1674

Events

January–June

• February 19 - England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Its provisions come into effect gradually - see November 10.
• March 14 - Third Anglo-Dutch War: Battle of Ronas Voe - The English Royal Navy captures the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam in Shetland.
• May 21 - John III Sobieski is elected by the nobility, as King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• June 6 - Shivaji is crowned as Chatrapati Shivaji, at Raigad Fort in India.

  July–December

• August 11 - The French army under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé defeats the Dutch–Spanish–Austrian army under William III of Orange in the Battle of Seneffe.
• November 10 - As provided in the Treaty of Westminster of February 19, the Dutch Republic cedes its colony of New Netherland to England. This includes the colonial capital, New Orange, which is returned to its English name of New York. The colonies of Surinam, Essequibo and Berbice remain in Dutch hands.
• December 4 - Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan, to minister to the Illinois Confederation.

  Date unknown

• The British East India Company arranges a trading treaty with the Maratha Empire, that has recently been founded by Shivaji Bhonsle in central India.
• The first Dutch West India Company is dissolved.
• Two skeletons of children are discovered at the White Tower, and believed at this time to be the remains of the Princes in the Tower.

  Births

• January 12 - Alexis Simon Belle, French portrait painter
• January 15 - Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer
• January 24 - Thomas Tanner, English bishop and antiquarian
• March - Jethro Tull, English agriculturist
• June 3 - Matthias Buchinger, German artist
• July 12 - Abigail Williams, American accuser in the Salem witch trials
• July 17 - Isaac Watts, English hymnist
• August 2 - Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France
• August 9 - František Maxmilián Kaňka, Czech architect
• August 16 - Catharine Trotter Cockburn, English novelist, dramatist and philosopher
• December 25 - Thomas Halyburton, Scottish theologian
• date unknown - Jeremiah Clarke, English baroque composer

  Deaths

• January 3 - Claude Maltret, French Jesuit
• January 5 - Ebba Brahe, Swedish countess, landowner, and courtier
• January 10 - Jacob de Witt, Mayor of Dordrecht
• January 12 - Giacomo Carissimi Italian composer
• January 21
• * Cornelis Bisschop, Dutch painter
• * Henri de La Trémoille, French general and noble
• February 13 - Jean de Labadie, 17th-century French pietist
• February 14 - Carlo de Tocco, Italian nobleman
• February 22
• * Jean Chapelain, French writer
• * John Wilson, English composer
• February 24 - Matthias Weckmann, German composer
• February 26 - Jean Pecquet, French anatomist
• March 2 - Salomon Sweers, Dutch businessman
• March 8 - Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny, French writer
• March 15 - Edward Digges, English barrister and colonist, Colonial Governor of Virginia
• March 19 - Queen Inseon, Korean royal consort
• March 23 - Henry Cromwell, 4th son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier
• March 29 - Ove Bjelke, Norwegian civil servant
• April 5 - George Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, Count of Nassau-Siegen
• April 18 - John Graunt, English demographer
• April 24 - Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset
• June 1 - Beata Rosenhane, Swedish writer
• June 4 - Jan Lievens, Dutch painter
• June 8 - Henry Hildyard, English Member of Parliament
• June 14 - Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French writer
• June 16 - Empress Xiaochengren, Chinese Qing Dynasty empress
• June 25
• * Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Baronet, of Great Lever
• * Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal, Princess of Portugal and countess consort of Nassau-Siegen
• July 2 - Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg
• July 29 - Eva Krotoa, Khoi translator and interpreter
• July 30
• * Hans Conrad Werdmüller, Swiss military commander
• * Francisco Ignacio Alcina, Jesuit missionary and historian
• August 8 - Maeda Toshitsugu, Japanese daimyō of the early Edo period
• August 12 - Philippe de Champaigne, French painter
• September 12 - Nicolaes Tulp, Dutch anatomist and politician
• September 17 - Hyeonjong of Joseon, 18th monarch of the Korean Joseon Dynasty
• September 22 - Herman Egon, Prince of Fürstenberg, High Chamberlain of the Elector of Bavaria
• September 27 - Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, French writer
• September 29 - Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Dutch painter
• October 12 - Jeremias van Rensselaer, Dutch colonial governor
• October 15 - Robert Herrick, English poet
• October 27 - Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet
• November 8 - John Milton, English Puritan poet
• November 16 - Isbrand van Diemerbroeck, Dutch physician
• November 18 - Charles Lallemant, French Jesuit
• December 9 - Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English statesman and historian
• December 10 - John Vaughan, English judge
• December 28 - John Oxenbridge, English Nonconformist divine
• date unknown
• * Hu Zhengyan, Chinese artist, printmaker, calligrapher and publisher
• * Thomas Traherne, English poet