1658
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Contents: political eventsexploration, colonization energy medicine religion literature art theater, film agriculture food and drink |
Stockholm cuts off all communications with Denmark along the coasts of Oresund and Halland (see 1657), and troops under the command of Karl X Gustav invade the Danish province of Scania from the south in February. Denmark cedes Scania to the Swedish crown under terms of the Treaty of Roskilde, which allows the Scanians to retain their own language and customs, and a provincial government (the Lantdagen) is installed at Malmö. The Swedes occupy the northern forests of Skania and Bleckinge but fail to take Copenhagen, whose garrison puts up a valiant defense. Danish naval officer Niels Juel, 29, helps repel the Swedes, having served under the late Dutch admiral Maarten Tromp and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter in the Anglo-Dutch War of 1652-1654. The bloody encounter takes a heavy toll on both side, and although the Swedes have managed to acquire Scania its people continue to consider themselves as much Danish as Swedish and will try for more than 150 years to oust the Swedes (see 1811).
Former Cavalier general Henry Wilmot, 1st earl of Rochester, dies at Sluys, Flanders, February 19 at age 44; English colonial officer and former admiral of the fleet Robert Rich, 2nd earl of Warwick, at London April 19 at age 70.
The Battle of the Dunes June 14 gives English and French troops a victory over a Spanish relief force; Dunkirk surrenders to the English after a siege.
Oliver Cromwell dies during a fierce storm at London September 3 at age 58 after nearly 5 years as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron Fairfax (of Cameron), had a bitter quarrel with Cromwell last year and helps General George Monck end the anarchy that follows the Lord Protector's death, restoring parliamentary rule despite opposition from the army. Cromwell's son Richard, 31, succeeds to power and will retain the protectorship for nearly 9 months (see 1659). Former parliamentary soldier Sir Thomas Pride dies at Worcester House, Surrey, October 23 (he was knighted by Cromwell 2 years ago).
The leading Ottoman governors-general in Anatolia and Syria rise up in the fall against the despotic rule of the grand vizier Mehmed Köprülü, who is preoccupied with keeping order in Transylvania. They have not joined the imperial army in the Balkans and march on Constantinople under the leadership of Abaza Hasan, pasha of Aleppo and head of the mercenaries (sekbans) who have created disorder in the Middle East, but the elderly vizier will have the last word (see 1659).
The Battle of Samurath (or Samugarh) south of the Yamuna River about 10 miles east of Agra May 29 gives the emperor Shah Jahan's 40-year-old son Aurangzeb and his brother Murad Bakhsh victory over their older brother, Shah Jahan's favorite son Dara Shikoh, whose 60,000-man army is less experienced than Aurangzeb's smaller force (see 1657). Shah Jahan has executed a will naming Dara as his successor, but when Dara descends from his elephant his troops misinterpret it as an indication that he has been killed. Aurangzeb imprisons his brother Murad and their father after the battle. He will make himself emperor next year, and he will reign until 1707, alienating Muslims and Hindus alike with his bigotry. His continuous campaigns in the Deccan will reduce the country's population by close to 100,000 per year (see Battle of Deorai, 1659).
France's Louis XIV resumes sovereignty over the Caribbean island of Martinique, paying an indemnity to the children of the late governor Jacques-Dyel du Parquet, whose widow governed the island for a while in her children's name but did not get along with the settlers (see 1635; 1664).
Salisbury, Massachusetts, colonist Thomas Macy receives sanctuary from Puritan religious intolerance on the offshore island of Nanticut (Nantucket) (see Waymouth, 1605). Wampanoag tribespeople on the island welcome Macy, his family, and his friend Edward Starbuck (see 1659).
French fur trader Pierre (Esprit) Radisson, 22, explores the western end of what will be called Lake Superior and trades with les sauvages in company with Médard Chouart, 33, sieur de Groseillers (see Brulé, 1622). Radisson came to New France 7 years ago, was captured and adopted by the Iroquois, but escaped in 1654 (see 1659).
English coal production at Newcastle reaches 529,032 tons, up from 32,951 in 1564, as the deforestation of England and the continent spurs use of coal for fuel (see 1640). The British Isles have since 1650 produced five times as much coal as the rest of the world combined (see Newcomen, 1705).
Amsterdam naturalist Jan Swammerdam, 21, gives the first description of red blood cells. He will complete his medical studies in 1667 but devote himself to studying insects (see science, 1669), tadpoles, frogs, and mammals rather than practicing medicine.
French priest François de Montmorency Laval, 35, is made bishop in June and named vicar apostolic of New France (see 1659).
The Vatican sponsors a missionary program for Vietnam, using ideas advanced by Alexandre de Rhodes.
Nonfiction: Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall, or, A Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes lately found in Norfolk by Thomas Browne: "There is nothing strictly immortal, but immortality; whatever hath no beginning may be confident of no end" (V); The Garden of Cyprus, or the Quincunciall Lozenge, or Net-Work Plantations of the Ancients by Browne is a mystical treatise purporting to show how the universe is pervaded by the "quincunx," an arrangement of five objects such as trees or buildings with one at each corner and one in the middle (see human rights [witches], 1664).
Painting: Courtyard of a House in Delft and Figures Drinking in a Courtyard by Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch, 29; Farm with a Dead Tree by Dutch painter Adriaen van de Velde, 27.
Theater: The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru by William Davenant, whose work is performed at London.
French chronicler Charles de Rochefort writes in his History of the Caribby Islands, "The Ananas, or pine-apple, is accounted the most delicious fruit, not only of these Islands, but of all America" (see 1493; 1790).
The London periodical Mercurious Politicus carries an advertisement: "That excellent and by all Physitians approved China Drink called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tea, is sold at the Sultaness Head, a cophee-house in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London" (see Garrway, 1657; Pepys, 1660).
An English cookbook sanctions use of veal as food in defiance of an old Saxon tradition that had considered the killing of a veal calf a wanton act of the Norman invaders of 1066.
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