| * Boldface
titles indicate works in the anthology. |
TEXTS
|
CONTEXTS
|
| |
1660
Civil War in England ends with Charles II's ascension
to the throne (the "Restoration") |
| 1664
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière, Tartuffe
|
|
| |
1666
Isaac Newton uncovers laws of gravitation • London,
already stricken by plague, is destroyed in the Great
Fire and subsequently rebuilt in more orderly fashion
|
| 1665
François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections
|
|
| 1667
Publication of John Milton's Paradise
Lost |
|
| |
1670
The London-based Hudson's Bay Company is incorporated
by royal charter to trade in North America |
| 1677
Jean Racine, Phaedra |
|
| 1678
Marie de la Vergne de La Fayette, The Princess of
Clèves |
|
| 1690
John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding
|
|
| 1691
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Reply to
Sor Filotea de la Cruz |
|
| |
1694
Bank of England is chartered, forerunner of modern national
banks and treasury systems; London stock exchange follows
in 1698 |
| |
1697
Russian czar Peter the Great visits Western Europe and
England, resolves to Westernize Russia |
| |
1707
United Kingdom of Great Britain formed by union of England
and Scotland |
| |
1709
Up to 100,000 slaves a year cross the Atlantic, 20,000
to Britain's Caribbean colonies alone |
| 1710
First British copyright law, transferring rights of property
in a published work from publisher to author |
|
| 1717
Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
|
|
| 1719
Daniel Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe, often
called the first true novel in English |
|
| |
1721
J. S. Bach, The Brandenburg Concertos |
| 1726
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
|
|
| 1729
Swift, A Modest Proposal |
|
| 1733–1734
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
|
|
| 1751
First edition of French Encyclopédie,
edited by Denis Diderot |
|
| |
1753
British Museum founded |
| 1755
Samuel Johnson publishes the Dictionary of the English
Language, the first comprehensive English dictionary
on historical principles |
|
1759 François-Marie Arouet
de Voltaire, Candide •
Samuel Johnson, The History of Rasselas, Prince of
Abissinia |
1756–1763
Seven Years' War, involving nine European powers;
Britain acquires Canada and Florida, Spain gets Cuba and
the Philippines, France wins colonies in India and Africa
as well as Guadeloupe and Martinique |
| |
1765
James Watt, a Scott, invents the steam engine, first in
a series of mechanical innovations ushering in the industrial
revolution |
| 1771
First publication of Encyclopaedia Britannica
and complete French Encyclopédie testify
to characteristic "Enlightenment" impulse to
organize knowledge |
|
| |
1775–1783
American War of Independence; Declaration of Independence,
1776 • Constitution of the United States, 1787,
the year of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
|
| |
1789
French Revolution begins; French National Assembly adopts
the Declaration of the Rights of Man |
| 1792
Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of
Woman, makes feminist case for female equality |
|
| |
1799
After successful conquests throughout Europe, Napoleon
Bonaparte becomes first consul—in effect, dictator—of
France • Ludwig van Beethoven writes his first symphony
(1799–1800) |
 |
|
