The Hōei Eruption of Mount Fuji starts on December 16, 1707 (23rd day of the 11th month of the year Hōei 4) and ends about January 1, 1708 (9th day of the 12th month of the year Hōei 4) during the Edo period.Although it brings no lava flow, the Hoei eruption releases some eight hundred million cubic meters of volcanic ash, which spreads over vast areas around the volcano, even reaching Edo almost one hundred kilometers away.

Cinders and ash fall like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi provinces.

In Edo, the volcanic ash is several centimeters thick.

The eruption occurs on Mount Fuji's east–northeast flank and forms three new volcanic vents, named No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 Hōei vents.

The catastrophe develops over the course of several days—an initial earthquake and explosion of cinders and ash is followed some days later with the more forceful ejections of rocks and stones.

Mount Fuji has not erupted since.

Tsar Peter, in 1707, conquers the city of Vilnius and ...

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, after the Swedish incursion, is in a state of civil war between the Warsaw Confederation, supportive of the pro-Swedish king Stanisław I Leszczyński, and ...

...the Sandomierz Confederation, supportive of Sweden's adversaries, i.e., the Russian tsar and Augustus II the Strong, who had been forced to abdicate in late 1706 by Charles XII.

In 1707, the plague reaches Kraków, where according to Frandsen (2009) twenty thousand people die within three years, according to Sticker (1905) eighteen thousand people within two years, most in 1707, and according to Burchardt, et al. (2009), twelve thousand people between 1706 and 1709.

From Kraków, the plague spreads to Lesser Poland (the surrounding area), Mazovia (including the city of Warsaw) and ...

...Great Poland with the cities of Ostrów, ...

...Kalisz (Kalisch), and ...

...Poznań (Posen).

When news of the plague in Poland arrives in the Kingdom of Prussia, still neutral in the war, precautions are taken to prevent it spreading across the border.

Health certificates have been compulsory for travelers from Poland from 1704.