1612
English Factory at Surat
The East India Company, fresh from defeating a Portuguese squadron off the Gujarat coast, opened its first trading post on the Indian mainland at Surat with permission from Jahangir. Indigo, cotton, and saltpeter flowed back to London. The British presence in India had begun, politely, at a Mughal pleasure, though within a century the Company would outgrow all such courtesies.
Christianity Banned in Tokugawa Territories
Ieyasu, alarmed by European missionary influence in western Japan, issued the first in a series of edicts forbidding Christianity throughout his shogunal domains. Churches were demolished, Jesuits expelled, and converts ordered to recant. The persecution would intensify yearly until virtually no Christians remained visible, though hidden communities of kakure kirishitan would secretly preserve their faith for over two centuries.
Rubens Returns to Antwerp
Peter Paul Rubens, having spent eight years mastering Italian painting at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, returned to Antwerp as court painter to the Spanish governors of Flanders. His large workshop would turn out altarpieces, hunting scenes, and portraits by the hundred, making him the most successful painter in northern Europe.
Galileo Observes Sunspots
Galileo published letters describing his observations of dark spots moving across the face of the Sun. They proved, he argued, that the Sun itself rotated and had imperfect features, in contradiction to Aristotelian physics. The Jesuit astronomer Christoph Scheiner had seen them first but drew the wrong conclusions about their location.
Last Burning of Heretics in England
Two Anabaptists, Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman, were burned separately, Legate at Smithfield and Wightman at Lichfield. Their screams shocked onlookers enough that James I quietly decreed no further executions by fire for heresy. England had cremated its last religious dissidents, though it would find other, less spectacular ways to persecute nonconformists for generations to come.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1612?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 1612. The most significant is English Factory at Surat: The East India Company, fresh from defeating a Portuguese squadron off the Gujarat coast, opened its first trading post on the Indian mainland at Surat…
What era was 1612 part of?
1612 falls within the Renaissance (1501-1650). Reformation, conquest, and the world drawn whole.
Which regions saw notable events in 1612?
The curated events from 1612 span South Asia, East Asia and Europe.