1640 - Definition and Overview

Events

• December 1 - Portugal regains its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king. Spain does not recognize the indepedence before 1668
• Charles I summons and rapidly dismisses the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the second of the Bishops Wars.
• November: The English Long Parliament is summoned.
• Change of Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from Murat IV (1623-1640) to Ibrahim I (1640-1648)
• First book printed in North America, the Bay Psalm Book
• First known European coffee house opens in Venice

Births

• June 9 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

Deaths

• May 30 - Peter Paul Rubens, painter
• Uriel Acosta, Portuguese Jewish philosopher, suicide