The monarchy is restored in England, Scotland and Ireland as Charles II returns to London to take the throne.
Date given in the Julian calendar.
A fire starting in a bakery on Pudding Lane destroys much of the medieval City of London, including Old St Paul's Cathedral.
Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes publishes in Rome a Vietnamese–Portuguese–Latin dictionary, a milestone in the development of the Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet.
Convicted of high treason, King Charles I is beheaded at Whitehall, London, and England becomes a republic.
The treaties of Westphalia end the Thirty Years' War and lay foundations for the modern concept of state sovereignty.
Using microscopes of his own making, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek describes single-celled organisms in water and reports them to the Royal Society.
A series of conflicts between the Royalists of Charles I and the Parliamentarians, ending in victory for Parliament under Oliver Cromwell.