What happened 1688 AD

English navigator William Dampier, aboard the English ship Cygnet, made the earliest recorded visit to the sea around the island in March 1688. He found it uninhabited. Dampier gave an account of the visit which can be found in his Voyages. Dampier was trying to reach Cocos from New Holland. His ship was blown off course in an easterly direction, arriving at Christmas Island twenty-eight days later. Dampier landed at the Dales (on the west coast). Two of his crewmen became the first Europeans to set foot on Christmas Island.

The French mathematician, Louis Bertrand Castel, was born in Montpellier, France.

The 'Glorious Revolution' begins when Prince Willem III's army lands at Torbay, England.

The governor of the Dutch state of Suriname, Cornelis van Aerssen, was murdered at the age of 50.

King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, fled to France from William of Orange.

The prince's fleet is heading to England.

The grand pensionary of the Netherlands, Gaspar Fagel, passed away at the age of 54.

King Louis XIV of France declared war on the Netherlands.

King James II is in France in 1688.