1655

Events

January 5 – Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan.
January 7 – Pope Innocent X, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States, dies after more than 10 years of rule.
February 14 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile, beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 16 – Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 8 – John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in what will become the United States, as a court in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia issues its decision in the Casor lawsuit, the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who has committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
March 25 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

July 20 – The Amsterdam Town Hall (the modern-day Royal Palace) is inaugurated.
July 27
- The Jews in New Amsterdam petition for a separate Jewish cemetery.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- The Netherlands and Brandenburg sign a military treaty.
July 30 – Dutch troops capture Fort Assahudi Seram.
July 31 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
August 9 – Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts, under major-generals.
August 28 – New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bar colonial Jews from military service.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
August – The governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, attacks the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
September 8 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Warsaw (Poland).
September 26 – Peter Stuyvesant recaptures the Dutch Fory Casimir, and defeats the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.

October 15 – The Jews of Lublin are massacred.
October 19 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Kraków (Poland).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
November 3 – England and France sign military and economic treaties.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
November 24 – English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell announces measures against the Laudian party, which are enforced starting on January 1.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
December 4 – Middelburg, the Netherlands forbids the building of a synagogue.
December 18 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there is no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
December 27 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, builds the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.<ref name="Bellis">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Koerth-Baker">Template:Cite web</ref> However, the device has the appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design includes hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.<ref name="History of Wheelchairs">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Bibliotheca Thysiana is erected,<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands, of a building designed as a library.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
1655 Malta plague outbreak kills 20 people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Frederick III of Denmark-Norway gives control of the Faroe Islands to Christoffer Gabel and his son, which will last until 1709.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>