In 1642 CE, the main developments of geopolitical impact were the civil wars in both ultra-large China and tiny England. The significance of the latter was magnified because by then, England already had a globe-girdling empire with non-trivial positions in India, North America, and the Caribbean; and the outcome of the struggle for power “back … Continue reading 1642: England in civil war; Irish declare independence; News from China, etc. →

Yes, 1640 CE was a big year for inter-imperial change and there will be more to come. So today I will try to sort out the two big threads of 1641, which are: (1) The Portuguese-Spanish-Dutch thread, and (2) The English-Scottish-Irish thread. Fall-out from Portugal’s secession from Spain It was on December 1, 1640 that … Continue reading 1641: Four empires try to reset their balance after 1640 →