We’ll take a bit of a detour today, since in 1671 CE there were no big new developments in the history of the world’s four big European-origined empires. But longtime readers will know that I have a particular interest in precisely how it was that people professing various forms of the Christian religion persuaded themselves … Continue reading 1671: Quaker founder George Fox in Barbados →

The biggest development of 1670 was a secret treaty that England’s King Charles II concluded with France’s King Louis XIV. This treaty had huge effects over the following years. It was a masterpiece of diplomatic ingenuity wrought by Louis’s very able First Minister Jean-Baptist Colbert and his younger brother Charles, Louis’s ambassador in London. The … Continue reading 1670: A kingly plot, imperial expansion, end of an African empire, & more →

By 1669 CE it was already clear that the big profits and big power in world affairs were accruing to nations that could create and sustain capable transoceanic empires, the prerequisites for which were: large, capable fleets of trans-oceanic ships that had the dual capabilities of carrying cargo and being able to fight defensively and … Continue reading 1669: News from India, Baltic, Eastern Med, China →

In 1668 CE, relations in Europe among the four world-imperial powers– or now, about to be five, with the addition of France– continued to be complex with alliances and hostilities among them continually shifting. Spain was still in a long-term decline, which left several of its colonies in the Caribbean fairly vulnerable. Today I’ll look … Continue reading 1668: A Welsh pirate in the Caribbean; news from Morocco, Bombay →

Here I am, wanting to put together a history of how exactly the “West”, that is, essentially a handful of West-European nations, came to dominate the world via their domination of numerous trans-oceanic shipping routes, and to make this determinedly not a West-centered narrative… But time and again I find I have to come back … Continue reading 1667: An Anglo-Dutch peace, a Dutch-French war, & conflict in the Lesser Antilles →

In 1666 CE, I think the main new development in world history was the Mughal empire’s taking of the Bengali hub of Chittagong from their Arakanese foes. Chittagong had been a long-time outpost for the Portuguese empire in the Indian Ocean and the Mughal’s capture of it brought Portugal’s position there to an end. In … Continue reading 1666: Mughals take Chittagong. Anglo-Dutch war & Spanish empire-building continue. London has a fire. →

In doing this project so far, I have sought always to keep in mind the balance among Western Europe’s big world-imperial states as each continued to build its global influence while they often (and increasingly) contended for power among themselves both in their European home-continent and home-seas and in the far-flung reaches of their respective … Continue reading 1665: Balance among W. Europe’s 4 big global empires continues to shift. News from Kongo. →

I haven’t paid much attention yet to France, where the “Sun King” Louis XIV is now 21 years into what would become a 72-year reign. (But he was a child for the first years and had gained his control of the kingdom only in 1661.) In 1664 CE, he and his able First Minister Jean-Baptiste … Continue reading 1664: France’s Louis XIV goes global. English seize two Dutch colonies. Hindu warlord sacks Surat. →

In 1663 CE, just three years after Charles II was “restored” to the English throne, he, his advisors, and his parliament took several significant steps to consolidate the growth and reach of the country’s trans-oceanic empire. Specifically: Parliament passed a new Navigation Act that yet further tightened the restrictions on free trade that Cromwell’s Navigation … Continue reading 1663: English empire in Africa, Carolinas, Caribbean, etc →

1662 saw the tail end of many of the stories I covered last year. (King Charles actually got married to Catherine of Braganza in 1662, etc.) There was not much that was new-new in the development of Western imperialism in 1662. Except this, which is certainly worth noting: Settler councils in Barbados and Virginia implement … Continue reading 1662: ‘Slave codes’ in Barbados and Virginia →