* 1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.

Historically, this proceeded from the labours of Jean de Launoy ( 1603 – 1678 ), " le dénicheur des saints ", and Louis Sébastien le Nain de Tillemont, who had shown the falsity of numerous lives of the saints ; while theologically it was produced by the Port Royal school, which led men to dwell more on communion with God as contrasted with the invocation of the saints.

* Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna Viceroy of Aragon, 1678 – 1681, in Spain.

* 1678 – Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat ( d. 1757 )

* 1678 – William Croft, English composer ( d. 1727 )

* 1678 – Daniel Neal, English historian ( d. 1743 )

* 1678 – Yongzheng Emperor of China ( d. 1735 )

Louis XIV of France conquered parts of Alsace and Lorraine ( 1678 – 1681 ), and had invaded and devastated the Electorate of the Palatinate ( 1688 – 1697 ) in the War of Palatinian Succession.

Peace was fragile, and war broke out again between France and the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War ( 1672 – 1678 ).

* 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect ( b. 1678 )

* 1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.

* 1678 – Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary ( b. 1593 )

* 1678 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor ( d. 1711 )

* 1621 – Andrew Marvell, English poet ( d. 1678 )

Other notable violinists included Antonio Vivaldi ( 1678 – 1741 ) and Giuseppe Tartini ( 1692 – 1770 ), who, in their compositions, reflected the increasing technical and musical demands on the violinist.

* 1678 – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier ( d. 1743 )

After consultation with both canon lawyers and theologians in France and Germany, Dominique Marie Varlet ( 1678 – 1742 ), a Roman Catholic Bishop of the French Oratorian Society of Foreign Missions, ordained Bishop Steenoven.

Political parties first appeared during the Exclusion Crisis of 1678 – 1681.

An uprising by soldiers and planters in 1684 during the governorship of John Blackmore ( 1678 – 1689 ) led to the death of three mutineers in an attack on Fort James and the later execution of four others.

* 1678 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English philosopher and politician ( d. 1751 )

* 1642 – Giovanni Maria Bononcini, Italian violinist and composer ( d. 1678 )

* 1601 – Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish painter ( d. 1678 )

* July 31 – Nicola Francesco Haym, opera librettist and composer ( born 1678 )

The funereal monument of the Patriarch of Venice, Francesco Morosini ( d. 1678 ) in the chancel, was completed by the Genovese sculptor Filippo Parodi.

* Church of San Francesco Saverio ( 1664 – 1678 ), with works by Andrea Pozzo.

13 ( Venice, Francesco Magni detto Gardano, 1678 )

* Francesco Farnese, seventh Duke of Parma ( 1678 – 1727 )

In the seventeenth century people such as Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Pietro Castelli, Giovan Battista Cortesi, Carlo Fracassati, Giacomo Gallo, Mario Giurba, Marcello Malpighi and Francesco Maurolico were at the university but in 1678 it was closed because of the revolution against the Spaniards.

* July 28 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer ( born 1678 )

* January 31 – Filippo Juvara, Italian architect ( b. 1678 )

* 23 September – Giovanni Maria Bononcini, Italian composer ( died 1678 )

Among the refugees was Louis Bourguet ( 1678 – 1743 ) who wrote geological works and founded two periodicals that provided Italian research and works by French Swiss authors to the country.

* Prospero Fagnani ( died 1678 ), Italian canon lawyer

Italian kabbalists, among them Behr Perlhefter, the first Maggid in the study hall of Abraham Rovigo, and Benjamin ben Eliezer ha-Kohen, rabbi of Reggio, called him to Italy about 1678, where he was very popular for a time.

Such was Louis Bourguet ( 1678 – 1743 ), who, besides his geological works, founded two periodicals which in different ways did much to stimulate the intellectual life of the Suisse Romande ; these were the Bibliothèque italique ( 1729 – 1734 ), which aimed at making more widely known the results of Italian research, and the Mercure suisse which, first issued in 1732, lasted till 1784, under different names ( rom 1738 onwards the literary section bore the name of Journée helvetique ), and secured contributions from most of the leading writers of the Suisse Romande of the day, such as Firmin Abauzit ( 1679 – 1767 ), Abraham Ruchat ( 1678 – 1750 ), and others.

** Giovanni Battista Falda, Italian engraver especially of contemporary and antique structures in Rome ( died 1678 )

* August 14 – William Croft, English composer ( b. 1678 )

John Jenkins ( 1592 – 1678 ), English composer, was born in Maidstone, Kent, and died at Kimberley, Norfolk.

1619 – 5 August 1678 ) was a Mexican composer, singer, viol player, and teacher.

* December 21-Manuel de Zumaya, Mexican composer ( born c. 1678 )

His father, Giovanni Maria Bononcini ( 1642 – 1678 ), was a violinist and a composer, and his younger brother, Antonio Maria Bononcini, was also a composer.

* July 28 – Antonio Vivaldi, composer ( born 1678 )

* August 14 – William Croft, organist and composer ( born 1678 )

William Croft ( baptized 30 December 1678 – 14 August 1727 ) was an English composer and organist.

Manuel de Zumaya or Manuel de Sumaya ( c. 1678 – 1755 ) was perhaps the most famous Mexican composer of the colonial period of New Spain.