Who Was Alive
Aphra Behn
Peter Lely, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Aphra Behn

English playwright and poet

Born 10 July 1640 · died 16 April 1689, aged 48
Also known as Astrea, Aphra Johnson, Afra Behn

Who was alive at the same time as Aphra Behn?

  1. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  2. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  3. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  4. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660
  5. Oliver Cromwell, 1599 – 1658
  6. Rembrandt, 1606 – 1669
  7. John Milton, 1608 – 1674
  8. Jean de La Fontaine, 1621 – 1695
  9. Molière, 1622 – 1673
  10. Blaise Pascal, 1623 – 1662
  11. John Locke, 1632 – 1704
  12. Baruch Spinoza, 1632 – 1677
  13. Louis XIV, 1638 – 1715
  14. Aphra Behn, 1640 – 1689
  15. Isaac Newton, 1642 – 1727
  16. Matsuo Bashō, 1644 – 1694
  17. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646 – 1716
  18. Daniel Defoe, c. 1661 – 1731
  19. Jonathan Swift, 1667 – 1745
  20. Peter the Great, 1672 – 1725
  21. Antonio Vivaldi, 1678 – 1741
  22. George Frideric Handel, 1685 – 1759
  23. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685 – 1750
  24. Montesquieu, 1689 – 1755

Drag across the timeline, or use the arrow keys, to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Dashed lines mark world events. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When Aphra Behn was born, Galileo Galilei was 76, René Descartes was 44, Molière was 18, John Locke was 7 and Rembrandt was 33.

When Aphra Behn died, Isaac Newton was 46, Johann Sebastian Bach was 4, John Locke was 56, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was 42 and Matsuo Bashō was 44 or 45.

Born during Aphra Behn’s lifetime: Isaac Newton, Johann Sebastian Bach, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Matsuo Bashō, Peter the Great, Antonio Vivaldi, Jonathan Swift and Montesquieu.

Not quite contemporaries: Voltaire was born about 5 years after Aphra Behn died, Francis Bacon died about 14 years before Aphra Behn was born, Johannes Kepler died about 10 years before Aphra Behn was born and Peter Paul Rubens died months before Aphra Behn was born.

What happened in Aphra Behn’s lifetime

Where Aphra Behn’s contemporaries were born

Aphra Behn is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (81 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Aphra Behn

The 150 best-known contemporaries

155 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Aphra Behn. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1665.

  1. Isaac Newton 1642 – 1727
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Johann Sebastian Bach 1685 – 1750
  4. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  5. Molière 1622 – 1673
  6. John Locke 1632 – 1704
  7. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  8. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646 – 1716
  9. Matsuo Bashō 1644 – 1694
  10. Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662
  11. Louis XIV 1638 – 1715
  12. Peter the Great 1672 – 1725
  13. Baruch Spinoza 1632 – 1677
  14. Antonio Vivaldi 1678 – 1741
  15. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  16. Jonathan Swift 1667 – 1745
  17. Montesquieu 1689 – 1755
  18. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  19. George Frideric Handel 1685 – 1759
  20. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  21. Jean de La Fontaine 1621 – 1695
  22. Daniel Defoe c. 1661 – 1731
  23. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  24. Alexander Pope 1688 – 1744
  25. Christiaan Huygens 1629 – 1695
  26. Jean Racine 1639 – 1699
  27. Johannes Vermeer 1632 – 1675
  28. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  29. Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691
  30. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  31. George Berkeley 1685 – 1753
  32. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 1632 – 1723
  33. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  34. Charles Perrault 1628 – 1703
  35. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  36. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  37. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  38. Robert Hooke 1635 – 1703
  39. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  40. Edmond Halley 1656 – 1742
  41. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  42. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  43. Charles II of England 1630 – 1685
  44. John Dryden 1631 – 1700
  45. Aurangzeb 1618 – 1707
  46. Louis XIII 1601 – 1643
  47. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  48. Anne, Queen of Great Britain 1665 – 1714
  49. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  50. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  51. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  52. Pope Benedict XIV 1675 – 1758
  53. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  54. William III of England 1650 – 1702
  55. Robert Walpole 1676 – 1745
  56. James II of England 1633 – 1701
  57. Joseph Addison 1672 – 1719
  58. George II of Great Britain 1683 – 1760
  59. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  60. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  61. Emanuel Swedenborg 1688 – 1772
  62. Christina, Queen of Sweden 1626 – 1689
  63. Christopher Wren 1632 – 1723
  64. Pope Clement XII 1652 – 1740
  65. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  66. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux 1636 – 1711
  67. George I of Great Britain 1660 – 1727
  68. Anthony van Dyck 1599 – 1641
  69. John III Sobieski 1629 – 1696
  70. Vitus Bering 1681 – 1741
  71. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  72. Philip IV of Spain 1605 – 1665
  73. John Bunyan 1628 – 1688
  74. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit 1686 – 1736
  75. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  76. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  77. Charles II of Spain 1661 – 1700
  78. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  79. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617 – 1682
  80. Pope Benedict XIII 1649 – 1730
  81. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  82. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  83. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  84. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  85. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  86. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  87. Ole Rømer 1644 – 1710
  88. Pope Clement XI 1649 – 1721
  89. Pope Innocent XIII 1655 – 1724
  90. Mary II 1662 – 1694
  91. Giambattista Vico 1668 – 1744
  92. Charles XII of Sweden 1682 – 1718
  93. Philip V of Spain 1683 – 1746
  94. Catherine I of Russia 1684 – 1727
  95. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 1685 – 1740
  96. Giovanni Domenico Cassini 1625 – 1712
  97. Jean de La Bruyère 1645 – 1696
  98. Jacob Bernoulli c. 1655 – 1705
  99. Baltasar Gracián c. 1603 – 1658
  100. Juana Inés de la Cruz 1651 – 1695
  101. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  102. Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire 1615 – 1648
  103. Johann Bernoulli 1667 – 1748
  104. Georg Philipp Telemann 1681 – 1767
  105. Alexis of Russia 1629 – 1676
  106. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor 1640 – 1705
  107. Mehmed IV 1642 – 1693
  108. Maria Sibylla Merian 1647 – 1717
  109. Pierre Bayle 1647 – 1706
  110. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  111. Suleiman II 1642 – 1691
  112. Ahmed III 1673 – 1736
  113. Guru Gobind Singh 1666 – 1708
  114. Shivaji 1627 – 1680
  115. François Fénelon 1651 – 1715
  116. Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683 – 1764
  117. Antoine Watteau 1684 – 1721
  118. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  119. Cyrano de Bergerac c. 1619 – 1655
  120. Jean-Baptiste Lully 1632 – 1687
  121. Prince Eugene of Savoy 1663 – 1736
  122. Domenico Scarlatti 1685 – 1757
  123. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666
  124. Jusepe de Ribera 1591 – 1652
  125. Ivan Mazepa 1639 – 1709
  126. Mustafa II 1664 – 1703
  127. Marie de' Medici 1575 – 1642
  128. Ahmed II 1643 – 1695
  129. Henry Purcell 1659 – 1695
  130. Blackbeard c. 1680 – 1718
  131. Christian IV of Denmark 1577 – 1648
  132. Jean-Baptiste Colbert 1619 – 1683
  133. William Penn 1644 – 1718
  134. Arcangelo Corelli 1653 – 1713
  135. Francesco Borromini 1599 – 1667
  136. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor 1608 – 1657
  137. Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle 1657 – 1757
  138. Ivan V of Russia 1666 – 1696
  139. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor 1678 – 1711
  140. Vincent de Paul 1581 – 1660
  141. Otto von Guericke 1602 – 1686
  142. Johannes Hevelius 1611 – 1687
  143. Evliya Çelebi 1611 – 1682
  144. Kangxi Emperor 1654 – 1722
  145. Frederick I of Prussia 1657 – 1713
  146. Dieterich Buxtehude c. 1638 – 1707
  147. Antonio Stradivari c. 1644 – 1737
  148. Augustus II the Strong 1670 – 1733
  149. John IV of Portugal 1604 – 1656
  150. Feodor III of Russia 1661 – 1682