Shakespeare dies in Stratford-upon-Avon, leaving some 39 plays and 154 sonnets.
Date given in the Julian calendar.
Beginning with a revolt in Bohemia, the conflict spreads across Central Europe, drawing in the major European powers and causing enormous loss of life.
An assembly of the land elects Michael Romanov as Tsar, ending the Time of Troubles; the Romanovs rule Russia until 1917.
The Mayflower Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact and establish Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
Observing with his own telescope, Galileo Galilei discovers the moons of Jupiter, publishing them in Sidereus Nuncius in 1610 in support of heliocentrism.
Johannes Kepler publishes Astronomia nova, stating his first two laws of planetary motion, including elliptical orbits.
English colonists establish Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America.