History
1596
General
Population: 538 Million*
- Entertainment: Writers include Sir John Davies Orchestra poem, Sir John Harington (satire), Shakespeare King John and The Merchant of Venice,
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queen 4-6, Caesar Baronius (Roman martyrs),
Art includes Caravaggio "Basket of Fruit"
Music includes Lodovico Zacconi (musical book)
- Exploration: Willem Barents discovers Spitzbergen and Barents Sea
- Mathematics: Rheticus' Trigonometric Tables published posthumously
Ludolph va Ceulen calculates pi to 20 places
- Science: Galileo invents thermometer
Johannes Kepler writes about celestial orbits
Ortelius suggests possibility of continental drift
- Deaths: Composer Giaches de Wert, Philosopher Jean Bodin, Sir Francis Drake - his drum set to England and Drake vowed that if any beat upon it he would return to defend his country – reported to beat out warnings sometimes
Asia
- General: Peace between Japan and China after Japanese fail to invade Korea
First Dutch trading expedition reaches East Indies
- Japan: Earthquake and tsunami covers 3/4 of island to depth of 30 fathoms
Europe
- General: English sack Cadiz – Spainsh take Calais
End of famine in Italy and Germany
- England: Blackfriars Theater in London opens
Gresham College founded in London
Tomatoes introduced in England
First water closets installed at Queen's Palace in Richmond - flush toilet mocked and is never used
- France: Decrees of Folembray end war of Catholic League
Duke of Sully helps Henry IV of France
- Hungary: Turks defeat Imperial army at Keresztes in Northern Hungary
- Ireland: Peace (Pacification)
- Spain: Plague outbreak
Middle East
- Ottoman Empire: Turks defeat Imperial army at Keresztes in Northern Hungary
South
- Virginia: August - Roanoke found empty when Sir Walter Raleigh returns