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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1650 | |
| 2 | 1651 | - 1651: England - Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan, argued from a mechanistic theory that man is a selfishly individualistic animal at constant war with others. In the state of nature, life is 'nasty, brutish, and short.'
- 1651: England - Navigation Act passes, forbids exportation of goods except in all-English ships, foreign merchants and goods prohibited in England and colonies, strengthened in 1660
- 3 Sep 1651: England - Charles II invades England and is defeated at Battle of Worcester; Charles escapes to France
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| 3 | 1652 | |
| 4 | 1653 | - 1653: England - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the 'Rump Parliament' and becomes Lord Protector
- 1653: England - England victorious in battles against Spain and aids France against Spain; England becomes leading naval power and important military power; restores legal rights to Jews
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| 5 | 1654 | |
| 6 | 1655 | |
| 7 | 1656 | |
| 8 | 1657 | |
| 9 | 1658 | |
| 10 | 1659 | |
| 11 | 1660 | - 1660: Furtwangen, Germany - Cuckoo clocks made in the Black Forest region.
- 1660: England - Charles II, ruler of England to 1685. House of Stuart (restored): Eldest son of Charles I, died without issue. De Jure King from 30 JAN 1649.
- 1660: England - Two houses of Parliament and Church of England restored, land returned to rightful owners; 'Dissenters' born (Quakers, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc.)
- 1660: New Amsterdan, America - Asser Levy from Portugal, applied for a license to sell kosher meat. He was the first kosher butcher in the city that was to become New York
- 29 May 1660: London, England - Charles II, aged 30, rides into London, people go mad with joy
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| 12 | 1661 | |
| 13 | 1662 | |
| 14 | 1663 | |
| 15 | 1664 | |
| 16 | 1665 | |
| 17 | 1666 | - 1666: England - First European printed paper banknote issued
- 1666: London, England - The Great Fire of London began in the shop of the King's baker. After burning for four days, more than 13,000 buildings had been destroyed.
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| 18 | 1667 | - 1667: Medway River, Kent - Dutch fleet defeats the English
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| 19 | 1668 | |
| 20 | 1669 | - 1669: England - Isaac Newton circulated a manuscript, De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas, the first notice of his calculus.
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| 21 | 1670 | |
| 22 | 1671 | |
| 23 | 1672 | |
| 24 | 1673 | |
| 25 | 1674 | |
| 26 | 1675 | |
| 27 | 1676 | |
| 28 | 1677 | |
| 29 | 1678 | |
| 30 | 1679 | |
| 31 | 1680 | - 1680: America - Pennsylvania founded by William Penn for oppressed Quakers
- 1680: England - Moves to remove Charles II's brother James from succession persist through into 1681 (because he married an Italian and converted to Catholicism) and replace with Charles's illegitimate son, also Charles;civil war between Tories and Whigs narrowly averted
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| 32 | 1681 | |
| 33 | 1685 | |
| 34 | 1686 | |
| 35 | 1687 | |
| 36 | 1688 | |
| 37 | 1689 | |
| 38 | 1690 | |
| 39 | 1691 | - 3 Oct 1691: Limerick, Ireland - The Treaty of Limerick allows Catholics in Ireland to exercise their religion freely, but severe penal laws soon follow. The French War begins
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| 40 | 1692 | |
| 41 | 1693 | - 1693: England - Richest counties: Middlesex (with London), Surrey, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire; Poorest Counties: Cheshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland
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| 42 | 1694 | |
| 43 | 1695 | |
| 44 | 1697 | |
| 45 | 1698 | - 1698: England - Thomas Savery patented an engine which produced a vacuum by condensing steam. It was employed for raising water from a mine and supplying water to several country houses.
- 1698: Russia - Tsar Peter the Great begins taxing men with beards
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| 46 | 1699 | - 23 May 1699: America - John Bartram was born. A naturalist and explorer, considered 'father of American botany'; established a world renowned botanical garden in Philadelphia in 1728.
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| 47 | 1700 | |
| 48 | 1701 | |
| 49 | 1702 | |
| 50 | 1703 | - 1703: Epworth, Lincolnshire, England - Birth of John Wesley. By 1784, 356 Methodist chapels built in places lacking church
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| 51 | 1704 | |
| 52 | 1706 | - 1706: London, England - The Evening Post, first evening newspaper issued
- 23 May 1706: Netherlands - British, Bavarian and Austrian troops under Marlborough defeat the French at the Battle of Ramillies, and expel the French from the Netherlands
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| 53 | 1707 | - 1707: Great Britain - The Act of Union unites the kingdoms of England and Scotland and transfers the seat of Scottish Government to London
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| 54 | 1708 | - 11 Jul 1708: England - The Duke of Marlborough defeats the French at the Battle of Oudenarde. The French incur heavy losses. Queen Anne vetoes a parliamentary bill to recognise the Scottish militia. This is the last time a bill is vetoed by the sovereign
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| 55 | 1709 | |
| 56 | 1710 | - 1710: Great Britain - A Tory ministry is formed, under Harley, with the impeachment of Dr. Sacheverell and the fall of the Whig government
- 1710: Great Britain - Wooden panelling replaces tapestry as wall covering
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| 57 | 1711 | |
| 58 | 1712 | |
| 59 | 1713 | |
| 60 | 1714 | - 1714: Great Britain - Death of Queen Anne at Kensington Palace. A new parliament is elected with a strong Whig majority, led by Charles Townshend and Robert Walpole
- 1714: Great Britain - Quaker John Belles urges founding of hospitals as training grounds for medical students; Board of Longitude created, £20,000 competition for accurate maritime charts and maps
- 1714: Great Britain - George I,ruler of England to 1727. House of Hanover: Son of Elector of Hanover, by Sophia, grand-daughter of James I. Proclaimed King under Act of Settlement.
- 1714: Great Britain - Rioting by Tory and Jacobite mobs commonplace in London (unemployed soldiers, craftsmen), passage of Riot Act, giving increased power to Justices of the Peace through to 1715
- 1714: Great Britain - During period to 1742 there are no big increases from population of about 5.5 million but the distribution changes: East Anglia loses; West Country, South and East Midlands, East Riding and North (except Tyneside) fairly static; West Riding and South Lancashire increase; West Midlands, Surrey and Middlesex grow rapidly with London (London 500,000, Bristol 50,000; Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Halifax, Birmingham and Coventry, no longer sprawling villages, but still under 50,000); cause is immigration from cities and (in NW) from Ireland
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| 61 | 1715 | |
| 62 | 1716 | - 1716: Italy - John Lombe steals plans for silk manufacture, returning to England he and brother Thomas build vast factory on island at Derby
- 1716: Scotland - James Lind was born. Lind was a Scottish physician who recommended that fresh citrus fruit and lemon juice be included in the seamen's diet to eliminate scurvy. The Dutch had been doing this for almost two hundred years.
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| 63 | 1717 | - 1717: Great Britain - Townshend is dismissed from government by George I, causing Walpole to resign. The Whig party is split. Convocation is suspended
- 1717: Europe - England allies with French and Dutch against Spanish, Spanish brought to heel in 1718
- 1717: Great Britain - Edmond Halley invents the diving bell.
- 1717: Great Britain - John Lombe in England invents a machine for 'throwing' silk which produces a strong twisted thread
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| 64 | 1719 | |
| 65 | 1720 | - 1720: Great Britain - Dr. Richard Mead publishes Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion, advocates quarantine, proposes establishment of government Council of Health; inoculation against smallpox introduced from Constantinople by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
- 1720: Great Britain - Hospitals founded in London: Guy's, St. George's, London & Middlesex in period to 1745
- 1720: Meiringen, Switzerland - Invention of meringue is attributed to an Italian pastry chef named Gasparini.
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| 66 | 1721 | |
| 67 | 1722 | |
| 68 | 1723 | - 1723: Great Britain - Legislation allowing parishes to create 'unions' or workhouses, to prevent escape of children they could be manacled
- 1723: Great Britain - Excise Act, restrictions removed on exports, duty removed on imports of raw materials; London builds bonded warhouse for tea, coffee and chocolate
- 1723: New England, USA - Dummer's War 1723-1726.
- 16 Jul 1723: Devon, Great Britain - Birth of Sir Joshua Reynolds (died 1792), arguably finest English landscape and portrait painter, career 1750-1780
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| 69 | 1724 | |
| 70 | 1725 | - 30 Apr 1725: Great Britain - Treaty of Vienna: Austria and Spain resolve differences
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| 71 | 1726 | |
| 72 | 1727 | |
| 73 | 1728 | - 1728: France - Pierre Fauchard, in The Surgeon Dentist, described preventive measures to keep teeth healthy as well as inventing the word dentist.
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| 74 | 1729 | |
| 75 | 1730 | - 1730: Great Britain - A split occurs between Walpole and Townshend
- 1730: Ireland - Famine strikes
- 1730: Great Britain - In early part of 1700s, death rate had surpassed birth rate; begins to reverse; after 1780 death-rate plummets - due to replacement of gin-drinking with beer-drinking after taxes increased and retail sales curtailed on former in 1750; medical care improves, as does agriculture, more food available
- 1730: Great Britain - Georg Brandt, a Swedish chemist, discovered the element cobalt. Cobalt is used in steel making, and is an essential part of vitamin B12.
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| 76 | 1731 | |
| 77 | 1732 | - 1732: British North America - A royal charter is granted for the founding of Georgia in America
- 1732: Great Britain - The English banned American made hats to protect domestic haberdashers.
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| 78 | 1733 | - 1733: Great Britain - The Excise Crisis occurs and Walpole is forced to abandon his plans to reorganise the customs and excise
- 1733: Europe - Further cementing of relations between Austria and Spain
- 1733: Great Britain - John Kay invents the flying shuttle.
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| 79 | 1734 | - 1734: Great Britain - Walpole returned to power with smaller majority, power weakened
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| 80 | 1736 | |
| 81 | 1737 | |
| 82 | 1738 | |
| 83 | 1739 | |
| 84 | 1740 | |
| 85 | 1741 | - 1741: Ireland - Further famine, population about 4 million
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| 86 | 1742 | |
| 87 | 1743 | |
| 88 | 1744 | |
| 89 | 1745 | |
| 90 | 1746 | |
| 91 | 1747 | |
| 92 | 1748 | |
| 93 | 1749 | - 1749: Great Britain - Deaths among women 1 in 41, children 1 in 15 during period to 1758
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| 94 | 1750 | - 1750: Great Britain - The grapefruit was first described by Griffith Hughes as the 'forbidden fruit' of Barbados
- 1750: Scotland - Royal Infirmaries are founded in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen
- 1750: Great Britain - Tea-drinking begins to rival alcohol-drinking
- 1750: Great Britain - Population of England and Wales estimated at 6.5 million
- 1750: Great Britain - During period to 1780 English countryside takes on today's familiar apearance as accelerated enclosure produces small fields surrounded by hedges, fences and walls
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| 95 | 1751 | - 1751: British North America - Benjamin Franklin published Experiments and Observations on Electricity after several years of experiments done with several friends. In this book Franklin suggested an experiment to prove that lightning is a large-scale electrical discharge, a task which later he took upon himself, using a kite. This led to the invention of the lightning rod.
- 1751: Great Britain - Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. His son, Prince George, becomes heir to the throne
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| 96 | 1752 | |
| 97 | 1753 | - 1753: Great Britain - Parliament passes the Naturalization of Jews Act
- 1753: Great Britain - James Lind (1716-1794) Scottish Navy physician, publishes Treatise on Scurvy; Sir Gilbert Blane, Scottish Naval surgeon, enforces strict rules regarding cleanliness, improves health, lifespan of sailors
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| 98 | 1754 | - 1754: Great Britain - First royal troops disembark in India; Takes 4.5 days to travel London to Manchester
- 1754: France - Antoine Beauvilliers was born. He was a French chef who founded the first luxury restaurant, La Grande Taverne de Londres.
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| 99 | 1755 | |
| 100 | 1756 | |
| 101 | 1757 | |
| 102 | 1758 | |
| 103 | 1759 | |
| 104 | 1760 | |
1650 - Yes, date unknown