1601 – 1700
Spain
Portugal
In this period the Spanish and Portuguese expanded their influence in South America. The Spanish and Portuguese crowns were united 1580-1640. The Spanish continued their colony in the Philippines and the Portuguese at Macao.
The Netherlands
Dutch colonial activity began in this period with the incorporation of the Dutch East India Company in 1602. There were Dutch trading posts at the Cape of Good Hope, Cochin [South India], Colombo [Sri Lanka], Malacca [Malaya], Bantam [Java], Zeelandia [Taiwan] and Nagasaki [Japan]. Batavia, modern day Jakarta in Indonesia, was the Dutch Eastern headquarters. Dutch explorers reached as far as New Guinea and mapped Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. The Dutch West India Company was active in the Americas founding New Amsterdam in 1624 and also conquering Pernambuco, a coastal region of Brazil, in 1630. New Amsterdam was lost to the British in 1674 and the Brazilian territory was later retaken by the Portuguese in the 1650s leaving the Dutch in the West to focus on the Caribbean.
France
The French trading post in India was at Pondicherry on the eastern coast. In North America the French extended their hold from modern day Nova Scotia along the St Lawrence River to the Great Lakes - Quebec was founded in 1608 and Montreal in 1648. They descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and acquired the Caribbean islands of Guadaloupe, Martinique and Saint Domingue. There was also an outpost at Cayenne, on the South American main land in modern day Guiana.
England
The English East India Company was incorporated in 1600 and by the end of the century had trading stations at Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. There were also English settlements on the African coast in the Gambia and on the Gold Coast. Settlement in North America began with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and the Pilgrim Fathers in Massachusetts in 1620. Settlements followed in the Hudson Bay area, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and along the eastern coast. In the Caribbean the islands of the Bahamas, St Lucia and Barbados were English colonies in addition to Guiana.
Russia
The Grand Dutchy of Muscovy had already expanded considerably in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century Russian territory was extended to the East and South East across the Steppes of Asia as far as Anadyr. The empire also stretched South to the land of Kalmyks between the Black and Caspian Seas.
Events
General Events
| 1. | 1614 Japan | Christianity prohibited |
| 2. | 1639 Japan | “Closed Land” |
| 3. | 1648 Treaty of Westphalia | End of thirty years war |
| 4. | 1683 Vienna | Second siege of Vienna |
| 5 | 1685 France | Revocation of edict of Nantes |
Catholic Events
| 6. | 1658 Quebec | Bishopric established by French |
Jesuit Events
| 7. | 1603 Paraguay | Jesuit Reductions |
| 8. | 1600s North Mexico | Jesuits Missions |
| 9. | 1606 Madurai | Jesuit mission: De Nobili |
| 10. | 1670s California and Arizona | Eusebio Kino mission in present day California and Arizona |
| 11. | 1675 Chicago | Jacques Marquette dies near present day |
Dominican Events
| 12. | 1617 Lima | Rose of Lima dies |
| 13. | 1652 Brazil | Antonio Vieira |
Orthodox Events
| 14. | 1629 Istanbul | Cyril Lucarius issues Portestantising Confession of faith |
| 15. | 1642 Council of Jassy | Condemns Lucarius’ confession and approves Peter of Moghila’s Latinising one |
| 16. | 1666-7 Russia | Schism of the Old Believers |
| 17. | 1672 Council of Jerusalem | Approves latinising confession of faith of Dosithius |
Protestant Events
| 18. | 1620 Plymouth | Voyage of the Mayflower |
| 19. | 1646 New England | John Eliot |