Resources For Writing Period Pieces: 1600s
Major Events of The Century
First established English colony in Jamestown, Virginia. Pocahontas saves John Smith. (1606)
Laws of Planetary Motion published (1609) and Galileo sees Jupiter’s moons through telescope (1610) which both showed that planets orbit the sun.
King James version of the Bible published in England
Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown. (Slavery is made legal in 1650.)
Pilgrims from England arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower (1620)
English Civil War (1642-1651)
End of Ming Dynasty in China (1644)
Louis XIV begins personal rule as an absolute monarch and starts to build Versailles (1661)
Issac Newton’s experiments with gravity (1664)
English seize New Amsterdam and rename it New York (1664)
The Great Plague in London kills 75,000 (1665-1666)
French Settlers movie into Mississippi and Louisiana (1699)
Extensive list of events in the 17th century (by decade)
Popular Culture and Society
1600s Science and Philosophy
1600s Inventions and Discoveries
Popular Girl Names of the 17th Century
Popular Boy Names of the 17th Century
1600-1650 Western European Fashion
1650-1700 Western European Fashion
Chinese Clothing during Qing Dynasty
(Native) American Clothing during the 1600s
Western Women’s Fashion in the 17th Century
1600s in the British Empire
1600s in the Dutch Empire
1600s in the Dutch Republic
1600s in the Habsburg Monarchy
1600s in the Habsburg Netherlands
1600s in the Holy Roman Empire
1600s in the Majeerteen Sultanate
1600s in the Ottoman Empire
1600s in the Papal States
1600s in the Philippines
1600s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
1600s in the Portuguese Empire
1600s in the Kingdom of Sicily
1600s in the Thirteen Colonies
1600s in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany
1600s in the Republic of Venice