1599 CE

The first reported performance at the Globe Theatre in London (erected over Spring/Summer), a presentation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (probably new to that year), is recorded by Swiss traveller Thomas Platter the Younger. The Åbo Bloodbath takes place in Åbo (Turku), in modern-day Finland, which was part of Sweden at the time. King James VI, via an act of his Privy Council, decided that Scotland should come into line with other "well governit commonwealths" and adopts 1 January as New Year’s Day. Prior to this 25 March was New Year’s Day. Thus the year 1599 commenced on 25 March 1599 and ended on 31 December 1599 - it was only 9 months long. The next date, in Scotland, was 1 January 1600. This left Scotland at odds with England, where the new year continued to be dated from 25 March. As a consequence 1 January 1600 in Scotland was 1 January 1599 in England. It is sometimes, mistakenly, said that Scotland adopted the Gregorian Calendar at this time. Whilst starting the new year on 1 January was one component of Gregorian reforms, Scotland did not adopt the two more fundamental changes in relation to (1) the computation for leap years and (2) the realignment of the calendar with the solar year, which necessitated the omission of ten days from the existing calendar. Scotland, along with England and Wales, adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 under the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 by which time the omission of eleven days from the older calendar was required.

In the 1590s, the 16th century.