In the 1600s

But whether it be dream or truth, to do well is what matters. If it be truth, for truth's sake. If not, then to gain friends for the time when we awaken.
~Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)

In 2013, I ran a post for Art Thursday that focused on the 1700s. I figured I would get around to posting about other centuries sometime, and now I'm finally doing it. The 1600s was a fascinating century.

A Map of the Myriad Countries of the World (Kunyu Wanguo Quantu)
two page colored edition (1604?), copy of the 1602 map by Matteo Ricci at the request of the Wanli Emperor

1616: William Shakespeare dies.

I'm not in favor of people being defenestrated, but I am very much in favor of the word "defenestration."
The Defenestration of Prague, 1618
by Johann Philipp Abelinus

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) (His trial by the Inquisition was in 1633.)
by Peter Paul Rubens

Matsuo Bashō, the first author of haiku (1644-1694)
Bashō meets two farmers celebrating the mid-autumn moon festival in a print from Yoshitoshi's Hundred Aspects of the Moon. The haiku reads: "Since the crescent moon, I have been waiting for tonight."

1659: Christiaan Huygens first to observe surface details of Mars.

1663: Robert Hooke discovers cells using a microscope.
Microscope manufactured by Christopher Cock of London for Robert Hooke. Hooke is believed to have used this microscope for the observations that formed the basis of his book Micrographia.

1664: British troops capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York.
New Amsterdam as it appeared in 1664
By Johannes Vingboons

1665: The Great Plague of London
1666: The Great Fire of London
1676: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovers Bacteria.
1676: First measurement of the speed of light by Olaus Roemer.

1687: Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Eduardo Paolozzi's Newton, after William Blake
Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727)

Salem Witch Trials (1692-93)
Baker, Joseph E., ca. 1837-1914