Isaac Newton publishes "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica", setting out the laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Date given in the Julian calendar.
James II is deposed and William III and Mary II take the throne; the Bill of Rights of 1689 limits royal power and strengthens Parliament.
A coalition army led by King John III Sobieski of Poland relieves the siege of Vienna, defeating the Ottomans and halting their advance into Central Europe.
Using microscopes of his own making, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek describes single-celled organisms in water and reports them to the Royal Society.
European powers fight over the succession to the Spanish throne after the death of Charles II; the war ends with the treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt.
Tsar Peter I lays the foundations of Saint Petersburg at the mouth of the Neva; the city becomes Russia's capital in 1712.
The Kingdoms of England and Scotland unite as the Kingdom of Great Britain with a single parliament.