Historical figures of the Enlightenment
The atlas holds 77 people and 1,409 moments here, from 1685 to 1815. The most recorded lives are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Joséphine de Beauharnais. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Philosophers.
Notable people
John Quincy Adams
from 1767 to 1815
18 moments here
John Quincy Adams was an American diplomat, secretary of state, sixth president of the United States, and Massachusetts representative.…
John Tyler
from 1790 to 1813
4 moments here
John Tyler was an American lawyer, Virginia politician, tenth vice president, and tenth president of the United States.…
Jonathan Swift
from 1688 to 1745
18 moments here
Anglo-Irish writer, satirist, political pamphleteer, and Church of Ireland cleric, best known for Gulliver's Travels, A Tale of a Tub, and A Modest…
José de San Martín
from 1783 to 1811
5 moments here
Argentine general and independence leader who helped secure the independence of Argentina, Chile, and Peru.…
Joséphine de Beauharnais
from 1779 to 1814
60 moments here
Marie-Josèphe-Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, known as Joséphine, was Napoleon Bonaparte’s first wife and Empress of the French from 1804 until the…
Leonhard Euler
from 1707 to 1783
18 moments here
Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, engineer, and polymath. Euler’s documented life moved from Basel and nearby Riehen to Saint Petersburg,…
Lord Byron
from 1788 to 1815
26 moments here
George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824), was a British poet, peer, and political speaker.…
Louis XIV
from 1685 to 1715
6 moments here
Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 1638–1715), king of France from 1643, was the Bourbon monarch known as the Sun King.…
Ludwig van Beethoven
from 1770 to 1812
34 moments here
German composer and pianist whose life was centered first in Bonn and, from 1792, in Vienna.…
Martin Van Buren
from 1782 to 1815
7 moments here
Martin Van Buren was an American lawyer and politician who served as New York attorney general, U.S.…
Michael Faraday
from 1791 to 1815
11 moments here
English chemist and physicist whose experimental work transformed the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.…
Millard Fillmore
from 1800 to 1814
2 moments here
Millard Fillmore was an American lawyer and politician from western New York who served in the New York Assembly, the U.S.…
Montesquieu
from 1689 to 1755
29 moments here
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French jurist, historian, and political philosopher.…
Muhammad Ali of Egypt
in 1769
1 moment here
Ottoman Albanian military commander and wālī of Egypt from 1805 to 1848. Muhammad Ali consolidated power in Egypt, undertook campaigns in Arabia and…
Napoleon Bonaparte
from 1769 to 1815
56 moments here
French military commander and statesman who rose during the French Revolution, became First Consul in 1799, and ruled as Emperor of the French in…
Otto von Bismarck
in 1815
1 moment here
Otto von Bismarck was a Prussian and German statesman, diplomat, and the first chancellor of the German Empire.…
Peter the Great
from 1689 to 1725
30 moments here
Peter I of Russia, known as Peter the Great, was tsar from 1682 and emperor from 1721 until 1725.…
Phillis Wheatley
from 1761 to 1784
15 moments here
Phillis Wheatley Peters was a poet born in West Africa, enslaved in Boston as a child, and the author of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and…
Ralph Waldo Emerson
from 1803 to 1812
2 moments here
American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, Unitarian minister, poet, abolitionist, and leading figure in Transcendentalism.…
Richard Wagner
from 1813 to 1814
2 moments here
German composer, conductor, theatre director, and essayist whose movements included early work in German theatre, exile in Switzerland, stays in…
Simón Bolívar
from 1799 to 1810
23 moments here
Venezuelan military and political leader known as El Libertador. Bolívar led revolutionary campaigns that helped secure the independence of…
Søren Kierkegaard
in 1813
1 moment here
Danish philosopher, Christian theologian, poet, social critic, and religious author. This chronology records verified physical presences at…
Thomas Jefferson
from 1743 to 1801
27 moments here
Thomas Jefferson was an American lawyer, Virginia political leader, diplomat, secretary of state, vice president, and third president of the United…
Victor Hugo
from 1802 to 1811
3 moments here
French Romantic poet, novelist, dramatist, artist, activist, and politician. This chronology traces documented physical presences from his mobile…
Moments
- 1709 Returned to Ireland after London mission Jonathan Swift
- 1709 Scholarly residence in Paris Montesquieu
- 1709 Lived in the Weldig house Johann Sebastian Bach
- 1709 Battlefield headquarters at Poltava Peter the Great
- 1709 Relocates to Chelsea Isaac Newton
- 1710 First London visit George Frideric Handel
- 1710 Visit en route to London George Frideric Handel
- 1710 Political work in London Jonathan Swift
- 1710 Kapellmeister appointment George Frideric Handel
- 1710 Settles in St Martin's Street Isaac Newton
- 1711 Campaign near Iași Peter the Great
- 1711 Visit to Dresden Peter the Great
- 1711 Studies law in Caen Voltaire
- 1711 Religious-festival visit to Brescia Antonio Vivaldi
- 1711 Final Berlin sojourn Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1711 Birth at Lawnmarket David Hume
- 1711 Defensive position at Stănilești Peter the Great
- 1711 Audience with Peter the Great at Torgau Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1712 Later Scottish mission Daniel Defoe
- 1712 Permanent settlement in England George Frideric Handel
- 1712 Performance at the Basilica of Saint Anthony Antonio Vivaldi
- 1712 Birth in Geneva Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- 1712 Audience with Peter the Great at Carlsbad Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1712 Final extended Vienna residence Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1713 Barn Elms residence George Frideric Handel
- 1713 Siege of Tönning Peter the Great
- 1713 Travel to Hanover Peter the Great
- 1713 Visit to Hamburg Peter the Great
- 1713 Voyage to Helsingfors Peter the Great
- 1713 Voyage to Riga Peter the Great
- 1713 Voyage to Turku Peter the Great
- 1713 Serves at The Hague Voltaire
- 1714 Testifies on the longitude problem Isaac Newton
- 1714 Counselor at the Bordeaux Parlement Montesquieu
- 1714 Return to Ireland for the deanery Jonathan Swift
- 1714 Returns to Hanover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1715 Latin-school pupil in Basel Leonhard Euler
- 1715 Death at Versailles Louis XIV
- 1716 Meetings with Peter the Great at Bad Pyrmont Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1716 Baltic diplomatic journey at Danzig Peter the Great
- 1716 Baltic diplomatic journey at Königsberg Peter the Great
- 1716 Baltic diplomatic journey at Riga Peter the Great
- 1716 Command voyage to Copenhagen Peter the Great
- 1716 Meeting with Danish diplomats at Altona Peter the Great
- 1716 Meeting with Leibniz at Bad Pyrmont Peter the Great
- 1716 Death in Hanover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1716 Second visit to Amsterdam Peter the Great
- 1717 Grammar-school attendance in Växjö Carl Linnaeus
- 1717 Diplomatic and scholarly visits in Paris Peter the Great
- 1717 First Bastille imprisonment Voltaire