Timetable

1589: As French Prince of the Blood Henry IV ascended the throne of France upon the death of his childless cousin Henry III in 1589. In accepting the throne, he found it prudent to abjure his Calvinist faith. Regardless, his coronation was followed by a four-year war against the Catholic League to establish his legitimacy.

1598: Henri IV expels the Spanish from France, grants religious freedom to the Protestants ("Edict of Nantes"), unifies the country and brings an end to the Wars of Religion

1598: Felipe II dies and is succeeded by Felipe III

1602: the Dutch East India Company (VOC) is established in Holland

1601: Louis XIII is born (27 September)

1608: France founds the colony of Quebec in Canada

1608: German states form the Evangelical Union

1609: German states form the Catholic League


1610: French king Henry IV is assassinated by a Chatolic fanatic and succeeded by his son Louis XIII

1612: Matthias becomes German emperor

1617: Louis XIII becomes king of France

1618: the "Defenestration of Prague" (the Habsburg remove Frederick of the Palatinate and install Matthias' cousing Ferdinand on the throne of Bohemia) begins the "Thirty Years' War" pitting the Habsburg empire and Spain against France, England, Sweden, the first war fought more by artillery than by men


1621: Felipe III dies and is succeeded by Felipe IV

1621: Holland forms the Dutch West India Company to invade the Spanish and Portuguese colonies

1624: Cardinal Richelieu (Armand du Plessis) becomes prime minister of France

1624: Dutch colons colonize north-eastern Brazil

1625: Dutch colons found a trading post in America, Nieuwe Amsterdam (New York)

1635: the Academie Francaise is founded in Paris

1637: the French philosopher Rene` Descartes publishes the "Discours sur la Methode" and founds modern science

1638: Louis XIV is born (5 September)

1640: Philippe de France is born (21 September)
1640: Portugal declares its independence from Spain

1641: Holland seizes Malacca from Portugal

1642: Pascal invents a mechanical calculator

1642: Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers New Zealand

1642: Richelieu dies

1643: Louis XIV becomes king of France and the Italian-born Jules Mazarin prime minister

1648: the "Peace of Westphalia" ends the Thirty Years' War, reducing the Germanic empire to a loose confederation of hundreds of independent entities, and replacing Spanish supremacy with French supremacy

1648: after 80 years of war, Spain recognizes the independence of the republic of the United Seven Provinces (Holland) but retains the southern Netherlands (Belgium)

1648: at the end of the Thirty Years' War the population of Europe has declined from 30 to 20 million

1648: cardinal Mazarin founds the Academie Francaise to promote literature

1648: Riots erupt in Paris against Mazarin's decision to increase taxes (the first "Fronde")

1650: The aristocracy of France revolts against the king (second "Fronde")

1653: The French king finally quells the "Fronde"

1655: Sweden invades Poland-Lithuania ("First Northern War"), causing the death of millions, while Russia, Denmark, and the Empireside with Poland-Lithuania

1655: Britain conquers Jamaica from Spain

1656: Spain declares war against Britain and France joins Britain

1656: the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens invents the pendulum clock

1656: Holland seizes Ceylon/Sri Lanka from Portugal

1659: England and France defeat Spain (treaty of the Pyrenees)

1660:Louis XIV marries Marie-Thérèse ( June 9)

1661: Mazarin dies (March 9)  

1661: A day after the death of his minister, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, Louis XIV takes all affairs of state into his own hands. (March 10)

1661: Monsieur marries Princess Henrietta of England (30 March)

1661: King Charles II of England, Scotland, Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey, for the second time. ( April 23)