1696

Events 
 April – Fire destroys the Gra Bet (or Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia.
 August 22 – Forces of Venice and Turkish troops clash near Molino
 October 29 – Fuller Baptist Church founded in Kettering, England.
 December 24 – Inquisition burns number of Marrano Jews in Evora, Portugal
 Peter the Great becomes sole tsar of Russia.
 Polish replaces Ruthenian as an official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
 A famine wipes out almost a third of the population of Finland.
 Abington, Pennsylvania, is settled.
 William Penn offers an elaborate plan for intercolonial cooperation largely in trade, defense, and criminal matters.
 The Second Pueblo Revolt took place
 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captured and destroyed St. John's, Newfoundland.