Events

• March 19 - The men under explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle murder him while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River.
• July 5 - Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica is published.
• December 31 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
• King James II of England issues the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending laws against Catholics and non-conformists.
• Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Mehmed IV (1648-1687) to Suleiman II (1687-1691)
• End of the reign of Emperor Reigen of Japan
• Emperor Higashiyama ascends to the throne of Japan

Births

• January 27 - Johann Balthasar Neumann, master builder (d. 1753)
• October 4 - Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician (d. 1768)
• Antonion Lazzaro Moro , Italian geologist (d. 1752)

Deaths

• March 22 - Jean Baptiste Lully, French composer
• September 12 - John Alden, Mayflower pilgrim
• Sir William Petty, philosopher