Events of 1679

January–June

• January 24 – King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.

• March 6 – In England, the Habeas Corpus Parliament (or First Exclusion Parliament) assembles for the first time.

• May 27 – The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 is passed in England.

• June 1 – Battle of Drumclog: Scottish Covenanters defeat a small government force.

• June 22 – Battle of Bothwell Bridge: The Duke of Monmouth subdues the Covenanters.

July–December

• August 7 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes.

• November 27 – A fire in Boston, Massachusetts, burns all of the warehouses, 80 houses, and all of the ships in the dockyards.

Undated

• European explorers discover Niagara Falls.

• The city of Duluth, Minnesota is founded.

• Aurangzeb reimposes jizya.

Births

• January 24 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher (d. 1754)

• March 18 – Matthew Decker, English merchant and writer (d. 1749)

• May 29 – Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1731)

• August 22 – Pierre Guérin de Tencin, French cardinal (d. 1758)

• October 13 – Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (d. 1740

• October 16 – Jan Dismas Zelenka, Bohemian composer (d. 1745)

• October 18 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem witch trials (d. 1716)

• date unknown

• *Firmin Abauzit, French scientist (d. 1767)

• *James Erskine, Lord Grange, Scottish judge (d. 1754)

Deaths

• January 1 – Jan Steen, Dutch painter

• March 16 – John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)

• March 26 – Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (b. 1621)

• May 3 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (assassinated) (b. 1613)

• May 26 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1636)

• June 15 – Guillaume Courtois, French painter (b. 1628)

• July 11 – William Chamberlayne, English poet (b. 1619)

• August 6 – John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629)

• August 24 – Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)

• September 17 – John of Austria the Younger, Spanish general (b. 1629)

• October 12 – William Gurnall, English writer (b. 1617)

• October 26 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (b. 1621)

• December 4 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (b. 1588)

• December 31 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)

• date unknown – Lady Anne Finch Conway, English philosopher (b. 1631)