Turkish forces on Crete, having gained a foothold by the summer of 1647, prepare to lay siege to the capital city of Candia.

Venetian ships meanwhile keep Candia continuously supplied and blockade the Dardanelles.

The Cretan War, or War of Candia will continue for another twenty-two years.

Rembrandt's paintings have varied greatly in size, subject, and style in the decade following his Night Watch.

The previous tendency to create dramatic effects primarily by strong contrasts of light and shadow has given way to the use of frontal lighting and larger and more saturated areas of color.

Simultaneously, figures have come to be placed parallel to the picture plane.

These changes can be seen as a move toward a classical mode of composition and, considering the more expressive use of brushwork as well, may indicate a familiarity with Venetian art (Susanna and the Elders, 1637–47).

At the same time, there is a marked decrease in painted works in favor of etchings and drawings of landscapes.

In these graphic works, natural drama eventually makes way for quiet Dutch rural scenes.

Corneille had returned to the theater in 1640 after a hiatus.

The Querelle du Cid has caused Corneille to pay closer attention to classical dramatic rules.

This is evident in his subsequent plays, which are classical tragedies: Horace (1640, dedicated to Richelieu), Cinna (1643), and Polyeucte (1643).

These three plays and Le Cid are collectively known as Corneille's 'Classical Tetralogy'.

Corneille’s popularity has grown and by the mid 1640s, the first collection of his plays had been published.

Corneille in the mid to late 1640s produces mostly tragedies: La Mort de Pompée (The Death of Pompey, performed 1644), Rodogune (performed 1645), Theodore (performed 1646), and Héraclius (performed 1647).

He has also written one comedy in this period: Le Menteur (The Liar, 1644).

Taken and ransacked by Royalist troops in 1644 after the Battle of Aberdeen, it had been stormed two years later by a Royalist force under the command of Marquis of Huntly.

The colony on Rhode Island is united with Providence in 1647 under a single government, and liberty of conscience is again proclaimed.

The area is to become a safe haven for people who are persecuted for their beliefs—Baptists, Quakers, Jews, and others come here to follow their consciences in peace and safety.

D'Aulnay becomes governor-general and seigneur of Acadia by royal proclamation in 1647.

However, while La Tour has been enriching himself with the fur trade, d'Aulnay has become heavily indebted to pay for the colony.

The Dutch settle Awiehawken on May 11, 1647, when Maryn Adriansen receives a patent for a plantation (of one hundred and sixty-nine acres) at the site of present Weehawken, New Jersey.

Zhang Xianzhong is killed in January of 1647 by Manchu troops after he flees Chengdu and employs a scorched earth policy.

The Manchu subsequently occupy the entire country, ending Ming power.

The Qing Dynasty that replaces it, though alien, is politically a Manchu-Chinese synthesis and, continuing the Confucianist Ming policies, will successfully rule in a manner familiar to the sedentary Chinese.

As is current in other developed nations of the period, enlightened despots exercise absolute authority under the rationale that their regimes operate in the best interests of the governed.

This second round of foreign rule (the Mongols being the first) will have little effect on the direction or integrity of native Chinese culture.

The Manchus are not Han Chinese and are strongly resisted, especially in the south, but they had assimilated a great deal of Chinese culture before conquering China Proper.

Realizing that to dominate the empire they will have to do things the Chinese way, the Manchus retain many institutions of Ming and earlier Chinese derivation.

They continue the Confucian court practices and temple rituals, over which the emperors have traditionally presided.