Year 1693 (MDCXCIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1693

thumb|200px|left| Etna erupts./" class="wiki">January 11: Etna erupts.thumb|210px|right| William & Mary founded./" class="wiki">February 8: William & Mary founded.

January–June

• January 11 – Mount Etna erupts, causing a devastating earthquake that affects parts of Sicily and Malta.

• February 8 – The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a Royal charter from King William III and Queen Mary II of England.

• May 18 – Forces of Louis XIV of France attack Heidelberg (now Germany), the Palatine capital.

• May 22 – The town of Heidelberg is taken by invading French forces, and the castle is surrendered on May 23.

• May – After the castle is surrendered, French forces blow up the towers of Heidelberg Castle using mines.

July–December

• July 29 – The Battle of Landen

• October 11 – Charleroi falls to the French forces

Undated

• China concentrates all its foreign trade on Canton; European ships are forbidden to land anywhere else.

• The Mennonite Amish sect is formed.

• The Knights of the Apocalypse are formed in Italy.

• The Academia operosorum Labacensis is established in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

• Financier Richard Hoare founds Hoare's Bank in London.

• The Royal Hospital School is founded in Greenwich, London.

• The Dodo becomes extinct.

• John Locke publishes his influential book Some Thoughts Concerning Education.

Ongoing events

• Nine Years' War (1688–1697).

• Great Turkish War (1662–1699).

Births

• February 7 – Empress Anna I of Russia (d. 1740)

• February 24 – James Quin, English actor (d. 1766)

• March 5 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (d. 1754)

• March 7 – Pope Clement XIII (d. 1769)

• March 24 – John Harrison, English clockmaker (d. 1776)

• April 3 – George Edwards, English naturalist (d. 1773)

• June 17 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian (d. 1775)

• July 21 – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1768)

• August 8 – Laurent Belissen, French composer (d. 1762)

• September 3 – Charles Radclyffe, British politician (d. 1746)

• date unknown – Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1768)

Deaths

• February 7 – Paul Pellisson, French writer (b. 1624)

• April 5 – Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer (b. 1627)

• April 9 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (b. 1618)

• May 3 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)

• May 25 – Madame de la Fayette, French writer (b. 1634)

• June 2 – John Wildman, English soldier and politician (b. c. 1621)

• July 12 – John Ashby, English admiral (b. c. 1640)

• September 19 – Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Slovenian nobleman and polymath (b. 1641)

• October 1 – Pedro Abarca, Spanish theologian (b. 1619)

• November 24 – William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1616)