Editing 1642 (section)

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 8]] &ndash; [[1642 Yellow River flood]]: Some 300,000 people die in the intentional breaking of the dams and dykes of the [[Yellow River]], done by the Ming dynasty defenders of [[Kaifeng]] to break the siege by the large Manchu dynasty rebel force of [[Li Zicheng]].<ref>John W. Dardess, ''Ming China, 1368-1644: A Concise History of a Resilient Empire'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012) p. 132.</ref>
* [[October 23]] &ndash; [[First English Civil War]]: [[Battle of Edgehill]] (Warwickshire) &ndash; [[Cavalier|Royalists]] and [[Roundhead|Parliamentarians]] battle to a draw in the first [[pitched battle]] of the War.
* [[October 24]] &ndash; [[Confederate Ireland#The first Confederate Assembly|The first Confederate Assembly]] of Ireland is held in [[Kilkenny]] where it sets up a [[provisional government]], largely Catholic [[Cavalier|Royalist]]; start of the [[Irish Confederate Wars]].<ref name=Meehan/>
* [[October 29]] &ndash; King [[Charles I of England]] enters [[Oxford]] and establishes his court there.<ref name="CBH1642" />
* [[November 13]] &ndash; First English Civil War: [[Battle of Turnham Green]] &ndash; The Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army, and fail to take London.
* [[November 15]] &ndash; First English Civil War: Sir [[Edward Ford (soldier)|Edward Ford]], High Sheriff of Sussex, captures [[Chichester]] from the Parliamentarians without resistance. The Parliamentarians send Sir [[William Waller]] to recapture the city.<ref>John Grehan and Martin Mace, ''Battleground Sussex: A Military History of Sussex from the Iron Age to the Present Day'' (Pen & Sword, 2012) pp. 86-87</ref>
* [[November 24]] &ndash; [[Abel Tasman]] and his crew become the first Europeans to discover "[[Van Diemen's Land]]", later the Australian island  and state of [[Tasmania]], and the island is claimed for the Netherlands on December 3 at what becomes Prince of Wales Bay.<ref>"Tasman, Abel", by Carl Waldman, in ''Biographical Dictionary of Explorers'', ed. by Alan Wexler and Jon Cunningham (Infobase Publishing, 2019) p. 798</ref>
*[[November 27]] &ndash; [[Hong Taiji]] (known in the West as Abatai) begins a 60-day march of [[Manchu people|Manchu]] warriors southwards from the Great Wall through [[Ming dynasty|Ming Chinese]] provinces of [[Zhili]] and [[Shandong]], before returning northward on January 27.<ref>"Abatai", by L. Carrington Goodrich, in ''Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644-1912'', by Arthur W. Hummel (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943) pp. 3-4</ref> (Two years later Beijing falls to rebels, the [[Chongzhen Emperor]] commits suicide, and the [[Shunzhi Emperor]] becomes the first [[Qing dynasty|Qing Emperor]] to rule over [[China proper]].)
* [[December 13]] &ndash; [[Abel Tasman]] and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to sight [[New Zealand]], arriving at its South Island. In a battle between the Europeans and the Island's [[Māori people|Maori]] inhabitants, four crew members are killed.
* [[December 21]] &ndash; [[First English Civil War]]: After routing Edward Ford's royalist troops at the [[Battle of Muster Green]], William Waller follows Ford's retreating force to Chichester as the Parliamentarians besiege the city, which falls on December 29 after eight days. The inhabitants of Chichester agree to pay the Parliamentarians an additional month's pay to prevent the town from being plundered.<ref>James Dallaway, ''A History of the Western Division of the County of Sussex'' (T. Bensley, 1815) pp.13-14</ref>