- Jan 31 Wisselbank of Amsterdam established
Henry Hudson Sets Sail
Mar 25 Henry Hudson embarks on an attempt to find northwest passage to Asia for Dutch East India Company - explores North America instead
Shakespeare's Sonnets Published
May 20 William Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe
- May 23 Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place
- Jun 17 Netherlands, England and France sign 12 year Covenant
- Jul 6 Majesteitsbrief: Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemia freedom of religion
- Jul 9 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
- Jul 10 Catholic German monarchy forms Catholic League
- Jul 20 Emperor Rudolf II grants Silezische protestants freedom of religion
- Jul 25 Admiral George Somers scuttles the "Sea Venture" in eastern Bermuda, the storm damaged flagship of the London Company bound for Jamestown, Virginia. Survivors construct two new ships and continue on to re-supply the embattled colony.
- Jul 26 English mathematician Thomas Harriot is the first person to draw a map of the Moon by looking through a telescope
Champlain Shoots Iroquois Chiefs
Jul 29 Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New York setting the stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for the next 150 years
Galileo Demonstrates Telescope
Aug 8 Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei's telescope
- Aug 25 Galileo demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers, including to the Doge (ruler) of Venice, Leonardo Donato
- Aug 28 English explorer Henry Hudson is the first European to sail into Delaware Bay - names it South Bay
- Sep 1 Pieter Both sworn in as 1st governor general of Dutch East Indies
- Sep 4 Navigator Henry Hudson is the first European to discover island of Manhattan [or Sep 11]
- Sep 11 Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain's Moriscos
- Oct 12 Children's rhyme "Three Blind Mice" is published in London in a book edited by and possibly written by Thomas Ravenscroft
- Dec 8 Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan opens its reading room, second public library in Europe
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies