Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Arts & Music

35

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Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian

Germany

1647 – 1717 (69 years old)

German-Dutch scientific illustrator, botanist, and entomologist whose expedition to Suriname and masterpiece 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium' revolutionized art and science.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

35 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

38

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Osei Tutu I (Otumfuo Osei Tutu)

Osei Tutu I / Opemsuo

Ghana

c. 1660 – c. 1717 (57 years old)

Founder and first Asantehene of the Ashanti Empire who united the Akan clans and established Kumasi around the sacred Golden Stool.

Kumasi, Ghana

38 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

38

🕯️ 860

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Germany

1 July 1646 – 14 November 1716 (70 years old)

Universal genius who co-invented infinitesimal calculus, built mechanical calculators, and formulated the Monadology, the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and optimistic theodicy.

Hanover, Germany

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Arts & Music

35

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Ogata Korin

尾形 光琳

Japan

c. 1658 – 1716 (58 years old)

Major Japanese painter and lacquer artist of the Edo period who revived and formalized the Rinpa school, world-renowned for his gold-leaf screens Irises and Red and White Plum Blossoms.

Kyoto, Japan

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

5

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Mirwais Hotak

ميرويس خان هوتک

Afghanistan

1673-01-01 – 1715-11-01 (42 years old)

Visionary Afghan tribal leader affectionately known as Mirwais Neka (Mirwais the Grandfather) who liberated Kandahar from Safavid Persian rule in 1709, founding the Hotak dynasty.

Kokaran, Afghanistan

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

51

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Louis XIV (The Sun King / Louis the Great)

Louis XIV (Le Roi-Soleil)

France

5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715 (76 years old)

The "Sun King" whose 72-year reign is the longest recorded in European history. Consolidated absolute royal authority, built the magnificent Palace of Versailles, and presided over the Grand Siècle of French cultural, military, and artistic preeminence.

Palace of Versailles, France

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Literature & Poetry

36

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Pu Songling

蒲松齡 (Pu Liuxian / Liaozhai Xiansheng)

China

1640 – 1715 (74 years old)

Qing dynasty author (1640–1715) renowned for 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio' (Liaozhai Zhiyi), a brilliant collection of nearly five hundred classical prose stories featuring ghosts, fox spirits, and sharp moral satires.

Zibo (Shandong), China

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Arts & Music

3,208

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Arcangelo Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli

Italy

1653 – 1713 (59 years old)

Italian Baroque composer and violin virtuoso who developed the modern concerto grosso and classical violin technique.

Rome, Italy

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Military

10

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Abdallah ibn Aisha

عبد الله بن عائشة

Morocco

c. 1650 – 1713 (~63 years old)

Renowned Moroccan Grand Admiral from Salé who served as Sultan Moulay Ismail's ambassador to King Louis XIV of France at Versailles in 1699, famous for his cultured diplomacy and maritime prowess.

Salé, Morocco

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Sciences & Discovery

44

🕯️ 810

Giovanni Domenico Cassini

Gian Domenico Cassini

Italy

8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712 (87 years old)

First Director of the Paris Observatory who discovered the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings, four Saturnian moons (Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, Dione), and the rotation of Jupiter and Mars.

Paris, France

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Sciences & Discovery

37

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Nehemiah Grew

Nehemiah Grew

Great Britain

1641 – 1712 (70 years old)

English physician and plant anatomist who co-founded plant anatomy alongside Malpighi, discovered that flowers are sexual reproductive organs, and published the first scientific description of human fingerprints.

London, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

9

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Nicolas Boileau

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

France

1636 – 1711 (74 years old)

Foremost poetic theorist and satirist of French Classicism known as the 'Lawgiver of Parnassus', whose L'Art poétique (1674) codified classical aesthetic principles of reason, clarity, and truth.

Paris, France

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Sciences & Discovery

47

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Ole Rømer

Ole Christensen Rømer

Denmark

25 September 1644 – 19 September 1710 (65 years old)

Danish astronomer who made the first quantitative measurement of the speed of light in 1676 by observing the timing discrepancies of Jupiter's moon Io during Earth's orbital journey.

Copenhagen, Denmark

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Religion

9

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Sulayman al-Hanafi al-Tunisi

سليمان الحنفي التونسي

Tunisia

c. 1640 AD – 1710 AD (~70 years old)

Eminent 17th-century Hanafi jurist and Grand Mufti of Tunis who codified the application of Ottoman Hanafi imperial law alongside native Maliki customary law in the courts of Tunis.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Philosophy & Thought

37

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Walda Heywat

ወልደ ሕይወት

Ethiopia

c. 1633 CE – c. 1710 CE (77 years old)

Ethiopian philosopher and foremost disciple of Zar Yaqob who expanded the Hatata with profound ethical treatises on practical morality, women's rights, and social justice.

Enfraz (near Gondar), Ethiopia

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

73

🕯️ 980

Guru Gobind Singh Ji (Tenth Sikh Guru)

ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ

India

22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708 (41 years old)

Tenth and final human Sikh Guru, warrior-philosopher, and master poet. Founded the Khalsa brotherhood of saint-soldiers at Anandpur Sahib in 1699 and conferred eternal Guruship upon the Guru Granth Sahib.

Hazur Sahib (Nanded), India

73 Full Record →

Religion

5

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François de Laval

François de Montmorency-Laval

France

1623 – 1708 (85 years old)

First Bishop of New France who organized the Catholic Church across North America, founded the Grand Séminaire (forerunner of Université Laval), and fiercely opposed the fur trade liquor traffic.

Quebec City, Canada

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Music

5

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Dietrich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude

Denmark

1637-05-15 – 1707-05-09 (69 years old)

Foremost organist and composer of the North German High Baroque school whose virtuosic organ toccatas, cantatas, and Abendmusiken inspired the young J.S. Bach to walk 400 kilometers to hear him.

Lübeck, Germany

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