Early Modern
Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion (1609-1619): Elliptical Orbits
Kepler replaced circular orbits with ellipses and gave three precise laws of planetary motion, later explained by Newton's theory of gravitation.
Region
Europe
Early Modern
Galileo's Telescope and Sidereus Nuncius (1610): Moons of Jupiter
Galileo's observations of the Moon, the stars and Jupiter's four moons made the telescope a scientific instrument and strengthened the case for Copernicus.
Early Modern
Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay (1609): Missions of the Guaraní
Some thirty Guaraní mission towns flourished for over 150 years until the Spanish crown expelled the Jesuits in 1767, after which the towns declined.
Early Modern
Assassination of Henry IV of France (1610) by Ravaillac
Henry IV died within minutes; his eight-year-old son became Louis XIII, with Marie de' Medici as regent.
Early Modern
King James Bible (1611): The Authorized Version's Origins
A new English translation, printed in 1611, became the standard Bible of the English-speaking Protestant world for some three centuries.
Early Modern
Pendle Witch Trials (1612): England's Most Famous Witch Hunt
Ten people from the Pendle case were hanged, nine at Lancaster and one at York; another accused died in prison before trial.
Early Modern
Hasekura Tsunenaga (1613): A Samurai Embassy to Mexico and Rome
The embassy was received with honour in Madrid and Rome, but it failed to win a trade agreement, and Hasekura returned to a Japan that had banned Christianity.
Early Modern
Pocahontas (1613–1617): Captivity, Marriage and Death in England
Her capture and marriage brought a truce between the Powhatan and the English colonists; she died at Gravesend in March 1617, aged about 21.
Early Modern
Le Maire and Schouten Round Cape Horn (1616): A New Route
The expedition found a sea route into the Pacific south of Tierra del Fuego, outside the Dutch East India Company's monopoly, though the VOC seized its ship at Java.
Early Modern
Defenestration of Prague (1618): Spark of the Thirty Years' War
All three victims survived, but the act launched the Bohemian revolt against the Habsburgs and began the Thirty Years' War.
Early Modern
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648): Europe's Most Destructive War
The Peace of Westphalia ended the war in the Empire, recognised Calvinism, strengthened the German princes and gave territory to Sweden and France.
Early Modern
Founding of Batavia (1619): Jan Pieterszoon Coen Takes Jayakarta
The VOC seized and razed Jayakarta and built Batavia on its site, which became the headquarters of Dutch power in Asia for more than three centuries.