Dutch capture of Elmina
A Gold Coast fortress becomes a hub of the slave trade
The Dutch West India Company took the castle of São Jorge da Mina on the Gold Coast from the Portuguese. Elmina became a major hub of the Atlantic slave trade; many thousands of Africans passed through its dungeons.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1618–1648 Thirty Years' War — 19 years earlier
- 1648 Peace of Westphalia — 11 years later
- 1649 Execution of Charles I of England — 12 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1612 Minin and Pozharsky liberate Moscow — 25 years earlier
- 1613 Election of Michael Romanov as Tsar — 24 years earlier
- 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement — 17 years later
Asia
- 1632–1653 Building of the Taj Mahal — 5 years earlier
- 1644 Fall of the Ming, rise of the Qing — 7 years later
Alive at the time
- Galileo Galilei (aged 73)
- René Descartes (aged 41)
- Rembrandt (aged 31)
- Nur Jahan (aged 60)
- Ferdinand II (aged 59)
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba (aged 54)
- Shah Jahan (aged 45)
- Michael I (aged 41)
- Oliver Cromwell (aged 38)
- Charles I (aged 37)