Events of 1659
January–June
* January 14 – Battle of Elvas: The Portuguese beat the Spanish.
* January 24 – Pierre Corneille's Oedipe premieres in Paris.
* February 11 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
* February 16 – The first known cheque (400 pounds) is written (on display at Westminster Abbey).
* April 22 – Lord Protector Richard Cromwell disbands the English Parliament.
* May 22 – France, England, and Netherlands sign the Hedges Concerto treaty.
* May 25 – Richard Cromwell resigns as English Lord Protector.
* May 31 – The Netherlands, England, and France sign the Treaty of The Hague.
July–December
* July 16 – Princess Henriette C. of Orange-Nassau weds monarch Johan George II.
* September 30 – Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherland forbids tennis playing during religious services (first mention of tennis in what will be the U.S.).
* October 12 – The English Rump Parliament fires John Lambert and other generals.
* October 13 – General-major John Lambert drives out the English Rump-government.
* November 7 – Treaty of Pyrenees: French King Louis XIV and King Philip IV of Spain agree to French acquisition of Roussillon and most of Artois, and formally end their 24-year war.
* November 25 – Dutch forces under Michiel de Ruyter free the Danish city of Nyborg from Swedish conquest (earlier in the year).
* December 16 – General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland.
* December 26 – The Long Parliament reforms occur in Westminster.
Undated
* The Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa brings cocoa to Paris.
* Diego Velázquez's portrait of Infanta Maria Theresa is first exhibited.
* Thomas Hobbes publishes De Homine.
* Parisian police raid a monastery, sending monks to prison for eating meat and drinking wine during Lent.
* Drought occurs in India.
Science
* Christiaan Huygens writes Systema Saturnium.
Births
* March 8 – Isaac de Beausobre, French Protestant pastor (d. 1738)
* June 3 – David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (d. 1708)
* June 12 – Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Japanese samurai (d. 1719
* July 20 – Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (d. 1743)
* July 28 – Charles Ancillon, French Protestant pastor (d. 1715)
* December 12 – Francesco Galli Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (d. 1739)
See also Category:1659 births.
Deaths
* January 16 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
* February – Willem Drost, Dutch painter and printmaker (b. 1633)
* February 17 – Abel Servien, French diplomat (b. 1593)
* February 27 – Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College (b. 1609)
* April 15 – Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
* June 3 – Morgan Llwyd, Welsh Puritan preacher and writer (b. 1619)
* October 8 – Jean de Quen, French Jesuit missionary and historian (b. c. 1603)
* October 10 – Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (b. 1603)
* October 31 – John Bradshaw, English judge (b. 1602)
1659 in other calendars Gregorian calendar 1659
MDCLIX
Ab urbe condita 2412
Armenian calendar 1108
Bahá'í calendar -185 – -184
Berber calendar 2609
Buddhist calendar 2203
Burmese calendar 1021
Byzantine calendar 7167 – 7168
Chinese calendar
(4295/4355-12-9)
— to —
(4296/4356-11-18)
Coptic calendar 1375 – 1376
Ethiopian calendar 1651 – 1652
Hebrew calendar 5419 – 5420
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat 1714 – 1715
- Shaka Samvat 1581 – 1582
- Kali Yuga 4760 – 4761
Holocene calendar 11659
Iranian calendar 1037 – 1038
Islamic calendar 1069 – 1070
Japanese calendar Manji 2
Korean calendar 3992
Thai solar calendar 2202
