1592 CE

The Siege of Bihać begins in the Kingdom of Croatia, by Telli Hasan Pasha (Hasan Predojević) of the Ottoman Empire. Bihać is captured on June 19 and is lost for Croatia forever. The Japanese capture the Korean capital Hanyang, causing Seonjo to request the assistance of Ming dynasty Chinese forces, who recapture the city a year later. Sigismund III Vasa becomes the new King of Sweden upon the death of his father, King John III.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

December 4 – Yu Sŏngnyong becomes the new Yeonguijeong (Chief State Councillor of the government of the Korean Empire, similar to Prime Minister) and serves until 1598.source
The German Duchy Palatine Zweibrücken becomes the first territory in the world with compulsory education for girls and boys.source

Conflict & Security

April 13 – The Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98) begin with the Siege of Busanjin.source
April 20 – King Henry IV of France ends the siege of Rouen, the Spanish-held capital of Normandy, five months after its November 11 commencement, as the Spanish Navy arrives to relieve the city.source
April 24 – Battle of Sangju: The Japanese are victorious over the Koreans fighting for the Kingdom of Joseon.source
April 28 – Battle of Ch'ungju: Japan inflicts a decisive defeat on Korea.source
May 7 – Battle of Okpo: The Korean navy is victorious over Japan.source
May 20 –August 19 – Battle of Flores (Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)), a series of naval engagements in the Azores in which the English are victorious, taking the great Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus on or about August 3.source
May 29 – Battle of Sacheon: Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin destroys all 13 Japanese ships taking part, using his improved turtle ship for the first time in battle.source
June 2 – Battle of Dangpo:The Korean navy is again victorious over Japan.source
June 10 – The Siege of Bihać begins in the Kingdom of Croatia, by Telli Hasan Pasha (Hasan Predojević) of the Ottoman Empire. Bihać is captured on June 19 and is lost for Croatia forever.source
July 20 – The Japanese capture the Korean capital Hanyang, causing Seonjo to request the assistance of Ming dynasty Chinese forces, who recapture the city a year later.source
July 30 – Alonso de Sotomayor petitions the viceroy of Peru for more troops to help resist attacks by Indians and English pirates.source
August 14 – Battle of Hansan Island: The Korean navy defeats the Japanese.source
September 1 – Battle of Busan: The Korean fleet makes a surprise attack on the Japanese but fails to break their supply lines to Busan.source
October 5 – Siege of Jinju: The Korean navy is victorious over the Japanese.source
November 4 (2nd waxing of Natdaw, 954 ME) – In a war between what are now the nations of Myanmar and Thailand, the Army of Burma, led by King Nanda Bayin Burma (Toungoo) begins its invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam), defended by King Naresuan.source

Exploration & Expansion

August 9 – English explorer John Davis, commander of the Desire, probably discovers the Falkland Islands.source

Religion & Belief

April 4 – The future Henry IV of France, King designate of Henry III of France, announces in a declaration, so-called "Expedient," his intention to take instruction in, and convert to, the Catholic religion.source
November 3 – The city of San Luis Potosí is founded.source
November 9 – The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, an updated edition of the Latin language translation of the Bible, is promulgated by the Roman Catholic Church.source
November 12 – The Collegium Melitense is founded in Malta by Bishop Garagallo.source

Science & Discovery

March 14 – Ultimate Pi Day: the largest correspondence between calendar dates and significant digits of pi since the introduction of the Julian calendar according to the American method of writing the number of the month prior to the day.source

Health & Medicine

May 7 – The Malta plague epidemic begins when galleys from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany arrive on the island with 100 prisoners of war from Egypt, and 20 ill crewmembers; over the next 18 months, 3,000 people on Malta die of the bubonic plague.source
August – 1592–1593 London plague breaks out in England.source
December 21 – The city of London begins publishing the Bill of Mortality, the first regular data of deaths from an epidemic, as the government reports its weekly survey of the number of burials in the 113 parishes of London of deaths from bubonic plague. The death statistics continue to be published until December 18, 1595.source
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is taken seriously ill.source
The Population Census Edict is promulgated in Japan by Toyotomi Hidetsugu.source

Crime & Justice

February 7 – George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, sets fire to Donibristle Castle in Scotland and murders James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray.source
September 7 – The captured Madre de Deus enters Dartmouth harbour in England and is then subjected to mass theft.source

Disasters & Accidents

The Confucian shrine of Munmyo in Korea is destroyed by fire.source

Culture & Society

March 3 – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland's oldest university, is founded.source
Negotiations begin for the annulment of the childless marriage of Henry IV of France and Marguerite of Valois.source
Henry Constable's Diana, one of the first sonnet sequences in English, is published in London.source

Births

January 22 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher and scientist (d. 1655)source
March 28 – Comenius, Czech teacher and writer (d. 1670)source
April 11 – John Eliot, Member of Parliament, Statesman, Vice-Admiral of Devon (d. 1632)source
May 8 – Francis Quarles, English poet most famous for his Emblem book aptly entitled Emblems (d. 1644)source
May 14 – Alice Barnham, wife of English scientific philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon (d. 1650)source
August 13 – William, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count (d. 1642)source
September 1 – Maria Angela Astorch, Spanish mystic and saint (d. 1665)source
September 15 – Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo (d. 1653)source
September 24 – Christopher Wandesford, English administrator and politician (d. 1640)source
October 13 – Christian Gueintz, German teacher and writer-grammarian (d. 1650)source
October 22 – Gustav Horn, Count of Pori, Swedish/Finnish soldier and politician (d. 1657)source
November 5 – Charles Chauncy, English-born president of Harvard College (d. 1671)source
December 6 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (d. 1676)source
December 29 – Johannes Matthiae Gothus, Swedish academic (d. 1670)source

Deaths

January 5 – William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, German nobleman (b. 1516)source
January 22 – Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France (b. 1554)source
January 27 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)source
January 29 – Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini of San Pancrazio is elected as the new Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church after Ludovico Madruzzo and Giulio Antonio Santori withdraw following 19 rounds of voting by the 54 cardinals present. Cardinal Santori had received 28 votes on the first ballot, eight short of the necessary two-thirds majority required, and fewer on the rounds that followed. Aldobrandini is crowned the next day as Pope Clement VIII, the 231st pope. Clement succeeds Pope Innocent IX, who died on December 30, 1591. He immediately recalls the Sixtine Vulgate.source
February 2 – Ana de Mendoza y de Silva, Princess of Éboli, Spanish noble (b. 1540)source
March 5 – Michiel Coxie, Flemish painter (b. 1499)source
April 13 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511)source
June 17 – Ernst Ludwig, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1545)source
July 26 – Armand de Gontaut, Baron of Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)source
August 25 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (b. 1532)source
September 3 – Robert Greene, English writer (b. 1558)source
September 13 – Michel de Montaigne, French essayist (b. 1533)source
October 19 – Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, English politician (b. 1528)source
November 17 – Sigismund III Vasa becomes the new King of Sweden upon the death of his father, King John III.source