1600 CE
The year 1600 was the end of the 16th century and the start of the 17th century. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the first century leap year and the last until the year 2000.
In the 1600s, the 17th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- 27 January – Colonel Richard Wingfield is made Marshal of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth.Irelandsource
- May 27 – Michael the Brave becomes ruler of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia, formally uniting the three Danubian Principalities under one Romanian ruler.source
- June 9 – Yi Hang-bok becomes the new Chief State Councillor of Korea (the Yeonguijeong), equivalent to a prime minister, after being appointed by King Seonjo to replace Yi San-hae.source
- October 8 – The basic legal system for the Republic of San Marino goes into effect during the service of captains regent Girolamo Gozi and Francesco Giannini.source
- October 20 – Persian diplomats, led by Husayn 'Ali Beg of Persia, and Englishman Anthony Shirley (who serves as translator) arrive in Prague to meet with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor.source
- November 7 – Emperor Rudolf II grants an audience in Prague to Persian diplomats Husayn 'Ali Beg and Anthony Shirley, and present the offer of Persia's King Abbas the Great to supply weapons to the Empire in their fight against the Ottomans.source
Conflict & Security
- January 20 – Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, renews the Nine Years' War (Ireland) against England with an invasion of Munster.source
- January – Nine Years' War against England is renewed by Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, with an invasion of Munster.Irelandsource
- 5 February — Battle of LekkerbeetjeBelgiumsource
- 18 February – Nine Years' War: Rebel cavalry in Munster led by Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh) are intercepted and their leaders killed.Irelandsource
- 20 March - Linköping Bloodbath conducted against the Sigismund loyalists.Swedensource
- 15 May – Nine Years' War: Chief Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill betrays the Irish alliance and allows Henry Docwra to land at Lough Foyle with an expeditionary force of 4,000 men. In a devastating blow to the rebels, Docwra sets up a series of fortifications along the River Foyle, cutting access between Tír Eoghain and Tyrconnell.Irelandsource
- 29 June – Archduchess Isabella addresses the Army of FlandersBelgiumsource
- July 2 – Eighty Years' War (Dutch War of Independence) – Battle of Nieuwpoort: The Dutch Republic gains a tactical victory over the Spanish Empire.source
- August- King Henry IV declares war on Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and shortly after the French army invaded Savoy starting the Franco-Savoyard War of 1600–1601.Francesource
- September 18 – The Battle of Mirăslău takes place within Transylvania as Hungarian troops, backed by the Holy Roman Empire, triumph over the Principality of Wallachia, backed by Poland. Hungarian General Giorgio Basta brings 30,000 men against the 22,000 commanded by Wallachia's ruler Michael the Brave. The Wallachians sustain more than 5,000 dead and wounded.source
- October 21 – The Battle of Sekigahara occurs in what is now present-day Gifu Prefecture, Japan, where the Eastern Army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu emerges victorious against the Western Army led by Ishida Mitsunari. The battle ends the Sengoku period and grants the Tokugawa clan nominal control over Japan, establishing the Tokugawa shogunate with Tokugawa Ieyasu as shogun.source
- November 15 – Thessaly rebellion: Greek farmers in Thessaly, incited by Bishop Dionysios Skylosophos, begin an uprising against the Ottoman Empire, with violence in an area bounded by Trikala and Karditsa and the surrounding mountains, but the rebellion is suppressed by the Ottomans in a few days. "Dionysios the Philosopher, Metropolitan of Larissa", by Georgios Ploumidis, in Ta Nea (Athens), August 17, 2000, archived by Archive.orgsource
- Caister Castle in England falls into ruin.source
- The War against Sigismund becomes the Polish–Swedish War (1600–11).Swedensource
Exploration & Expansion
- January 24 – Sebald de Weert makes the first recorded sighting of the Falkland Islands.source
- April 19 – The first Dutch ship ever to arrive in Japan, the Liefde ("Love"), anchors in Sashifu, in the Bungo Province (modern-day Usuki in Ōita Prefecture). The sailors present on this ship are William Adams, Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, Jacob Quaeckernaeck and Melchior van Santvoort.source
- December 31 – The East India Company is granted a Royal charter in the Kingdom of England for trade with Asia.source
Religion & Belief
- Approximate date – The Lutheran orthodox campaign intensifies, to reinforce the Book of Concord.source
Economy & Finance
- 28 April — Estates General opens in Brussels (dissolved 9 November)Belgiumsource
- June 13 – Barrister Nicholas Fuller is granted the exclusive right in England to manufacture playing cards.source
- East India Company granted Royal Charter by Elizabeth I of England (ran until disestablishment in 1874)Indiasource
Technology & Infrastructure
Science & Discovery
Crime & Justice
- February 17 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy in Rome, Giordano Bruno has his tongue "imprisoned" after he refuses to stop talking.source
- March 20 – Linköping Bloodbath: Five Swedish nobles are publicly executed by decapitation and Polish–Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is de facto deposed as ruler of Sweden.source
- June 5 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, the former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Chancellor of the University of Dublin, is put on trial in England before a commission of 18 men, after being charged with malfeasance. He is deprived of his main business, a monopoly on sweet wines, and stripped of his noble title. In revenge, he attempts to organize a coup d'etat to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and fails in his plot.source
Disasters & Accidents
- June 25 – In England, a fire destroys much of the town of North Walsham, Norfolk, burning down 118 homes, 70 shops, and most of the stalls in the market square. The fire is traced to the home of one person who tries to flee town after the blaze begins. Many of the persons left homeless are given shelter at the St Nicholas Church.source
- September 24 – All 130 crew of the Dutch Republic ship Hoop die when the merchantman sinks in a storm while traveling in the Pacific Ocean between the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. The Liefde, a ship accompanying Hoop, is badly damaged but survives; all but 24 of its crew of more than 100 die from starvation and thirst after drifting more than six months before arriving in Japan on April 19, 1601.source
Climate & Environment
- February 19 – The Huaynaputina volcano in Peru erupts, in what is still the worst recorded volcanic eruption in South America.source
Culture & Society
- January 1 – Scotland adopts January 1 as New Year's Day instead of March 25.source
- 1 January – today is adopted as New Year's Day following the partial adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in ScotlandScotlandsource
- April 4 – a contract for marriage between king Henry IV and Marie de Medici was signed in Florence.Francesource
- October 5 – a proxy Marriage between king Henry IV and Marie de Medici was held in Florence.Francesource
- October 6 – The première of Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest known fully surviving work of modern opera, takes place in Florence for the wedding of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici. Emilio de' Cavalieri stages the production.source
- 19 November – the future King Charles I of England and Scotland, son of James VI, is born in Dunfermline PalaceScotlandsource
- William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing are published in London.source
- Sumo wrestling becomes a professional sport in Japan.source
- Fabritio Caroso's dance manual Nobiltà de dame is published.source
- William Gilbert publishes in Latin De Magnete, one of the first significant scientific books published in England, describing the Earth's magnetic field, and the beginning of modern geomagnetism. The adjective electrus (meaning “amber-like“ from the Greek elektron) was crafted by him. That's the inception of the “modern“ theory of electricity (from that adjective).source
- Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adoration of the Magi (c. 1600), now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts AntwerpBelgiumsource
Births
- January 17 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (died 1681)source
- January 28 – Pope Clement IX (died 1669)source
- February 2 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (died 1653)source
- February 6 – Matthew Brend, English landowner (died 1659)source
- February 9 – Jean-Joseph Surin, French Jesuit writer (died 1665)source
- February – Edmund Calamy the Elder, English Presbyterian (died 1666)source
- 4 March - Hans Christoff von Königsmarck, soldier (died 1663)Swedensource
- 19 March – Anders Bille, Marshal of the Realm (died 1657)Denmarksource
- June 26 – Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet, English Royalist leader (baptised; d. 1658)source
- June 26 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish politician, clergyman (died 1659)source
- July 15 – Jan Cossiers, Flemish painter (died 1671)source
- 15 July — Jan Cossiers, painter (died 1671)Belgiumsource
- July 22 – Michel de Marolles, French translator and churchman (died 1681)source
- August 29 – John Stawell, English Member of Parliament and governor of Taunton (died 1662)source
- November 19 – Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1649)source
- 19 November – Charles I at Dunfermline Palace, king of England and Scotland (executed 1649 in England)Scotlandsource
- November – John Ogilby, English writer and cartographer (died 1676)source
- December – Marie de Rohan, French courtier and political activist (died 1679)source
Deaths
- February 15 – José de Acosta, Spanish Jesuit missionary and naturalist (born 1540)source
- February 17 – Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher (burned at the stake) (born 1548)source
- February 25 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish colonial industrialist, Roman Catholic priest and blessed in Mexico (born 1502)source
- March 20 (Linköping Bloodbath)Swedensource
- April – Thomas Deloney, English writer (born 1543)source
- 23 May – Niels Hemmingsen, theologian (born 1513)Denmarksource
- July 20 – William More, English courtier (born 1520)source
- August 5 – John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, Scottish conspirator (born 1577)source
- August 5 – The brothers Alexander Ruthven and John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, are killed during a failed attempt to kidnap or murder King James VI of Scotland at their home.source
- 5 August – the Gowrie House affair, a plot to kidnap James VI in Perth, in which Robert Logan of Restalrig is implicated, devised by John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie (who dies in the attempt, together with his brother Alexander Ruthven)Scotlandsource
- August 25 – Hosokawa Gracia, Japanese noblewoman (born 1563)source
- August 27 – Mizuno Tadashige, Japanese nobleman (born 1541)source
- 17 October — Cornelis de Jode, cartographer, engraver and publisherBelgiumsource
- October 21 – Shimazu Toyohisa, Japanese samurai (born 1570)source
- November 3 – Richard Hooker, English Anglican theologian (born 1554)source
- November 6 – Ishida Mitsunari, Japanese feudal lord (decapitated) (born 1560)source
- November 6 – Konishi Yukinaga, Japanese Christian warlord (born 1555)source
- November 30 – Nanda Bayin, King of Burma (born 1535)source