Directory

1608 CE

Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia defeats an Oromo army at Ebenat; 12,000 Oromo are reportedly killed at a cost of 400 Amhara. During a voyage in the Arctic Ocean, explorer Henry Hudson and the crew of the Hopewell sight what they claim to be a mermaid, swimming in the seas near Norway. Dutch lens maker Hans Lippershey demonstrates the first telescope in the Dutch Parliament.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 23 – Treaty of The Hague, a defensive alliance between France and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, is signed.source
  • March 5 – Sigismund Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania, abdicates in favor of Gabriel Báthory in order to avoid a civil war.source
  • June 26 – Matthias I, already King of Bohemia becomes the King of Hungary and the King of Croatia upon the abdication of both jobs by his older brother, Rudolf II, who continues as Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • July 3 – The settlement of Quebec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.source
  • September 10 – John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, and begins expanding the fort.source
  • December 20 – Karl of the House of Liechtenstein founds the Principality of Liechtenstein within the Holy Roman Empire, an independent nation that will continue more than 400 years later between Austria and Switzerland.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 2 – The first of the Jamestown supply missions returns to the Colony of Virginia with Christopher Newport commanding the John and Francis and the Phoenix bringing about 100 new settlers to supplement the 38 survivors he finds at Jamestown.source
  • January 17 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia defeats an Oromo army at Ebenat; 12,000 Oromo are reportedly killed at a cost of 400 Amhara.source
  • February 6 – Gabriel Báthory makes an agreement with Hungarian mercenary soldiers, the Hajduk, in order to overthrow the government of Transylvania.source
  • February 7 – A peace conference opens at the Binnenhof at The Hague, in the Netherlands, to end a war between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).source
  • April 19 – The Burning of Derry launches O'Doherty's Rebellion in the Kingdom of Ireland.source
  • August 24 – The first official English representative to India, Captain William Hawkins, lands at Surat.source
  • September 23 – The siege of the Troitsky monastery by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth begins in Russia north of Moscow, but fails after 16 months.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 26 – After being held captive in Morocco for more than 13 years, popular professor Malian Ahmad Baba is able to return to Timbuktu on 10 Dhu 'l-Qa'da 1016 A.H.source
  • April 10 – Jamestown supply missions: Christopher Newport again sails for England, carrying Powhatan's tribesman Namontack for a visit to London.source
  • June 15 – During a voyage in the Arctic Ocean, explorer Henry Hudson and the crew of the Hopewell sight what they claim to be a mermaid, swimming in the seas near Norway.source
  • October 1 – The second of the Jamestown supply missions, which set out in July from England, arrives at Jamestown, Virginia, with Christopher Newport commanding the Mary and Margaret carrying 70 settlers, bringing the population back up to 120; the passengers include two women and some skilled artisans, mostly from continental Europe, to develop industries.source
  • Spring – The Scrooby Congregation of Protestant English Separatists successfully flees to the Dutch Republic from the Humber, origin of the Pilgrim Fathers who in 1620 move on to North America.source

Religion & Belief

  • November 20 – Sir Thomas Gates, Governor of the London Company's colony at Jamestown, Virginia, is ordered by the Board of Directors to forcibly convert the native Indians in the area to Christianity as Anglicans.source
  • December 13 – At the Morača monastery in Kolašin, in what is now the nation of Montenegro, Patriarch Jovan Kantul assembles the rebel leaders of Montenegro and Herzegovina. The group agrees with a representative of the Duchy of Savoy to deliver Duke Charles Emmanuel I a monarchy within the Balkans, in return for special privileges to the Serbian Orthodox Church.source

Economy & Finance

  • May 8 – A newly nationalized silver mine in Scotland at Hilderston, West Lothian is re-opened by Bevis Bulmer.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The first cheques are used in the Dutch Republic.source

Science & Discovery

  • October 2 – Dutch lens maker Hans Lippershey demonstrates the first telescope in the Dutch Parliament.source

Health & Medicine

  • December – Jamestown supply missions: Christopher Newport returns to England from Jamestown carrying cargo with "tryals of Pitch, Tarre, Glasse, Frankincense, Sope Ashes ..."source
  • The Uniform Land-Tax Law is imposed in Korea.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 18 – Don Julius Caesar d'Austria, the illegitimate son of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, brutally murders his girlfriend, Markéta Pichlerová, then dismembers her body. Emperor Rudolf imprisons Julius for the rest of his life.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 7 – At Jamestown, Virginia, fire destroys "all the houses in the fort"; the fort is repaired in March.source

Climate & Environment

  • February 14 – The brutal winter of 1607-1608 in England ends after 10 weeks of sub-freezing temperatures.source

Culture & Society

  • March 18 – Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, at the ancient city of Axum.source
  • April 20 – Old Bushmills Distillery is first licensed to distil whiskey at Bushmills, County Antrim, Ireland by King James I.source
  • May 14 – The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.source
  • September 21 – The University of Oviedo in Spain is founded.source
  • November 19 – In Budapest, the coronation ceremonies take place for Matthias to be crowned as King Mátyás II of Hungary.source
  • Five royal schools in Ulster are given a Royal Charter by King James I.source

Births

  • January 21 – Theaurau John Tany, English Christian mystic (d. 1659)source
  • January 28 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)source
  • April 15 – John Huddleston, English monk of the Order of St. Benedict (d. 1698)source
  • April 24 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France (d. 1660)source
  • June 19 (bapt.) – Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (d. 1661)source
  • June – Richard Fanshawe, English diplomat (d. 1666)source
  • August 15 – Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1652)source
  • August 16 – Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, German Imperial field marshal (d. 1682)source
  • September 1 – Giacomo Torelli, Italian stage designer, engineer, and architect (d. 1678)source
  • September 20 – Jean-Jacques Olier, French Catholic priest (d. 1657)source
  • September 20 – Luis de Benavides Carrillo, Marquis of Caracena, Spanish general (d. 1668)source
  • October 15 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (d. 1647)source
  • October 18 – John Conant, English theologian, clergyman, and academic administrator (d. 1694)source
  • December 6 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (d. 1670)source

Deaths

  • January 19 – Bernard Maciejowski, Polish Catholic archbishop (b. 1548)source
  • January 29 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg, son of George of Mömpelgard and his wife Barbara of Hesse (b. 1557)source
  • February 13 – Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury (b. 1527)source
  • February 13 – Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (b. 1526)source
  • February 26 – John Still, English Bishop of Bath and Wells, famed as a preacher (b. c. 1543)source
  • March 16 – Gwanghaegun becomes the new King of Korea upon the death of his father, King Seonjo, who had reigned for more than 40 years.source
  • April 18 – Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee, Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1542)source
  • April 19 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet (b. 1536)source
  • May 22 – Juan Bautista Villalpando, Spanish architect and mathematician (b. 1552)source
  • June 1 – Marie Eleonore of Cleves, Duchess consort of Prussia (1573–1608) (b. 1550)source
  • June 19 – Alberico Gentili, Italian jurist (b. 1551)source
  • July 25 – Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer (b. 1556)source
  • October 19 – Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)source
  • December 21 – William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. c. 1541)source