| 1600–1850 | Growth in agriculture, pioneered by the Dutch Republic and England |
| 1651–1663 | British Navigation Acts |
| 1652–1674 | Anglo-Dutch wars |
| 1700–1790 | Height of Atlantic slave trade; expansion of rural industry in Europe |
| 1701–1763 | British and French mercantilist wars of empire |
| 1720–1722 | Last outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe |
| 1720–1789 | Growth of European population |
| 1756–1763 | Seven Years’ War |
| 1760–1815 | Height of parliamentary enclosure in England |
| 1763 | Treaty of Paris; France cedes its possessions in India and North America |
| 1770 | James Cook claims the east coast of Australia for England |
| 1776 | Adam Smith publishes An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations |
| 1805 | British takeover of India complete |
| 1807 | British slave trade abolished |