1679

This article is about the year 1679. For the number, see 1679 (number).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	16th century – 17th century – 18th century
Decades:	1640s  1650s  1660s  – 1670s –  1680s  1690s  1700s
Years:	1676 1677 1678 – 1679 – 1680 1681 1682

1679 by topic:

Arts and Science

Architecture - Art - Literature - Music - Science

Lists of leaders

Colonial governors - State leaders

Birth and death categories

Births - Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments - Disestablishments

Works category

Works

1679 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1679 MDCLXXIX
Ab urbe condita	2432
Armenian calendar	1128 ԹՎ ՌՃԻԸ
Assyrian calendar	6429
Bengali calendar	1086
Berber calendar	2629
English Regnal year	30 Cha. 2 – 31 Cha. 2
Buddhist calendar	2223
Burmese calendar	1041
Byzantine calendar	7187–7188
Chinese calendar	戊午年 (Earth Horse) 4375 or 4315     — to — 己未年 (Earth Goat) 4376 or 4316
Coptic calendar	1395–1396
Discordian calendar	2845
Ethiopian calendar	1671–1672
Hebrew calendar	5439–5440
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1735–1736
- Shaka Samvat	1601–1602
- Kali Yuga	4780–4781
Holocene calendar	11679
Igbo calendar	679–680
Iranian calendar	1057–1058
Islamic calendar	1089–1090
Japanese calendar	Enpō 7 (延宝７年)
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 10 days
Korean calendar	4012
Minguo calendar	233 before ROC 民前233年
Thai solar calendar	2221–2222

1679 (MDCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E) of the Julian calendar, the 1679th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 679th year of the 2nd millennium, the 79th year of the 17th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1670s decade. Note that the Julian day for 1679 is 10 calendar days difference, which continued to be used from 1582 until the complete conversion of the Gregorian calendar was entirely done in 1929.

Events

January–June

• January 24 – King Charles II of England dissolves the "Cavalier Parliament" after nearly 18 years.
• March 6–May 27 – In England, the "Habeas Corpus Parliament" (or "First Exclusion Parliament") meets. It is dissolved on July 12 while in recess by Royal prerogative to prevent it passing a Bill excluding the king's brother, the Catholic James, Duke of York, from the succession to the English throne as part of the Exclusion Crisis.
• May 27 – The Parliament of England passes the Habeas Corpus Act "for the better securing the liberty of the subject".
• June 1 – Battle of Drumclog: Scottish Covenanters defeat a small government force.
• June 4 – Armenia earthquake: A tremor with an estimated surface wave magnitude of 6.4 takes place in the Yerevan region of the Persian Empire.
• June 22 – Battle of Bothwell Bridge in Scotland: Royal forces led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and John Graham of Claverhouse subdue the Scottish Covenanters.

July–December

• August 7 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes.
• November 27 – A fire in Boston, Massachusetts, burns all of the warehouses, 80 houses, and all of the ships in the dockyards.

Date unknown

• The Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War (1679–84) starts with the Tibetan invasion of Ladakh.
• European explorers discover Niagara Falls.
• The city of Duluth, Minnesota, is founded. (citation needed)
• The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb reimposes jizya.
• Malpas Tunnel on the Canal du Midi in Hérault, France, Europe's first navigable canal tunnel, is excavated by Pierre-Paul Riquet (165 m, concrete lined).

Births

• January 24 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher (d. 1754)
• March 18 – Matthew Decker, English merchant and writer (d. 1749)
• May 29 – Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1731)
• August 22 – Pierre Guérin de Tencin, French cardinal (d. 1758)
• October 13 – Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (d. 1740)
• October 16 – Jan Dismas Zelenka, Bohemian composer (d. 1745)
• October 18 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem witch trials (d. 1716)
• date unknown
  • Firmin Abauzit, French scientist (d. 1767)
  • James Erskine, Lord Grange, Scottish judge (d. 1754)

Deaths

• January 1 – Jan Steen, Dutch painter
• March 16 – John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
• March 26 – Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (b. 1621)
• May 3 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (assassinated) (b. 1613)
• May 26 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1636)
• June 15 – Guillaume Courtois, French painter (b. 1628)
• July 11 – William Chamberlayne, English poet (b. 1619)
• August 6 – John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629)
• August 24 – Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)
• September 17 – John of Austria the Younger, Spanish general (b. 1629)
• October 12 – William Gurnall, English writer (b. 1617)
• October 26 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (b. 1621)
• November 19 – Roger Conant Massachusetts governor, founder of Salem, Massachusetts (b. 1592)
• December 4 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (b. 1588)
• December 31 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
• date unknown – Lady Anne Finch Conway, English philosopher (b. 1631)