Directory

1700 CE

A year defined by the death of Charles II of Spain igniting the succession crisis that would engulf Europe, the beginning of the Great Northern War as Russia, Denmark, and Saxony challenged Swedish dominance in the Baltic, and the continued expansion of colonial empires across the globe.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Charles II of Spain died on November 1, naming Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, as his successor, setting the stage for the War of the Spanish Succession.
  • Philip of Anjou was proclaimed King Philip V of Spain on November 24, uniting the French and Spanish crowns under the House of Bourbon.
  • The Treaty of Constantinople was signed between the Ottoman Empire and Russia, formally ending hostilities and ceding Azov to Russia.
  • Augustus II of Saxony-Poland invaded Swedish Livonia in February, opening the Great Northern War against the Swedish Empire.
  • Denmark-Norway joined the alliance against Sweden and invaded the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, a Swedish ally, in March.
  • William III of England negotiated the Second Partition Treaty with France to divide the Spanish Empire, but the treaty was rendered moot by Charles II's will.
  • The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb continued military campaigns in the Deccan region of India, attempting to subdue the Maratha kingdoms.
  • The Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick III, sought recognition as King in Prussia through negotiations with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.
  • The Dutch Republic maintained its role as a major commercial and diplomatic power, balancing alliances between England and France.
  • Tsar Peter I of Russia formed a secret alliance with Denmark and Saxony-Poland against Sweden through the Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye.

Conflict & Security

  • The Great Northern War began as Saxony besieged the Swedish-held city of Riga in Livonia in February.
  • Charles XII of Sweden, aged eighteen, responded to the Danish invasion by launching a bold amphibious assault on Copenhagen in August, forcing Denmark out of the war through the Treaty of Travendal.
  • The Battle of Narva was fought on November 30, where Charles XII of Sweden defeated a much larger Russian army under Tsar Peter I in a snowstorm.
  • Danish forces withdrew from the war after Charles XII's surprise attack on Zealand threatened Copenhagen directly.
  • The Treaty of Travendal was signed on August 18, ending Denmark-Norway's participation in the early phase of the Great Northern War.
  • Maratha guerrilla forces under various commanders continued to resist Mughal expansion in southern India.
  • Piracy remained a significant threat in the Caribbean and along Atlantic trade routes, disrupting colonial commerce.
  • The War of the Spanish Succession had not yet formally begun, but diplomatic tensions between France and the Grand Alliance powers escalated sharply.
  • Russian forces suffered a devastating defeat at Narva, losing most of their artillery and exposing the weaknesses of Peter I's unreformed army.
  • Border conflicts between English and French colonial settlers intensified along the frontiers of New England and New France.

Economy & Finance

  • The transatlantic slave trade continued to expand, with English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese ships transporting tens of thousands of enslaved Africans to the Americas.
  • The English East India Company maintained profitable trading posts along the coasts of India, dealing primarily in textiles, spices, and tea.
  • Silver mining in Spanish America, particularly at Potosi in modern-day Bolivia, remained a major source of global currency.
  • The Bank of England, established in 1694, continued to consolidate its role in financing English government debt and military expenditures.
  • Dutch commerce remained highly profitable, with Amsterdam serving as Europe's leading financial center and commodity exchange.
  • The French economy was strained by Louis XIV's military ambitions and the maintenance of the enormous Palace of Versailles.
  • Colonial plantation agriculture in the Caribbean produced vast quantities of sugar, tobacco, and indigo for European markets.
  • The Japanese economy flourished under the Tokugawa shogunate, with Osaka functioning as a major center of rice trading and merchant banking.
  • The wool trade remained central to the English economy, with strict protectionist laws restricting the export of raw wool.
  • Grain prices fluctuated across Europe due to variable harvests, affecting the livelihoods of the majority rural population.

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The construction of the Palace of Versailles continued with ongoing expansions and renovations under Louis XIV's direction.
  • Peter the Great began modernizing the Russian military, introducing Western European military training and organization.
  • The Eddystone Lighthouse, rebuilt in wood by Henry Winstanley, stood off the coast of Plymouth until it was destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.
  • Windmills and watermills remained the primary sources of mechanical power across Europe for grinding grain and processing textiles.
  • Canal networks in the Netherlands continued to serve as essential transportation and drainage infrastructure.
  • The development of the seed drill by Jethro Tull was underway in England, advancing agricultural mechanization.
  • Printing technology continued to spread, with presses operating in major cities across Europe and in several colonial settlements.
  • Shipbuilding techniques advanced as European navies competed to build larger and more heavily armed warships.
  • Road infrastructure across Europe remained poor, with most overland travel relying on unpaved paths that became impassable in wet weather.
  • Iron smelting using charcoal continued as the standard method of production, though the increasing scarcity of timber was driving experimentation with coal.

Science & Discovery

  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz established the Berlin Academy of Sciences, serving as its first president.
  • Isaac Newton served as Master of the Royal Mint, having been promoted from Warden in 1699, overseeing the currency of England.
  • The Berlin Academy of Sciences held its inaugural meeting on July 11, promoting scientific inquiry in the German states.
  • Edmond Halley continued his investigations into cometary orbits, building on his earlier astronomical work and correspondence with Newton.
  • The Dutch microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek continued his groundbreaking observations of microorganisms using single-lens microscopes.
  • Botanical gardens in Leiden, Oxford, and Paris served as centers for the study and classification of plant species from around the world.
  • European naturalists continued to catalog newly discovered species from the Americas, Africa, and Asia, expanding knowledge of global biodiversity.
  • The concept of atmospheric pressure and vacuum, demonstrated by experiments earlier in the century, continued to inform scientific investigation.
  • Astronomical observatories at Greenwich and Paris conducted regular observations to improve navigation and mapmaking.
  • Ole Romer, the Danish astronomer who had earlier estimated the speed of light, served as the Royal Astronomer in Copenhagen and worked on improving astronomical instruments.

Health & Medicine

  • Smallpox remained one of the deadliest diseases in Europe, killing an estimated four hundred thousand people annually across the continent.
  • The practice of variolation against smallpox was known in the Ottoman Empire and parts of Asia but had not yet been adopted in Western Europe.
  • Malaria was endemic in many parts of Europe, the Americas, and tropical regions, with cinchona bark used as the primary treatment.
  • Plague outbreaks continued to affect parts of Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire, though Western Europe had seen declining incidence.
  • Infant and child mortality remained extremely high, with roughly one in three children dying before the age of five across Europe.
  • Scurvy afflicted sailors on long voyages, though the connection to dietary deficiency of vitamin C was not yet scientifically established.
  • Surgical techniques remained rudimentary, with amputations performed without anesthesia and high rates of post-operative infection.
  • Apothecaries and herbalists provided the majority of medical care to common people, as trained physicians were few and expensive.
  • Bernardino Ramazzini published De Morbis Artificum Diatriba, a pioneering work on occupational diseases affecting workers in various trades.
  • Dysentery and typhus were major killers among military forces, causing more deaths than combat in most European conflicts.

Climate & Environment

  • Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was approximately 276 parts per million, as later confirmed by ice core analysis.
  • The period known as the Little Ice Age continued, bringing generally cooler temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere compared to later centuries.
  • European forests continued to shrink as timber was harvested extensively for shipbuilding, construction, and charcoal production.
  • The beaver population in North America was declining due to intensive trapping by European fur traders.
  • Deforestation in the Caribbean islands had advanced significantly due to centuries of sugar plantation agriculture.
  • Soil erosion affected agricultural lands in parts of China, where intensive farming practices depleted the land.
  • Flooding along major European rivers, including the Rhine and Danube, periodically devastated low-lying agricultural areas.
  • Whaling in the North Atlantic expanded as demand for whale oil for lighting grew in European cities.
  • The cod fisheries of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland attracted hundreds of European fishing vessels annually.
  • Volcanic activity around the world contributed to periodic climate fluctuations, though individual eruptions were not yet systematically recorded.

Culture & Society

  • William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World premiered in London, though it initially received a lukewarm reception from audiences.
  • The population of London reached approximately six hundred thousand, making it one of the largest cities in Europe.
  • The Asante Empire in West Africa was consolidating power under Osei Tutu, who unified the Akan states under the Golden Stool.
  • Japanese art and culture flourished during the Genroku period, with kabuki theater and ukiyo-e woodblock prints gaining wide popularity.
  • The Baroque style dominated European architecture, music, and visual arts, with elaborate ornamentation characterizing major works.
  • Coffee houses proliferated across European capitals, serving as centers of intellectual discussion, news exchange, and political debate.
  • Enslaved Africans constituted a growing proportion of the population in Caribbean and North American colonies.
  • The caste system and Hindu religious traditions continued to shape social organization across the Indian subcontinent.
  • Samuel Sewall published The Selling of Joseph, one of the earliest antislavery tracts in colonial America.
  • The world population was approximately 603 million.