1608
Events
: Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec City.
January–June
- January
- * At Jamestown, Virginia, Christopher Newport returns in a ship with the First Supply and about 100 new settlers; he finds only 38 survivors.
- * Powhatan releases Captain John Smith.
- January 7 - Fire destroys "all the houses in the fort" at Jamestown; the fort is repaired in March.
- January 8 - Ensign Thomas Savage arrives in Jamestown with the First Supply under Christopher Newport.
- 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.
- March 18 - Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, at the ancient city of Axum.
- April 10 - Jamestown, Virginia: Christopher Newport again sails for England.
- April 19 - The Burning of Derry launches O'Doherty's Rebellion in the Kingdom of Ireland.
- April 20 - Old Bushmills Distillery is first licensed to distil whiskey at Bushmills, County Antrim, Ireland by King James I.
- May 14 - The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.
July–December
- July 3 - The settlement of Quebec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
- July - The English ship Mary and Margaret, captained by Christopher Newport, leaves England bound for Jamestown, Virginia.
- August 24 - The first official English representative to India, Captain William Hawkins, lands at Surat.
- September 10 - John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, and begins expanding the fort.
- September 21 - The University of Oviedo, Spain is founded.
- October 1 - At Jamestown, a second supply ship, the Mary and Margaret, arrives with Christopher Newport, including 70 settlers, bringing the population back up to 120; the passengers include eight glassmen.
- October 2 - Dutch lens maker Hans Lippershey demonstrates the first telescope in the Dutch Parliament.
- December - Jamestown: Christopher Newport returns to England carrying cargo with "tryals of Pitch, Tarre, Glasse, Frankincense, Sope Ashes..."
Date unknown
- 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.
- The first cheques are used in the Dutch Republic.
- The Uniform Land-Tax Law is imposed in Korea.
- Five royal schools in Ulster are given a Royal Charter by King James I.
Births
January–March
- January 10 - Henry Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company
- January 14 - Francis Hawley, 1st Baron Hawley, English politician
- January 21 - Theaurau John Tany, English Christian mystic
- January 26 - Johannes Heinrich Ursinus, German Lutheran scholar
- January 28 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist
- January 30 - John Oxenbridge, English Nonconformist divine
- February 5 - Gaspar Schott, German Jesuit scholar
- February 6 - António Vieira, Portuguese writer
- February 12 - Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest
- February 20 - Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham
- February 21 - Elizabeth Barnard, Granddaughter of William Shakespeare
- March 18 - Paul Ragueneau, French Jesuit missionary
- March 27 - Thomas Rouse, English politician
- March 28 - Léon Bouthillier, comte de Chavigny, French politician
April–June
- April 13 - Cornelis Schrevel, Dutch scholar
- April 14 - Illiam Dhone, Manx politician
- April 15
- * Honoré Fabri, French mathematician
- * John Huddleston, English monk of the Order of St. Benedict
- April 20 - Edward Rainbowe, English clergyman and preacher
- April 23 - Thomas Minor, American city founder
- April 24 - Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France
- May 1 - Pieter Post, Dutch architect, painter and printmaker
- May 15 - René Goupil, French Jesuit lay missionary
- June - Richard Fanshawe, English diplomat
- June 19 - Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian
July–September
- July 13 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
- July 14 - George Goring, Lord Goring, English Royalist soldier
- July 24 - Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet, English baronet
- August 4 - John Tradescant the Younger, British botanist
- August 15 - Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, English politician
- August 16 - Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, German Imperial field marshal
- August 20 - Ludovicus a S. Carolo, French monk
- August 30 - Alonso Perez de Leon, Spanish conquistador, explorer, man of letters
- September 1 - Giacomo Torelli, Italian stage designer, engineer, and architect
- September 15 - Niccolò Albergati-Ludovisi, Italian Catholic cardinal
- September 17 - Cesare Facchinetti, Italian Catholic cardinal
- September 19 - Alfonso Litta, Cardinal, Archbishop of Milan
- September 20
- * Luis de Benavides Carrillo, Marquis of Caracena, Spanish general
- * Jean-Jacques Olier, French Catholic priest
October–December
- October 3 - Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine, French noble
- October 15 - Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician
- October 18 - John Conant, English theologian, clergyman, and academic administrator
- November 5 - Margareta Huitfeldt, Norwegian-Swedish noble
- November 9 - Tiberio Fiorilli, Italian actor
- November 10 - Eleanor of Anhalt-Zerbst, duchess by marriage of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Norburg
- November 13 - John Desborough, English soldier and politician
- November 16 - Johann Freinsheim, German classical scholar, critic
- November 23 - Francisco Manuel de Mello, Portuguese writer
- December 6 - George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier
- December 8 - Vendela Skytte, Swedish noble
- December 9 - John Milton, English poet
- December 15
- * Joachim Lütkemann, German theologian
- * John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet, English earl
Date unknown
- Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, English churchman
- Eudoxia Streshneva, Tsarina of Mikhail I of Russia
- Ayşe Sultan and/or Hanzade Sultan, Ottoman princesses, daughters of Ahmed I
Deaths
January–March
- January 4 - Peter Edgcumbe, English politician
- January 18 - Jacques Couet, French pastor
- January 19 - Bernard Maciejowski, Polish Catholic archbishop
- January 28 - Enrique Henríquez, Portuguese theologian
- January 29 - Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg, son of George of Mömpelgard and his wife Barbara of Hesse
- February 13 - Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince
- February 26 - John Still, English bishop
- February 27 - Henri, Duke of Montpensier, French noble
- March 12 - Kōriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord
- March 16 - Seonjo of Joseon, King of Joseon
- March 29
- * Laurence Tomson, English Calvinist theologian
- * Tsugaru Tamenobu, Japanese daimyō
April–June
- April 8 - Magdalen Dacre, English noble
- April 9 - Pomponio Torelli, Italian writer
- April 18 - Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee, Roman Catholic bishop
- April 19 - Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet
- April 29 - Maria Anna of Bavaria
- May 11 - Giovanni Luca Conforti, Italian composer and singer
- May 14 - Charles III, Duke of Lorraine
- May 15 - Archibald Napier, Scottish landowner
- May 22 - Juan Bautista Villalpando, Spanish architect and mathematician
- June 1 - Marie Eleonore of Cleves, Duchess consort of Prussia
- June 4 - Francis Caracciolo, Italian Catholic priest
- June 5 - Ippolito Andreasi, Italian painter
- June 19
- * Alberico Gentili, Italian jurist
- * Johann Pistorius, German historian
July–September
- July 18 - Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg
- July 25 - Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer
- July 30 - Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell
- August 13 - Giambologna, Italian sculptor
- September 4 - Juan de Zúñiga y Avellaneda, Spanish nobleman
- September 8 - Jerónimo Xavierre, Spanish cardinal
- September 14 - Christoph Schissler, German scientific instrument maker
- September 20 - Kanamori Nagachika, Japanese samurai
- September 28 - Henri, Duke of Joyeuse, French general
October–December
- October 11 - Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, Italian painter
- October 17 - Luca Bati, Italian composer
- October 19
- * Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist
- * Geoffrey Fenton, English writer and politician
- * Maria Pypelinckx, Dutch writer
- October 26 - Philipp Nicolai, German Lutheran pastor
- October 29 - John Smith, English politician
- November 24 - Giovanni Battista Giorgi, Italian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Ston
- December 21 - William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England
- December 29 - Martin Schalling the Younger, German theologian
Date unknown
- George Bannatyne, collector of Scottish poems
- John Dee, British mathematician, astronomer, and geographer
- William Barclay, Scottish jurist