1610s C.E.

The Dutch establish first European settlement in modern-day Guyana

n 1616 the Dutch established the first European settlement in the area of Guyana, a trading post twenty-five kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Essequibo River. Other settlements followed, usually a few kilometers inland on the larger rivers.

Illustration by Gustave Doré depicting the famous windmill scene from Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes publishes Don Quixote, the first modern novel

By Peter Schulte / April 9, 1615

Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon

John Napier publicly propounds the method of logarithms

By Peter Schulte / July 26, 1614

The history of logarithm in seventeenth century Europe is the discovery of a new function that extended the realm of analysis beyond the scope of algebraic methods.