Claim profile
1600–1699

The 17th century

Whose working lives fell in the 17th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 17th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.

CountryAll🇫🇷 France🇩🇪 Germany🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇯🇵 Japan🇹🇷 Turkey🇳🇱 Netherlands🇪🇸 Spain🇮🇹 Italy🇸🇪 Sweden🇨🇳 China
FieldAllWritersPoliticiansHistorical FiguresArtistsAcademicsScientistsMusiciansReligious FiguresActorsModels
  1. 1Kangxi EmperorKangxi Emperor1654–1722 · 🇨🇳 China4 decades
  2. 2CEChongzhen Emperor1611–1644 · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures0 decades
  3. 3Shunzhi EmperorShunzhi Emperor1638–1661 · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures0 decades
  4. 4Wang FuzhiWang Fuzhi1619–1692 · 🇨🇳 China · Writers9 decades
  5. 55th Dalai Lama5th Dalai Lama1617–1682 · 🇨🇳 China · Politiciansnot measured—
  6. 6Li ZichengLi Zicheng1606–1645 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians9 decades
  7. 7Pu SonglingPu Songling1640–1715 · 🇨🇳 China · Writers6 decades
  8. 8Tianqi EmperorTianqi Emperor1605–1627 · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures0 decades
  9. 9WZWei Zhongxian1568–1627 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians2 decades
  10. 10HOHyeonjong of Joseon1641–1674 · 🇨🇳 Chinanot measured—
  11. 11Wu SanguiWu Sangui1612–1678 · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures6 decades
  12. 12Taichang EmperorTaichang Emperor1582–1620 · 🇨🇳 China · Modelsnot measured—
  13. 13FMFeng Menglong1574–1645 · 🇨🇳 China · Writers5 decades
  14. 14ZYZhu Youlang, Prince of Gui1623–1662 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians0 decades

How this is measured

  • Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
  • Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
  • Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
  • What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.