Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
1648 – 1695 · 47 years · Mexico City · Americas
Nun, poet and scholar of New Spain, called the 'Tenth Muse', who defended women's right to learning.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
Portrait: Fray Miguel de Herrera · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Louis XIV — King of France, the Sun King, 10 years older
- Isaac Newton — English physicist and mathematician, 5 years older
- Rembrandt — Dutch painter, 42 years older
- Johann Sebastian Bach — German composer and organist, 37 years younger
- Leopold I — emperor under whom Vienna was saved from the Turks and Hungary retaken, 8 years older
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — German philosopher and mathematician, 2 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Peter the Great — first Emperor of Russia, 24 years younger
- Alexis the Most Quiet — tsar of the 1649 Law Code and the church schism, 19 years older
- Vitus Bering — Danish explorer in Russian service, 33 years younger
- Catherine I — first Russian empress, widow of Peter the Great, 36 years younger
- Feodor III — tsar who abolished the precedence system (mestnichestvo), 13 years younger
Middle East
- Ahmed III — sultan of the 'Tulip Era', 25 years younger
- Ahmed II — sultan who lost the Battle of Slankamen, 5 years older
- Mehmed IV the Hunter — sultan of the Köprülü era and the siege of Vienna, 6 years older
- Suleiman II — sultan who retook Belgrade after 39 years in the 'cage', 6 years older
- Evliya Çelebi — Ottoman traveller, 37 years older
- Mustafa II — sultan who signed the Treaty of Karlowitz, 16 years younger
Africa
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba — Queen of Ndongo and Matamba, 65 years older
- Moulay Ismail — Sultan of Morocco, 3 years older
- Osei Tutu I — founder of the Ashanti Empire, 12 years younger
- Fasilides — Emperor of Ethiopia, 45 years older
- Kimpa Vita — Kongolese prophet, 36 years younger
Asia
- Kangxi Emperor — Qing emperor of China, 6 years younger
- Aurangzeb — Mughal emperor, 30 years older
- Tokugawa Tsunayoshi — the 'Dog Shogun' who outlawed cruelty to animals, 2 years older
- Matsuo Bashō — Japanese poet, 4 years older
- Shivaji — founder of the Maratha state, 18 years older
- Shah Jahan — Mughal emperor, 56 years older
Oceania
- Abel Tasman — Dutch navigator, 45 years older
The world in their lifetime
- 1648 Peace of Westphalia — aged 0, Europe
- 1649 Execution of Charles I of England — aged 1, Europe
- 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement — aged 6, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1662 Last sighting of the dodo — aged 14, Africa
- 1676 Leeuwenhoek sees microbes — aged 28, Europe
- 1682 Accession of Peter the Great — aged 34, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1683 Battle of Vienna — aged 35, Europe
- 1687 Newton's Principia — aged 39, Europe
- 1688–1689 Glorious Revolution — aged 40, Europe