- Jan 12 Brazilian city Belem (the entrance gate to the Amazon) founded by Captain Major Francisco Branco
- Jan 24 Dutch mariners Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten are the first Europeans to discover Le Maire Strait, Tierra del Fuego - go on to round Cape Horn
- Jan 31 Rounding of Cape Horn for the first time by Dutch expedition of Jacques Le Maire and Willem Corneliszoon Schouten (they name Cape Hoorn after Schouten’s hometown) [1]
De Revolutionibus
Mar 5 Astronomical work 'de Revolutionibus' by Nicolaus Copernicus placed on Catholic Forbidden index
Walter Raleigh Released
Mar 20 Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
- Apr 23 Netherlands buys De Briel/Vlissingen/Fort Rammekens from England
- Apr 30 King James I of England leaves Brielle
- May 3 Treaty of Loudun ends French civil war
Return of Samuel de Champlain
Jul 11 Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec
- Sep 15 First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy
Dirk Hartog Makes Landfall in Australia
Oct 25 Dutch East India Company ship "The Eendracht" makes landfall on Dirk-Hartog Island, the second European ship to visit the continent of Australia
- Nov 20 Bishop Richelieu becomes French minister of Foreign affairs and War
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists