Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec on the St. Lawrence River, which becomes the centre of the colony of New France.
English colonists establish Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
King Henry IV issues an edict granting substantial religious rights to the Huguenots, ending the French Wars of Religion.
Beginning with a revolt in Bohemia, the conflict spreads across Central Europe, drawing in the major European powers and causing enormous loss of life.
The Mayflower Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact and establish Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
Thousands of Huguenot Protestants are killed in Paris and other French cities during the French Wars of Religion.
The treaties of Westphalia end the Thirty Years' War and lay foundations for the modern concept of state sovereignty.