Events

• January 24 - King Charles II of England disbands Parliament
• August 7 - The brigantine Le Griffon, which was 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.
• Battle of Bothwell Bridge
• Habeas Corpus Act 1679 passed in England.
• European explorers discover Niagara Falls.

Births

• October 16 - Jan Dismas Zelenka , Bohemian composer
• Firmin Abauzit - French scientist

Deaths

• May 3 - Archbishop Sharp (assassinated) (b. 1613)
• August 24 - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)
• December 4 - Thomas Hobbes, English author (b. 1588)
• Lady Anne Finch Conway, English philosopher (b. 1631)