Events of the Early 17th Century (1603-1660)

The 17th Century The 17th century was one that was exemplified by the baroque cultural movement which brought about drama and grandeur in sculptures, paintings, music and overall life during the period. This period also saw much scientific development through figures such as Galileo and Johannes Kepler.

Thirty Years War The war was fought over what is now Germany and involved the essentially all major European powers such as England and France. The war was mostly caused due to religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, this conflict eventually grew to the point that other countries were brought into it for not necessarily religious reasons. The war came to an end in 1648 after 30 years with the peace treaties of Westphalia. The treaty ended the thirty years war along with the eighty years war between Spain and the Netherlands. Many regions gained independence from the Empire as a result, such as Switzerland.

The English Civil War The English Civil War took place between 1642-1651 involving a conflict between Parliamentarians and Royalists. When the war finally came to an end, England and Scotland were left without a monarchy and ended up establishing the first Parliamentary Monarchy which still exist to this day.

The Plague The plague resulted in an estimated minimum of 1.25million deaths throughout the seventeenth century in Spain. The biggest outbreak of the 17th century was The Great Plague of Seville which claimed a quarter of the citizens population, which was 150,000 people.

East Asia Tokugawa Ieyasu would seize control of Japan and would implement the Tokugawa Shogunate which would control Japan until 1863 and would mark the beginning of the Edo period for Japan. The Manchus would begin to invade China and finally take control in 1644 and then rule until 1912 with the Qing Dynasty who ousted the Ming Dynasty.