1687

January–June

• March 19 - The men under explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle mutiny, and Pierre Duhaut murders him, while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River.
• April 4 - King James II of England issues the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending laws against Roman Catholics and nonconformists.
• May 6 - Emperor Higashiyama succeeds Emperor Reigen, on the throne of Japan.

  July–December

• July 11 - Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, known as the Principia, is published by the Royal Society of London. In it, Newton describes his theory of universal gravitation, explains the laws of mechanics, and gives a formula for the speed of sound. The writing of Principia Mathematica ushers in a tidal wave of changes in thought, significantly accelerating the scientific revolution by providing new and practical intellectual tools, and becomes the foundation of modern physics.
• July 24 - Morean War - Battle of Patras: The Republic of Venice defeats the Ottomans, which flee in panic, allowing the Venetians to capture the fortresses of Patras, Rio, Antirrio, and Lepanto unopposed.
• August 12 - Great Turkish War - Battle of Mohács: The Habsburg imperial army, and allies under Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, defeat the Ottoman Turks, and enable Austria to conquer most of Ottoman-occupied Hungary.
• September - Morean War: The navy of the Republic of Venice raids the Dalmatian coast, and attacks Ottoman Turkish strongholds in Greece.
• September 23-29 - Morean War: Venetian forces under Francesco Morosini besiege the Ottoman garrison in the Acropolis of Athens. The Temple of Athena Nike is demolished, the Propylaea suffer damage, and half the Parthenon is destroyed, when a cannon ball hits a powder magazine there on 26 September.
• November 8 - Suleiman II succeeds the deposed Mehmed IV, as Ottoman Emperor.
• December 31 - In response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a group of Huguenots set sail from France, and settle in the recently established Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope, where, using their native skills, they establish the first South African vineyards.