1600
Battle of Sekigahara
On a fog-drenched plain in central Japan, seventy thousand samurai clashed for six hours until Tokugawa Ieyasu's patient cavalry shattered the loyalist…
English East India Company Chartered
In the dying hours of the year Elizabeth I granted a monopoly on Eastern trade to a syndicate of London merchants with two hundred investors and six ships.
Shakespeare Writes Hamlet
In a London still recovering from plague, the Globe's resident playwright began shaping an old revenge tale into a brooding meditation on doubt, delay…
Giordano Bruno Burned in Rome
After seven years in Inquisition cells, the Dominican heretic Giordano Bruno was led to the Campo de' Fiori with an iron spike driven through his tongue.
Matteo Ricci Reaches Beijing
After nearly two decades of working his way north from Macau, the Jesuit polymath Matteo Ricci finally entered the Wanli Emperor's capital carrying clocks…
William Gilbert Publishes De Magnete
The English physician William Gilbert, after eighteen years of experiments with lodestones and iron filings, declared the Earth itself a giant magnet.
Dutch Ship Liefde Reaches Japan
The storm-battered Dutch vessel Liefde drifted into Bungo Bay with twenty-four survivors of a fleet of five.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1600?
Saeculum lists 7 events from 1600. The most significant is Battle of Sekigahara.
What era was 1600 part of?
1600 falls within the Renaissance (1501-1650). Reformation, conquest, and the world drawn whole.
Which regions saw notable events in 1600?
The events from 1600 span East Asia and Europe.