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| 1649, April 28 |
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| Louis XIV of France issued a proclamation declaring French protection of the Maronite community in Lebanon and instructing French representatives in the region to look after Maronite interests. | 1 |
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| 1651, Sept. 2 |
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| Execution of Kosem Sultan (b. 1585), wife of Sultan Ahmed I and mother of three succeeding sultans. For some 35 years she was one of the most powerful figures in the palace and had a hand in numerous decisions and changes of personnel at the top. | 2 |
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| 1654 |
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| The grand vezir's office, which had been steadily expanding its executive functions, was moved to its own buildings outside the palace. | 3 |
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| 1656, April |
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| Death of Ridwan Bey al-Faqari, a Circassian Mamluk grandee who dominated the political scene in Egypt for 25 years. He held key offices and was the leader of the Faqariyya political faction, rival of the Qasimiyya faction (Egyptian politics were polarized into these two parties). | 4 |
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| June 26 |
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| Venetian destruction of the Ottoman fleet at the mouth of the Dardanelles, in the worst Ottoman naval defeat since Lepanto (See 1571, Oct. 7). A new Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles, which caused food prices in Istanbul to soar, was ended a year later. | 5 |
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