Decades: 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s - 1660s - 1670s 1680s 1690s 1700s 1710s
Years: 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 - 1660 - 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665
Events February 23 - Charles XI becomes king of Sweden. March 16 - The Long Parliament disbands May 8 - The Parliament of England declares Prince Charles Stuart King Charles II of England. May 23 - King Charles II of England reaches the shores of his Kingdom. On May 29 he arrives in London and assumes the throne, marking the beginning of the English Restoration. November 28 - At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray meet after a lecture by Wren and decide to found "a College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning}" (later known as the Royal Society). Blaise Pascal's The Provincial Letters, a defense of the Jansenist Antoine Arnauld, was ordered shredded and burned by King Louis XIV of France. Births January - Pierre Helyot, French historian February 19 - Friedrich Hoffmann, physician and chemist (+ 1742) April 16 - Hans Sloane, British physician May 2 - Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (+ 1725) May 28 - George I, King of Great Britain (+ 1727) September - Daniel Defoe, British writer (Robinson Crusoë) December 4 - André Campra, French composer Andreas Schlueter, Polish sculptor and architect Deaths February 23 - Charles X of Sweden August 6 - Diego Velásquez - Spanish painter October 14 - Thomas Harrison, British soldier\n