XVII century

Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687). Isaac Newton's work marked a turning point in the history of science.

Political limits at the beginning of 1600.

The 17th century d. C. (seventeenth century AD) or 17th century and. c. (seventeenth century CE) was the seventh century of the second millennium in the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 1601 and ended on December 31, 1700. This century is the last that is a complete part of the Modern Age, which was characterized by the artistic movement known as Baroque, the last part of the Spanish Golden Age., the Dutch Golden Age, the dominance of France in Europe during the reign of Louis XIV, the scientific revolution and the Crisis of the 17th century. The biggest military conflicts of the century were the Thirty Years' War, the Great Turkish War, and the Luso-Dutch War. It is known as the «Baroque century».

The century was strongly marked by major crises and transformations that turned it into a time of setback in Europe, since the overall evolution of the economy and population was negative and agricultural production suffered successive crises. This caused a series of great famines that gave rise to the appearance of epidemics and plagues, causes of a series of wars such as the Thirty Years War.

Within the Islamic world, the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughal Empire grew stronger around the world. Especially in the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal Empire reached a height of culture, architecture and art. During the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb, the empire was crowned the world's largest economy, ahead of all of Europe, owning 25% of world GDP.

In Japan, at the turn of the century, the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokuwaga Shogunate, beginning the Edo period. He simultaneously put into effect the Sakoku, a foreign policy law which established that no Japanese could leave Japan and no foreigner could enter it. The Sakoku was kept in Japan until the 19th century. In China the Ming dynasty would end up collapsing, due to a series of looting led by the Manchu Nurhaci that would be ended by his son, Hung Taiji, and his grandson Shunzi. The latter would end up becoming emperor and founder of the Qing dynasty.

Since mid-century, European politics have been dominated by the reign of King Louis XIV of France. The territorial semi-feudal French nobility was subjugated to the power of an absolute monarchy through the rehabilitation of the Palace of Versailles. Hunting lodge of Louis XIII and from which Louis XIV built a renovated royal court from which he could control all the French nobility. During his reign, France expanded its borders, strengthened its military power and established itself as the main European power. During this century, the British monarchy became a merely symbolic institution, Parliament being the institution that exercised true political power. This system of parliamentary monarchy totally clashed with the rest of the European monarchies, which still shared the absolutist model.

By the end of the century, Europeans already knew about electricity, the telescope, the microscope, calculus, universal gravitation, Newton's laws of motion, atmospheric pressure, and calculating machines thanks to the work of early scientists of the Scientific Revolution, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, René Descartes, Pierre Fermat, Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Christiaan Huygens, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. It was also a period of development of culture in general, especially in theater, music, visual arts, and philosophy.

Events

1600s

Mapmundi of 1606, work of Willem Blaeu.

• 1601: The Battle (War or Conflict) of Kinsale, one of the most important wars or battles in Irish history.
• 1601: the court of King Felipe III of Spain moves from Madrid to Valladolid, staying in this city until 1606, when he returns to Madrid.
• 1602: The Dutch East India Company was founded, its success contributed or was due to the Dutch Golden Age.
• 1603: The Spanish Gabriel de Castilla is the first European to see the Antarctic.
• 1603: Elizabeth I die of England and it is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, joining the crowns of Scotland and England.
• 1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu takes control of Japan and establishes Shogunato Tokugawa, which governs the country until 1868.
• 1603-23: After the modernization of his army, Abbas I expands the Safavid Empire by capturing the territory of the Ottomans and Portuguese.
• 1605: The Conspiracy of the gunpowder fails in England.
• 1605: The first part of the Quixote.
• 1606: The long war between the Ottoman Empire and Austria ends with the Peace of Zsitvatorok.
• 1606: Captain Willem Janszoon and his crew aboard the ship Duyfken of the Dutch East Indies Company, they become the first Europeans to watch and disembark in Australia.
• 1607: It is founded Jamestown, Virginia, which becomes the first permanent English colony in North America.
• 1608: The City of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain in New France (present-day Canada).
• 1609: The Netherlands and Spain accept the Twelve Years Truce in the Eighty Years War.
• 1609: Pedro de Peralta, later governor of New Mexico, establishes the settlement of Santa Fe.
• 1609: Maximilian I, Duke and elector of Bavaria establishes the Catholic League.

1610s

• 1613: The Age of Inestability in Russia ends with the creation of the House of the Romans that was in force until 1916.
• 1615: On March 25, San Roque González de Santa Cruz founded the reduction of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Itapua, which later in 1621 will move to what is the current city of Encarnación, in the current department of Itapúa (Paraguay), of which is the capital.
• 1615: Part two published Quixote.
• 1616: The last Moors are expelled from Spain. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and William Shakespeare die.
• 1617: The Order of the Poor Regular Clerics of the Mother of God of the Pyas Schools is created, the first free schools of Europe, by San José de Calasanz.
• 1618: The Bohemia Rebellion precipitates the Thirty Years War, which devastates Europe between 1618 and 1648.
• 1618: The Manchus begin to invade China. His conquest will end up knocking down the Ming Dynasty.

1620s

• 1620: Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg defeats the rebellious Bohemians in the battle of the White Mountain.
• 1620: The Puritan pilgrims arrive in the Mayflower a Plymouth Rock, Corporal Cod, New England.
• 1623-32: Kösem Sultan becomes the first regent woman of the Ottoman Empire during the sultanate of her son Murad IV.
• 1624-42: As Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu centralizes power in France.
• 1625: New Amsterdam is founded by the Netherlands West Indies Company in North America.
• 1626: The present Basilica of Saint Peter of the Vatican City is finished.
• 1627: Cardinal Richelieu establishes the siege to Protestant La Rochelle that finally surrenders.
• 1627: Extinction of the uro, with the death of the last specimen in Poland.
• 1629: Cardinal Richelieu joined the Swedish Protestant forces in the Thirty Years War to counter the expansion of Fernando II in Habsburg.

1630s

• 1632: The Battle of Lützen, the Death of the King of Sweden Gustavo II Adolfo.
• 1633: Galileo Galilei comes to Rome for his judgment before the Inquisition.
• 1634: Battle of Nördlingen
• 1635: Centenary of the foundation of Lima
• 1635: the Franco-Spanish war begins
• 1637: Opens the San Cassiano Theatre in Venice, the first public opera theatre.
• 1637: Publication of the Address of the Method of René Descartes.
• 1638: Centenary of the foundation of Bogotá
• 1639-55: Wars of the Three Kingdoms, civil wars throughout Scotland, Ireland and England.

1640s

The battle of Rocroi.

The night round or The Military Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq1642. Oil on canvas; exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

• 1640: King Charles I of England is forced to call the Parliament because of the revolt of the Scots.
• 1640-68: The Portuguese Restoration War leads to the end of the Portuguese government under the House of Austria.
• 1640: Torture is prohibited in England.
• 1641: The Tokugawa shogunate institutes sakokualiens are expelled and no one is authorized to enter or leave Japan.
• 1641: The Irish rebellion.
• 1642: Isaac Newton was born the same year when Galileo Galilei died
• 1642: Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman makes the first registered European sighting of New Zealand.
• 1642-49: English Civil War; Carlos I is decapitated by Cromwell.
• 1642: The war of the Segadors in Catalonia stops.
• 1644: The Manchu conquest of China puts an end to the Ming Dynasty. The later Qing Dynasty ruled until 1912.
• 1644-74: The war of Char Bouba begins.
• 1648: The Peace of Westphalia puts an end to the war of the Thirty Years and the war of the Eighty Years, which marks the end of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire as the greatest European powers.
• 1648-53: Fronda, civil war in France.
• 1648-51: Kösem Sultan declared himself regent of the Ottoman Empire for the second time after presenting his minor grandson Mehmed IV as sultan.
• 1648-67: The War The Flood leaves Poland in ruins.
• 1648-69: The Ottomans capture Crete to the Venetians after the Candy site.
• 1648: After Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal is completed by his son Aurangzeb as ruler of the Mogol Empire.
• 1649: The great plague of Seville.
• 1649-53: conquest of Ireland by Cromwell.

1650s

• 1653: German composer Johann Pachelbel
• 1651 John the Baptist of La Salle was born priest, pedagogue and writer.
• 1659: Uprising of Catalonia, which would conclude with the Treaty of the Pyrenees. Nace Alessandro Scarlatti

1660s

Sultan Mehmed IV.

• 1660: The Commonwealth of England ends and the monarchy returns during the English Restoration.
• 1660: The Royal London Society is founded for the improvement of natural knowledge.
• 1661: The reign of Emperor Kangxi of China begins.
• 1662: Koxinga captures Taiwan from the Dutch and bases the Kingdom of Tungning. Queen until 1683.
• 1662: Jacques Aymar-Vernay is born, which will later reintroduce radiation to popular use in Europe.
• 1662: The dodo is extinguished.
• 1663: France has full political and military control over its colonial possessions in New France. Robert Hooke discovers through the microscope the cells.
• 1664: British troops capture New Amsterdam, renouncing New York.
• 1665: Great Plague of London.
• 1665: Portugal defeats the Kingdom of the Congo.
• 1666: The Great Fire of London.
• 1667-99: The great Turkish war stops the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe.
• 1668: The Lisbon Peace Treaty between Spain and Portugal recognizes Portugal as an independent country.

1670s

• 1670: The Hudson Bay Company is founded in Canada.
• 1672-76: Polish-Turkish war.
• 1672-78: French-Dutch War.
• 1673: Muere Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière).
• 1674: The Marathian Empire is founded in India by Shivaji.
• 1676: Russia and the Ottoman Empire begin Russian-Turkish wars.
• 1678: The Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi is born.

1680s

Crimean Tatar Soldier Fighting with a Soldier of the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania. That border remained in a semi-permanent state of war until the centuryXVIII. Juliusz Kossak Oil.

• 1680: The revolt of the native Pueblo led Spain to New Mexico until 1692.
• 1682: Peter the Great becomes ruler of Russia (exclusive zar in 1696).
• 1682: La Salle explores the length of the Mississippi River and demands Louisiana for France.
• 1683: China conquers the Kingdom of Tungning and annexation Taiwan.
• 1683: The battle of Vienna ends the hegemony of the Ottoman Empire in Southeast Europe.
• 1685: The Edict of Fontainebleau pursues Protestantism in France.
  King Charles II of England dies.
• 1685: German composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel are born
• 1687: Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
• 1688-89: After the Glorious Revolution, England becomes a constitutional monarchy, and the Dutch Republic falls into decline.
• 1695-97: The Great Alliance tries to stop the French expansion during the Nine Years War.
• 1689: The Treaty of Nérchinsk establishes a border between Russia and China.

1690s

• 1691: Signature of the Limerick Treaty that Ends the War of the Government of Ireland
• 1692: Trials for witchcraft are held in Salem, Massachusetts.
• 1693: The famine in France kills two million people.
• 1694: probable year of foundation of Guacara in Venezuela
• 1696: Famine in Finland eliminates nearly one third of the population.
• 1696: A company of 2500 settlers from the Kingdom of Scotland is part of the Panamanian isthmus to establish the "New Caledonia" in the Darién region as part of the Scottish Colonization of America.

• 1700: King Charles II dies the Habsburg dynasty or the House of Austria in Spain.

Politics

Louis XIV, dominant of European politics since the mid-century.

During the XVII century great transformations were experienced that would later mark the entire economy of the Western world. The Mediterranean world, which had seen its splendor in previous centuries, (Italy and Spain) was affected by a series of crises, plagues and famines that gave way to a great recession in their economies. That is why the area of influence politically speaking moved to the northwestern regions which saw splendor for the first time, such as France and the United Provinces. Colonial trade also developed, especially in England and the United Provinces where a commercial system led by private companies with state protection was created. He highlighted the East India Company founded in 1602. Due to the development of international trade, capitalism was established. At the same time, new economic doctrines arose such as mercantilism characterized by greater monetary circulation and the creation of powerful commercial companies. Mercantilism did not overvalue land ownership but instead attached importance to the combination of gold and silver by increasing exports and defending domestic production. This made governments want to be self-sufficient in raw materials, since what it was about was selling to others, but not buying from them. The kingdoms established a system in the border by which the products that came from other kingdoms were punished with heavy tariffs. Faced with this situation, the solution would be to gradually acquire territories to obtain raw materials directly without having to buy them from anyone, simply by colonizing them. This will give way to the formation of colonial empires in the future. The expansion of industry, commerce and financial activities also fostered the growing consolidation of the bourgeoisie still within a class society in which wealth was becoming a key factor to achieve a certain social position, this change was more marked in Protestant countries where the clergy had disappeared as an estate.

Most of the European conflicts stemmed from the Habsburgs' attempt to maintain their hegemony and the dominance of Catholicism. The most important of these was the Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648. The background can be found in the recent religious division of Europe with the appearance of Protestantism. For its part, Spain, which had maintained wars against France and enmity with England throughout the previous century, were sealed by the Pax Hispánica ratified by Felipe III. The situation of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire was more complex, Carlos V had left the Austrian part of his empire to his brother Fernando I to maintain a balance between Catholics and Protestants. Fernando I was succeeded by Rodolfo II and Matías I, but at the beginning of the century the situation became complicated, due to the fragmentation of the states that made up the Holy Roman Empire into independent ones. The princes wanted to have more power and freedom, so in 1608 the Protestant League was formed against the emperor and the German Holy League was created in 1609. Ferdinand II, who in the XV would end up becoming future emperor, he pursued an aggressive policy against the Protestants. The Bohemians, (inhabitants of the Bohemian region) and other territories erect Federico V as emperor and reject Ferdinand II. The trigger for the war was the Defenestration of Prague in 1618, in which two Catholic diplomats of the future Emperor Ferdinand II were thrown out of the window of the Hradcany castle by the Protestant bohemians who did not accept him as emperor. Faced with this situation, Fernando II asks for help from the Spanish king, Felipe III, who was from his family. It is then that the Pax Hispanica ends and the Hispanic monarchy enters into conflict with all its historical enemies, the United Provinces, France and England. The Thirty Years' War therefore took place on two sides, the Catholic and the Protestant. Thus, Spain and Austria, who were on the Catholic side, had to face England, the United Provinces, Sweden and Denmark. The situation remained more or less balanced until a turn in the war took place in 1635, when France, which was a Catholic country, joined the Protestant side to harm Spain. France at that time was governed by King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, faced with the possibility of getting rid of Spanish rule once and for all, they did not hesitate to ally themselves on the Protestant side. The first defeat that occurred was the famous Battle of Rocroi, which became the first major defeat of the invincible Spanish tercios. Finally, in 1648 the Peace of Westphalia ended the war with a clear victory for the Protestant side. The fall of the Habsburgs allowed the economies of the United Provinces and Sweden to rise, however the most benefited was France, which continued the war against Spain until the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.

Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War.

After the end of the war against Spain, France was crowned the great European power under the reign of Louis XIV. Under Louis XIV, France reached its political and economic zenith. The young monarch implemented the absolute monarchy by which all powers were concentrated in his person. His motto & # 34; The state is me! & # 34; exemplifies the absoluteness of his power. For this he created a powerful bureaucracy, a competent body of diplomats, as well as a permanent army, pioneering for the time and very similar to the current military corps. The only loose end that was missing to concentrate all the powers was the French nobility, which still had a territorial semi-feudal model. Louis XIV subjugated the nobility by keeping it in check at his own official residence, the Palace of Versailles, a symbol of royal power. His model would end up being imitated by all European monarchs. His main foreign policy idea was solely to benefit France and achieve European hegemony.

While in the rest of the continent, the French absolutist model spread. In England there was the establishment of a parliamentary monarchy. The origin of this process was found in the measures adopted by King Carlos I to cut the powers of Parliament, dominated by the Calvinists. These, led by Oliver Cromwell, staged a coup, leading to a civil war that would last from 1642 to 1649 that would end with the king being executed. Cromwell established a republic that ended up becoming a dictatorship. After his death, he would be succeeded by his son, Richard Cromwell, who would be forced to resign in 1659, due to pressure from the army and existing internal political problems. A year after his resignation, in 1660, the monarchy was restored with Carlos II, son of the king executed during the war. However, in 1688 a new uprising known as the Glorious Revolution took place, against the heir to Charles II, his brother, King James II, who was deposed and replaced on the throne by William of Orange, who accepted the declaration. of rights. This bill of rights was a document that curtailed the powers of the monarchy, guaranteed free elections, and granted broad powers to Parliament.

The Holy Roman Empire was weakened after the Peace of Westphalia, the many states that made up the empire became increasingly independent and the imperial figure was relegated to something merely honorary or almost symbolic. The United Provinces of the Netherlands were organized as a republic led by the stadtholder. Its commercial and maritime strength made the Netherlands one of the main European powers. The Baltic countries also established themselves as new powers, especially Sweden and Denmark, which had emerged victorious after the war.

Old friend eggs of Velázquez, painted in 1618 reflects the poverty of the Spanish society of the time.

For the Spanish monarchy, while the 16th century had been an era of splendor and political and demographic expansion, the 17th century became a period of political crisis, demographic stagnation and deep economic and social crisis. That is why the 17th century is usually associated with the decline of the Spanish monarchy, although many of the problems arose from the decisions taken in the previous century. Throughout the century, the Spanish economy suffered a deep crisis that mainly affected the Crown of Castile, which bore most of the high expenses of the monarchy's international policy. Agriculture experienced a severe crisis, the depopulation of the countryside was caused by the constant epidemics, the levies for the war and the transfer of peasants to the cities fleeing from the large tributes. For this reason and due to the lack of technical innovations, agricultural production decreased. The cottage industry experienced a great deterioration due to competition from cheaper European products and reduced consumption. Trade suffered a notable decline, the general crisis and wars caused the decline of Castilian fairs and trade with America. The Royal Treasury suffered a serious crisis, the increase in court expenses and the continuous wars, together with the decrease in gold and silver from America, left the Royal Treasury in a critical situation. The monarchy tried to get out of this situation with tax increases and with the sale of noble titles and public offices to individuals, all these measures had little success. The Spanish population had grown continuously during the 16th century but in the 17th century it suffered a serious stagnation. It is estimated that the population, which in 1600 was 8,700,000 inhabitants, was reduced to 7,000,000 at the end of the century. The main causes were plague epidemics, immigration to the New World, the expulsion of the Moors and permanent wars. The nobility increased their number by the sale of titles of nobility, before the crisis situation, the nobles increased the obligations and tributes of the peasants. The clergy also grew in numbers as many people entered religious life without any vocation, fleeing scarcity and hunger. The bourgeois groups suffered severely from the impact of the economic crisis, as did the artisans who saw many industries go bankrupt. The enormous empire of Felipe II was inherited by Felipe III, a monarch of few political gifts. The internal policy of his reign was characterized by the figure of the valid and his foreign policy by the search for peace after a period of continuous wars. Felipe III was a king with a weak character who inaugurated the practice of delegating government affairs to a minister or man called a favorite or valid. Felipe III's favorite was the Duke of Lerma, concerned more with his interests than with government affairs and who was replaced in 1618 by his son, the Duke of Uceda. During this reign the economic problems continued to worsen, which is why in 1607 there was a new bankruptcy. One of the measures adopted by the Duke of Lerma was the expulsion of the Moors in the year 1609, a decision that had disastrous demographic and economic effects. Felipe III was succeeded by his son Felipe IV, who delegated to the valid, Count-Duke of Olivares whose priority objective was to achieve hegemony in Europe, for this he needed to carry out reforms in the monarchy so that all the territories contributed to the expenses, since these fell mainly on the Crown of Castile, said project received the name of Great Memorial and was presented in 1624. Olivares increased taxes, tried to cut autonomy and distribute military expenses among all the peninsular kingdoms through his project Arms Union. Olivares's measures provoked the revolt of Catalonia in 1640, which asked France for help, and in Portugal the Duke of Braganza proclaimed himself king, ratifying independence. All this caused great wars that managed to recover Catalonia in 1652, but not Portugal, which signed its independence with the Spanish monarchy in 1668.

Science

Galileo Galilei

Math

For most of the century, mathematicians began to apply quantitative measures to the measurement of physical phenomena on Earth. Galileo was adamant that mathematics provided a kind of necessary certainty comparable to God's: "...with regard to those few [mathematical propositions] which the human understanding understands, I believe that their knowledge is equal to that of Divine in objective certainty..."

While medieval natural philosophers used mathematical problems, they limited social studies to theoretical analyzes of local velocity and other aspects of life. The current measurement of a physical quantity, and the comparison of that measurement with a value calculated on the basis of theory, was largely limited to the mathematical disciplines of astronomy and optics in Europe.

Aristotle recognized four types of causes, and where applicable, the most important of these is the "final cause". The final cause was the goal, aim, or purpose of some natural or man-made process. Until the scientific revolution, it was quite natural to see such goals as, for example, the growth of a child, leading to a mature adult. Intelligence was assumed only for the purpose of artificial artifacts; it was not attributed either to other animals or to nature.

In "mechanical philosophy" o Mechanism no field or action is allowed at a distance, the particles or corpuscles of matter are fundamentally inert. The movement is caused by direct physical collision. Where natural substances had previously been understood to be organic in nature, mechanical philosophers considered them to be machines. As a result, Isaac Newton's theory seemed like something of a throwback to "spooky action at a distance." According to Thomas Kuhn, he and Descartes held to the teleological principle that God conserved momentum in the universe:

"Gravity, interpreted as an innate attraction between each pair of particles of matter, was an occult quality in the same sense that the "tendency to fall" of the scholastics... By the middle of the eighteenth century that interpretation had been almost universally accepted, and the result was a genuine reversion (which is not the same as a setback) to a scholastic standard. Innate attractions and repulsions united size, shape, position, and motion as primary physically irreducible properties of matter."

Newton had also specifically attributed the inherent power of inertia to matter, against the mechanistic thesis that matter has no inherent powers. But while Newton vehemently denied gravity was an inherent power of matter, his collaborator Roger Cotes made gravity also an inherent power of matter, as stated in his famous preface to the 1713 second edition of Principia which he corrected and which contradicted Newton himself. And it was Cotes's interpretation of gravity rather than Newton's that came to be accepted.

Physics

Optics

Isaac Newton

Major work was done in the field of optics. In 1604, Johannes Kepler published Astronomiae Pars Optica. In it he described the inverse square law that governs the intensity of light, reflection by flat and curved mirrors, and the principles of pinhole cameras, as well as astronomical implications of optics such as parallax and the apparent size of mirrors. celestial bodies. Astronomiae Pars Optica is generally recognized as the foundation of modern optics (although the law of refraction is conspicuously absent).

Willebrord Snellius (1580-1626) found in 1621 the mathematical law of refraction, known in the XX century and XXI as Snell's law. Subsequently, René Descartes (1596-1650) showed, using geometric construction and the law of refraction (also known as Descartes' law) that the angular radius of a rainbow is 42° (i.e., the angle subtended in the eye by the edge of the rainbow and the center of the rainbow is 42°). He also independently discovered the law of reflection, and his essay on optics was the first published mention of this law.

Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) wrote several works in the area of optics. These included Opera reliqua (also known as Christiani Hugenii Zuilichemii, dum viveret Zelhemii toparchae, opuscula posthuma) and the Traité de la lumière.

Isaac Newton investigated the refraction of light, showing that a prism could break white light into a spectrum of colors, and that a lens and a second prism could break the multicolor spectrum into white light. He also showed that colored light does not change its properties by splitting a colored beam and shining it on various objects. Newton noted that regardless of whether it was reflected, scattered, or transmitted, it remained the same color. Thus, he observed that color is the result of objects interacting with already colored light rather than the objects generating the color. This is known as Newton's color theory. From this work he concluded that any refracting telescope would suffer from dispersion of colored light. Interest from the Royal Society encouraged him to publish his notes On Colour (later expanded into Opticks). Newton argued that light is composed of particles or corpuscles and these are refracted by accelerating towards the denser medium, but he had to associate them with waves to explain the diffraction of light.

In his Light Hypothesis of 1675, Newton postulated the existence of the ether to transmit forces between particles. In 1704, Newton published Opticks, where he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. He considered that light was composed of extremely fine corpuscles, that ordinary matter was made of coarser corpuscles, and he speculated that through a kind of alchemical transmutation "are not coarse bodies and light convertible into each other?".and bodies cannot receive much of their activity from the Particles of Light that enter into their Composition?"

Electricity

Dr. William Gilbert, in De Magnete, invented the new Latin word electricus from ἤλεκτρον (elektron), the Greek word for "amber". Gilbert undertook a series of careful electrical experiments, in the course of which he discovered that many substances other than amber, such as sulfur, wax, glass, etc., ¹⁰⁹ were capable of manifesting properties electrical. Gilbert also discovered that a heated body lost its electricity and that humidity prevented the electrification of all bodies, due to the now well-known fact that humidity disturbed the insulation of such bodies. He also noted that electrified substances indiscriminately attracted all other substances, whereas a magnet only attracted iron. The many discoveries of this nature earned Gilbert the title of founder of electrical science.¹¹⁰ In investigating the forces on a light metal needle, balanced at one point, he expanded the list of electric bodies and also found that many substances, including metals and natural magnets, did not exhibit attractive forces when rubbed together. He observed that dry weather with a northerly or easterly wind was the most favorable weather condition for exhibiting electrical phenomena—an observation susceptible to misconceptions until the difference between conductor and insulator was understood.¹¹¹

Robert Boyle also worked frequently on the new science of electricity, and added several substances to Gilbert's list of electricians. He left a detailed account of his investigations under the title Experiments on the Origin of Electricity.¹¹¹ Boyle, in 1675, stated that the Electrical attraction and repulsion can act through a vacuum. One of his important discoveries was that electrified bodies in a vacuum would attract light substances, indicating that the electrical effect did not depend on air as a medium. He also added rosin to the then well-known list of electrics ^{109 110 112 113 114} This was followed in 1660 by Otto von Guericke who invented a primitive electrostatic generator. By the late 17th century, researchers had developed practical means of generating electricity by friction with an electrostatic generator, but the development of Electrostatic machines did not begin in earnest until the 18th century, when they became fundamental tools in studies of the new Science of electricity. The first use of the word electricity is attributed to Sir Thomas Browne in his 1646 work, Pseudodoxia Epidemica. In 1729, Stephen Gray (1666-1736) demonstrated that electricity could be "transmitted" by electricity. through metallic filaments.

Astronomy

Johannes Kepler

Heliocentrism

For nearly five millennia, the geocentric model of Earth as the center of the universe was accepted by virtually all but a few astronomers. In Aristotle's cosmology, the central location of the Earth was perhaps less significant than its identification as a realm of imperfection, inconstancy, irregularity, and change, as opposed to the 'heavens'; (Moon, Sun, planets, stars) considered perfect and permanent, immutable, and in religious thought, the realm of celestial beings. The Earth was composed of different material, the four elements "earth", "water", "fire" and "air", while far enough above its surface (approximately the orbit of the Moon), were the heavens composed of a different substance, called "Aether". The heliocentric model that replaced it implied not only the radical displacement of the Earth into an orbit around the Sun, but its sharing with the other planets implied a universe of celestial components made of the same changing substances as the Earth. Celestial movements no longer needed to be governed by a theoretical perfection, confined to circular orbits.

Copernicus' 1543 work on the heliocentric model of the solar system attempted to show that the sun was the center of the universe. Few were bothered by this suggestion, and the pope and several archbishops were quite interested in this model, wanting more detail. Later, his model was used to create the calendar of Pope Gregory XIII. However, the idea that the earth moved around the sun was disputed by most of Copernicus's contemporaries. It contradicted not only empirical observation, by the absence of an observable stellar parallax, but more significantly at the time, the authority of Aristotle.

The discoveries of Johannes Kepler and Galileo gave credibility to the theory. Kepler was an astronomer who, using the exact observations of Tycho Brahe, proposed that the planets move around the sun not in circular orbits, but in elliptical ones. Along with his other laws of planetary motion, this enabled him to create a model of the solar system that was an improvement over Copernicus's original system. Galileo's main contributions to the acceptance of the heliocentric system were his mechanics, the observations he made with his telescope, as well as his detailed presentation of the case for the system. Using a primitive theory of inertia, Galileo was able to explain why rocks falling from a tower fall downward even if the earth rotates. His observations of the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, the spots on the sun, and the mountains on the moon helped to discredit Aristotelian philosophy and the Ptolemaic theory of the solar system. Through their combined discoveries, the heliocentric system gained support, and by the end of the 17th century it was generally accepted by astronomers.

Edmund Halley, Halley comet discoverer

This work culminated in the work of Isaac Newton. Newton's Principia formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which dominated scientists' view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. By deriving Kepler's laws of planetary motion from his mathematical description of gravity, and then using the same principles to explain the paths of comets, the tides, the precession of the equinoxes, and other phenomena, Newton removed the last doubts about the validity of the heliocentric model of the cosmos. This work also demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies could be described by the same principles. His prediction that the Earth should have the shape of an oval spheroid was later vindicated by other scientists. His laws of motion were to be the solid foundation of mechanics; his law of universal gravitation combined with terrestrial and celestial mechanics into a great system that seemed to be capable of describing the entire world in mathematical formulas.

In addition to proving the heliocentric model, Newton also developed the theory of gravitation. In 1679, he began to consider gravitation and its effect on the orbits of the planets with reference to Kepler's laws of planetary motion. This followed the stimulation of a brief exchange of letters in 1679-80 with Robert Hooke, who had been appointed to handle the Royal Society's correspondence and who opened a correspondence intended to obtain Newton's contributions to Royal Society transactions. Newton's awakening interest in astronomical matters was further stimulated by the appearance of a comet in the winter of 1680-1681, which corresponded with John Flamsteed.⁸⁸ After exchanges with Hooke, Newton produced proofs that the elliptical shape of planetary orbits would result from a centripetal force inversely proportional to the square of the radius vector (see Newton's law of universal gravitation - History and De motu corporum in gyrum). Newton communicated his results to Edmond Halley and the Royal Society in De motu corporum in gyrum, of 1684. ⁸⁹ This stretch contained the core that Newton developed and expanded to form the Beginning.

The Principia was published on July 5, 1687 with the encouragement and financial assistance of Edmond Halley. In this work, Three Universal Laws of Motion stated the three universal laws of motion that contributed to many advances during the Industrial Revolution that followed and were not improved upon for over 200 years. Many of these advances remain the foundations of non-relativistic technologies in the modern world. He used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the effect that would become known as gravity, and defined the law of universal gravitation.

Newton's postulate of an invisible force capable of acting over vast distances led him to come under fire for introducing "hidden organisms" in science. Later, in the second edition of the Principia (1713), Newton firmly rejected such criticisms in a conclusive General Scholium, writing that it was enough that the phenomena involved gravitational attraction, as they did; But so far they did not indicate its cause, and it was unnecessary and inappropriate to frame hypotheses for things that were not implicit in the phenomena. (Here Newton used what became his famous expression & # 34; hypothesis I do not pretend & # 34;).

At one point it was necessary to confront two contemporary systems (Descartes-Newton) in the conception of the natural world:⁹⁴

• Descartes, Principia philosophiae (1644), despite its undoubted modernity, maintains the legacy of the past philosophy anchored in divine forms and proposes a method based on deduction from principles, innate ideas, essential and divine forms as "principles of thought".⁹⁵ The world is a deterministic “mechanism” governed by certain laws that can be known as science through a rigorous method of analysis based on obvious intuitions. It is the definitive consecration of the new science, the triumph of medieval anti-aristotelism, the heliocentric image of the world, the overcoming of the division of the universe into subluding world and supraluding into a single mechanical universe.
• Newton, Principia Mathematica philosophiae naturalis(1687). Keeping the previous spirit however takes a step further: the deep rejection of the Cartesian hypothesis of the vortices. Mechanistic science is reduced to mathematical calculation from the mere experience of the facts observed on an unchanging time-space.

Both one and the other took for granted the accuracy of deterministic natural laws founded on the will of God the creator. But while Descartes' determinism is justified in the rigorous method of ideas based on hypotheses about the observed regularities, Newton constituted the foundation of said regularities and the necessity of it in the very "observation of the facts." While one maintained a concept of "deductive" science, the other presented himself as a true "inductivist," Hypotheses non fingo.

Music

Johann sebastian Bach, top representative of baroque music

Baroque music or music of the Baroque is the European musical style, related to the homonymous cultural era, which spanned the entire century. It is one of the styles of what is generally called classical or cultured European music, preceded by the music of the Renaissance and followed by the music of Classicism. Characterized by the appearance of tonality and the use of the basso continuo, the Baroque was the time in which musical forms such as the sonata, the concerto and the opera were created. Among the Baroque musicians are Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Antonio Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Arcangelo Corelli, Claudio Monteverdi. The term baroque was taken from architecture, where it designated something "twisted", a "heavy, elaborate, wrapped" construction (the original term being "barrueco" or "berrueco", a Lusism that described a deformed pearl or false jewel). In the 18th century it was used in a pejorative sense to describe the characteristics of the musical style of the previous century, which was considered "coarse, strange, rough and old-fashioned."

The main characteristics of the music of the Baroque era are:

• The polarization of the texture towards extreme voices (aguda and grave). Although four and five voices are still written, these are no longer of similar importance, but the higher voice and the bass stand out, abbreviating the writing of the intermediaries in the so-called continuum bass; this texture is usually called bipolar or accompanied monodia.
• The obligatory presence of the continuum bass: along with the most serious melodic line (the bass) are written some figures that summarize the harmony of the higher voices. The continuous bass was usually interpreted by one or more serious melodic instruments (violonchelo, viola da gamba, fagot...) plus a harmonic instrument that improvised the chords (key, archilaúd, positive organ, baroque guitar, harp, thorb...).
• The development of the tonal harmony, in which the melodic movement of the voices is subordinate to the progression of functional chords, armed from the continuous bass. Harmonic rhythm is fast (frequent change of chord).
• The rhythm of the bass itself establishes a clear and simple compass (be it binary or tender), very uniform, even mechanical.
• The development of a different instrumental language of the vowel, with adaptation of musical writing to each type of instrument (idiom writing). In the opera theatres the orchestra appears, with predominance of rugged string instruments, base of the current symphonic orchestra.
• The appearance of new vocal and instrumental forms: the opera, the oratory and the singing between the first, and the concert, the sonata, the orchestra and the suite between the second.
• The taste for the strong sound contrasts (between choirs, between instrumental families or between soloist and orchestra), materialized in the polycorality and the "concerning style", by opposition to the uniformity of textures and wiles usual in the Renaissance.
• The wide space left to improvisation, both in free works and in the already written ones, in the form of ornamentation.

Baroque aesthetics and function

A style that emerged in the midst of the struggle between the Lutheran Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, music was used in the Baroque as a means of propaganda by competing churches and by the high nobility, the only institutions (together with some free cities) capable of maintain a chapel of professional musicians. Music becomes essential for any activity, so the musician becomes one more servant of those who accompanied the nobles. As a result of these aims, as in other arts of the time, it was an expressive and theatrical aesthetic: profusion in the use of ornamentation, drama, use of resources for pomp and splendor in public shows, strong sound contrasts...

The transmission of emotions was organized through the theory of affects and rhetoric, which transfers concepts from traditional oratory to the composition of musical discourse. In the vocal genres, music is subordinated to poetry, since its purpose is to reinforce the transmission of meaning and feelings linked to the word; The most successful show, and one that best summarizes the taste and aesthetics of the time, will be the opera, a fusion of poetry, music and theater. Clarity in the diction of the texts is therefore a fundamental condition, imposed both in religious music and in theatrical music (appearance of the recitative style).

Genre and forms

The emancipation of instrumental music from vocal music leads to a clear separation between instrumental genres and vocal genres. Instrumental music soon reached its maturity with the creation of forms such as the sonata, the concert and the suite, of great later importance.

Vocal genres were already divided at the time between theatrical and religious: among the former is the great creation of the musical Baroque, the opera, while new forms such as the oratorio and the cantata are ascribed to the religious, along with old ones. like the motet and the mass.

Claudio Monteverdi, opera promoter.

Opera

The humanist currents, in particular the [Florentine Camerata], were already looking for an update of the ancient Greek theater at the end of the 16th century, basing themselves, however, on recent musical forms, such as liturgical drama, pastoral drama, madrigalesque comedies with figures from the commedia dell'arte and theatrical intermezzi. Successive experiments in which vocal music was combined with dance and spoken theater scenes finally forged a musically continuous spectacle, in which these spoken scenes were replaced by recitatives: opera was born. Among the first are Dafne by Jacopo Peri, of whose music only a few fragments survive and whose theme was significantly taken from Metamorphoses by Ovid, and Eurydice , also by Jacopo Peri, which has been preserved in its entirety in its 1600 edition. But it was Monteverdi with his Orfeo (1607) who consolidated the form.

The subsequent evolution and its fusion with other musical-theatrical forms ended up turning baroque opera into a theatrical performance entirely set to music in which numbers of four types follow one another:

• Recitatives, in which the singers advance the dialogues of the dramatic work in a silabic song just accompanied by the continuum bass.

• Arias, the real musical core of the opera. They are lyrical and very elaborate, often virtuous, soloist numbers at the service of the singer's mourning and the pure musical delight (even at the expense of the theatrical discourse, here suspended). Towards the end of the period was imposed the form A-B-A, called aria da capo.

• Instrumental numbers executed by the orchestra from the pit, such as the initial symphony and, above all, the dances danced on stage.

• Coros, usually four voices, imitating the choirs of the Greek theater.

Opera established itself as the great spectacle of the day throughout Europe: as well as throughout Italy, they were performed regularly in places such as Vienna, London, Hamburg, Dresden, Hannover, Munich and Paris. With the notable exception of France, Italian continued to be the language of librettos, and the theme was almost always mythological: it was the so-called opera seria, the arena of triumph for composers with claims to success in the Baroque.

In parallel, more popular musical-theatrical genres appeared, in the vernacular, with contemporary (often lower-class) characters, sometimes humorous plots, and spoken passages instead of recitatives. These shows were introduced either as an intermission between the acts of opera seria or as independent works; they received different names in each country: singspiel (Germany), zarzuela (Spain), opera buffa and intermezzi (Italy), opéra -comique (France), etc.

Oratory

Musically almost identical to opera (although with more emphasis on choruses), it often had a religious theme and was not staged (that is, it was performed in the manner of today's "concert versions"). Unlike opera, almost always in Italian, oratorios were usually written in the vernacular. The most famous example is Händel's Messiah.

A particular case of oratorio, represented in the Protestant churches of the time, was the Passion, a long-playing work that recounted, in recitative, the Gospel text of the Passion of Jesus Christ, with inserted arias and chorales. Bach's St. Matthew Passion is his most illustrious example.

Cantata

The assumption of monody, recitative and concerto style by church music gave rise to a new musical form, the cantata, a work for liturgical use that interspersed instrumental symphonies, recitatives, arias and choruses. The composition and performance of new religious cantatas in the vernacular was part of the daily obligations of musicians from Lutheran countries, in the case of Bach in Leipzig: there he composed more than two hundred.

Secular cantatas were also written, a kind of chamber mini-opera usually formed by the sequence Recitative-Aria-Recitative-Aria. They often have an avant-garde character because they are aimed at a select and educated audience. Although Alessandro Scarlatti was the most prolific author of the genre, ² the Cantata del café by Bach or those composed by Händel, in Italian, during the stay of he in Rome.

Antonio Vivaldi

Suite

A suite is a succession of movements or dance pieces that are performed in a row (in French, suite). His classic minimal sequence included:

• Allemande: German dance of quaternary and moderate tempo.
• Courant: movement that is usually a little faster than the previous one, of calfs and frequent hemiolias.
• Sarabande: slow dance of calfs that accentuates its second pulse, of Spanish origin.
• Giga: fast dance in various compass of ternary subdivision, of Irish origin.

To which an initial overture could be added plus other dances after the jig, freely chosen, such as:

• Minue: of calfs like the waltz. The suite usually contains two paired minués.
• Rondo: small piece based on repetition of a theme (A), with intrusions (B, C, D, etc.). Of aristocratic character, vigorously and very sophisticated in the melodic, the suite was derived from the cour ballets of the French court of Versailles and eventually infiltrated into all the French, German and even Italian instrumental music, both for soloist instruments (clavicémbalo, laúd, tiorba) and for chamber groups or orchestral ensemble. His transformation into cameristic music stylized his pieces at the expense of his original dance character.

Literature

1605: First edition Quixote.

The literature of the century is characterized by the triumph of ornamentation, puns, the search for emotion and aesthetic pleasure. Unlike the Renaissance, the Baroque is characterized by the idea of disappointment and pessimism. The frequent themes in this literature are life as a struggle, dream or lie and the transience of human events, captured in a sumptuous and ornate style. Baroque literature makes excessive use of adjectives, hyperbaton, ellipsis, metaphor, periphrasis, antithesis and mythological allusions.

Baroque literature manifested itself in different ways, from the Eufuism of the English poets, Preciosism in France, Marinism in Italy, the First and Second Silesian schools in Germany, and Conceptism and Culteranismo in Spain. Among the Baroque writers are, in Spanish, Luis de Góngora, Francisco de Quevedo, Sor Juana, Bernardo de Balbuena; in Catalan Francesc Fontanella, Francesc Vicenç Garcia, Josep Romaguera; in Portuguese António Vieira, Gregório de Matos, Francisco Rodrigues Lobo; in English, the metaphysical poets John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, and in German Andreas Gryphius and Angelus Silesius.

In Spain, the Baroque coincides with the Golden Age. Themes of love, honor, religion (with the ongoing counter-reformation) and satire dominate. In poetry, the controversy between Conceptism and Culteranismo alternates with the discovery of new strophic forms and the continuation of the Renaissance sonnet. The novel lives a period of maximum splendor, with the works of Cervantes and a large number of subgenres (where the picaresque novel stands out). Comedies and "autos sacramentales" or dramatizations of biblical passages. Pedro Calderón de la Barca mixes the rules of comedy with serious themes and makes Hispanic tragedy evolve.

Baroque burlesque comedy in Catalan contained a series of singular and characteristic elements that made it evident as a theatrical subgenre different from what until now had been classified as "sitcom. The burlesque comedy is the parody of the Castilian baroque comedies, that is, a mockery of the topics, characters and resources of the "new comedy" promoted by Lope de Vega in his treatise New art of making comedies in this time (1609). The distortion of all these elements so characteristic of the Spanish scene, the clichés and stage resources were understood by the public of the time as an exaggerated and incoherent way of breaking the model imposed by the Castilian theater. The noble characters are ridiculed, they act in an unexpected way by the public, they use rude language, puns that create ridiculous situations, there is no lack of scatological and grotesque descriptions or obscene double meanings. It includes works such as La gala està en son punt (1625) by an anonymous author, and La infanta Tellina i el rei Matarot and Los amors de Melisenda of the friar Francesc Mulet.

Demography and statistics in Spain

The population of central Spain, the most dense and thriving and with the highest density of large and medium-sized cities, begins to decline from 1580 and has a prolonged decline during the century XVII, due among other causes to American emigration, numerous epidemics, a celibacy rate of up to 10% of the population and the expulsion of the Moors. The Cantabrian coast and Catalonia maintain some growth.

The center of Spain loses one million inhabitants, but the population remains on the periphery, so that overall it probably decreases by one million inhabitants in the century and changes its geographical distribution: in the future, the center will be depopulated, except Madrid; and the periphery, densely populated.

Thus, at the time of the expulsion of the Moors (1609-1610) there are an estimated 8,485,000 inhabitants, of whom 1 430 000 in the Crown of Aragon, while for 1717 the estimated 7 500 000 inhabitants, 1,500,000 in the Crown of Aragon, that is, the same or more than in 1610. Depopulation had occurred in the center.

Culture of the 17th century

The 17th century is of unparalleled splendor, because it allows this time to break free from the ties coming from the Middle Ages.

The Renaissance of the XVI century is the gateway so that in the 100 years that ran from 1600 to 1700 the society could get rid of the old mold that implanted rigid methods of behavior and action specially imposed by the Church.

By breaking these old molds, it was possible to get out of the rigidity of linear structures and print new forms of movement, especially in the field of the arts, where they could be painting, sculpture and architecture. This advance of imprinting movement, rescuing celestial forms through ornamentation, and the transition from the static to the dynamic is seen as the Baroque style, which is a modern style that leaves behind the mannerism of the previous century.

The baroque that is presented in different artistic manifestations including literature in its two aspects culteranismo and conceptismo, allows the society of that time to take root in a new lifestyle, in which it adapts and accepts living under constantly changing situations.

Some manifestations as bridges between different municipalities such as the Roa-Riaza bridge.

Relevant people

Politics

Louis XIV of France.

Tokugawa Ieyasu.

• Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634): Bohemian military and political.
• Anne I of Great Britain (1665-1714): Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland.
• Ana of Austria and Austria-Stiria (1601-1666): Infanta of Spain and queen consorte of France.
• Aurangzeb (1618-1707): Indian Mogol Emperor.
• Cardinal Mazarino (1602-1661): French Cardinal and politician.
• Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642): French Cardinal and politician.
• Charles I of England (1600-1649): King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• Charles II of Spain (1665-1700): King of Spain, last of the House of Austria.
• Charles II of England (1630-1685): King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• Cristina de Sweden (1626-1681): Queen of Sweden.
• Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722): Third Chinese emperor of Qing dynasty.
• Emperor Shunzhi (1638-1661): Second Chinese emperor of the Qing dynasty.
• Eugenio de Saboya (1663-1736): Austrian military of French origin.
• Philip III of Spain (1578-1621): King of Spain.
• Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665): King of Spain.
• Francisco de Sandoval and Rojas (1553-1625): Duke of Lerma and Prime Minister of Felipe III.
• Gabriel Bethlen (1580-1629): Prince of Transylvania of Hungarian origin.
• Gaspar de Guzmán (1587-1645): Count-Duque de Olivares, Spanish military and political.
• William III of England (1650-1702): King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• Gustavo II Adolfo de Sweden (1594-1632): King of Sweden.
• Hung Taiji (1592-1643): Chinese emperor, founder of the Qing dynasty.
• Kösem Sultan (1590-1651): Ottoman Sultan, the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire.
• Leopoldo I of Habsburg (1640-1705): Emperor of the Holy German Roman Empire.
• Louis XIII of France (1601-1643): King of France.
• Louis XIV of France (1638-1715): King of France.
• María de Médici (1575-1642): Queen of France.
• Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): English policy.
• Peter I the Great (1672-1725): Russian tsar.
• Sha Jahan (1592-1666): Indian Mogol Emperor (Taj Mahal commissioned).
• Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616): Founder of Tokugawa shogunate in Japan.

Science and philosophy

Isaac Newton.

• Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723): Dutch scientist.
• Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677): Dutch philosopher.
• Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): French scientist.
• Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695): Dutch mathematician, physical and astronomer.
• Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647): Italian scientist.
• Francesco Redi (1626-1697): Italian doctor.
• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): Italian scientist.
• Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716): German mathematician and philosopher.
• Isaac Newton (1643-1727): English scientist.
• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630): German astronomer.
• John Locke (1632-1704): English philosopher.
• Marin Mersenne (1588-1648): French philosopher.
• Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665): French mathematician.
• René Descartes (1596-1650): French philosopher and scientist.
• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): English philosopher.
• William Harvey (1578-1657): English scientist and doctor.
• Santorio Santorio (1561-1636): Italian physiologist.

Literature

Lope de Vega.

• Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658): Spanish writer.
• Ben Jonson (1572-1637): Dramaturgo, English poet and actor.
• Daniel Defoe (1659/1661-1731): Novelist and English journalist.
• Felix Lope de Vega (1562-1635): Poet and Spanish playwright.
• Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645): Spanish writer.
• Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696): French writer and moralist.
• Jean Racine (1639-1699): French poet and playwright.
• John Donne (1572-1631): English Poet.
• John Milton (1608-1674): English Poet.
• Luis de Góngora (1561-1612): Spanish Poet.
• Molière (1622-1673): French Dramaturgo.
• Nicolas Boileau (1636-1711): French Poet.
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600 - 1681): Spanish Dramaturgo.
• Pierre Corneille (1606 - 1684): French poet and playwright.
• Sr. Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695): Mexican Poetisa.
• Tirso de Molina (1579 - 1648): Poet and Spanish playwright.
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616): Novelist, poet and Spanish playwright.
• Voltaire (1694-1778): French writer, essayist and philosopher.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616): English writer.

Music

Johann Sebastian Bach.

• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725): Italian music.
• Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Musician and Italian composer.
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713): Italian composer and violinist.
• Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Italian music.
• Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676): Venetian composer and organist.
• Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710): Spanish musician.
• Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672): German composer and organist.
• Henry Purcell (1659-1695): English musician.
• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687): French music.
• Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703): German composer and organist.
• Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706): German musician.
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Musician, organist and German composer.
• Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759): Musician and German composer nationalized English.
• John Blow (1649-1708): English composer and organist.
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704): French composer.

Plastic Arts and Architecture

Diego Velázquez.

Rembrandt.

• Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641): Flamenco painter.
• Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682): Spanish painter.
• Caravaggio (1571-1610): Italian painter.
• Christopher Wren (1632-1723): English Architect.
• Claudio de Lorena (1600-1682): French painter.
• Diego Velázquez (1599-1660): Spanish painter.
• Francesco Borromini (1599-1667): Italian architect.
• Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664): Spanish painter.
• Frans Hals (1580-1666): Dutch painter.
• Georges de La Tour (1593-1652): French painter.
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680): sculptor, architect and Italian painter.
• Gregorio Fernández (1576-1636): Spanish sculptor.
• Guido Reni (1575-1642): Italian painter.
• Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678): Flamenco painter.
• Jan Steen (1626-1679): Dutch painter.
• Jiang Tingxi (1669-1732): Chinese painter.
• Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675): Dutch painter.
• José de Ribera (1591-1652): Spanish painter.
• Juan Martínez Montañes (1568-1649): Spanish sculptor.
• Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708): French Architect.
• Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665): French painter.
• Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): Dutch painter.
• Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669): Dutch painter.
• Aníbal Carracci: Italian painter.
• Lodovico Carracci: Italian painter.
• Agostino Caracci: Italian painter

Other personalities

• André Le Nôtre, French gardener
• Saint Vincent de Paul, French
• Antonio Stradivari, Italian luthier
• Santa Rosa de Lima, Santa Peruana
• Mariana de Jesus, holy Ecuadorian
• Pedro Claver, missionary and human rights defender
• Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, bishop of Lima
• San Francisco Solano, missionary and Holy Spanish
• San Juan Macías, religious and holy Spanish dominico, based in Peru
• San Martín de Porres, santo afro-peruano
• Pocahontas, Indigenous Princess
• John the Baptist of Salle, French priest and pedagogue founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools