==Events and trends== Samuel Pepys began his famous diary in 1660, but he ended it, due to failing eyesight, in 1669. The French East India Company was founded in 1664. 1665: The Great Plague in England, and particularly in London, broke out. It'd later be considered an outbreak of bubonic plague. 1666: An enormous urban fire burned down most of the City of London. However, many of the rats considered responsible for the Great Plague are also destroyed, and the epidemic soon ceases. Piracy… (More on 1660s)