Who Was Alive
Blackbeard
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Blackbeard

British pirate

Born c. 1680 · died 22 November 1718
Also known as Edward Thatch, Captain Blackbeard, Edward Teach

Who was alive at the same time as Blackbeard?

  1. Jean de La Fontaine, 1621 – 1695
  2. John Locke, 1632 – 1704
  3. Louis XIV, 1638 – 1715
  4. Isaac Newton, 1642 – 1727
  5. Matsuo Bashō, 1644 – 1694
  6. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646 – 1716
  7. Daniel Defoe, c. 1661 – 1731
  8. Jonathan Swift, 1667 – 1745
  9. Peter the Great, 1672 – 1725
  10. Blackbeard, c. 1680 – 1718
  11. Antonio Vivaldi, 1678 – 1741
  12. George Frideric Handel, 1685 – 1759
  13. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685 – 1750
  14. Alexander Pope, 1688 – 1744
  15. Montesquieu, 1689 – 1755
  16. Voltaire, 1694 – 1778
  17. Benjamin Franklin, 1706 – 1790
  18. Leonhard Euler, 1707 – 1783
  19. Carl Linnaeus, 1707 – 1778
  20. Samuel Johnson, 1709 – 1784
  21. David Hume, 1711 – 1776
  22. Frederick the Great, 1712 – 1786
  23. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712 – 1778
  24. Denis Diderot, 1713 – 1784

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 Blackbeard died, Isaac Newton was 75, Johann Sebastian Bach was 33, Voltaire was 24, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was 6 and Benjamin Franklin was 12.

Born during Blackbeard’s lifetime: Johann Sebastian Bach, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin, Carl Linnaeus, Leonhard Euler, Montesquieu and George Frideric Handel.

Not quite contemporaries: George Washington was born about 14 years after Blackbeard died, Immanuel Kant was born about 6 years after Blackbeard died, Molière died about 4 years before Blackbeard was born and Adam Smith was born about 5 years after Blackbeard died.

What happened in Blackbeard’s lifetime

Where Blackbeard’s contemporaries were born

Blackbeard 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 Blackbeard

The 150 best-known contemporaries

152 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Blackbeard. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1701.

  1. Isaac Newton 1642 – 1727
  2. Johann Sebastian Bach 1685 – 1750
  3. Voltaire 1694 – 1778
  4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778
  5. Benjamin Franklin 1706 – 1790
  6. Carl Linnaeus 1707 – 1778
  7. John Locke 1632 – 1704
  8. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646 – 1716
  9. Matsuo Bashō 1644 – 1694
  10. Leonhard Euler 1707 – 1783
  11. Louis XIV 1638 – 1715
  12. Peter the Great 1672 – 1725
  13. Antonio Vivaldi 1678 – 1741
  14. Jonathan Swift 1667 – 1745
  15. Montesquieu 1689 – 1755
  16. George Frideric Handel 1685 – 1759
  17. David Hume 1711 – 1776
  18. Denis Diderot 1713 – 1784
  19. Jean de La Fontaine 1621 – 1695
  20. Daniel Defoe c. 1661 – 1731
  21. Samuel Johnson 1709 – 1784
  22. Frederick the Great 1712 – 1786
  23. Alexander Pope 1688 – 1744
  24. Christiaan Huygens 1629 – 1695
  25. Jean Racine 1639 – 1699
  26. Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691
  27. Jean Le Rond d'Alembert 1717 – 1783
  28. George Berkeley 1685 – 1753
  29. Mikhail Lomonosov 1711 – 1765
  30. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 1632 – 1723
  31. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  32. Charles Perrault 1628 – 1703
  33. Louis XV 1710 – 1774
  34. Maria Theresa 1717 – 1780
  35. Robert Hooke 1635 – 1703
  36. Edmond Halley 1656 – 1742
  37. Anders Celsius 1701 – 1744
  38. Charles II of England 1630 – 1685
  39. John Dryden 1631 – 1700
  40. Aurangzeb 1618 – 1707
  41. Carlo Goldoni 1707 – 1793
  42. Anne, Queen of Great Britain 1665 – 1714
  43. Pope Benedict XIV 1675 – 1758
  44. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon 1707 – 1788
  45. William III of England 1650 – 1702
  46. Robert Walpole 1676 – 1745
  47. Pope Pius VI 1717 – 1799
  48. James II of England 1633 – 1701
  49. Joseph Addison 1672 – 1719
  50. George II of Great Britain 1683 – 1760
  51. Daniel Bernoulli 1700 – 1782
  52. Emanuel Swedenborg 1688 – 1772
  53. Christina, Queen of Sweden 1626 – 1689
  54. Christopher Wren 1632 – 1723
  55. Pope Clement XII 1652 – 1740
  56. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  57. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux 1636 – 1711
  58. George I of Great Britain 1660 – 1727
  59. Elizabeth of Russia 1709 – 1762
  60. John III Sobieski 1629 – 1696
  61. Vitus Bering 1681 – 1741
  62. John Bunyan 1628 – 1688
  63. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit 1686 – 1736
  64. Charles II of Spain 1661 – 1700
  65. Pope Clement XIII 1693 – 1769
  66. William Hogarth 1697 – 1764
  67. Henry Fielding 1707 – 1754
  68. Pope Benedict XIII 1649 – 1730
  69. Christoph Willibald Gluck 1714 – 1787
  70. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  71. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  72. Ole Rømer 1644 – 1710
  73. Pope Clement XI 1649 – 1721
  74. Pope Innocent XIII 1655 – 1724
  75. Mary II 1662 – 1694
  76. Giambattista Vico 1668 – 1744
  77. Charles XII of Sweden 1682 – 1718
  78. Philip V of Spain 1683 – 1746
  79. Catherine I of Russia 1684 – 1727
  80. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 1685 – 1740
  81. Nader Shah c. 1693 – 1747
  82. Pope Clement XIV 1705 – 1774
  83. Giovanni Domenico Cassini 1625 – 1712
  84. Jean de La Bruyère 1645 – 1696
  85. Jacob Bernoulli c. 1655 – 1705
  86. Laurence Sterne 1713 – 1768
  87. Maria Gaetana Agnesi 1718 – 1799
  88. Anna of Russia 1693 – 1740
  89. John Wesley 1703 – 1791
  90. Claude Adrien Helvétius 1715 – 1771
  91. Aphra Behn 1640 – 1689
  92. Juana Inés de la Cruz 1651 – 1695
  93. Johann Bernoulli 1667 – 1748
  94. Georg Philipp Telemann 1681 – 1767
  95. Peter II of Russia 1715 – 1730
  96. Charles III of Spain 1716 – 1788
  97. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor 1640 – 1705
  98. Mehmed IV 1642 – 1693
  99. Maria Sibylla Merian 1647 – 1717
  100. Pierre Bayle 1647 – 1706
  101. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach 1714 – 1788
  102. Suleiman II 1642 – 1691
  103. Ahmed III 1673 – 1736
  104. Guru Gobind Singh 1666 – 1708
  105. Canaletto 1697 – 1768
  106. François Fénelon 1651 – 1715
  107. Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683 – 1764
  108. Antoine Watteau 1684 – 1721
  109. Jean-Baptiste Lully 1632 – 1687
  110. Prince Eugene of Savoy 1663 – 1736
  111. Domenico Scarlatti 1685 – 1757
  112. Mahmud I 1696 – 1754
  113. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor 1708 – 1765
  114. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille 1713 – 1762
  115. Mustafa III 1717 – 1774
  116. Ivan Mazepa 1639 – 1709
  117. Mustafa II 1664 – 1703
  118. Horace Walpole 1717 – 1797
  119. Ahmed II 1643 – 1695
  120. Henry Purcell 1659 – 1695
  121. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
  122. William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham 1708 – 1778
  123. Jean-Baptiste Colbert 1619 – 1683
  124. William Penn 1644 – 1718
  125. Arcangelo Corelli 1653 – 1713
  126. Osman III 1699 – 1757
  127. Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle 1657 – 1757
  128. Ivan V of Russia 1666 – 1696
  129. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor 1678 – 1711
  130. Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor 1697 – 1745
  131. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab 1703 – 1792
  132. Qianlong Emperor 1711 – 1799
  133. Peter III of Portugal 1717 – 1786
  134. Otto von Guericke 1602 – 1686
  135. Johannes Hevelius 1611 – 1687
  136. Kangxi Emperor 1654 – 1722
  137. Frederick I of Prussia 1657 – 1713
  138. Dieterich Buxtehude c. 1638 – 1707
  139. Antonio Stradivari c. 1644 – 1737
  140. Émilie du Châtelet 1706 – 1749
  141. Ferdinand VI 1713 – 1759
  142. Augustus II the Strong 1670 – 1733
  143. François Quesnay 1694 – 1774
  144. Pietro Metastasio 1698 – 1782
  145. Julien Offray de La Mettrie 1709 – 1751
  146. Johann Joachim Winckelmann 1717 – 1768
  147. Tomaso Albinoni 1671 – 1751
  148. Christian Wolff 1679 – 1754
  149. Pierre de Marivaux 1688 – 1763
  150. Frederick William I of Prussia 1688 – 1740