| January 13 | Jan Pieterszoon Coen's fleet sets sail to Moluccas (from Jacarta) |
| February 9 | Alexander Ludovisi is elected Pope Gregory XV (-1623) |
| February 17 | Miles Standish appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony |
| March 4 | Jacarta, Java renamed Batavia |
| March 7 | John Pieterszoon Coen's troops land on Lontor, East Indies |
| March 16 | Native American chief visits colony of Plymouth Mass |
| March 22 | Hugo de Grote escapes in bookcase from Loevenstein castle, Netherlands |
| April 5 | Mayflower sails from Plymouth on a return trip to England |
| April 9 | Spain and Netherlands 12 Year Resistant Pact ends |
| April 15 | Hugo the Great arrives in France |
| May 3 | Francis Bacon accused of bribery |
| May 31 | Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for 1 night |
| June 3 | Dutch West India Company receives charter for "New Netherlands" (NY) |
| June 3 | WIC, West Indian Co, under Heeren XIX, founded |
| June 19 | Battle at Dragetsani: Turkish army beats Greece |
| June 25 | French government army occupies Fort St. Jean d'Angely at La Rochelle |
| July 6 | Dutch Governor-General John Pieterszoon Coen takes Banda-islands, 15,000 die |
| September 15 | Swedish troops occupy Riga |
| September 21 | King James of England gives Canada to Sir Alexander Sterling |
| September 28 | Battle at Chocim Dniester: King Sigismund II beats Turks |
| October 9 | Turkey and Poland signs Peace of Chotin |
| October 25 | Governor Bradford of U.S. colony Plymouth disallows sport on Christmas Day |
| November 19 | Rabbi Isaiah b Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in Israel |
| December 3 | Galileo invents telescope |
| December 13 | Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree |
| December 18 | English parliament accept unanimously, Protestation |
| December 25 | Governor William Bradford of Plymouth forbids game playing on Christmas |
| December 30 | English king James I cracks Protestation of Parliament |
| December 31 | Hungarian King Bethlen Gabor/Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Mikulov |
