Events of 1657

January–June

• January – The Meireki no Taika (great fire) in Edo, Japan destroys most of the city and damages Edo castle, killing an estimated 100,000 people.

• January 8 – Miles Sindercombe, would-be-assassin of Oliver Cromwell, and his group are captured in London.

• February 4 – Oliver Cromwell grants residency to Luis Caravajal.

• February – Admiral Robert Blake defeats the Spanish West Indian Fleet in a battle over the seizure of Jamaica.

• March 23 – France and England form an alliance against Spain; England receives Dunkirk.

• March 31 – The English Humble Petition and Advice offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown.

• April 3 – English Lord Protector Cromwell refuses the crown, preferring the title "Lord Protector".

• April 20 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

• April 20 – The Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City) are granted freedom of religion as full citizens.

• June 1 – The first Quaker settlers arrive in New Amsterdam (later New York).

July–December

• July 13 – Oliver Cromwell constrains English army leader John Lambert.

• August – In New Amsterdam, 11 Quakers arrive and are allowed to practice their religion.

• August 20 – The ship Les Armes d'Amsterdam arrives at Quebec, New France. Among the passengers is Michel Mathieu Brunet dit Lestang (1638–1708), colonist, explorer and co-discoverer of what is today Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is the ancestor of the Brunet, Lestang and Carisse families of North America.

• September 19 – Brandenburg and Poland sign the Treaty of Wehlau.

• September 24 – The first autopsy and coroner's jury verdict is recorded in the colony of Maryland.

• September – Shah Jahan becomes ill, allowing his son to take control.

• October 1 – Treaty of Raalte: Willem II is no longer viceroy of Overijssel.

• October 3 – French troops occupy Mardyck.

• November 6 – Brandenburg and Poland sign the Unity of Bromberg.

• December 27 – The Flushing Remonstrance is signed in New Amsterdam at the site of the future Flushing Town Hall (built 1862) in New York.

Undated

• The Accademia del Cimento is founded in Florence, Italy (the first equivalent to a scientific research center).

• England's first chocolate shop is opened.

• Katharina von Georgien was published.

Births

• February 11 – Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (d. 1757)

• March 1 – Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (d. 1740)

• March 18 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (d. 1743)

• March 24 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese politician and writer (d. 1725)

• June 10 – James Craggs the Elder, English politician (d. 1721)

• July 11 – King Frederick I of Prussia (d. 1713)

• August 18 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/painter (d. 1743)

• September 17 – Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (d. 1704)

• November 26 – William Derham, English minister and writer (d. 1735)

• date unknown

• *Clopton Havers, English physiologist

• *William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737)

Deaths

• March – Edward Hopkins (b. 1600)

• March 7 – Hayashi Razan, Japanese neo-Confucianist scholar (b. 1583)

• April 2 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1608)

• May 9 – William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)

• May 10 – Gustaf Horn, Swedish soldier and politician (b. 1592)

• May 16 – Andrzej Bobola, Polish Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)

• June 3 – William Harvey, English physician (b. 1578)

• August 16 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian Cossack Hetman (b. c. 1595)

• August 17 – Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)

• August 29 – John Lilburne, English dissenter (b. c. 1614)

• September 7 – Arvid Wittenberg, Swedish field marshal and statesman (b. 1606)

• September 13 – Jacob van Campen, Dutch artist (b. 1596)

• date unknown – Willem Ysbrandtsz Bontekoe, Dutch sea captain (b. 1587)