Editing 1655 (section)

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Stephan Farffler]], a 22-year-old [[Paraplegia|paraplegic]] watchmaker, builds the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of [[Crank (mechanism)|cranks]] and [[Gear|cogwheels]].<ref name="Bellis">{{cite web|last1=Bellis|first1=Mary|title=History of the Wheelchair|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-wheelchair-1992670|website=thoughtco.com|access-date=April 14, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Koerth-Baker">{{cite web|last1=Koerth-Baker|first1=Maggie|title=Who Invented the Wheelchair?|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/20768/who-invented-wheelchair|website=mentalfloss.com|date=February 2, 2009 |access-date=April 14, 2017}}</ref> However, the device has the appearance of a hand bike more than a [[wheelchair]] since the design includes hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.<ref name="History of Wheelchairs">{{cite web|title=History of Wheelchairs|url=http://www.wheelchair-information.com/history-of-wheelchairs.html|website=wheelchair-information.com|access-date=April 14, 2017|archive-date=March 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307075310/http://www.wheelchair-information.com/history-of-wheelchairs.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The ''[[Leiden University Library|Bibliotheca Thysiana]]'' is erected,<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Mourtis |first=E.V.M. |date=December 14, 2016 |title=Een kamer gevuld met de mooiste boeken : de bibliotheek van Johannes Thysius (1622-1653) |type=PhD |chapter=Introduction |publisher=Vantilt
|chapter-url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/45015|page=11|language=nl|access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref> the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands, of a building designed as a library.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Tuinstra |first=Willemijn|date=2019 |title=Conscience & Connections. Marcellus Franckheim (1587-1644) and his contacts in the Habsburg World at the eve of the Thirty Years War |type=MA |chapter=The Calvinist Connection|page=10 |chapter-url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/76967 |access-date=22 March 2022}}</ref>
* [[1655 Malta plague outbreak]] kills 20 people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Savona-Ventura |first1=Charles |title=Knight Hospitaller Medicine in Malta [1530–1798] |date=2015 |publisher=Self-published |isbn=9781326482220 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SrA_CwAAQBAJ |pages=224–225}}</ref>
* [[Frederick III of Denmark|Frederick III of Denmark-Norway]] gives control of the [[Faroe Islands]] to [[Christoffer Gabel]] and his son, which will last until 1709.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wylie |first1=Jonathan |title=The Faroe Islands : interpretations of history |date=1987 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-1578-8 |page=37 |url=https://archive.org/details/faroeislandsinte0000wyli |access-date=30 April 2022}}</ref></onlyinclude>