1565
Year 1565 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–March
- January 3 - In the Tsardom of Russia, Ivan the Terrible originates the oprichnina.
- January 23 - Battle of Talikota: The Vijayanagara Empire, the last Hindu kingdom in South India, is greatly weakened by the Deccan sultanates.
- February 13 - Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi lands with his troops on the shores of Cebu Island in the Philippines.
- March 1 - The city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is founded as São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro by Estácio de Sá.
- March 16 - Spanish Conquistador López de Legazpi makes a blood compact with Datu Sikatuna in the island of Bohol, Philippines.
April–June
- April 27 - Cebu City is established as San Miguel by López de Legazpi, becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
- May 2 - Huntingdon Grammar School is established in England.
- May 18 - Ottoman troops land on the island of Malta, beginning the Great Siege of Malta.
- June 4 - The Treaty of Cebu is signed between Miguel López de Legazpi, representing Philip II of Spain, and Rajah Tupas of Cebu. This effectively creates Spanish suzerainty over Cebu.
- June 17 - ; In Japan, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the Ashikaga shogun, commits ritual suicide after Matsunaga Hisahide invades Kyoto.
July–September
- July 29 - The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots, marries her half-cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, in a Catholic ceremony.
- August 6 - Sark, in the Channel Islands, is granted as a fief by Elizabeth I of England to Hellier de Carteret, Seigneur of Saint Ouen.
- August 26 - The Chaseabout Raid begins in Scotland as a rebellion against Mary, Queen of Scots by her half-brother, by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, following her July 29 marriage to Lord Darnley.
- August 28 - The Spanish fleet of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés first sights land in Florida.
- August 31 - Chaseabout Raid: Moray and at least 1,000 of his rebels arrive in Edinburgh for a confrontation with the Scottish crown. After cannon fire from Edinburgh Castle, the rebels retreat toward England to seek help. The rebellion is ended by the end of September.
- September 4 - The Spanish fleet of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés lands in Florida to oust the French under Jean Ribault. He later destroys the French colony of Fort Caroline.
- September 8 - St. Augustine, Florida, is established by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, becoming the oldest surviving European settlement in the modern-day United States, and a mass of Thanksgiving is said.
- September 11 - The Knights of Malta lift the Great Siege of Malta after four months.
October–December
- October 11 - Ottavio Gentile Oderico is elected to a two-year term as the Doge of the Republic of Genoa.
- October 18 - Battle of Fukuda Bay: Ships belonging to the Matsura clan of Japan fail to capture a Portuguese trading carrack, in the first recorded naval battle between Japan and a European nation.
- October 20 - In the Northern Seven Years' War, the Battle of Axtorna is fought in Sweden, near Falkenberg, as Daniel Rantzau of the Army of Denmark and Norway leads 7,400 troops in defeating a counterattack by over 11,000 Swedish troops led by Jacob Henriksson Hästesko.
- October - The first Martello tower, the Tour de Mortella, designed by Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino, is completed as part of the Genovese defence system at Mortella Point, in Upper Corsica.
- November 25 - The army of Burma, under the command of King Bayinnaung conquers Chiang Mai, capital of the Siamese Kingdom of Lan Na, and departs on November 30.
- December 31 - The Burmese Army conquers Vientiane, the main city of the kingdom of Lan Xang.
- December - The Mariovo and Prilep rebellion occurs, the very first recorded rebellion by the Macedonian hajduks or voivode against the Ottoman Empire.
Date unknown
- The pencil is first documented by Conrad Gesner; it is becoming common in England.
- John Beddoes School is founded at Presteigne, Wales.
- Herlufsholm School is founded at Næstved, Denmark.
- Bungay Grammar School is established in England.