Explore 45 historical events from 1700–1709.
Charles Perrault was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier fol…
Charles Perrault, French author and academic (born 1628)
Samuel Pepys was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is now most renowned for the diary he kept for almo…
Samuel Pepys, English politician (born 1633)
Daniel Defoe was an English writer, journalist, merchant and spy. He is famous for his novels Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (1724)…
English writer Daniel Defoe was imprisoned for seditious libel after publishing a pamphlet that was perceived to satiris
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and theosopher.
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and theosopher (died 1782)
Margaret Fell or Margaret Fox was a founder and leading member of the Religious Society of Friends. Known popularly as the "mother of Quakerism," she is considered one of the Valia…
Margaret Fell, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (born 1614)
Jean Bart was a Franco-Flemish naval commander and privateer.
Jean Bart, French admiral (born 1651)
Zeb-un-Nissa was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Makhfi.
Zeb-un-Nissa, Mughal princess and poet (born 1638)
Dominique Bouhours was a French Jesuit priest, essayist, grammarian, and neo-classical critic. He was born and died in Paris.
Dominique Bouhours, French priest and critic (born 1628)
Carl Heinrich Graun was a German composer and tenor. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time.
Carl Heinrich Graun, German tenor and composer (died 1759)
William Emerson was an English mathematician. He was born in Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school.
William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (died 1782)
William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish privateer. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Du…
William Kidd, Scottish pirate (born 1645)
Madeleine de Scudéry, often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer.
Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (born 1607)
Charles Emmanuel III was Duke of Savoy, King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from his father's abdication on 3 September 1730 until his death in 1773. He was the pater…
Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia (died 1773)
The Academy of the Distrustful, or Distrustful Academy, is an academy of letters founded on 3 June 1700 in Barcelona as a Baroque literary and musical academy with the aim of promo…
Foundation of the Academy of the Distrustful in the library room of the Palau Dalmases in Barcelona
Gerard van Swieten was a Dutch physician who from 1745 was the personal physician of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and transformed the Austrian health service and medical un…
Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician (died 1772)
Luigi Vanvitelli, was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made …
Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect and engineer, designed the Palace of Caserta and Royal Palace of Milan (died 1773)
José de Escandón y Helguera, conde de Sierra was a Spanish fighter against indigenous people in New Spain and the founder and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander, which…
José de Escandón, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda, Spanish sergeant and politician (died 1770)
Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf was a German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church, founder of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, Christ…
Nicolaus Zinzendorf, German bishop and saint (died 1760)
Angelo Italia was an Italian Jesuit and Baroque architect, who was born in Licata and died in Palermo. He designed a number of churches in Sicily, and later worked to reconstruct t…
Angelo Italia, Italian architect (born 1628)
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of …
John Dryden, English poet, playwright, and critic (born 1631)
John Hale was the Puritan pastor of Beverly, Massachusetts, and took part in the Salem witch trials in 1692. He was one of the most prominent and influential ministers associated w…
John Hale, American minister (born 1636)