| 6th and 5th centuries BC | Parmenides of Elea, an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and radical monist who argued that all reality is one and unchanging, operates. | 260901 |
| 300 BC | Euclid writes his landmark book on geometry, establishing Euclidean logical proofs that would later deeply influence rationalist philosophy and Spinoza's methodology. | 260901 |
| 14th and 15th centuries | Significant numbers of Iberian Jews and Muslims convert to Catholicism (becoming "Conversos" or "New Christians") under coercion or social incentives. | 260901 |
| 1492 | The Kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim state in Iberia, is conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella, leading to the forced conversion or expulsion of all Jews and Muslims from the peninsula. | 260901 |
| 1500 | A mass baptism of Muslim converts (referred to as "Moriscos") is depicted in Granada. | 260901 |
| 1575 | The Library of Leiden University is established by William of Orange during the Dutch Revolt. | 260901 |
| 1588 | The northern provinces of the Netherlands abjure the rule of King Philip II of Spain, secede from the Holy Roman Empire, and establish the Dutch Republic. | 260901 |
| End of the 16th century | Calvinism spreads throughout the Low Countries, becoming one of the major causes for the Dutch Revolt. | 260901 |
| 1596–1650 | Lifespan of René Descartes, the French Catholic polymath, philosopher, and rationalist who spent most of his adult life in the Netherlands. | 260901 |
| 1614 | Gabriel Fuesta da Costa migrates from Portugal to Hamburg, openly converts to Judaism, and takes the name Uriel da Costa. | 260901 |
| 1623 | Uriel da Costa relocates to Amsterdam after being excommunicated by Jewish leaders in Hamburg and Venice. | 260901 |
| 1632 | Baruch Spinoza is born in Amsterdam, Dutch Republic. | 260901 |
| 1637 | René Descartes publishes his Discourse on the Method in the Netherlands, introducing his famous philosophical premise "Cogito, ergo sum." | 260901 |
| 1640 | Uriel da Costa commits suicide in Amsterdam when his distant relative, Baruch Spinoza, is eight years old. | 260901 |
| 1646–1716 | Lifespan of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the German rationalist philosopher who formulated the "best of all possible worlds" argument and the principle of sufficient reason. | 260901 |
| 1658 | Spinoza audits classes in Cartesian philosophy at Leiden University. | 260901 |
| 1661–1675 | Spinoza composes his magnum opus, Ethics Demonstrated in Geometrical Order. | 260901 |
| 1666 | A portrait of Baruch Spinoza is painted (likely his likeness). | 260901 |
| 1677 | Baruch Spinoza dies, and his Ethics is published posthumously to avoid religious persecution during his lifetime. | 260901 |
| 1755 | A devastating earthquake strikes Lisbon, causing widespread suffering and death, which prompts intense philosophical skepticism toward Leibniz's concept of the "best of all possible worlds" in the next generation. | 260901 |