Person report

★08 Apr 1630
Kiliaen van Rensselaer purchased land near present-day Albany, New York, to found the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which became the most successful patroonship under the Dutch West India Company system.

★18 Feb 1637
Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepted an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels and 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.

★13 May 1638
Construction began on the Red Fort in Delhi, the main residence of the Mughal emperors, now an iconic symbol of India.

★13 Dec 1643
First English Civil War: Roundhead forces serving under Sir William Waller led a successful surprise attack on a winter garrison of Royalist infantry and cavalry.

★03 Jun 1658
Pope Alexander VII appointed François de Laval as vicar apostolic of New France.

★29 Jun 1659
Russo-Polish War: The hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vyhovsky and his allies defeated the armies of Russian Tsardom led by Aleksey Trubetskoy at the Battle of Konotop in the present-day Sumy Oblast of Ukraine.

★08 Jul 1663
King Charles II of England granted John Clarke the Rhode Island Royal Charter, described by one historian as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed.".

★16 Dec 1689
The Parliament of England adopted the Bill of Rights, declaring that Englishmen possessed certain positive civil and political rights.

★13 Feb 1692
Nearly forty men from the Clan MacDonald of Glen Coe, Scotland, were massacred early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new joint monarchs, William III and Mary II.

★07 Jun 1692
An estimated 7.5 MW earthquake caused Port Royal, Jamaica, to sink below sea level and killed approximately 5,000 people.

Historical data by Wikipedia Contributors CC BY-SA 3.0.