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Year
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Hint
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Answer
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1601
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This Nordic astronomer dies under mysterious circumstances in Prague
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Tycho Brahe
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1602
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Foundation of this Dutch mega-corporation
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Dutch East India Company
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1603
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This female monarch dies, having reigned since 1558
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Elizabeth I
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1604
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This supernova appears, named for the German astronomer who described it
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Kepler's Supernova
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1605
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First publication of this foundational Spanish novel
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Don Quixote
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1606
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This member of the Gunpowder Plot falls to his death from the scaffold before his execution
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Guy Fawkes
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1607
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This town is established, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas
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Jamestown
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1608
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Foundation of this city on the Saint Lawrence River
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Quebec City
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1609
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This English mariner explores what will become New York State
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Henry Hudson
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1610
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This Baroque painter dies in Tuscany
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Caravaggio
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1611
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This play, Shakespeare's last solo production, is performed for the first time
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The Tempest
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1612
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The astronomer Galileo discovers this planet but mistakenly classes it as a star
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Neptune
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1613
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This London theatre is destroyed by fire
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Globe
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1614
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Practice of this religion is banned in Japan
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Christianity
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1615
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The writings of this scientist are submitted to the Roman Inquisition for heresy
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Galileo Galilei
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1616
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This Native American woman is taken to London and becomes a celebrity
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Pocahontas
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1617
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The first use of one-way streets is documented in this city
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London
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1618
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This English adventurer is beheaded at the Palace of Westminster
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Sir Walter Raleigh
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1619
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This Holy Roman Emperor dies without leaving an heir
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Matthias
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1620
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This ship of Puritan colonists arrives in Massachusetts
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Mayflower
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1621
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A feast at Plymouth marks the first occasion of this North American holiday
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Thanksgiving
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1622
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Portuguese forces repel a Dutch invasion of this Asian city
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Macau
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1623
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First publication of this collection of Shakespeare's plays
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First Folio
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1624
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This Thomas Middleton play is banned for its allusions to the Spanish Match
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A Game at Chess
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1625
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A Dutch trading post is established on this island
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Manhattan
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1626
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The newly-crowned Charles I dissolves this institution
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Parliament
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1627
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This European species of wild cattle goes extinct
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Auroch
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1628
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This vessel sinks in Stockholm Harbour on her maiden voyage
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Vasa
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1629
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This Dutch ship is wrecked off Western Australia, leading to mutiny and massacre
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Batavia
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1630
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This major American city is founded
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Boston
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1631
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This explorer of Virginia dies in London
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John Smith
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1632
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Construction begins on this Asian monument
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Taj Mahal
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1633
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Jesuit missionaries are expelled from this African empire
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Ethiopia
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1634
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This Bohemian military leader is assassinated by soldiers in his own forces
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Albrecht von Wallenstein
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1635
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This Englishman dies at the alleged age of 152
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Old Tom Parr
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1636
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The foundation of this university, today one of the world's most prestigious
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Harvard
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1637
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This speculative economic bubble collapses in the Netherlands
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Tulip mania
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1638
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This European nation establishes a colony on the Delaware River
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Sweden
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1639
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Beginning of the _______ Wars between Scottish Royalists and Covenanters
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Bishops'
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1640
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A revolt breaks out in this Spanish region
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Catalonia
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1641
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A Dutch trading post is established in this Japanese city
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Nagasaki
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1642
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Rembrandt completes this painting, generally considered his masterpiece
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The Night Watch
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1643
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Evangelista Torricelli invents this device for measuring air pressure
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Barometer
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1644
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This dynasty rises to power in China, and will rule until 1912
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Qing dynasty
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1645
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The ___ _____ Army is established by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War
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New Model Army
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1646
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Defeat for the Royalists at the Battle of __________ in Devon
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Torrington
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1647
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Celebration of this religious festival is banned in England
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Christmas
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1648
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The Peace of Westphalia brings an end to this war
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Thirty Years' War
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1649
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This English king is beheaded in Whitehall
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Charles I
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1650
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This French philosopher dies in Stockholm
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Rene Descartes
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1651
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Thomas Hobbes publishes this treatise on society and government
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Leviathan
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1652
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The Dutch East India Company establishes this colony in Africa
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Cape Colony
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1653
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This dictator assumes control of the British Isles
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Oliver Cromwell
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1654
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This French philosopher experiences a religious vision which marks him for life
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Blaise Pascal
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1655
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Astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers this moon of Saturn
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Titan
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1656
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Birth of this English astronomer and mathematician
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Edmond Halley
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1657
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The Spanish treasure fleet is sunk by English ships in a raid on this island
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Tenerife
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1658
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This country's army marches across the frozen sea to attack its neighbour
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Sweden
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1659
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The first settlers arrive on this isolated Atlantic island
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St Helena
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1660
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This English parliamentarian begins keeping his famous diary
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Samuel Pepys
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1661
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The Treaty of Cardis ends hostilities between Sweden and this country
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Russia
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1662
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Final sighting of this now-extinct flightless bird
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Dodo
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1663
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John Eliot publishes a translation of this book in the Massachusett language
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Bible
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1664
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This new name is given by the English to the captured city of New Amsterdam
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New York
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1665
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An outbreak of this medieval disease in London kills tens of thousands
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Bubonic plague
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1666
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This European city is razed by fire
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London
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1667
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This English poet publishes his masterpiece, Paradise Lost
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John Milton
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1668
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England and the Netherlands enter a short-lived alliance with this third country
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Sweden
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1669
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The final formal meeting of this once-powerful league of Baltic merchants
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Hanseatic League
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1670
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This company is granted a royal charter to operate the fur trade in North America
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Hudson's Bay Company
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1671
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This drunken Irishman unsuccessfully attempts to steal the Crown Jewels in London
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Thomas Blood
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1672
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The __ ____ brothers are slaughtered by a mob in The Hague
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de Witt
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1673
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This English architect is knighted
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Sir Christopher Wren
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1674
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The skeletal remains of these princes are discovered at the Tower of London
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Princes in the Tower
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1675
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Construction begins on this London observatory
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Royal Greenwich
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1676
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This Virginia landholder instigates an uprising against the colonial government
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Nathaniel Bacon
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1677
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Missionary Louis Hennepin becomes the first European to see this waterfall
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Niagara Falls
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1678
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Paul Bunyan publishes the first part of this Christian allegory
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The Pilgrim's Progress
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1679
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The brigantine Le _______ is towed up the Niagara River to become the first ship to sail the Great Lakes
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Griffon
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1680
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This Marathi warrior-king dies of dysentery
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Shivaji
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1681
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This English priest is arrested for fabricating the Popish Plot
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Titus Oates
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1682
|
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The foundation of this city of brotherly love
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Philadelphia
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1683
|
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Defeat for the Ottoman Empire at this battle turns the tide of the Great Turkish War
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Battle of Vienna
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1684
|
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This future Russian empress is born into a peasant family
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Catherine I
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1685
|
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This battle is the last major engagement to be fought on English soil
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Battle of Sedgemoor
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1686
|
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Russia signs a peace treaty with this neighbouring country
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Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
|
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1687
|
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This English physicist publishes his three laws of motion
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Isaac Newton
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|
1688
|
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William III seizes the English throne in the ________ Revolution
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Glorious Revolution
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1689
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The English Bill of Rights bars adherents of this religion from the throne
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Catholicism
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1690
|
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The first paper money in North America is issued in this colony
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Massachusetts
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1691
|
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A Jacobite army departs Ireland, the Flight of the ____ _____
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Wild Geese
|
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1692
|
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An infamous massacre occurs in this Scottish glen
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Glen Coe
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1693
|
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This European island is devastated by an earthquake
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Sicily
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1694
|
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The foundation of this national bank
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Bank of England
|
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1695
|
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This unpopular tax is introduced in England
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Window tax
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1696
|
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The death at age 27 of this mentally and physically disabled Russian Tsar
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Ivan V
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1697
|
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Thomas Aikenhead becomes the last person in Great Britain executed for this crime
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Blasphemy
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1698
|
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The establishment of this short-lived Scottish colony in Central America
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Darien scheme
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1699
|
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This pirate is arrested in Boston
|
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William Kidd
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1700
|
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Most of Protestant Western Europe, barring Britain, begins using this calendar
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Gregorian
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