1640

Events

• December 1 - Portugal regains its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king. Spain does not recognize the Independence before 1668
• Charles I summons and rapidly dismisses the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the second of the Bishops Wars.
• November: The English Long Parliament is summoned.
• Change of Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from Murat IV (1623-1640) to Ibrahim I (1640-1648)
• First book printed in North America, the Bay Psalm Book
• First known European coffee house opens in Venice

Births

• January 25 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
• March 18 - Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1719)
• March 30 - John Trenchard, English statesman (d. 1695)
• April 1 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (d. 1697)
• May 31 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
• June 9 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1705)
• September 29 - Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor (d. 1720)
• November 28 - Willem de Vlamingh, Flemish sea captain
• December 6 - Claude Fleury, French historian (d. 1723)
• December 13 - Robert Plot, British naturalist (d. 1696)

Deaths

• May 30 - Peter Paul Rubens, German painter (b. 1577)
• Uriel Acosta, Portuguese Jewish philosopher (suicide) (b. 1585)