Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Spaceopoly The Countdown to locking thread...

1650 - Henry Robinson opens the first marriage bureau (in England)

1649 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded.

1648 - The Taj Mahal is completed.

1647 - Santiago earthquake rattles Chile.

1646 - Massachusetts is a wonderful place to live. This year, Roger Scott is tried for falling asleep in church and the death penalty is enacted for having a rebellious child.

That scared me, since I can fall asleep just about anywhere.

1645 - death of Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Widely considered a Kensei (sword saint), or legendary swordsman, he was said to have killed his first foe at 13 years old. He went undefeated for 17 years in a row. He wrote the Book of Five Rings, a book on strategy and philosophy that is still read by martial artists and business leaders alike.

1644 - A rebellion in China prompts Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to commit suicide. Li Zicheng claims himself as the emperor of China in what I'd call a "Starscream" moment.

1643 - Birth of Alfonso VI of Portugal. He suffered from paralysis and mental instability, and thus had little direct contribution to the rule of Portugal during this time. His mother, Luisa of Medina-Sidonia, ruled as Queen Regent.

During his reign, Portugal's independence from Spain was recognized; and peaceful means were increasingly used to settle conflicts between the then-world powers, which included Spain and Britain. Marriage became a popular tool for forming alliances.

1642 - Isaac Aboab da Fonseca is appointed rabbi in Pernambuco, Brazil, thus becoming the first rabbi of the Americas.

1641 - the Dutch capture Malacca from the Portuguese.

1640 - - King Charles I of England summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.

1639 - Colonists in Barbados establish a House in Assembly. It would be only the 3rd ever Parliamentary Democracy in the world.

1638 – Anne Hutchinson is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for heresy and goes to Rhode Island.

1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.

1636 - Harvard University is established by the colonial Massachusetts legislature.

1635 - Thomas Parr is buried in Westminster Abbey, which is noteworthy because his unproven but claimed death age is "152." Hmmm...

Jeepers! Maybe he found the fountain of youth.

1634 - expatriate Drukpa monk Ngawang Namgyal defeats invading Tibetans in Bhutan, leading to his recognition as the "lord" of Bhutan from Nepal, West Bengal and Tibet.

1633 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

1632 - Shah Jahan, of the Mogul Empire, begins a policy of strict interpretation of Islam. He destroys all recently built Hindu temples in his kingdom. Only temples which were built prior to conquering the lands remain.

1631 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston.

1630 - the Native Americans introduce the pilgrims to popcorn, at Thanksgiving

1629 - Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan abdicates the throne in favour of his daughter, who becomes Empress Meishō.

1628 - Dutch admiral Piet Hein captures a Spanish treasure fleet. To his credit, he gives the prisoners ample supplies with which to survive a march back to Havana.

1627 - The aurochs, a type of large, wild cattle, are hunted to extinction.

1626 - The beginning of the Würzburg witch trial, which led to the mass executions of hundreds of people until 1631.