Salem Press

Great Events from History: The 17th Century

Great Events from History: The 17th Century
Publisher's Note

Great Events from History: The 17th Century, 1601-1700 is the fourth installment in the ongoing Great Events from History series, which was initiated in 2004 with the two-volume Great Events from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory-476, followed in Spring 2005 with The Middle Ages, 477-1453 and in Fall 2005 with The Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600. When completed, the series will extend through the twentieth century; subsequent volumes will address The Eighteenth Century, The Nineteenth Century, and The Twentieth Century.

Expanded Coverage
Like the rest of the series, the current volumes represent both a revision and a significant expansion of the twelve-volume Great Events from History (1972-1980), incorporating essays from the Chronology of European History: 15,000 B.C. to 1997 (3 vols., 1997), Great Events from History: North American Series, Revised Edition (4 vols., 1997), and Great Events from History: Modern European Series (3 vols., 1973).

Each installment in the new series is being enlarged with a significant amount of new material-often more than half the original contents. The 17th Century joins more than 230 completely new essays--commissioned especially for the new series and appearing for the first time--to 78 previously published core entries for a total of more than 300 essays on the century's major events. In addition, the new series features expanded and updated bibliographies, internal and external cross-references, a section containing maps of the world during the century, new appendices and indexes, plus numerous sidebars, quotations from primary source documents, maps, and illustrations throughout.

Scope of Coverage
The century receives worldwide coverage with a priority for meeting the needs of history students at the high school and undergraduate levels. Events covered include the mandatory milestones in the geopolitics of the era--from the Thirty Years' War to the War of the League of Augsburg, from Europeans' arrival in Australia to the establishment of the Louisiana Colony. Also, however, the essays address key social developments in daily life: the practice of birth control; the popularization of New World imports such as tobacco, coffee, and chocolate; the establishment of Tokyo's "Floating World" district; the ineradicable devastation of the Middle Passage and African American slavery. Students of this age of scientific revolution will learn the stories behind the development of the microscope, the earliest smallpox inoculations, the discovery of Saturn's rings, and the birth of modern chemistry. Those interested in the arts will learn what gave rise to Baroque music, the first modern libraries, British drama in an era of religious conservativism, and the Spanish Golden Age.

The emphasis of this collection of essays, therefore, is on those turning points that redirected contemporary affairs and shaped the modern world, across a broad sweep of categories: Of the more than 300 essays, 27 focus on arts and culture, 27 on colonialism, 7 on disasters, 17 on economics and trade, 10 on engineering and architecture, 7 on exploratory expeditions, 60 on government and politics, 13 on international relations, 16 on religion, 30 on science and technology, 44 on social issues, and 59 on war and civil unrest.

The scope of this set is equally broad geographically, with essays on events associated with the following countries or regions: Africa (21 essays), the Americas (63), Australia (3), Austria (1), Bohemia (4), British Isles (66), Central Asia (2), China (12), Japan (16), Korea (2), Denmark (2), Europe in general (24), France (20), Germany (6), Italy (10), the Middle East (21), the Netherlands (8), Russia (9), Scandinavia and Poland (2), South Asia (9), Southeast Asia (6), and Spain (7). In addition, 3 essays cover developments with worldwide impact.

Essay Length and Format
The essays have an average length of 1,600 words (2-3 pages) and adhere to a uniform format. The ready-reference top matter of every essay prominently displays following information:

o the most precise date (or date range)

o the name of the event

o a summary paragraph that encapsulates the event's significance

o the locale, or where the event occurred, including both contemporary and (where different) modern place-names

o the Categories, or the type of event covered, from Art to Wars and Civil Unrest

o Key Figures, a list of the major individuals involved in the event, with birth and death dates, a brief descriptor, and reign dates for rulers

The text of each essay is divided into the following sections:

o Summary of Event, devoted to a chronological description of the facts of the event

o Significance, assessing the event's historical impact

o Further Reading, an annotated list of sources for further study

o See also, cross-references to other essays within Great Events, and

o Related articles, which lists essays of interest in Salem's companion publication, Great Lives from History: The 17th Century, 1601-1700 (2 vols., simultaneously published in 2006).

Special Features
A section of historical maps appears in the front matter of both volumes, displaying world regions in the seventeenth century for easy reference. Accompanying the essays are sidebars--including quotations from primary source documents--as well as maps and approximately 175 illustrations: images of artworks, battles, buildings, people, and other icons of the period.

A Keyword List of Contents appears in the front matter to both volumes and alphabetically lists all essays, permuted by all keywords in the essay's title, to assist students in locating events by name.

In addition, several research aids appear as appendices at the end of Volume 2:

o The Time Line lists major events in the seventeenth century; unlike the Chronological List of Entries (see below), the Time Line is a chronological listing of events by subject area and lists not only those events covered in the set but also a substantial number of other events and developments during the period.

o The Glossary defines terms and concepts associated with the period.

o The Bibliography cites major sources on the period.

o Electronic Resources provides URLs and descriptions of Internet sites devoted to period studies.

o The Chronological List of Entries organizes the contents chronologically in one place for ease of reference.

Finally, four indexes round out the set:

o Geographical Index lists essays by region or country.

o Category Index lists essays by type of event (Agriculture, Architecture, Arts, and so on).

o Personages Index includes major personages discussed throughout.

o Subject Index includes persons, concepts, terms, battles, works of literature, organizations, artworks, and many other topics of discussion.

Usage Notes
The worldwide scope of Great Events from History results in the inclusion of many names and words that must be transliterated from languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, and in some cases, more than one system of transliteration exists. In many cases, transliterated words in this set follow the American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC) transliteration format for that language. However, if another form of a name or word is judged to be more familiar to the general audience, it is used instead. The variants for names of essay subjects are listed in ready-reference top matter and are cross-referenced in the subject and personages indexes. The Pinyin transliteration is used for Chinese topics, with Wade-Giles variants provided for major names and dynasties; in a few cases, a common name that is not Pinyin has been used. Sanskrit and other South Asian names generally follow the ALA-LC transliteration rules, although again, the more familiar form of a word is used when deemed appropriate for the general reader.

Titles of books and other literature appear, upon first mention in the essay, with their full publication and translation data as known: an indication of the first date of publication or appearance, followed by the English title in translation and its first date of appearance in English; if no translation has been published in English, and if the context of the discussion does not make the meaning of the title obvious, a "literal translation" appears in roman type.

In the listing of Key Figures and in parenthetical material within the text, the editors have used these abbreviations: "r." for "reigned," "b." for "born," "d." for "died," and "fl." for flourished. Where a date range appears appended to a name without one of these designators, the reader may assume it signifies birth and death dates.

The Contributors
Salem Press would like to extend its appreciation to all who have been involved in the development and production of this work. Special thanks go to Larissa J. Taylor, Associate Professor of History at Colby College, who pored over the contents list, maintaining its balance and relevance to the student audience throughout the process of acquisitions in order to ensure that the curriculum was addressed fully.

The essays were written and signed by historians, political scientists, and scholars of regional studies as well as independent scholars. Without their expert contributions, a project of this nature would not be possible. A full list of their names and affiliations appears in the front matter of this volume.