Early Modern
Newton-Leibniz Calculus Controversy: Who Invented Calculus?
Historians now agree that Newton and Leibniz invented calculus independently; Newton first, Leibniz first to publish, with Leibniz's notation prevailing.
Region
Europe
Early Modern
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and the Huguenot Exodus
Protestant worship was banned in France; an estimated 150,000–200,000 Huguenots fled abroad, while most of the rest were forced into nominal Catholicism until toleration returned in 1787.
Early Modern
Monmouth Rebellion (1685): Sedgemoor and the Bloody Assizes
The rebel army was destroyed at Sedgemoor; Monmouth was beheaded and hundreds of his followers were executed or transported.
Early Modern
Newton's Principia (1687): Gravity and the Laws of Motion
Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation became the foundation of physics and astronomy for more than two centuries.
Early Modern
Nine Years' War (1688–1697): The Grand Alliance vs Louis XIV
A costly stalemate: by the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) France kept Strasbourg but returned most other gains and recognised William III as king of England.
Early Modern
William Dampier in Australia (1688 and 1699): Buccaneer Explorer
Dampier became the first Englishman known to land on and describe the Australian mainland, and his books shaped British interest in the Pacific.
Early Modern
Huguenot Settlers at the Cape (1688): French Refugees in Africa
About 200 French Protestant refugees settled at the Cape, quickly merged into the Dutch-speaking settler population and left a lasting mark on family names and farms.
Early Modern
Glorious Revolution (1688): William of Orange Takes the Throne
James II fled to France; Parliament offered the crown jointly to William and Mary with a Declaration of Right limiting royal power.
Early Modern
Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689): China and Russia Set a Border
Russia gave up the Amur valley and Albazin in return for regulated trade, and a border was fixed along the Argun River and the Stanovoy mountains.
Early Modern
John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1689): Natural Rights
Locke's theory of natural rights, government by consent and the right of resistance became a cornerstone of liberal political thought.
Early Modern
Siege of Derry (1689): The Apprentice Boys and the Walled City
The Protestant garrison held out until relief ships broke the boom across the River Foyle; the Jacobite army withdrew.
Early Modern
English Bill of Rights (1689): Limits on the Power of the Crown
Parliament declared the illegality of key royal powers, guaranteed parliamentary rights and settled the crown on Protestant heirs.