- Jan 13 The Bank of Genoa fails after announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain
- Jan 19 San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; the oldest church in the Philippines
- Jan 30 Massive flooding in England destroys around 200 square miles of coastline and results in approximately 2,000 casualties
- Feb 24 Claudio Monteverdi's opera "L'Orfeo" premieres in Mantua, oldest opera still regularly performed
- Apr 10 The British colonial expedition that would found Jamestown departs Puerto Rico for the American mainland
- Apr 25 Battle at Gibraltar: Dutch fleet beats Spanish Portuguese fleet
- Apr 25 Shortly before making landfall in America, Captain Edward Maria Wingfield is named President of the Jamestown governing council
- Apr 26 Jamestown expedition makes first landing in America at a place named Cape Henry, in what would become Virginia, but they quickly depart for a better site
Colonists Land at Jamestown
May 13 English colonists led by John Smith establish Jamestown at a second landing near the James River in Virginia - first permanent English settlement in North America
- May 14 English colonists establish the 1st permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown. Unknown to them they have landed amidst the worst drought in 800 years.
- Jun 21 1st Protestant Episcopal parish in America established at Jamestown
- Jun 25 Mentally ill Emperor Rudolf II signs Treaty of Lieben, giving up Austria, Hungary and Moravia
- Jun 30 Annales Ecclesiastici (Scientific History of Catholicism) published
- Sep 14 Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies