1700 in the context of Old Style

The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC).

It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the latter part of the Spanish Golden Age, the Dutch Golden Age, the French Grand Siècle dominated by Louis XIV, the Scientific Revolution, the world's first public company and megacorporation known as the Dutch East India Company, and according to some historians, the General Crisis.

A common year starting on Friday is any non-leap year (i.e. a year with 365 days) that begins on Friday, 1 January, and ends on Friday, 31 December. Its dominical letter hence is C. The most recent year of such kind was 2021, and the next one will be 2027 in the Gregorian calendar, or, likewise, 2022 and 2033 in the obsolete Julian calendar; see below for more. This common year is one of the three possible common years in which a century year can end on, and occurs in century years that yield a remainder of 100 when divided by 400. The most recent such year was 1700, and the next one will be 2100.

Any common year that starts on Friday has only one Friday the 13th: the only one in this common year occurs in August. Leap years starting on Thursday share this characteristic, but also have another one in February.

A century common year (also known as an exceptional common year) is a common year in the Gregorian calendar that is divisible by 100 but not by 400. Like all common years, these years do not get an extra day in February, meaning they have 365 days instead of 366. These years are the only common years that are divisible by 4.

In the obsolete Julian Calendar, all years that were divisible by 4 were leap years, meaning no century years could be common years. However, this rule adds too many leap days, resulting in the calendar drifting with respect to the seasons, which is the same thing that would happen if there were no leap years at all. So, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a slightly modified version of the Julian Calendar, the Gregorian Calendar, where century years would not be leap years if they are not divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700 is the first century year in the Gregorian Calendar being a common year. The years 1800 and 1900 were also century common years, and so will 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, 2600, 2700, 2900, and 3000.