1st January » Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25.
19th February » The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.
20th March » The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden.
5th August » The John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie Gowrie conspiracy named Gowrie Conspiracy against James VI and I or King James VI of Scotland (later to become King James I of England) takes place.
23rd August » Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Sengoku period known as Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara.
8th October » San Marino adopts its written constitution.
21st October » Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate that in effect rules Japan until the mid-nineteenth century.
31st December » The British East India Company is chartered.
Famous Birthdays in 1600
1st January » Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (d. 1649)
17th January » Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)