1600

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.

Events

January–March

January 1 – Scotland adopts January 1 as New Year's Day instead of March 25.
January 20 – Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, renews the Nine Years' War (Ireland) against England with an invasion of Munster.
January 24 – Sebald de Weert makes the first recorded sighting of the Falkland Islands.
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.
February 19 – The Huaynaputina volcano in Peru erupts, in what is still the worst recorded volcanic eruption.
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.

April–June

April 19 – The first Dutch ship ever to arrive in Japan, the Liefde, anchors in Sashifu, in the Bungo Province. The sailors present on this ship are William Adams, Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, Jacob Quaeckernaeck and Melchior van Santvoort.
May 27 – Michael the Brave becomes ruler of Wallachia, [Principality of Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Transylvania (1570–1711)|Transylvania] and Moldavia, formally uniting the three Danubian Principalities under one Romanian ruler.
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.
June 9 – Yi Hang-bok becomes the new Chief State Councillor of Korea, equivalent to a prime minister, after being appointed by King Seonjo to replace Yi San-hae.
June 13 – Barrister Nicholas Fuller is granted the exclusive right in England to manufacture playing cards.
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.

July–September

July 2 – Eighty Years' War - Battle of Nieuwpoort: The Dutch Republic gains a tactical victory over the Spanish Empire.
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.
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.
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.

October–December

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.
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.
October 20 – Persian diplomats, led by Husayn 'Ali Beg of Persia, and Englishman Anthony Shirley arrive in Prague to meet with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor.
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.
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.
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.
December 31 – The East India Company is granted a Royal charter in the Kingdom of England for trade with Asia.

Date unknown

Approximate date – The Lutheran orthodox campaign intensifies, to reinforce the Book of Concord.
Caister Castle in England falls into ruin.
Sumo wrestling becomes a professional sport in Japan.
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.
William Gilbert publishes De Magnete, one of the first significant scientific books published in England, describing the Earth's magnetic field, and the beginning of modern geomagnetism.
Fabritio Caroso's dance manual Nobiltà de dame is published.

Births

Date unknown

Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French poet and novelist
Anna Alojza Ostrogska, Polish noblewoman
William Prynne, English Puritan politician
Brian Walton, English bishop and scholar

Probable

Martine Bertereau, French mineralogist
Jonas Bronck, Swedish colonist in America
Dud Dudley, first Englishman to smelt iron ore with coke
Piaras Feiritéar, Irish language poet
Samuel Hartlib, British scholar
Claude Lorrain, French Baroque painter, draughtsman and engraver
Samuel Rutherford, Scottish theologian and controversialist

Deaths

January–March

January 9 – John Spencer, English landowner and politician
January 21 – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Polish–Lithuanian nobleman from the Radziwiłł family
February 9 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania, Protestant Bishop of Cammin and ruling Duke of Pomerania
February 15 – José de Acosta, Spanish Jesuit missionary and naturalist
February 17 – Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher
February 25 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish colonial industrialist, Roman Catholic priest and blessed in Mexico
February 29 – Caspar Hennenberger, German historian and cartographe
March 6 – Johann Major, German poet and theologian
March 20 – Gustaf Banér, Swedish noble
April 1 – Esperanza Malchi, Ottoman businessperson
April – Thomas Deloney, English writer

April–June

May 17 – Thomas Leighton, English politician
May 18
* Nicolaus Olai Bothniensis, Swedish archbishop
* Fulvio Orsini, Italian humanist, historian and archaeologist
May 19 – Abe Masakatsu, Japanese nobleman
June 3 – Juan Grande Román, Spanish Catholic saint
June 8 – Edward Fortunatus, German nobleman
June 25 – David Chytraeus, German historian and theologian
June 19 – Christopher Layer, English politician

July–September

July 5 – Jean Kincaid, Scottish murderer
July 7 – Thomas Lucy, English politician
July 20 – William More, English courtier
July 27 – John Glanville, English politician
August 5
* Alexander Ruthven, Scottish earl
* John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, Scottish conspirator
* Queen Uiin, Korean royal consort
August 18 – Sebastiano Montelupi, Italian businessman
August 22 – Nicasius de Sille, Dutch diplomat
August 25 – Hosokawa Gracia, Japanese noblewoman
August 27 – Mizuno Tadashige, Japanese nobleman
September 1 – Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician and astronomer
September 25 – Antoine du Verdier, French politician
September 26 – Claude Le Jeune, French composer

October–December

October 12 – Luis de Molina, Spanish Jesuit priest and philosopher
October 16 – Nicolaus Reimers, German astronomer
October 17 – Cornelis de Jode, Flemish cartographer, engraver and publisher
October 21
* Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord
* Shima Sakon, Japanese samurai
* Shimazu Toyohisa, Japanese samurai
* Ōtani Yoshitsugu, Japanese samurai
November 3 – Richard Hooker, English Anglican theologian
November 6
* Ishida Mitsunari, Japanese feudal lord
* Konishi Yukinaga, Japanese Christian warlord
November 8 – Natsuka Masaie, Japanese warlord
November 12 – Margrave Andrew of Burgau, German nobleman, Cardinal, Bishop of Constance and Brixen
November 15 – Sigmund Fugger von Kirchberg und Weißenhorn, bishop of Regensburg
November 17 – Kuki Yoshitaka, Japanese naval commander
November 25 – Juan Téllez-Girón, 2nd Duke of Osuna, Spanish duke
November 30 – Nanda Bayin, King of Burma
December 3 – Roger North, 2nd Baron North, English politician
December 16 – Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld

Full date missing

Gilles de Noailles – French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1575 to 1579