Born ThenLife in the 17th century
Be born somewhere between 1600 and 1699, weighted by real births, and live five lives from that year on.
The numbers
The world had about 563 million people around the middle of the 17th century. Life expectancy at birth was near 25 years, mostly because so many children died; people who reached adulthood often lived into their fifties or sixties. About 9% could read and 9% lived in towns. Most births happened in North India (17%), South China (15%), South India and Sri Lanka (10%), North China (8%), West Africa (5%).
All numbers before 1800 are modelled from long-run population and life-expectancy estimates by region. How it works
What happened
- Indian Ocean slave trade 700–1799
- Atlantic slave trade (West Africa) 1501–1799
- Atlantic slave trade (Kongo and Angola) 1514–1799
- Plantation slavery in Brazil 1550–1799
- Russian conquest of Siberia 1580–1700
- Tokugawa peace 1603–1780
- Epidemic in coastal New England 1616–1619
- Thirty Years' War 1618–1648
- Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands 1621
- Late Ming famines and rebellions 1627–1644
- Italian plague of 1629–1631 1629–1631
- Deccan famine of 1630–1632 1630–1632
- Sugar slavery in the Caribbean 1640–1799
- Ming–Qing transition 1644–1683
- Slavery in the British North American colonies 1660–1799
- Great Plague of London 1665–1666
- Little Ice Age famines of the 1690s 1693–1698