Historical
1585-1604: Spain, New World - The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic
1585: United States - in Roanoke, Virginia, the first English colony in America, is born the first white baby, Virginia Dare
1587: England - Queen Elizabeth authorizes the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, for allegedly plotting against her
1588: England, Spain - England (with help from the weather) defeats the Spanish Armada
1589: Spain, England - Spain repulses the English Armada
1590: United States - Roanoke, Virginia "disappears", becoming "The Lost Colony"
1591: Morocco, Mali - In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi
1591: Poland, Russia - Gazi Giray leads a huge Tatar/Tartar expedition against Moscow
1592-1593: England - John Stow reports 10,675 plague deaths in London, a city of approximately 200,000 people
1592-1598: Korea, China, Japan - Korea, with the help of Ming Dynasty China, repels two Japanese Invasions
1593-1606: Austria, Turkey - The Long War between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Turks
1598-1613: Russia - Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles
1598: France - The Edict of Nantes (one of the coolest names ever!) ends the French Wars of Religion
1600: Italy - Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome
1600: Japan - Battle of Sekigahara in Japan, end of the Warring States period and beginning of the Edo period
1601-1603: Russia - The Russian famine of 1601-1603 kills perhaps a third of Russia
1601: Ireland - Battle of Kinsale, one of the most Important battles in Irish history, fought
1601: Romania, Austria - Michael the Brave (first unificator of Romania), voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Campia TurzII
1602: Netherlands - Dutch East India Company founded, Its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age
1603-1623: Iran, Turkey, Portugal - After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans and the Portuguese
1603: England, Scotland - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England
1603: Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu seizes control of Japan and establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate which rules the country until 1868
1605: England - Gunpowder Plot failed in England
1605: Turkey, Hungary - The fortresses of Veszprem en Visegrad in Hungary are retaken by the Ottomans
1606: Netherlands, Australia - Captain Willem Janszoon and his crew aboard the Dutch East India Company ship Duyfken becomes the first recorded Europeans to sight and make landfall in Australia
1606: Turkey, Austria - The Long War between the Ottoman Empire and Austria is ended with the Peace of Zsitvatorok
1607: Ireland - Flight of the Earls (the fleeing of most of the native Gaelic aristocracy) occurs from County Donegal in the west of Ulster in Ireland
1607: United States - Jamestown, Virginia, is settled as what would become the first permanent English colony in North America
1608: Canada - Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain in New France (present-day Canada)
1609: Germany - Maximilian of Bavaria establishes the Catholic League
1609: Netherlands, Spain - The Netherlands and Spain agree to a Twelve Years Truce in the Eighty Years War
1609: United States - Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of New Mexico, establishes the settlement of Santa Fe
1610: France - King Henry IV of France is assassinated and is succeeded by his nine year old son, King Louis XIII who rules until 1643
1610: Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Sweden - Battle of Klushino, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth army defeats combined Russian-Swedish forces and conquers Moscow
1612: England - King James version of the Bible is published
1613-1617: Poland, Lithuania - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is Invaded by the Tatars (or Tartars) dozens of times
1613: Russia - The Time of Troubles in Russia ends with the establishment of the House of Romanov which rules until 1917
1613: United States - Pochahontas marries John Rolfe
1616: England - William Shakespeare dies
1616: Spain - The last remaining Moriscos (Moors who had nominally converted to Christianity) in the Spain are expelled
1618-1638: Germany - The Bohemian Revolt precipitates the Thirty Years War which devastates Europe in the years 1618-1648
1618: China - The Manchus start Invading China, their conquest eventually topples the Ming Dynasty
1618: Romania - Bethlen Gabor, Prince of Transylvania, joins Protestant Rebels
1619: Austria, Romania - Bethlen Gabor is defeated outside Vienna
1620-1621: Poland, Turkey - Polish-Ottoman War over Moldavia
1620: Poland - Battle of White Mountain, Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats the Bohemian rebels
1620: Romania, Turkey - Bethlen Gabor allies with the Ottomans and an Invasion of Moldavia takes place, the Polish suffer a disaster at Cecora on the River Prut
1620: United States - The Puritan Pilgrims arrive in the Mayflower at Cape Cod
1621: Poland, Turkey - The Battle of Chocim Poles and Cossacks under Jan Karol Chodkiewicz defeat the Ottomans
1621: United States - The Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving with their Indian neighbors
1622: United States - Jamestown massacre Algonquian natives kill 347 English settlers outside Jamestown, Virginia (a third of the population of the colony) and burn the Henricus settlement
1623: Italy - Maffeo Barberini is elected Pope Urban VIII at the Papal conclave of 1623
1624-1642: France - As chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu centralises power in France
1625: United States - New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch West India Company in North America
1626: Italy - St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican completed
1626: United States - The Dutch buy Manhattan Island for $24, a presence is established but no large settlements made
1627: France - Cardinal Richelieu lays siege to Protestant La Rochelle which eventually capitulates
1629: France - Cardinal Richelieu allies with Swedish Protestant forces in the Thirty Years War to counter expansion by Ferdinand II
1631: Italy - Mount Vesuvius erupts near Naples
1632: germany - Battle of Lutzen (first of two), death of king of Sweden Gustav II Adolf
1633: Italy - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition
1633: United States - The city of Baltimore is settled
1634: Ethiopia - Emperor Fasilides expels the Catholic Patriarch Afonso Mendes and several Jesuit missionaries from Ethiopia
1634: Germany - Battle of Nordlingen (first of two), in Bavaria, results in Catholic victory
1636: Ethiopia - Emperor Fasilides founds the city of Gondar, which becomes the capital of Ethiopia for the next two centuries
1636: United States - Harvard University is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1636: United States - Roger Williams is driven from Puritan Massachusetts and settles Rhode Island, a haven for religious freedom
1638: United States - Delaware is settled by Peter Minuet
1639-1651: England, Ireland, Scotland - Wars of the Three Kingdoms, civil wars throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England
1639: Italy - Disagreements between the Farnese and Barberini Pope Urban VIII escalate into the Wars of Castro and last until 1649
1639: Spain, England - Naval Battle of the Downs, Republic of the United Provinces fleet decisively defeats a Spanish fleet in English waters
1639: United States - John Wheelwright is banished from Boston and founds a colony in New Hampshire