1624

January–June

• January 14 - After 90 years of Ottoman occupation, the Safavid Empire recaptures Baghdad.
• January 24 - Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
• April 15 - The University of Saint Francis Xavier is founded in Bolivia.
• April 29 - Louis XIII of France appoints Cardinal Richelieu to the Conseil du Roi.
• May 8 - Capture of Bahia: A Dutch West India Company fleet captures the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia from the Portuguese Empire.
• May 24 - The city of Oslo, Norway, is destroyed by fire for the fourteenth time. King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway decrees its rebuilding on a new site, where it will be renamed Christiania.
• May 24 - After years of unprofitable operation, Virginia's charter is revoked, and it becomes a royal colony.
• May 25 - The Scottish city of Dunfermline is destroyed by fire, but The Abbey, The Palace, the Abbot House and many other buildings survive.
• June - The first Dutch settlers arrive in New Netherland; they disembark at Governors Island.
• June 10 - Treaty of Compiègne is signed between the Kingdom of France and the Dutch Republic.

  July–December

• July or August - Portuguese Jesuit priest António de Andrade becomes the first European to enter Tibet.
• August
• * The Siege of Breda begins, and will continue for 10 months.
• * Chinese admiral Yu Zigao forces the Dutch East India Company to withdraw from their post at Penghu, to Fort Zeelandia.
• August 5-14 - The King's Men perform Thomas Middleton's satire A Game at Chess at the Globe Theatre, London, until it is suppressed in view of its allusions to the Spanish Match.
• August 13 - Cardinal Richelieu is appointed by Louis XIII of France to be his chief minister, having intrigued against Charles de La Vieuville, Superintendent of Finances, arrested for corruption the previous day.
• October - Action of October 1624: A Tuscan/Papal/Neapolitan galley fleet defeats the Algerians near Sardinia.
• December 24 - Denmark's first postal service is launched by order of King Christian IV.

  Date unknown

• The Palace of Versailles is first built by Louis XIII, as a hunting lodge.
• The Japanese shōgun expels the Spanish from the land, and severs trade with the Philippines.
• Henry Briggs publishes Arithmetica Logarithmica.
• Jakob Bartsch first publishes a chart, showing the constellation Camelopardalis around the North Star.
• The French Parlement passes a decree forbidding criticism of Aristotle, on pain of death.
• Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba starts to rule.
• The Latymer School and Latymer Upper School in London are founded, by the bequest of Edward Latymer.
• Frans Hals produces the painting later known as the Laughing Cavalier.
• The German-language Luther Bible is publicly burned, by order of the Pope.

  Births

January–March

• January 7 - Guarino Guarini, Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque
• January 9 - Empress Meishō of Japan
• January 15 - Rombout Verhulst, Dutch sculptor
• January 16 - Pierre Lambert de la Motte, French bishop
• January 18 - Thyrsus González de Santalla, Spanish theologian elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• January 26 - George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
• January 31 - Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher
• February 11
• * Ivan Ančić, Croatian theological writer
• * Lambert Doomer, Dutch Golden Age landscape painter
• February 23 - Robert Treat, American colonial leader
• March - Jane Leade, English esotericist
• March 6 - Johann Georg Albinus, German pastor and hymnist
• March 12 - Damian Hartard von der Leyen-Hohengeroldseck, German archbishop
• March 20 - William Jones, English lawyer, Deputy Governor of Connecticut
• March 21
• * François Roberday, French Baroque organist and composer
• * Paolo Segneri, Italian Jesuit
• March 25 - William Pulteney, English Member of Parliament
• March 31 - Antoine Pagi, French ecclesiastical historian

  April–June

• April 4 - François Marie, Prince of Lillebonne, French nobleman and member of the House of Lorraine
• April 9 - Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer
• April 12 - Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours
• April 15 - Pieter Nijs, Dutch Golden Age painter
• April 20 - Samuel Mearne, English Restoration bookbinder and publisher
• April 24 - Jan Peeters I, Flemish Baroque painter
• April 25 - Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet, English baronet
• April 26 - Johann Leusden, Dutch Calvinist theologian
• May 13 - Aleksander Kazimierz Sapieha, Polish nobleman and archbishop
• May 23 - William Duckett, English politician
• May 30 - Leopold Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Montbéliard, German noble
• June 11 - Jean-Baptiste du Hamel, French cleric and natural philosopher
• June 15 - Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist
• June 16 - William Bradford, American political and military leader
• June 20 - Henry Albin, English minister
• June 26 - James Scudamore, English politician

  July–September

• July - George Fox, English founder of the Quakers
• July 11 - John Collins, English academic and politician
• July 18 - Francis Pemberton, English judge, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench
• August 6 - Charles Kerr, 2nd Earl of Ancram, English politician
• August 11 - John Strode, English politician
• August 22 - Jean Regnault de Segrais, French poet and novelist born in Caen
• August 23 - Anna Elisabeth of Saxe-Lauenburg, Landgravine consort of Hesse-Homburg
• August 24 - Petronella de la Court, Dutch art collector
• August 25 - François de la Chaise, French churchman
• August 27 - Koxinga, Chinese military leader
• September 1 - Simón González de Acosta, Spanish colonial governor
• September 10 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician
• September 12 - Wingfield Cromwell, 2nd Earl of Ardglass, English nobleman
• September 15 - Francesco Provenzale, Italian Baroque composer and teacher

  October–December

• October 5 - Gaspar de Witte, Flemish painter
• October 9 - Murad Bakhsh, Mughal prince
• October 19 - Robert Danvers, English politician
• October 20 - Jan Albertsz Rotius, Dutch painter
• October 21 - Edward Harley, English politician
• October 26 - Dosoftei, Moldavian Metropolitan
• October 30 - Paul Pellisson, French author
• November 2 - Sir Thomas Myddelton, 1st Baronet, English politician
• November 3 - Jean II d'Estrées, French noble
• November 16 - Barent Fabritius, Dutch painter
• November 28 - Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly, French Jansenist nun
• December 16 - Queen Jangnyeol, Korean royal consort
• December 17 - Juriaen Jacobsze, Dutch painter
• December 18 - John Hull, merchant and mintmaster of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• December 25 - Angelus Silesius, German writer

  Date unknown

• Torii Tadaharu, Japanese nobleman
• Louise de Prie, French royal governess

  Approximate date

• Female Greenland shark.

  Deaths

January–March

• January 3 - Jacopo Inghirami, Tuscan admiral
• January 17 - Tamás Erdődy, Hungarian noble, Ban of Croatia
• January 24 - Martin Becanus, Belgian Jesuit priest
• February 4
• * Thomas Humphrey, English politician
• * Vicente Espinel, Spanish writer
• February 6 - Lamoral, 1st Prince of Ligne
• February 7 - Cort Aslakssøn, Norwegian astronomer
• February 12 - George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist
• February 13 - Stephen Gosson, English satirist
• February 16 - Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, Scottish nobleman and politician
• February 17 - Juan de Mariana, Spanish historian
• February 18 - Francis Ros, first Latin Archbishop of Angamaly-Cranganore
• February 19 - Thomas Fleming, English politician
• February 21 - John Adolph, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Norburg, Duke of Norburg at Als
• February 24 - Paul Laurentius, German divine
• February 28 - Clemens Timpler, German philosopher
• March 15 - Louis of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince
• March 27 - Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop
• March 28 - Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset, English noble

  April–June

• April 13 - William Bishop, first Roman Catholic bishop after the English Reformation
• April 17 - Mariana Navarro de Guevarra Romero, Spanish Catholic nun who became a member of the Mercedarian Tertiaries
• May 12 - John Rashleigh, English politician
• May 27 - Diego Ramírez de Arellano, Spanish sailor and cosmographer
• June 2 - Jacques l'Hermite, Dutch admiral and explorer
• June 4 - Rombertus van Uylenburgh, Dutch lawyer

  July–September

• July - Alonso Fajardo de Entenza, governor of the Philippines
• July 17 - Johan van Dorth, Dutch noble
• July 22 - García de Silva Figueroa, Spanish diplomat and traveller
• July 31 - Henry II, Duke of Lorraine
• August 4 - Emanuel Filibert of Savoy, Viceroy of Sicily
• August 25 - Luis Sotelo, Spanish Franciscan friar
• September 7 - Carew Reynell, English politician
• September 13 - Queen Ketevan the Martyr of Kakheti
• September 17 - Gilles du Monin, Belgian Jesuit historian
• September 18 - Pedro Osores de Ulloa, Royal Governor of Chile
• September 23 - Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech, Dutch Golden Age painter
• September 25 - Fronton du Duc, French Jesuit theologian
• September 29 - Simón de Rojas, Spanish saint

  October–December

• October 22 - Jessé de Forest, American colonist
• November 2 - Cornelis van der Voort, Dutch painter
• November 5 - James Wriothesley, Lord Wriothesley, English politician
• November 10 - Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, English patron of the theatre
• November 13 - Thomas van Erpe, Dutch Orientialist, cartographer
• November 14 - Costanzo Antegnati, Italian composer, organist
• November 15 - Caius of Korea, Japanese martyr
• November 17 - Jakob Böhme, German mystic
• December 5 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist
• December 6 - Francesco Contarini, Doge of Venice
• December 9 - Flaminio Scala, Italian playwright and stage actor
• December 14 - Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman
• December 15 - Jerónimo Bautista Lanuza, Spanish friar, bishop and writer
• December 25
• * Hajikano Masatsugu, Japanese samurai
• * Catherine of Nassau-Dillenburg, German noble
• December 28 - Charles of Austria, Bishop of Wroclaw, Prince-bishop of Wroclaw
• December 29 - Dermod O'Brien, 5th Baron Inchiquin, Irish baron
• December 30 - John Kendrick, prosperous English cloth merchant

  Date unknown

• Francesco Andreini, Italian actor