Baruch Spinoza
1632 – 1677 · 45 years · The Hague · Europe
Taught that God and Nature are one and the same single substance, and that freedom lies in understanding necessity. Expelled from Amsterdam's Jewish community, he ground lenses for a living; his Ethics appeared after his death.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Louis XIV — King of France, the Sun King, 6 years younger
- Rembrandt — Dutch painter, 26 years older
- Isaac Newton — English physicist and mathematician, 11 years younger
- René Descartes — French philosopher and mathematician, 36 years older
- Galileo Galilei — Italian physicist and astronomer, 68 years older
- Thomas Hobbes — English philosopher, 44 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Alexis the Most Quiet — tsar of the 1649 Law Code and the church schism, 3 years older
- Michael I — first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, 36 years older
- Bohdan Khmelnytsky — Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, 37 years older
- Feodor III — tsar who abolished the precedence system (mestnichestvo), 29 years younger
- Dmitry Pozharsky — prince and militia leader, 54 years older
Middle East
- Evliya Çelebi — Ottoman traveller, 21 years older
- Mehmed IV the Hunter — sultan of the Köprülü era and the siege of Vienna, 10 years younger
- Suleiman II — sultan who retook Belgrade after 39 years in the 'cage', 10 years younger
- Ahmed II — sultan who lost the Battle of Slankamen, 11 years younger
- Kösem Sultan — Ottoman queen mother, 43 years older
- Ibrahim the Mad — sultan nicknamed 'the Mad', 17 years older
Africa
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba — Queen of Ndongo and Matamba, 49 years older
- Zera Yacob — Ethiopian philosopher, 33 years older
- Fasilides — Emperor of Ethiopia, 29 years older
- Moulay Ismail — Sultan of Morocco, 13 years younger
- Osei Tutu I — founder of the Ashanti Empire, 28 years younger
Asia
- Kangxi Emperor — Qing emperor of China, 22 years younger
- Aurangzeb — Mughal emperor, 14 years older
- Shivaji — founder of the Maratha state, 2 years older
- Shah Jahan — Mughal emperor, 40 years older
- Matsuo Bashō — Japanese poet, 12 years younger
- Tokugawa Tsunayoshi — the 'Dog Shogun' who outlawed cruelty to animals, 14 years younger
Americas
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz — Mexican poet and nun, 16 years younger
Oceania
- Abel Tasman — Dutch navigator, 29 years older
The world in their lifetime
- 1632–1653 Building of the Taj Mahal — aged 0, Asia
- 1644 Fall of the Ming, rise of the Qing — aged 12, Asia
- 1648 Peace of Westphalia — aged 16, Europe
- 1649 Execution of Charles I of England — aged 17, Europe
- 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement — aged 22, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1662 Last sighting of the dodo — aged 30, Africa
- 1676 Leeuwenhoek sees microbes — aged 44, Europe