1644

Events

• February to August - Explorer Abel Tasman's second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia.
• April - A popular Chinese rebellion led by Li Zicheng sacks Beijing, prompting Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to commit suicide.
• June 6 - The invading Manchu army, with the help of Ming general Wu Sangui, captures Beijing, China. This marks the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty), the last imperial dynasty of China.
• July 2 - Battle of Marston Moor, a crushing victory for the Parliamentary side of the English Civil War, ends Charles I's hold on the north of England.
• September 1 - Battle of Tippermuir, Montrose defeats Elcho's Covenanters, reviving Royalist cause in Scotland
• September 2 - Second Battle of Lostwithiel, the last major victory for Charles I and the Royalist side in the English Civil War.
• September 15 - Pope Innocent X is elected to the Papacy, in Rome.
• November 23 - Areopagitica by John Milton is published.
• The opera Ormindo is first performed in Venice. Music by Francesco Cavalli and libretto by Giovanni Faustini.
• Kolumna Zygmunta (Sigismund's Column) erected in Warsaw to commemorate King Zygmunt III Waza, who moved the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw in 1596.
• Philosopher René Descartes publishes Principia Philosophiae (Principles of Philosophy).

Ongoing events

• English Civil War (1642-1649)

Births

• January 10 - Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French marshal (d. 1711)
• January 18 - John Partridge, English astrologer (d. 1708)
• April 7 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
• June 16 - Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of Scotland, England and Ireland (d. 1670)
• August 6 - Louise de la Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)
• August 12 - Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Bohemian composer and violinist (d. 1704)
• September 25 - Ole Rømer, Danish astronomer (d. 1710)
• October 1 - Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (d. 1682)
• October 2 - François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (d. 1724)
• October 14 - William Penn, English Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania (d. 1718)
• Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (d. 1737)
• Matsuo Basho, Japanese poet (d. 1694)

Deaths

• April - Chongzhen, last Ming Emperor of China (suicide) (b. 1611)
• April 10 - Reverend William Brewster, Pilgrim leader (b. 1567)
• July 29 - Pope Urban VIII (b. 1568)
• September 7 - Guido Bentivoglio, Italian cardinal (b. 1579)
• September 8 - John Coke, English politician (b. 1563)