- North America
León Viejo abandoned
The original León, struck by the Momotombo eruption of 1578 and the earthquake of 1610, is abandoned; its buried ruins later become Nicaragua's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Era: Conquest, León, and the Mosquito Coast
Sources: Ruins of León Viejo · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Africa
Extinction of the dodo
Hunting, deforestation and introduced animals wipe out the flightless dodo within decades of human arrival; last accepted sightings fall in the 1660s.
Era: The Dutch & the Dodo
Sources: The dodo bird: the real facts about this icon of extinction · Natural History Museum, London, Dodo · Wikipedia
- Europe
The Great Dubrovnik earthquake
A devastating earthquake struck Dubrovnik in 1667, destroying much of the city, killing thousands and ending the long prosperity of the Ragusan republic.
Era: Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars
Sources: Old City of Dubrovnik · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- North America
Port Royal earthquake
A powerful earthquake and tsunami sink much of the buccaneer city of Port Royal, killing thousands and ending its golden age.
Era: Spanish Colony and English Conquest
Sources: Jamaica: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Catastrophe in the 17th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged catastrophe — plague, famine, earthquake and other disasters, narrowed to the 17th century — 4 of them, drawn from 4 nations, running from 1610 to 1692. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 4
- Nations
- 4
- Earliest
- 1610
- Latest
- 1692
- North America
- 2
- Africa
- 1
- Europe
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.