François Couperin was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. François Couperin was known as "Couperin le Grand" (Couperin the Great) to distinguish him from the other members of the musically talented Couperin family. He wa...

Dutch physician, anatomist, botanist, chemist and humanist. One of the most influential clinicians and teachers of the 18th century, Boerhaave spent almost his entire life in Leiden, which became a leading medical centre of Europe. Like Tho...

Captain Thomas Coram was a philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital to look after unwanted children in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity. The Foundling Hospital cha...

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. The company was incorporated by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England tra...

Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle KG, and lord of De Voorst in Guelders (Gelderland), was the son of Oswald van Keppel and his wife Anna Geertruid van Lintelo. De Voorst is a large country house near Zutphen, financed by Willia...

Frederick Augustus I or Augustus II the Strong was Elector of Saxony (as Frederick Augustus I) and King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (as Augustus II). Augustus's great physical strength earned him the nicknames "the Strong," "the S...

Bernard Mandeville was a philosopher, political economist and satirist. Born in the Netherlands, he lived most of his life in England and used English for most of his published works. He became famous for The Fable of the Bees. Mandeville's...

James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick was a French military leader, illegitimate son of King James II of England by Arabella Churchill, sister of the 1st Duke of Marlborough. As a soldier, Berwick was highly esteemed for his courage, abiliti...

John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade. He was appointed Controller General of Finances of France under the...

Frederick IV was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of Christian V and Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). For much of Frederik IV's reign Denmark was engaged in the Great Northe...

Robert Roy MacGregor was a Scottish outlaw, who later became a folk hero. Rob Roy became a well-known and respected cattleman—this was a time when cattle rustling and selling protection against theft were commonplace means of earning a l...

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Italian composer. Born to a wealthy Venetian family, he was not obliged to work for a living and became a highly prolific composer. He had more than 50 operas successfully produced between 1694 and 1741, though few...

The Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War (French: La Guerre de Hollande) (1672–78) was a war fought by France, Sweden, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and England against the United Netherlands, which w...

Peter the Great ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a muc...

Ahmed III was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (1648–87). His mother was Mâh-Pâre Ummatullah (Emetullah) Râbi'a Gül-Nûs; Valide Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at Hajiog...