1595 CE

A Spanish expedition of four ships, led by navigator and explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, makes the first European landing in Polynesia, on the Marquesas Islands. Despite an initially good reception with the natives, fighting begins and the Mendaña ships leave after two weeks. One of the ships, the Santa Ysabel, disappears during the voyage toward the Solomon Islands. In India, Prince Man Singh I, Maharaja of Amber within the Mughal Empire, becomes the Mughal Governor (subahdar) of Bengal in what is now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. He lays the foundations of a new capital of Bengal, Akbarnagar (now Rajmahal, Jharkhand state). What is probably the first performance of William Shakespeare's play, Richard II, takes place in London.

In the 1590s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 16 – Mehmed III succeeds Murad III, as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and begins a reign of almost nine years. Upon ascending the throne, Mehmed orders that all 19 of the other sons of Murad III are to be strangled to death.source
January 28 – The Principality of Transylvania (now encompassing most of Romania) joins the Holy League alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in a war against the Ottoman Empire, as Stephen Bocskai signs a treaty at Prague on behalf of Prince Sigismund Báthory.source
May 18 – The Treaty of Teusina brings to an end the Russo-Swedish War (1590–95).source
18 May – The Russo-Swedish War is terminated by the Treaty of Teusina with a victory and territorial gain for Sweden.Sweden source

Conflict & Security

January 17 – During the French Wars of Religion, King Henry IV of France declares war on Spain, ordering Henry, Duke of Bouillon to lead armies through Luxembourg for an attack on the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).source
February 6 – Despite a string of military victories over the Serbian rebels, Koca Sinan Pasha is dismissed as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mehmed III, and banished to Malkara. He is replaced by Serdar Ferhad Pasha, whom he replaces on July 7.source
February 16 – In northern Ireland, Art MacBaron O'Neill successfully conducts the assault on the Blackwater Fort, an English military outpost located in County Armagh and captures it.source
18 February – Hercules Stewart, a supporter of the rebel Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, is hanged in Edinburgh.Scotland source
March 20 – After a siege of 13 days, the French town of Huy (now in Belgium) is captured by the army of the Spanish Netherlands, as the General Charles de Héraugière surrenders to the Baron de la Motte.source
March 26 – Thado Dhamma Yaza III, who has served since 1589 for the Kingdom of Pegu as the Burmese Viceroy of Prome (now in the Bago Region of Myanmar), declares himself to be the King of Prome during the invasion by the Kingdom of Siam and breaks relations with his father King Nanda Bayin of Pegu.source
April 8 (March 29 O.S.) – Combined Taungoo–Lan Na armies break the rebel Thado Dhamma Yaza's siege of Taungoo, in modern-day Myanmar.source
5 June – Battle of Fontaine-FrançaiseFrance source
June 9 – Battle of Fontaine-Française: Henry IV of France defeats the Spanish, but is nearly killed due to his rashness.source
July 23 – The Spanish raid Cornwall, England.source
August 23 – Battle of Calugareni: The Wallachians, led by Michael the Brave, accomplish a great tactical victory against a vast army of Turks, led by Sinan Pasha.source
October 26 – Battle of Giurgiu: Michael the Brave, led by Transylvanian Prince Sigismund Báthory, again defeats the Turkish army led by Sinan Pasha, pushing them on the east side of the Danube.source
November 8 – The Battle of Guadalupe Island is fought between nine English Navy warships (led by Sir Francis Drake) and eight Spanish frigates off in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Spanish force wins the battle, capturing one ship and killing 45 English sailors. Both sets of ships proceed toward Puerto Rico.source
November 22 – The Battle of San Juan is fought off of the island of Puerto Rico as an English fleet of 27 ships and 2,500 men, led by Francis Drake, attempts to invade the Spanish colony. In a three-day battle, the English lose at least eight ships and 400 men, including Admiral John Hawkins. Drake's fleet withdraws and attempts to conquer Panama.source
December 14 – Sultan Murad, 4th son of Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire invades Ahmednagar Sultanate which is defended by Chand Bibi.source
Many sugar plantations in São Tomé are destroyed by a large slave uprisingsource
The Austrians incite a rebellion against the Ottomans in Bulgaria.source
8 to 24 April – Siege of CalaisFrance source
20 to 26 June – Siege of Le CateletFrance source
14 to 31 July – Siege of DoullensFrance source
25–27 March – Battle of Clontibret in County Monaghan: Tyrone's forces achieve victory over English troops led by Sir Henry Bagenal in the first major action of the Nine Years' War.Ireland source
Ongoing – Nine Years' War: Rebellion of Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell (lasts until 1603).Ireland source
Unknown date – Rising tensions and peasant unrest in Ostrobothnia against the heavy military taxation maintained by Klaus Fleming begin to escalate, laying the groundwork for the Club War (Nuijasota) which would break out the following year.Sweden source

Exploration & Expansion

February 6 – Sir Walter Raleigh of England departs from Plymouth to begin an expedition to South Americasource
April 15 – Sir Walter Raleigh travels up the Orinoco River, in search of the fabled city of El Dorado.source
May 29 – George Somers and Amyas Preston travel to aid Raleigh's El Dorado expedition but failing to meet him instead raid the Spanish Province of Venezuelasource
July 21 – A Spanish expedition of four ships, led by navigator and explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, makes the first European landing in Polynesia, on the Marquesas Islands. Despite an initially good reception with the natives, fighting begins and the Mendaña ships leave after two weeks. One of the ships, the Santa Ysabel, disappears during the voyage toward the Solomon Islands.source
September 8 – The first European colony in the South Seas is established as Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña claims Nendö Island (one of the Solomon Islands) and claims it for Spain as the colony of Santa Cruz. Malaria, a mutiny of some of the Spanish soldiers, and a fight with the indigenous people kills 47 of the settlers, including Mendaña on October 18.source
October 30 – The surviving members of Spain's Mendaña expedition to Santa Cruz, including Mendaña's widow Isabel Barreto, decide to abandon the Santa Cruz colony in the South Pacific.source
November 7 – Portuguese explorer Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho, who had departed from the Philippines on the ship San Agustin on July 5 with cargo of Asian silk, porcelain, and almost 100 passengers and crew, drops anchor at Drakes Bay in what is now the U.S. state of California. He and some of his crew come ashore, where they are greeted by Native Americans. A gale in a few weeks later sinks the San Agustin, killing at least 7 people and ruining the ship's cargo. The crew salvages a launch that they had brought with them.source
November 18 – The settlers of the first attempt to create a European colony in the South Pacific depart from Santa Cruz Island on three surviving ships, the San Geronimo, the San Felipe and the Santa Catalina (which disappears during the attempt to return home). Despite the lack of navigation charts, navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós brings the San Geronimo and the San Felipe back to Manila Bay, arriving on February 11 after 12 weeks and the deaths of 50 passengers.source
December 8 – A group of 80 people from the sunken ship San Agustin, are able to leave California on the launch which they had brought along, which they name the San Buenaventura. The group sails past San Francisco Bay and arrives at Chacala in Mexico on January 17.source

Religion & Belief

January 24 – Matthias of Habsburg is appointed by his brother Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, to become the Archduke of die Vorlande, the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs in Southern Germany outside of Austria, also called Further Austria (Vorderösterreich). The appointment follows the death of their uncle, Ferdinand II. Matthias will later become Archduke of Austria (in 1608) and the Emperor in 1612.source
4 September – Lieutenant Colonel Richard Wingfield is wounded in a clash with Tyrone's troops in Ulster. He is knighted by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William Russell, in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 9 November before returning to England.Ireland source
September–October – The Riksdag of Söderköping elects Duke Charles Regent (though not monarch) and formally bans the Catholic mass.Sweden source
November 17 – In the remodeling of the Church of Saint Sylvester in Rome, the ashes of Pope Anterus are discovered almost 1,360 years after his death. Anterus had served as Pope for six weeks before dying on January 3, 236.source
13 December – The last remaining Catholic convent in Sweden, Vadstena Abbey, is officially dissolved by order of Duke Charles. The remaining nuns, including abbess Karin Johansdotter, leave the abbey and flee to Poland.Sweden source

Technology & Infrastructure

The Scourge of Malice is built and launched, and will go on to be used in the first, second, third and tenth voyages of the East India Company under its later name of Red DragonIndia source

Disasters & Accidents

August 28 – Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins depart from England, on their final voyage to the Spanish Main, which ends in both of their deaths.source

Culture & Society

February 25 – The Goa state archives are established at the city of Panaji in Portuguese India (now India's Goa state) by historian Diogo do Couto.source
May 24 – The Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.source
November 9 – In India, Prince Man Singh I, Maharaja of Amber within the Mughal Empire, becomes the Mughal Governor (subahdar) of Bengal in what is now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. He lays the foundations of a new capital of Bengal, Akbarnagar (now Rajmahal, Jharkhand state).source
December 9 – What is probably the first performance of William Shakespeare's play, Richard II, takes place in London.source
Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's plays Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream in London.source
The Riksdag of the Estates at Söderköping in Sweden elects the Lutheran Duke Charles as the country's regent, in place of Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland and Sweden.source
Unknown date – Uppsala University, revived two years prior, is granted its official letter of privilege.Sweden source

Births

January 15 – Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician (died 1661)source
March 21 – Ferdinando Ughelli, Italian Cistercian monk and church historian (died 1670)source
March 23 – Bevil Grenville, English royalist soldier (died 1643)source
April 6 – Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, Prince of France (died 1663)source
April 30 – Henri II de Montmorency, French nobleman and military commander (died 1632)source
June 9 – King Wladislaus IV of Poland (died 1648)source
9 June – Władysław IV Vasa, prince of Sweden and Poland (died 1648)Sweden source
June 13 – Jan Marek Marci, Bohemian physician and scientist (died 1667)source
June 19 – Guru Har Gobind, the Sixth Sikh Guru (died 1644)source
5 July Guru Hargobind, the sixth of the ten gurus of Sikhism is born in Punjab, (dies 1644)India source
July 31 – Philipp Wolfgang, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (died 1641)source
December 1 – Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (died 1677)source
December 7 – Injo of Joseon, sixteenth king of the Joseon dynasty in Korea (died 1649)source
December 11 – Hŏ Mok, Korean politician, poet and scholar (died 1682)source
December 27 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of Ukraine (died 1657)source
Pocahontas, Algonquian princess (died 1617)source
Claude de Mesmes, comte d'Avaux, diplomat (died 1650)France source
Sir Alexander Falconer, 1st Lord Falconer of HalkertonScotland source

Deaths

January 15 – Murad III, Ottoman Sultan (born 1546)source
January 24 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, regent of Tyrol and Further Austria (born 1529)source
February 20 – Archduke Ernest of Austria, Governor-General of the Habsburg Netherlands (now Belgium), dies at the age of 41 and is temporarily replaced by his Spanish assistant, Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes.source
February 21 – Robert Southwell, Jesuit priest and poet (born 1561)source
April 25 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (born 1544)source
May 25 – Philip Neri, Italian Roman Catholic priest and saint (born 1515)source
21 June – Henrik Klasson Horn (Finnish: Henrikki Laavunpoika of Kankainen), army commander and nobleman (born 1512)Sweden source
July 10 – Udai Singh of Marwar, Ruler of Marwar (born 1538)source
August 26 – Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (born 1531)source
September 2 – Battle of the Lippe (Eighty Years' War): Spanish cavalry, led by Cristóbal de Mondragón (aged over 80), defeat combined forces of the Dutch Republic and England led by Philip of Nassau (who dies of wounds received), on the banks of the river Lippe in Germany.source
September 4 – Jeremias II of Constantinople (born 1530)source
15 September – John MacMorran, Baillie of Edinburgh, killed by rioting schoolchildrenScotland source
5 October – Faizi, Malik-ush-Shu'ara (poet laureate) of Akbar's Court. (born 1547)India source
October 18 – Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Spanish navigator and explorer (born 1542)source
October 19 – Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (born 1537)source
October 23 – Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, Italian-French dignitary and diplomat (born 1539)source
November 12 – John Hawkins, English shipbuilder and trader (born 1532)source
Henri I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville, aristocrat (born 1568)France source