1661 CE saw two developments of great world-historical impact. In Europe, the Regent to Portugal’s teenage king (Afonso VI) concluded an engagement of Afonso’s older sister Catherine of Braganza to the latest “hot catch” among Europe’s monarchy: England’s recently restored King Charles II. The dowry that Charles won with Catherine significantly expanded England’s imperial reach … Continue reading 1661: Portuguese princess brings fab colonial dowry to England. Koxinga beats Dutch in Taiwan. →

Alert readers will recall that the anti-monarchist movement in England had fallen into chaos when Cromwell died in 1658 CE. So below, I will tell you more about what this led to in 1660– Restoration of the monarchy, punishment of the regicides, establishment of the Royal African Company, etc. But first, let’s go to Martinique, … Continue reading 1660: Restoration of English monarchy sparks royal slavetrading venture. France does genocide. →

It’s been a while since we checked in with developments in China. But in 1659 CE the Qing forces, who had ruled in Beijing since 1644 and had been battling Ming dynasty remnants and allies around southern China ever since, registered a signal victory over one of their allies, Zheng Chenggong, also known as Koxinga. … Continue reading 1659:News from China (mainly), South Africa, New Spain, The Hague →

In 1658 CE there were major political transitions in both England and the Mughal Empire, so those will form the meat of today’s bulletin. The year’s other main empire news came from the young Dutch settler colony at South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, where 1658 saw the first importation of enslaved people, and from … Continue reading 1658: Transitions in England, Mughal Empire. News from Sweden, South Africa →

In 1657, most of the new developments concerned England and its still-developing empire. The major world event that did not involve England in any way was the Great Fire of Meireki, which swept through the Japanese capital of Edo (Tokyo) in early March. It lasted for three days, destroyed 60-70% of the city, and was … Continue reading 1657: Cromwell & the English Empire. Etc. →

The year 1656 CE saw several developments in the ongoing history of West European empires. Let’s look at a small news item from Istanbul first. Then we’ll look at Dutch colonial doings worldwide before coming to the escalating conflict between England and Spain. A new vizierial dynasty in Istanbul Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had been born … Continue reading 1656: Dutch in China, Gold Coast as Cromwell makes war on Spain. Etc. →

In 1655 CE, the four European imperial powers were continuing their work as usual all around the world: plundering, enslaving, fighting (including amongst themselves), conducting political intrigue at home, etc. Oh just the smell of the super-profits available to the investors in colonial plunder was enough to drive a person wild! (A notably strange and … Continue reading 1655: News from Philippines, Chile, Amsterdams old & new, Tunis. But mainly Jamaica. →

Here are the news items for 1645 CE: Mapuche-Huilliches inflict defeat on Spanish in south of today’s Chile Portuguese oust Dutch from Brazil Cromwell pivots to the Caribbean He also has problems with new parliament in London. Mapuche-Huilliches inflict defeat on Spanish in south of today’s Chile I’m afraid I can’t get any more details … Continue reading 1654: News from Mapuche-land, Brazil, London →

In 1653 CE, as for more than 200 years prior, the armed merchant ships of West European nations– now, in chronological order, Portugal, Spain, England, and Netherlands– were all roaming the world’s oceans and looting their plunder from non-European nations on every continent except Australia. In many places, now, the fighters aboard those ships had … Continue reading 1653: News from London, ‘New Amsterdam’, Scheveningen, & Kerala →

Without a doubt, the major development of geo-historical impact in 1652 CE was the outbreak of armed conflict between the navies of the two powerful Protestant-European global empires that had emerged over the preceding eight decades, when they displaced to a considerable degree (though not wholly) the two older Catholic-European empires that had preceded them. … Continue reading 1652: Netherlands & England at war →