1648 has been suggested as possibly the last year in which the overall human population declined, coming towards the end of a broader period of global instability which included the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, the latter of which ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. Events <onlyinclude> January–March January 15 – Manchu invaders of China's Fujian province capture Spanish Dominican priest Francisco Fernández de Capillas, torture him and then behead him. Capillas will be canonized more than 350 years later in 2000 in the Roman Catholic Church as one of the Martyr Saints of China. January 15 – Alexis, Tsar of Russia, marries Maria Miloslavskaya, who later gives birth to two future tsars (Feodor III and Ivan V) as well as Princess Sophia Alekseyevna, the regent for Peter I. January 17 – By a vote of 141 to 91, England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I, and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War. January 20 – France's Royal Council votes to create the Académie royale after accepting the proposal of Martin de Charmois. January 26 – The Khmelnytsky Uprising in Ukraine, at the time part of the Republic of Both Nations (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), begins as Bohdan Khmelnytsky becomes Hetman of the Cossacks. January 30 – The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish Empire recognizes the Dutch Republic of United Netherlands as a sovereign state (governed by the House of Orange-Nassau and the States General), which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. The treaty is ratified by the Netherlands on May 15. February 11 – England's parliament passes stricter laws against performance of stage plays, providing for demolition of seats in theatres, imprisonment for actors and fines for spectators. The vote comes six days after the King's Men Players are arrested at the Cockpit Theatre during an illegal performance of Rollo Duke of Normandy. February 28 – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway dies after a reign of almost 60 years without having named a successor. The Rigsraadet (Royal Council) and the Estates of the Realm will debate he matter for more than four months before deciding on July 6 to select Christian's oldest surviving son to become King Frederick III. March 31 – A