Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as the greatest naval commander of 17th century Europe. De Ruyter came from a modest background in Zeeland and began seafaring from an early age; by the age of 30 he had become a shipmaster in the Dutch merchant fleet. In 1641, De Ruyter briefly served as a rear admiral during the Portuguese Restoration War, after which he returned to a prosperous merchant career for a decade before retiring to his hometown of Vlissingen. On the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652, De Ruyter accepted a command in the Dutch Navy under lieutenant admiral Maarten Tromp, distinguished himself and was promoted to vice admiral at the end of the war.
Battle of Solebay: Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter defeats a French-English fleet
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as the greatest naval commander of 17th...
Historical Significance
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch States Navy officer.
Events Before
Cossacks capture Russian peasant leader Stenka Razin
Stepan Timofeyevich Razinɪvʲɪtɕ ˈrazʲɪn]; c. 1630 – June 16 [O.S. June 6] 1671), known as Stenka Razin, was a Don Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy...
Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed for treason
The House of Zrinski or Zrínyi was a Croatian-Hungarian noble family, a cadet branch of the Croatian noble tribe of Šubić, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in...
Colonel Thomas Blood attempts to steal Crown Jewels of England and Scotland from the Tower of London, captured running f
Colonel Thomas Blood attempts to steal Crown Jewels of England and Scotland from the Tower of London, captured running from the tower with the jewels [1]
Pageant of 1671: French claim possession of lands "from the northern and western seas to the southern sea, including lan
Pageant of 1671: French claim possession of lands "from the northern and western seas to the southern sea, including lands yet to be discovered" in ceremony at Jesuit Mission, Sault Saint, Canada [1]
French officer Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson takes possession for France of Lake Huron and Superior "and all th
French officer Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson takes possession for France of Lake Huron and Superior "and all the other contiguous and adjacent countries, rivers, lakes and streams, here, both discovered and yet to be discovered", at assembly of fourteen Amerindian nations at Sault-Sainte-Ma
Events After
Jean Racine's play "Mithridate" premieres in Paris
Jean-Baptiste Racine was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western...
Regular mail delivery begins between New York and Boston, at the command of King Charles II; the route becomes known as
Regular mail delivery begins between New York and Boston, at the command of King Charles II; the route becomes known as the Boston Post Road
First recorded wine auction held in London
First recorded wine auction held in London
Michiel de Ruyter appointed lt-admiral-general of Dutch fleet
Michiel de Ruyter appointed lt-admiral-general of Dutch fleet
Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
More from the 1670s
Don Carlos de Gurrea becomes the Spanish land guardian of Southern Netherlands
Don Carlos de Gurrea becomes the Spanish land guardian of Southern Netherlands
Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera "Bellerophon" premieres at the Palais-Royal in Paris
Jean-Baptiste Lully born Giovanni Battista Lulli (28 or 29 November [O.S. 18 or 19 November] 1632 – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-French composer, dancer and instrumentalist, who is considered a...
Isaac Newton reads his first optics paper before the Royal Society in London
Sir Isaac Newton (4 January [O.S. 25 December] 1643 – 31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727) was an English polymath who was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, author and...
John Bunyan's Christian novel "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published in London by Nathaniel Ponder
John Bunyan's Christian novel "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published in London by Nathaniel Ponder
Frequently Asked Questions
- What happened on June 7, 1672?
- Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as the greatest naval commander of 17th century Europe. De Ruyter came from a modest background in Zeeland and began seafaring from an early age; by the age of 30 he had become a shipmaster in the Dutch merchant fleet.
- Why is Battle of Solebay: Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter defeats a French-English f... significant?
- Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch States Navy officer.