1697

January–June

• January - French writer Charles Perrault publishes Histoires ou contes du temps passé in Paris, a collection of popular fairy tales, including Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Red Riding Hood, The Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard.
• January 8 - Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead is hanged outside Edinburgh, becoming the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy.
• March 9 - Peter the Great of Russia sets out to travel in Europe, as Artilleryman Pjotr Mikhailov.
• March 13 - The Spanish conquest of Petén, and of Yucatán, is completed with the fall of Nojpetén, capital of the Itza Maya Kingdom, the last independent Maya state.
• March 22 - Charles II of Spain issues a Royal Cedula extending to the indigenous nobles of the Spanish Crown colonies, as well as to their descendants, the preeminence and honors customarily attributed to the Hidalgos of Castile.
• March 26 - Safavid government troops take control of Basra.
• April 5 - Charles XII, the Swedish Meteor, becomes king of Sweden upon the death of his father, Charles XI.
• May 17 - The 13th century royal Tre Kronor castle in Stockholm burns to the ground. A large portion of the royal library is destroyed.
• June 1 - Augustus II the Strong becomes king of Poland.
• June 30 - The earliest known first-class cricket match takes place in Sussex, England.

  July–December

• September 5 - Nine Years' War - Battle of Hudson's Bay: The French warship Pélican captures York Factory, a trading post of the English Hudson's Bay Company in modern-day Manitoba.
• September 11 - Battle of Zenta - Prince Eugene of Savoy crushes the Ottoman army of Mustafa II, and effectively ends Turkish hopes of recovering lost ground in Hungary.
• September 20 - The Treaty of Ryswick is signed by France and the Grand Alliance, to end both the Nine Years' War and King William's War. The conflict having been inconclusive, the treaty is proposed because the combatants have exhausted their national treasuries. Louis XIV of France recognises William III as King of England & Scotland, and both sides return territories they have taken in battle. In North America, the treaty returns Port Royal to France. In practice, the treaty is little more than a truce; it does not resolve any of the fundamental colonial problems, and the peace lasts only five years.
• October - The 6th Dalai Lama is installed.
• December 2 - St Paul's Cathedral is opened in London.
• December 7 - Duke of Burgundy and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy marry at Versailles palace royal chapel.
• December 11 - A ball is made at the Versailles palace's Hall of Mirrors celebrating the Duke of Burgundy and Marie Adélaïde's wedding
• December 14 - Charles XII of Sweden is crowned king at the age of 15.

  Date unknown

• The Manchus of the Qing dynasty conquer Outer Mongolia.
• The British government passes An Act to settle the Trade to Africa, confirming the Royal African Company's loss of monopoly on the slave trade.
• Christopher Polhem starts Sweden's first technical school.
• The use of litters increases in Europe.

  Births

• January 30 - Johann Joachim Quantz, German flautist and composer
• February 24 - Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, German anatomist
• March 9 - Friederike Caroline Neuber, German actress
• May 10 - Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer
• August 6 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
• October 7 - Canaletto, Italian artist
• October 22 - Catharina von Schlegel, German hymn writer
• October 26 - John Peter Zenger, German American newspaper printer
• November 10 - William Hogarth, English artist

  Deaths

• January 8 - Thomas Aikenhead, Scottish student
• January 12 - Andrzej Stech, Polish painter
• January 26 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician
• January 28 - John Fenwick, English conspirator
• February 4 - Adrien de Wignacourt, French 63rd Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller
• February 5 - Esaias Fleischer, Danish priest
• February 11 - Georg Händel, German musician
• February 17 - Francis Dane, American colonial priest
• March 1 - Francesco Redi, Italian physician
• March 12 - Gaspar de la Cerda, 8th Count of Galve
• March 19 - Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer
• March 26 - Godfrey McCulloch, Scottish politician and murderer
• March 27 - Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate
• April 4 - Andrea Carlone, Italian painter
• April 5 - King Charles XI of Sweden
• April 8 - Niels Juel, Danish admiral
• May 2 - Simon Henry, Count of Lippe-Detmold
• May 8 - Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet, English Member of Parliament
• May 24 - Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, German duke
• June 3 - Silvius II Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Oels
• June 7 - John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer
• June 10 - Francis Pemberton, English judge, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench
• June 12 - Ann Baynard, English natural philosopher
• June 18 - Gregorio Barbarigo, Italian Catholic saint
• June 19 - Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, English diplomat
• June 21 - Joseph Anthelmi, French ecclesiastical historian
• July 18
• * Thomas Dolman, English politician
• * António Vieira, Portuguese writer
• July 30 - Lorentz Mortensen Angell, Norwegian merchant and landowner
• August 5 - Jean-Baptiste de Santeul, French writer
• November 8 - Samuel Enys, English politician
• November 22 - Libéral Bruant, French architect
• December 17 - Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland
• December 20 - Frederick Charles, Duke of Württemberg-Winnental
• December 31 - Lucas Faydherbe, Belgian sculptor and architect
• date unknown - Karin Thomasdotter, Finnish official