Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels
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| Year | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature, Arts & Philosophy | Science & Discovery | Politics & Government |
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| 1235 | Roger Bacon invents spectacles | ||||
| 1488 | Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope | ||||
| 1492 | Columbus reaches W. Indies | ||||
| 1498 | de Gama reaches India | ||||
| 1516 | Thomas More, Utopia | ||||
| 1532-4 | Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel | ||||
| 1534 | Henry VIII breaks with Rome | ||||
| 1535 | Execution of Thomas More | ||||
| 1543 | Vesalius, The Fabric of the Human Body | ||||
| 1553 | Ascension of Mary I. Roman Church reinstated. | ||||
| 1558 | Ascension of Elizabeth I. Protestantism reinstated. | ||||
| 1589 | R. Hakluyt, Principle Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries | ||||
| 1596 | Kepler, Mysterium Cosmographicum | ||||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1600 | telesope is invented in Holland; Wm. Gilbert, De Magnete |
Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu unites Japan | |||
| 1601 | T. Brahe dies; Kepler appointed Imperial mathematician | ||||
| 1603 | Elizabeth I dies; James I (James VI of Scotland) becomes king of England | ||||
| 1604 | James I commissions Bible | ||||
| 1605 | Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning | ||||
| 1609 | Kepler, Astronomica Nova | ||||
| 1615 | Cervantes, Don Quixote | ||||
| 1618 | Thirty Years' War begins | ||||
| 1625 | accession of Charles I of England | ||||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1626 | Bacon, The New Atlantis | ||||
| 1632 | Galileo, Two World Systems;
Oughtred invents sliderule |
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| 1633 | Galileo proposes heliocentric solar system; examined by Inquisition | ||||
| 1637 | Descartes, Le Discours de la Methode | ||||
| 1638 | Galileo Two New Sciences | Sakoku decree closes Japan | |||
| 1641 | Descartes, Méditations Metaphysique | ||||
| 1642 | Pascal invents adding machine | English Civil War begins (ends 1648) | |||
| 1643 | Louis XIV becomes king of France | ||||
| 1648 | Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years' War | ||||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1649 | Swift family moves to Ireland | Charles I of England beheaded | |||
| 1650 | Cromwell crushes Irish rebellion | ||||
| 1651 | Hobbes, Leviathan | ||||
| 1657 | Cyrano de Bergerac, Histoire Comique des Etats et Empires de la Lune et du Soleil | Accademia del Cimento founded | |||
| 1660 | Gulliver born | Royal Society founded | Restoration of Charles II | ||
| 1661 | Boyle's Sceptical Chymist | ||||
| 1662 | Boyle's Law; Royal Society chartered |
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| 1664 | JS's parents, Jonathan Swift and Abigail Erick marry | ||||
| 1665 | outbreak of plague in London | ||||
| 1666 | first child, Jane is born | Newton discovers spectrum | Great Fire of London | ||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1667 | spring - father dies; 30 Nov - JS born; mother moves to England; JS remains in Dublin with uncle |
John Milton, Paradise Lost - John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis |
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| 1668 | Redi disproves spontaneous generation | ||||
| 1671 | Milton, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes | Newton invents reflecting telescope; Leibniz makes calculating machine |
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| 1672 | Swift enters Kilkenny Grammar School (-1681) | ||||
| 1674 | Gulliver enters "Emanuel-College...at Fourteen Years old" | Leeuwenhoek describes sperm | |||
| 1675 | Spinoza's Ethics | Greenwich Observatory founded; Olaus Roemer calculates speed of light |
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| 1676 | Gabriel De Foigny, La Terre Australe Connue | ||||
| 1677 | Gulliver "bound Apprentice to Mr. James Bates" | ||||
| 1678 | John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress | Huygens proposes wave theory of light | |||
| 1680 | Rochester, Poems | Dodo becomes extinct | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1681 | Gulliver goes to Leiden to study "Physick" | Dryden Absalom and Achitophel | |||
| 1682 | JS enters Trinity College, Dublin | Peter the Great becomes emperor of Russia | |||
| 1683 | Leeuwenhoek discovers bacteria | Turks besiege Vienna | |||
| 1684 | Gulliver serves as "Surgeon to the Swallow" | ||||
| 1685 | accession of James II | ||||
| 1686 | Feb; JS receives B.A. | ||||
| 1687 | Dryden, The Hind and the Panther | Newton, Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica | |||
| 1688 | Gulliver returns to medical practice in London | JS leaves Ireland because of political unrest; visits mother in England | James II deposed; Glorious Revolution | ||
| 1689 |
JS enters service of Sir Wm. Temple; meets Esther Johnson, age 8 |
accession of William III and Mary II | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1690 | James Bates dies; Gulliver takes positions on two ships | JS returns to Ireland briefly for health | Locke Concerning Civil Government and Concerning Human Understanding | William III defeats James II, Battle of the Boyne | |
| 1691 | JS returns England & to Wm. Temple | Treaty of Limerick | |||
| 1692 | JS receives M.A. Oxford; "Ode to the Athenian Society" JS's first published work | James II's troops defeated in Ireland; Salem witch trials | |||
| 1693 | Congreve, Old Bachelor and Double-Dealer | ||||
| 1694 | May, JS leaves Temple to go to Ireland; Oct, ordained a deacon |
Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française | death of Mary II of England; Bank of England founded | ||
| 1695 | January, ordained priest, Church of Ireland, Prebend of Kilroot | Congreve, Love for Love | |||
| 1696 | Gulliver again tries medical practice in London | May, JS leave Kilroot, returns to England & Temple; JS writes Tale of the Tub (published 1704) |
first practical steam engine | ||
| 1697 | JS writes The Battle of the Books (published 1704) | Wm. Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World | |||
| 1698 | JS resigns prebend at Kilroot | ||||
| 1699 | 4 May - G. departs Bristol aboard the Antelope bound for the South Seas | Sir Wm. Temple dies; JS writes "When I come to be old" JS returns to Ireland as chaplain to Lord Berkeley |
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| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1700 | Appointed vicar of Laracor and Rathbeggan and rectory of Agher; then prebend of Dunlavan, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin | Congreve, Way of the World Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern death of Dryden |
Charles II of Spain dies; Great Northern War begins |
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| 1701 | 24 Sept - G. departs Blefescu 26 Sept - rescued by English merchantman |
April-Sept in England; Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and Commons in Athens and Rome |
Tull invents seed drill | James II dies in exile; Act of Settlement establishes Hanover succession | |
| 1702 | 13 Apr G returns to England 20 June departs aboard the Adventure bound for Surat |
Feb - receives Doctor of Divinity, Univ. of Dublin; Apr-Oct in England; Stella comes to Ireland |
death of William III of England; accession of Queen Anne of England; War of Spanish Succession begins (-1713) | ||
| 1703 | 16 June - Brobdingnag sighted 17 June - G. left ashore, captured 17 Aug - leaves with Master for capital 26 Oct - arrives in capital city |
Nov-May '04 in England | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1704 | Tale of the Tub and Battle of the Books published anonymously May - JS returns to Ireland |
Defoe's Review | Newton Opticks | Battle of Blenheim | |
| 1705 | de Mandeville's Grumbling Hive | ||||
| 1706 | 3 June - G. lands "about nine months after my escape" 5 Aug departs England departs for Tonquin 3 weeks later |
Halley predicts return of comet; Benj. Franklin born |
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| 1707 | 11 Apr - G. arrives at Fort St. George | Nov-June '09 to London to lobby for Church | Steele's Tattler | Act of Union | |
| 1708 | "A Letter Concerning the Sacramental Test," and "Sentiments of a Church of England Man"; Swift meets Hester "Vanessa" Vanhomrigh in London; "Bickerstaff" papers |
Steele starts Tatler | first accurate map of China | attempted Stuart (Jacobite) invasion | |
| 1709 | 21 Apr - G. arrives in Luggnag 6 May - leaves for port 6 days finds a ship for Japan 15 day voyage 9 June - arrives at Nangasac |
"Proposal for the Advancement of Religion"; returns to Ireland |
Pope, Pastorals Steele, Tatler Christoforte invents pianoforte |
lenobe becomes Shogun in Japan | |
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1710 | 10 Apr - lands at Amsterdam 16 Apr - arrives England, lands the next day 7 Sept - departs as captain of the Adventure |
May 10 - learns of his mother's death; Sept - sent to England on behalf of Church; Oct - meets Harley, recruited to Tory cause; becomes editor of the Tory Examiner; |
Berkeley Principles of Human Knowlegde | Tories win elections; Goldolphin dismissed; Harley and St. John lead new government; begin peace negotiations | |
| 1711 | 9 May - G. set on shore in Houyhnhnm Land by mutineers | publishesThe Conduct of the Allies; An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity; The Windsor Prophesy; becomes involved with Hester Vanhomrigh | Addison's Spectator; Pope, Essay on Criticism |
Harley becomes Lord Treasurer, made Earl of Oxford; Marlborough dismissed | |
| 1712 | Barrier Treaty; Correcting the English Tongue | Arbuthnot, History of John Bull; Handel visits London, stays | St. John made Viscount Bolingbroke; rift between Oxford and Bolingbroke | ||
| 1713 | Scriblerus Club founded by JS, Pope, Parnell, Gay, Arbuthnot, Oxford: JS appointed Dean of St. Patrick's; June- returns to Ireland for investiture; Sept - recalled to London writes Cadenus and Vanessa |
Addison, Cato; Pope, Windsor Forest |
Treaty of Utrecht, end of the War of Spanish Succession; letsugu becomes Shogun in Japan |
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| 1714 | Public Spirit of the Whigs, price on his head; August - Swift returns to Ireland; Vanessa follows JS to Ireland | Pope, Rape of the Lock; Mandeville, Parable of the Bees |
July - Oxford dismissed; August - Queen Anne dies; accession of King George I; Bolingbroke dismissed; Marlborough reinstated |
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| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1715 | 15 Feb - G. departs Land of the Houyhnhms 5 Nov - G. arrives at Lisbon |
Bolingbroke flees to France; Bolingbroke and Oxford impeached; death of Louis XIV of France | |||
| 1717 | Gyllenborg Plot on behalf of James III; Yoshimune becomes Shogun of Japan |
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| 1718 | death of Parnell | French found New Orleans; Halley discovers independent motion of stars | |||
| 1719 | Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; Addison dies |
Spain sends troops to Scotland on behalf of James III; Ireland declared inseparable from England |
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| 1720 | begins writing Gulliver's Travels; Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture published, printer prosecuted | plague in Marseilles kills 40,000; South Sea Company collapses | |||
| 1721 | Walpole becomes Prime Minister | ||||
| 1722 | Defoe, Moll Flanders | Eurp. discovery of Easter Is. | Atterbury Conspiracy on behalf of James III | ||
| 1723 | death of Hester "Vanessa" Vanhomrigh | Atterbury exiled; Bolingbroke buys his return | |||
| 1724 | JS Drapier's Letters | coinage crisis in Ireland; death of Pope Innocent XIII; election of Benedict XIII |
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| 1725 | Vico The New Science | Peter the Great dies | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1726 | JS visits England with MS of Gulliver's Travels, published anonymously | Kaempfer's History of the Empire of Japan | |||
| 1727 | 2 Apr - "A LETTER from Capt. Gulliver, to his Cousin Sympson" | JS last visit to England Travels translated into French, German, Dutch |
Hales Vegetable Staticks | death of George I: accession of George II |
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| 1728 | death of Esther "Stella" Johnson | Gay Beggar's Opera | Bering discovers strait | ||
| 1729 | A Modest Proposal | Bach St. Matthew Passion; death of Congreve and Steele |
Bradley discovers stellar aberration; Baltimore founded by England | ||
| 1731 | writes Verses on the Death of Dr Swift | building of Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) begins; death of Defoe | John Hadley invents navigational sextant | Treaty of Vienna; death of Benedict XIII and election of Clement XII | |
| 1732 | John Gay dies | Poor Richard's Almanac | English found Georgia colony | ||
| 1733 | Pope, Essay on Man | ||||
| 1735 | Faulkner publishes Swift's Works, corrected Gulliver's Travels; John Arbuthnot dies |
Linnaeas Systema Naturae; Harrison's seagoing chronometer | Zenger trial | ||
| 1736 | The Legion Club | Chi'en Lung becomes Emperor of China | |||
| 1738 | Genteel and Ingenious Conversation | Johnson, London | |||
| 1739 | Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift published | War of Jenkins's Ear | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1740 | Richardson, Pamela | War of the Austrian Succession | |||
| 1741 | Pope, Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus | Bering discovers Alaska; Celsius invents centigrade thermometer | |||
| 1742 | JS seriously ill; "unsound mind and memory" | Pope, New Dunciad; Fielding, Joseph Andrews; Handel's Messiah |
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| 1743 | |
American Philosophical Society founded | |||
| 1744 | Alexander Pope dies | French naval attempt on behalf of James III | |||
| 1745 | Oct 19 - Jonathan Swift dies | death of Walpole | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1746 | Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections | Battle of Culloden | |||
| 1748 | Bach Art of the Fugue | ||||
| 1749 | Fielding Tom Jones Goethe born |
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| 1750 | death of J.S. Bach; death of Albinoni | Battle of Plessy, British Raj in India | |||
| 1751 | Diderot's Encyclopedie | ||||
| 1752 | 2 Sept. - Britain adopts Gregorian Calendar, losing 11 days that year. | ||||
| 1753 | Franklin shows lightning is electricity | ||||
| 1755 | Johnson's Dictionary | Lisbon earthquake | |||
| 1756 | Mozart born | Seven Years War begins | |||
| 1757 | Battle of Plassey, beginning of British Raj in India | ||||
| 1759 | Voltaire, Candide; Robert Burns born; Handel dies |
British Museum opens | battle of Quebec; Jesuits expelled from Portugal |
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| 1760 | Sterne, Tristram Shandy | Coetsee explores S. Africa; opening of Botanical Gardens (Kew) |
death of George II; accession of George III | ||
| 1763 | Treaty of Paris, end of Seven Years War | ||||
| 1764 | Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique | ||||
| 1766 | Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield | Cavendish identified hydrogen as an element, analyzes carbon dioxide | |||
| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
| 1770 | Beethoven born | Cook explores east coast of Australia | Boston Massacre | ||
| 1776 | Paine Common Sense Smith Wealth of Nations |
American Declaration of Independence | |||
| 1781 | Herschel discovers Uranus | ||||
| 1788 | Kant Critique of Pure Reason | ||||
| 1789 | French Revolution begins | ||||
| 1791 | Paine, Rights of Man Mozart dies |
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| Top | The Travels | Swift's Life | Literature | Science | Politics |
Notes on Dates:
Dates in the Travels: I have culled what I could from the text, which is very sketchy and sometimes impossible. Thus there are many gaps, and some confusion, in that part of this chronology.
Calendars: Until 1752, England used the Julian or Old Style (O.S.) calendar, which had March 25 as the new year. Dates between January 1 and March 25 may bear either the previous year or a double-year designation - e.g. Feb. 5, 1725/26. For the purposes of this chronology, such dates have been "normalized" according to the current practice (Feb 5, 1725/26 is shown as 2/5/76) simply to make the chronology easier to follow.
see listing of other timelines and chronologies
Gulliver's birth year: No year is given in the text, but working backwards from the first date given -- 1699 the year Gulliver departs on the Antelope -- and counting the years listed for events in his life, with a touch of faith, it comes out roughly at 1660. This makes Gulliver sixty-six years old at the time his Travels are published.