The world: 1640s

1640–1649

Events in this period 4

1. 1642 – 1651 · Europe · War

   English Civil War

   The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War and the Second English Civil War. The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650 to 1652 is sometimes referred to as the Third English Civil War.

2. 1644 · China · War

   Battle of Shanhai Pass

   The Battle of Shanhai Pass, fought on May 27, 1644 at Shanhai Pass at the eastern end of the Great Wall, was a decisive battle leading to the beginning of the Qing dynasty rule in China proper. There, the Qing prince-regent Dorgon allied with former Ming general Wu Sangui to defeat peasant rebel leader Li Zicheng, founder of the short-lived Shun dynasty, allowing Dorgon and the Qing army to rapidly conquer Beijing.

3. 1648 · Europe · Politics

   Peace of Westphalia

   The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed between 4.5 and 8 million people. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in the treaties.

4. 1642 · Oceania · Exploration

   Abel Tasman

   Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt. He also discovered and was the eponym of Tasmania.

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Still under way

• Taj Mahal1632 – 1653

Around the same time

• Qing invasion of Joseon1636 – 1637
• Sakoku1639
• Dutch Cape Colony1652

Other maps for this period

• War mapsThirty Years' War
• War mapsEnglish Civil War
• Inventions mapPascaline
• Inventions mapBarometer
• Epidemics mapGreat Plague of Seville