Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	16th century 17th century 18th century
Decades:	1660s 1670s 1680s 1690s 1700s
Years:	1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688

1685 by topic
Arts and science
Architecture Art Literature Music Science
Leaders
State leaders Colonial governors Religious leaders
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments – Disestablishments
Works category
Works
v t e

1685 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1685 MDCLXXXV
Ab urbe condita	2438
Armenian calendar	1134 ԹՎ ՌՃԼԴ
Assyrian calendar	6435
Balinese saka calendar	1606–1607
Bengali calendar	1092
Berber calendar	2635
English Regnal year	36 Cha. 2 – 1 Ja. 2
Buddhist calendar	2229
Burmese calendar	1047
Byzantine calendar	7193–7194
Chinese calendar	甲子年 (Wood Rat) 4382 or 4175 — to — 乙丑年 (Wood Ox) 4383 or 4176
Coptic calendar	1401–1402
Discordian calendar	2851
Ethiopian calendar	1677–1678
Hebrew calendar	5445–5446
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1741–1742
- Shaka Samvat	1606–1607
- Kali Yuga	4785–4786
Holocene calendar	11685
Igbo calendar	685–686
Iranian calendar	1063–1064
Islamic calendar	1096–1097
Japanese calendar	Jōkyō 2 (貞享２年)
Javanese calendar	1607–1609
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 10 days
Korean calendar	4018
Minguo calendar	227 before ROC 民前227年
Nanakshahi calendar	217
Thai solar calendar	2227–2228
Tibetan calendar	阳木鼠年 (male Wood-Rat) 1811 or 1430 or 658 — to — 阴木牛年 (female Wood-Ox) 1812 or 1431 or 659

1685 (MDCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1685th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 685th year of the 2nd millennium, the 85th year of the 17th century, and the 6th year of the 1680s decade. As of the start of 1685, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–March

January 6 – American-born British citizen Elihu Yale, for whom Yale University in the U.S. is named, completes his term as the first leader of the Madras Presidency in India, administering the colony on behalf of the East India Company, and is succeeded by William Gyfford.
January 8 – Almost 200 people are arrested in Coventry by English authorities for gathering to hear readings of the sermons of the non-conformist Protestant minister Obadiah Grew
February 4 – A treaty is signed between Brandenburg-Prussia and the indigenous chiefs at Takoradi in what is now Ghana to permit the German colonists to build a third fort on the Brandenburger Gold Coast. ^[1]
February 6 – Catholic James Stuart, Duke of York, becomes King James II of England and Ireland, and King James VII of Scotland, in succession to his brother Charles II (1660–1685), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland since 1660. James II and VII reigns until deposed, in 1688.
February 20 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, intending to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi River, lands with 200 surviving colonists at Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast, believing the Mississippi to be near. He establishes Fort St. Louis.^[2]
February–March – Morean War (part of the Great Turkish War): The Ottoman serasker Halil Pasha invades the Mani Peninsula, and forces it to surrender hostages.
March 28 – An attack on a Mughal Empire envoy, Khwajah Abdur Rahim, outside of the Maratha fortress at the Bijapur Fort in India leads to a siege of the city by the forces of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The siege lasts for 15 months before Bijapur surrenders.
March – Louis XIV of France passes the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies.

April–June

April 16 – Wara Dhammaraza becomes the new King of Arakan on the western coast of Burma upon the death of his brother, Thiri Thuriya.
April 23 – The coronation of King James II of England (and his Queen Consort, Mary of Modena) takes place at Westminster Abbey.
May 7 – Morean War – Battle on Vrtijeljka: Advancing Ottoman forces prevail over defending Venetian irregulars, on a hill in the Sanjak of Montenegro.
May 11 – The Killing Time: Five Covenanters in Wigtown, Scotland, notably Margaret Wilson, are executed for refusing to swear an oath declaring King James of England, Scotland and Ireland as head of the church, becoming the Wigtown martyrs.^[3]
June 11 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland, lands at Lyme Regis with an invasion force brought from the Netherlands, to challenge his uncle, James II, for the Crown of England.^[4]
June 20 – Monmouth Rebellion: James, Duke of Monmouth declares himself at Taunton to be King, and heir to his father's Kingdoms as James II of England and Ireland, and James VII of Scotland.^[4]

July–September

July 6 – Monmouth Rebellion: In the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last pitched battle fought on English soil, the armies of King James II of England defeat rebel forces under James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, and capture the Duke himself shortly after the battle.
July 15 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, is executed at Tower Hill, London, England.
August 11 – Morean War: The Republic of Venice captures the fortress of Koroni from the Ottoman Empire; its garrison is massacred.
August 25 – The Bloody Assizes begin in Winchester: Lord Chief Justice of England George Jeffreys tries over 1000 of Monmouth's rebels and condemns them to death or transportation.
September 14 – Morean War: The Republic of Venice defeats an Ottoman army at Kalamata.
September 29 – The first organised street lighting is introduced by the city of London in England, as Edward Hemming begins carrying out his contract to be paid for lighting an oil lamp "at every tenth house on main streets between 6 PM and midnight between September 29 and March 25" on nights in the autumn and winter without adequate moonlight. ^[5]

October–December

October 22 – Louis XIV of France issues the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and declares Protestantism illegal, thereby depriving Huguenots of civil rights. Their Temple de Charenton-le-Pont is immediately demolished and many flee to England, Prussia and elsewhere.
November 8 (October 29 O.S.) – The Edict of Potsdam is issued by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg in response to France's Edict of Fontainebleau, welcoming the Protestant Huguenots of France to resettle in eastern Germany in Brandenburg. The French Colony of Magdeburg is established on December 1 in Saxony as a community separate from Magdeburg.
November 11 – Morean War: The Republic of Venice captures the fortress town of Igoumenitsa from the Ottoman Empire, and razes it to the ground.
December 3 – King Charles XI of Sweden issues an order banning Jews from settling in Sweden, particularly in the capital at Stockholm "on account of the danger of the eventual influence of the Jewish religion on the pure evangelical faith." ^[6]
December 10 – In what is now Thailand, King Narai of Ayutthaya signs a treaty with representatives of France at Lopburi, allowing Roman Catholic missionaries to preach the Gospel and exempting Thai Catholics from work on Sunday, as well as appointing a special court to settle disputes between Thai Christians and non-Christians.

Date unknown

The Chinese army of the Qing dynasty attacks a Russian post at Albazin, during the reigns of the Kangxi Emperor and the dual Russian rulers Ivan V of Russia and Peter I of Russia. The event leads to the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689.^[7]
Adam Baldridge founds a pirate base at Île Sainte-Marie, Madagascar.
Alice Molland becomes the last known person in England to be sentenced to death for witchcraft, in Exeter.^[8]
The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow in the State of New York is constructed by the original Dutch settlers (later to become famous as the site of the rampage of the "Headless Horseman" spirit in the novel The Legend of Sleepy Hollow).