Seventeenth Century

±1601AD

Shakespeare’s Hamlet

1602AD

Dutch East India Company chartered

±1603-8AD

Shakespeare begins his great tragedies (Othello, Macbeth and King Lear)

1604AD

Guy Fawkes executed

1605AD

Cervantes’s Don Quixote (part 1)

1607AD

Montiverdi’s opera Orfeo

1608AD

HAMLET PERFORMED ABOARD THE DRAGON AT SIERRA LEONA AND OFF THE EAST COAST OF SOUTH AFRICA. RICHARD II WAS DONE EN ROUTE.

1609AD

Kepler’s Astronomica Nova. Galileo’s telescope. Lope de Vega’s The New Art of Writing Plays published. Shakespeare’s co. performs indoors at the Blackfriars.

1610AD

A “very pretty comedy” was played in the three days on board a Portuguese ship while passing the Cape.

1611AD

King James version of the Bible. Shakespeare’s The Tempest performed

1613AD First Romanov becomes Tsar of Russia

1616AD The notion of a sun-centered universe rejected by Inquisition

1618AD Proscenium arch introduced as permanenent feature in the Teatro Farnese, built in the Ducal Palace in Parma. Start of the Thirty Years’ War in Germany

1620AD Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum, expounds a new way of learning. The English commanders Fitzherbert and Shilling take possession of the Cape of Good Hope in the name of James I.

1623AD Velasquez becomes court painter to Philip IV of Spain. Bernini’s statue of David.

1624AD Cardinal Richelieu Louis XIII’s chief minister.

1625AD Charles 1 king of England.

1628AD William Harvey’s treatise on the circulation of the blood.

1632AD Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World. Van Dyck court painter to Charles I of England.

1633AD Galileo has to recant his ideas.

1635AD French Academy founded by Richelieu.

1636AD Corneille’s Le Cid.

1637AD Descartes’s Discourse on Method. First theatre built in Amsterdam, under the influence of the Rederijkers.

1638AD Galileo’s Discourses on Two New Sciences.

1641AD Descartes’s Meditations

1642AD Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Theatres in England closed by act of parliament Civil war in England (Roundheads and Cavaliers).

1643AD Torricelli invents barometer.

1644AD Milton’s Areopagitica. Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy. Theatres in Madrid closed for 6 years.

1648AD The Taj Mahal completed in Agra, India. De Nieuwe Haerlem flounders in Table Bay and Leendert Janz is left behind with the cargo. Builds a temporary fort. Peace of Westphalia ends 30 years’ war in Germany.

1649AD Charles I tried and beheaded in England.

1652AD Jan van Riebeeck lands at the Cape to start a refreshment station.

1653AD The Portuguese ship Nossa Senhora de Belem wrecked on the Natal coast, and they played comedies and farces to pass the time. Van Riebeeck Governor 1652-uses musicians to establish good relations with the Khoi, having music played during their visits. He however only allows his settlers one day a year of feasting on the Sunday after the return of the home fleet. Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England.

1657AD First “Free Burghers” allocated land by the Dutch government at the Cape.

1658AD Molière arrives in Paris.

1659-60AD Molière’s "Les Précieuses Ridicules" performed. Battles between Khoi-khoi and Dutch. The gradual disintegration of the Khoikhoi-society begins, as more and more fall under the control of the Dutch colony rules, and they are decimated by European diseases. Battles on the border areas continue for many years.

1660AD First rotating electric generator invented by Von Geuricke. Dramatic performances restart in England. First professional actress appears as Desdemona. Monarchy restored in England with Charles II.

1664AD Molière’s Tartuffe.

1665AD Great plague of London kills 60,000.

1666AD Great fire of London destroys two-thirds of the city. French Academy of Sciences founded by Colbert.

1667AD Milton’s "Paradise Lost". Racine’s "Andromaque".

1668AD De la Fontaine’s "Fables".

1670AD Pascal’s "Pensées".

1672AD French Academy of Music founded by Lully.

1677AD Dryden’s "All for Love". Racine’s "Phèdre".

1679AD The Castle is taken into use in Cape Town. Simon van der Stel becomes governor.

1680AD Official founding of the Comédie Française.

1682AD Newly remodelled Palace of Versailles taken into use by Louis XIV. Dryden’s "Absolom and Achitophel". Halley observes the comet now bearing his name.

1683AD Turks lay siege to Vienna.

1685AD Edict of Nantes revoked by Louis XIV.

1687AD Newton’s "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica".

±1688AD Simon van der Stel establishes Stellenbosch. His birthday celebrated with festivities and a “parrot shoot” there annually in October. Arrival of French Huguenots. Siege of Vienna by Ottoman Turks.

1689AD Locke’s "Letters on Tolerance" published. Mary and William of Orange declared rulers of England . Peter the Great Tsar of Russia.

1690AD Locke’s "Second Treatise of Civil Government".

1694AD French Academy issues first dictionary. Bank of England founded, to lend money to the Government.

1696AD Licensing Laws for Plays in England.

1699AD Treaty of Karlowitz, where Ottomans lose territories in Europe.

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