1678
Events
January–June
- January 27 - The first fire engine company goes into service.
- February 18 - The first part of English nonconformist preacher John Bunyan's Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress, is published in London.
- May 11 - French admiral Jean d'Estrees runs his whole fleet aground in Curaçao.
- June - French buccaneer Michel de Grammont leads 6 pirate ships and 700 men in a daring raid on Spanish-held Venezuela, reaching inland as far as Trujillo.
- June 25 - Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia becomes the first woman to be awarded a university degree, a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Padua.
July–December
- August-December - Kediri campaign: Mataram and Dutch East India Company forces defeat the Trunajaya rebellion in eastern Java.
- August 3 - Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
- August 10 - The Treaties of Nijmegen end the Franco-Dutch War. The County of Burgundy is ceded to the Kingdom of France.
- August 14-15 - The Battle of Saint-Denis is fought after the peace was signed between France and the Dutch Republic in the Treaties of Nijmegen on 10 August.
- September 6 - Titus Oates begins to present allegations of the Popish Plot, a supposed Roman Catholic conspiracy to assassinate king Charles II of England. Oates applies the term Tory to those who disbelieve his allegations.
- October 17 - English magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey is found murdered in Primrose Hill, London. Titus Oates claims it as a proof of his allegations.
- December 3 - The Test Act provides that members of both the House of Lords and House of Commons of England must swear an anti-Catholic oath, before taking office.
Date unknown
- Rebellion breaks out in southern China.
- About 1,200 Irish families sail from Barbados, to Virginia and the Carolinas.
- In Ireland, the vacant Bishopric of Leighlin is given to the Bishop of Kildare, to form the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.
- The first chrysanthemums are planted in Europe.
- Tanabe Goheiei Shōten was founded in Doshōmachi, Osaka, Japan, as predecessor of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.
Births
- May 3 - Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair
- March 4 - Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer
- March 7 - Filippo Juvara, Italian architect
- April 14 - Abraham Darby I, one of the English fathers of the Industrial Revolution
- May 16 - Andreas Silbermann, German organ builder
- July 26 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
- September 16 - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman and philosopher
- September 29 - Adrien-Maurice, 3rd duc de Noailles, French soldier
- October 10 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier
- October 16 - Anna Waser, Swiss painter
- November 26 - Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist
- December 8 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat
- December 13 - Yongzheng Emperor of China
- December 14 - Daniel Neal, English historian
- December 30 - William Croft, English composer
- date unknown
- * George Farquhar, Irish dramatist
- * Maria Faxell, Swedish vicar's wife and war heroine
- * Joachim Ludwig Schultheiss von Unfriedt, German architect
- * Pierre Fauchard, French physician and author, considered The father of modern dentistry
- * John Senex, British geographer
Deaths
- January 11 - Ferrante III Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla, Italian noble
- January 12 - Robert Ellison, English politician
- January 23 - Sir William Curtius FRS, German magistrate and English baronet b.
- January 24 - Joan Maetsuycker, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
- January 27 - Maria Overlander van Purmerland, Dutch noble
- January 29 - Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary
- February 7 - Sir Philip Musgrave, 2nd Baronet, English politician
- November 20 - Daniel Clasen, German academic
- March 3 - Philip Bell, British colonial governor
- March 10 - Jean de Launoy, French historian
- March 27 - Juan de Leyva de la Cerda, conde de Baños, Spanish noble
- April 12 - Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick, 7th daughter of Richard Boyle
- April 23 - Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar, second and eldest surviving son of Walter Aston
- April 24 - Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
- April 27 - Nicolas Roland, French priest and founder
- May 2 - Willem Nieupoort, Dutch politician, and diplomat
- May 3 - Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena, German noble
- May 4 or May 14 - Anna Maria van Schurman, Dutch poet and scholar
- May 16 - Tamura Muneyoshi, Japanese daimyō of the Iwanuma Domain
- May 18 - Miyamoto Iori, Japanese samurai
- June 2 - Pieter de Groot, Dutch diplomat
- June 17 - Giacomo Torelli, Italian stage designer, engineer, and architect
- June 19 - Benedict Arnold, Rhode Island colonial governor
- August 5 - Juan García de Zéspedes, Mexican musician and composer
- August 16 - Andrew Marvell, English writer
- August 17 - Guillaume Herincx, Flemish theologian, Bishop of Ypres
- August 28 - John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, English soldier
- August 31 - Louis VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
- September 1 - Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish painter
- September 8 - Pietro della Vecchia, Italian painter
- September 19 - Christoph Bernhard von Galen, German Catholic bishop
- September 28 - Maurizio Cazzati, Italian composer
- October 5 - Hedevig Ulfeldt, daughter of King Christian IV of Denmark and Kirsten Munk
- October 11 - Sir Peter Leycester, 1st Baronet, British historian
- October 12
- * Pieter Codde, Dutch painter
- * Edmund Berry Godfrey, English magistrate
- October 14 - Sir Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet, English politician
- October 16 - Cornelis HrR Ridder de Graeff, Dutch nobleman and chief landholder of the Zijpe and Haze Polder
- October 18 - Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter
- October 19 - Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Dutch painter
- November 1 - William Coddington, first Governor of Rhode Island
- November 4 - Solomon Swale, English politician
- November 5 - Giovan Battista Nani, Italian historian and diplomat
- November 10 - Daniel Zwicker, German physician
- November 30 - Andries de Graeff, Dutch politician
- December 3 - Edward Colman, English Catholic courtier under Charles II
- December 20 - Matthew Marvin, Sr., Connecticut settler
- December 31 - Charles de Lorme, French physician
