It falls to Mehmed Pasa's nephew Amca-zâde…

On the way back to Russia, tTe Grand Embassy had conducted fruitless negotiations in Vienna with Russia's former allies in the Holy League, the Austrian foreign minister and the Venetian ambassador, trying to prevent Austria's separate peace treaty with Turkey.

An intended visit to Venice had been canceled due to the news about the Streltsy Uprising in Moscow and Peter's hasty return to Russia.

The Grand Embassy had failed to accomplish its main goal, but it has gathered valuable information about the international situation, ascertained the impossibility of strengthening the anti-Turkish coalition due to the imminent War of the Spanish Succession, and has brought back the plans for gaining access to the Baltic Sea.

On his way back to Russia, Peter the Great had met with Augustus II of Poland and conducted negotiations with him, which will form the basis for the Russo-Polish alliance against Sweden in the Great Northern War.

Zanzibar becomes part of the overseas holdings of Oman in 1698, falling under the control of the Sultan of Oman.

The Portuguese are expelled and a lucrative trade in slaves and ivory thrives, along with an expanding plantation economy centering on cloves.

The Arabs establish garrisons at Zanzibar, ...

...Pemba, and ...

...Kilwa.

Mombasa in 1698 comes under the influence of the Sultanate of Oman, subordinate to the Omani rulers on Zanzibar Island; this prompts regular local rebellions.

Hyacinthe Rigaud continues to paint portrait commissions in Paris, attracting increasing notice by the French aristocracy.

Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg dies on January 23, 1698, leaving all of his territories to his son George Louis with the exception of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück, an office he had held since 1661.

George, who has received a thorough education in the diplomatic and military arts, thus becomes Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (also known as Hanover, after its capital) as well as Archbannerbearer and a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.

His court in Hanover is graced by many cultural icons such as the mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz and the composers George Frideric Händel and Agostino Steffani.

Ernest Augustus was born at Herzberg am Harz, the son of George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt (Ernest Augustus is thus descended from the Albertinian line of the Habsburg family and also the House of Hohenzollern).

He married Sophia of the Palatinate in Heidelberg in 1658.

As the fourth son, he had little chance of succeeding his father as ruler, and so, in 1662, his relatives had appointed him administrator of Osnabrück; according to the Peace of Westphalia, every second incumbent of the Osnabrück see was to be appointed by the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

However, after two of his elder brothers had died without sons, Ernest Augustus had inherited part of his father's territories in 1679, namely Calenberg (including Göttingen).

Against the protestations of his five younger sons, Ernest Augustus in 1683 had instituted primogeniture, so that his territory would not be further subdivided after his death, and also as a precondition for obtaining the coveted electorship.

He participated in the Great Turkish War on the side of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

He was in 1692 appointed prince-elector by the Emperor; however, the electorship will not come into effect until 1708.

A large number of former officers and soldiers join happily in the Darien Scheme, as they have little hope of any other employment.

Many are acquainted from serving in the army and several—the best known being Thomas Drummond—are notorious for involvement in the Massacre of Glencoe.

Some regard them as a clique, causing much suspicion among other members of the expedition.

The first expedition of five ships (Saint Andrew, Caledonia, Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour), sets sail in July 1698 from the east coast port of Leith to avoid observation by English warships.

With around twelve hundred people on board, the journey round Scotland while kept below decks is so traumatic that some colonists think it comparable to the worst parts of the whole Darien experience that follows.

England’s recoinage has not been a financial success; by 1698 production has tailed off.

It has proved impossible to maintain a system based on gold and silver because of the variation in the bullion values of each metal.

In practice, this usually means that silver is worth more melted down into bullion.