January 14 » The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut.
March 13 » Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
April 14 » Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years' War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.
August 22 » Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers.
February 17 » Sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition are lost at Evangelistas Islets at the western end of the Strait of Magellan.
June 2 » Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
July 30 » Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
August 12 » Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.
September 19 » Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.
November 21 » The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: W. van Soom, "Family tree Van Soom", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-van-soom/I33303.php : accessed March 3, 2026), "Adrianus Ghijs (± 1609-1676)".
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