-freezing temperatures.source
• 1611December 2 (Keichō 16, 10th month, 28th day) – The 1611 Sanriku earthquake of 8.1 magnitude strikes off of the coast of Japan and causes a tsunami that kills almost 5,000 people in the northern section of Honshu island.source
• 1611Famine in Ethiopia resulting from crop failure in the north due to weather conditions and the outbreak of a plague.source
• 1614May 14 – An earthquake strikes the Azores islands and levels the village of Vila Franca do Campo.source
• 1615September 12 – The San Leoncio Day hurricane strikes the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.source
• 1615September 16 – An estimated 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Aricasource
• 1616February 19 – The first recorded eruption of Mayon Volcano, the Philippines' most active volcano, takes place.source
• 1616July 6 – First recorded eruption of Manam Volcano (erupting frequently since), forming a 10-km-wide island in the Bismarck Sea, 13 km mi off coast of Papua New Guinea, in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.source
• 1616December 18 – A widely reported earthquake occurs in Leipzig, Germany (also dated December 22).source
• 1616At the behest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Dr. Richard Vines, a physician, passes the winter of 1616–17 at Biddeford, Maine, at the mouth of the Saco River, that he calls Winter Harbor. This is the site of the earliest permanent settlement in Maine of which there is a conclusive record. Maine will become an important refuge for religious dissenters persecuted by the Puritans.source
• 1616"Drink to me only with thine eyes" comes from Ben Jonson's love poem, To Celia. Jonson's poetic lamentation On my first Sonne is also from this year.source
• 1618September 4 – Rodi avalanche: A rock- or snowslide buries the Alpine town of Piuro, claiming 2,427 victims.source
• 1619February 14 – Earthquake flattens the town of Trujillo, Peru, killing hundreds in the town and causing landslides in the surrounding countryside killing hundreds more.source
• 1620April 7 – The earliest recorded earthquake in South Africa occurs at Robben Island.source
• 1620A severe frost in England freezes the River Thames; 13 continuous days of snow blanket Scotland. On Eskdale Moor, only 35 of a flock of 20,000 sheep survive.source
• 1621May 2 – The Panama earthquake affects the Isthmus of Panama, with an estimated magnitude of 6.9, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII.source
• 1624May 11 – a major earthquake in Fez, Morocco, estimated magnitude 6.0 , causes severe damage and thousands of casualties.source
• 1625In England, a very high tide occurs, the highest ever known in the Thames, and the sea walls in Kent, Essex, and Lincolnshire are overthrown, thus great desolation is caused to the lands near the sea.source
• 1626June 28 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Lingqiu County, in China, killing 5,200 residents.source
• 1626Samuel de Champlain decides to build Cap tourmente (Kap toor-mont) Farm to raise livestock to provide food for settlers in Quebec, rather than depending on supplies sent from France.source
• 1627July 27 – An earthquake destroys the cities of San Severo and Torremaggiore in southern Italy.source
• 1627The last recorded aurochs die in the Jaktorów Forest of Poland.source
• 1629The rule of Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba ends.source
• 1630March 9 – The 1630 Crete earthquake occurs.source
• 1630The Deccan Famine of 1630–32 in India begins; it will kill some two million.source
• 1631December 16 – A volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius at Pompeii occurs, for the first time in several centuries.source
• 1634October 11 – The Burchardi flood (also known as the second Grote Mandrenke) strikes the North Sea coast of Germany and Denmark, causing at least 8,000 deaths and perhaps as many as 12,000.source
• 1635August 25 – The Great Colonial Hurricane strikes Narragansett Bay as a possible Category 3 hurricane, killing over 46 people.source
• 1637February 3 – Tulip mania collapses in the Dutch Republic.source
• 1640June 13 – The eruption of the Hokkaido Koma-ga-take (Mount Komagatake) volcano takes place in Japan. Although the eruption causes few direct injuries, the heavy ashfall poisons local crops and causes the Kan'ei Great Famine that causes more than 50,000 deaths from starvation.source
• 1641January 4 – The stratovolcano Mount Parker in the Philippines has a major eruption.source
• 1642October 8 – 1642 Yellow River flood: Some 300,000 people die in the intentional breaking of the dams and dykes of the Yellow River, done by the Ming dynasty defenders of Kaifeng to break the siege by the large rebel force of Li Zicheng.source
• 1645The Solar cycle enters the 70-year Maunder Minimum, during which sunspots will be rare.source
• 1647May 13 – The 1647 Santiago earthquake rattles Chile.source
• 1648March 31 – A major earthquake strikes Van in Ottoman Armenia.source
• 1650September 27 – The Kolumbo volcano on Santorini experiences a massive eruption (VEI 6).source
• 1651February 22 – St. Peter's Flood: A first storm tide in the North Sea strikes the coast of Germany, drowning thousands. The island of Juist is split in half, and the western half of Buise is probably washed away.source
• 1651March 4 – St. Peter's Flood: Another storm tide in the North Sea strikes the Netherlands, flooding Amsterdam.source
• 1662February 11 – A violent storm in the Indian Ocean strikes a fleet of seven ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as they are traveling back to the Dutch Republic from Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia). Three of the freighters— Wapen van Holland, Gekroonde Leeuw and Prins Willem — are lost with all hands. The ships Vogel Phoenix, Maarsseveen and Prinses Royal make their way back to the Netherlands. The other ship, the freighter Arnhem remains afloat and its roughly 80 survivors are able to evacuate in boats to search for land.source
• 1662The last widely accepted sighting of a dodo, now extinct.source
• 1663February 5 – An earthquake estimated at least 7.3 magnitude strikes Canada's Quebec Province.source
• 1663August 21 – Concerned about the wintry weather, the Parliament of England holds an intercessory fast.source
• 1663August 28 – In an unseasonably cold summer, severe frost hits England.source
• 1663December 12 – The Dutch Republic prohibits practice of the common law custom of jus naufragii, the doctrine that permitted people to seize property that had washed ashore on their land after a shipwreck.source
• 1666August 2 (July 23 Julian calendar) – A hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea near Guadeloupe five days after Barbados colonial Governor Francis Willoughby led a force of two Royal Navy frigates, 12 commandeered vessels and over 1,000 men in a battle against French colonies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Willoughby and most of his crew die in the sinking of his flagship, HMS Hopesource
• 1666October 23 – The most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes the county of Lincolnshire with a path of destruction through the villages of Welbourn, Wellingore, Navenby and Boothby Graffoe, with winds of more than 213 mph.source
• 1667January 19 – The town of Anzonico in Switzerland is destroyed by an avalanche.source
• 1667April 6 – The 1667 Dubrovnik earthquake in the Republic of Ragusa (part of modern-day Croatia) kills as many as 5,000 people, roughly one sixth of the population, and levels most of the buildings in Dubrovnik.source
• 1667September 6 – The "Dreadful Hurricane of 1667" ravages southeast Virginia, bringing 12 days of rain, blowing down plantation homes and stripping fields of crops.source
• 1667November 25 – A devastating earthquake rocks Caucasia and kills 80,000 people.source
• 1668July 25 – The magnitude 8.5 Shandong earthquake kills at least 43,000 people in China's Shandong province.source
• 1668August 17 – The magnitude 8.0 North Anatolia earthquake causes 8,000 deaths in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire, and is the most powerful earthquake recorded in Turkey.source
• 1669January 4 – A 5.7 magnitude earthquake strikes the city of Shamakhi in Iran (now in Azerbaijan) and kills 7,000 people. Fourteen months earlier, an earthquake in Shamakhi killed 80,000 people.source
• 1669March 11 – Mount Etna erupts, destroying the Sicilian town of Nicolosi.source
• 1669Famine in Bengal kills 3 million people.source
• 1671March 15 – A tornado kills more than 600 people in the city of Cádiz in Spain.source
• 1679April 10 – A total eclipse of the Sun takes place over North America, with its peak over the region occupied by the Lakota Sioux people in modern-day South Dakota.source
• 1679June 4 – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Armenia strikes near Yerevan, at the time part of the Persian Empire.source
• 1679September 2 – The 8.0 magnitude Sanhe-Pinggu earthquake devastates Beijing and Hebei in China.source
• 1680May – The volcano Krakatoa erupts, probably on a relatively small scale.source
• 1680July 8 – The first documented tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts.source
• 1680September 11 – Emperor Go-Mizunoo spent his later years in relative seclusion as a retired emperor, continuing to participate in courtly and cultural activities until his passing away.source
• 1680October 9 – A massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake destroys part of Málaga and other cities in the province of the same name.source
• 1682August 12 – Vesuvius begins a period of volcanic activity lasting for 10 days.source
• 1686September 4 – A hurricane saves Charleston, South Carolina from attack by Spanish vessels.source
• 1687October 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
• 1688June 5 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes southern Italy at 6:30 in the evening and kills at least 10,000 people in the Kingdom of Naples in what is now the province of Benevento.source
• 1689December 22 – A serious earthquake strikes Innsbruck, Austria.source
• 1690April 16 – An estimated 8.0 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Caribbean Sea less than 10 mi from Barbuda and also affects St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as Antigua.source
• 1690June – An earthquake in Brazil of estimated magnitude 7, with epicenter on the left bank of the Amazon River about 45 km downstream from Manaus, spreads seismic waves through the forest and is felt up to 1000 km away.source
• 1690October 6 – An earthquake with strength 5.2 occurs in Caernarfon, Wales, causing tremors that can be felt as far away as London and Dublin.source
• 1690December 4 – A destructive earthquake in the Eastern Alps causes 24 casualties and results in damage in the Villach, Carinthia area.source
• 1690December 29 – An earthquake hits Ancona, in the Papal States of Italy and causes 10 deaths.source
• 1690Possible year of the disappearance of the western part of the island of Buise, in St. Peter's Flood.source
• 1692June 7 – Jamaica earthquake: An earthquake and related tsunami destroy Port Royal, capital of Jamaica, and submerge a major part of it; an estimated 2,000 are immediately killed, 2,300 injured, and a probable additional 2,000 die from the diseases which ravage the island in the following months.source
• 1692June 8 – During a famine in Mexico City, an angry mob torches the Viceroy's palace and ignites the archives; most of the documents and some paintings are saved by royal geographer Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora.source
• 1692September 8 – An earthquake in Brabant of scale 5.8 is felt across the Low Countries, Germany and England.source
• 1693January 11 – The Mount Etna volcano erupts in Italy, causing a devastating earthquake that kills 60,000 people in Sicily and Malta.source
• 1693October 29 – The Great Storm changes the course of rivers and alters the coastline from Virginia to Long Island in America.source
• 1694April 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
• 1694September 8 – The 1694 Irpinia–Basilicata earthquake causes widespread severe damage and over 6,000 deaths in the Kingdom of Naples.source
• 1694September 27 – A hurricane hits Carlisle Bay, Barbados, sinking 27 British ships and resulting in 3,000 casualties.source
• 1694October 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
• 1695May 18 – The 7.8 magnitude Linfen earthquake in Shanxi Province, Qing Dynasty kills over 50,000 people.source
• 1695A large unidentified tropical volcanic eruption causes colder temperatures, crop failure, food shortage and mortality in north-western Europe.source
• 1695The Great Famine of 1695–1697 begins as the Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97) in Swedish Estonia and spreads across Finland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden, while the "seven ill years" of famine in Scotland are ongoing.source
• 1696The Great Famine of 1695–1697 wipes out almost a third of the population of Finland, while the Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97) takes out a fifth of the population of Estonia; and the "seven ill years" of famine in Scotland are ongoing.source
• 1697Martin Mere, England's largest lake, is drained by sir Thomas Fleetwood for farmland.source
• 1697Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97).source
• 1697Great Famine of 1695–1697 in Scandinavia.source
• 1697"Seven ill years" of famine in Scotland.source
• 1698June 20 – An earthquake of magnitude 7.2–7.9 damages an extended region around Ambato, Ecuador, including the Tungurahua, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo provinces. Ambato and Latacunga are completely destroyed and several thousand casualties are reported.source
• 1698Ukraine suffers a great famine.source
• 1699January 5 – A violent earthquake damages the city of Batavia on the Indonesian island of Java, killing at least 28 people.source
• 1699December 10 – A major ice storm shuts down the city of Boston for a week and freezing rain brings down many tree branches and causes severe damage to orchards.source