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1666 CE

This year falls in the Early modern period (c. 1500–1800). European ships link the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia into one trading world, and the conquest of the Americas and the Atlantic slave trade follow. Large land empires, among them the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal and Qing, rule much of Asia, while printing and the Scientific Revolution change how knowledge spreads in Europe.

Within fifteen years

Ruler · Early modern period · RussiaPeter the Great1672–1725Tsar of Russia from 1682 to 1725, born in 1672, who dragged Russia toward the west by force. He built a navy, reorganized the army, and founded Saint Petersburg as a new capital on the Baltic. His victory over Sweden at Poltava in 1709 made Russia a great power.

Ruler · Early modern period · ChinaKangxi Emperor1654–1722Emperor of Qing China from 1661 to 1722, born Xuanye in 1654, whose sixty one year reign is the longest in Chinese history. He crushed the revolt of the Three Feudatories, took Taiwan in 1683, and fixed the border with Russia by the Treaty of Nerchinsk. A scholar as well as a conqueror, he sponsored the great Kangxi Dictionary.