Year 1639 (MDCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1639

January–June

• January 14 – Connecticut's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted.

• March 3 – The early settlement of Taunton, Massachusetts is incorporated as a town.

• March 13 – Harvard University is named for clergyman John Harvard.

• May – The first of the Bishops' Wars breaks out between Charles I and Scotland. Charles arrives with his army at Berwick-on-Tweed.

• June – The first battle of the Bishops' Wars is fought by Earl Marischal and the Marquess of Montrose, when they lead a Covenanter army of 9,000 men past Muchalls Castle over the Causey Mounth to fight at the Bridge of Dee.

• June 18 – The Treaty of Berwick is signed by Charles I and the Scots.

July–December

• August 22 – The founding day of Madras.It was on that day, in that year, that a sliver of land, where Fort. St. George stands today, was transacted by the East India Company. The deal was struck by Francis Day, his 'dubash' Beri Thimmappa, and their superior, Andrew Cogan, with the local Nayak rulers. It is believed that this deal was made on August 22, 1639.

Out of the fort, grew settlements. Then the villages around it were brought together.And then, the old and new townes linked up. And then we had the city. Today, Chennai stands tall for a variety of reasons. Education, healthcare, IT, history, tourism, auto industries, movies, etc.

• October 31 – Naval Battle of the Downs: A Republic of the United Provinces fleet decisively defeats a Spanish fleet in English waters.

• November 24 – Jeremiah Horrocks observes the transit of Venus.

Undated

• Fort St George, the first settlement of British India, is founded at Madras.

• The Casiquiare canal, a river forming a natural canal between the Amazon River and Orinoco River basins, is first encountered by Europeans.

• The Barbados House of Assembly meets for the first time.

• The first printing press in North America is started in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• Russian Cossacks advance over the Urals to the Pacific, to Okhotsk.

• Montreal is first settled.

• Sakoku (closed country policy) starts in Japan (approximate date).

• Jules Mazarin enters the service of Richelieu.

Births

• February 6 – Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar (d. 1691)

• March 7 – Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond (d. 1672)

• May 8 – Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio), Italian painter of High Baroque

• June 21 – Increase Mather, American minister (d. 1723)

• September 17 – Hans Herr, Swiss-born Mennonite bishop (d. 1725)

• September 29 – Lord William Russell, English politician (d. 1683)

• December 22 – Jean Racine, French dramatist (d. 1699)

• date unknown

• *Yair Bacharach, German rabbi (d. 1702)

• *Caspar Netscher, painter (d. 1684)

Deaths

• January 20 – Mustafa I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1592)

• January 23 – Francisco Maldonado de Silva, Peruvian Jewish poet (b. 1592)

• January 24 – Georg Jenatsch, Swiss politician (b. 1596)

• May 21 – Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian and poet (b. 1568)

• June 1 – Melchior Franck, German composer (b. c.1579)

• July 18 – Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, German general (b. 1604)

• August 4 – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist (b. c. 1571)

• August 20 – Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (b. 1597)

• September 20 – Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1579)

• October 28 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (b. 1587)

• November 7 – Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour, English politician (b. c.1560)

• November 26 – John Spottiswoode, Scottish historian (b. 1565)

See also :Category:1639 deaths.