January 24 – Anglo-Spanish War: English Admiral Christopher Newport leads an unsuccessful attempt to take the Spanish-controlled Caribbean island of Jamaica, where he was attempting to pillage the area to obtain supplies. The Spanish defenders repel the fleet, and Newport leads the attackers to the coast of Central America.
April 27 – The first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia is established in Banten by Vice Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck, who sets up a factory to store and package the trading commodity black pepper.
May 19 – The King's Men, a troupe of English professional actors composed primarily of former members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, is granted its royal patent by King James. The company will give the first performances of many of the plays of William Shakespeare, who is one of the company's 26 principal actors. Named in order of priority on the patent are manager Lawrence Fletcher, Shakespeare, and Richard Burbage.
May 26 – The Battle of Sluis is fought at sea off of the Belgian Netherlands as Spanish ships try unsuccessfully to break through a blockade port of the port of Sluis. The Spanish ships are forced to return to port after at least 414 sailors are killed.
June 7 – Prince Şehzade Mahmud of the Ottoman Empire, the 16-year-old son of Sultan Murad III, is executed on orders of his father, on advice of the Grand Vizier, after being accused unjustly of an assassination plot.
Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1618): Led by Iranian Emperor Abbas the Great, the Safavid Army of Iran stages a surprise attack on Tabriz, which had been taken from the Safavids by the Ottoman Empire in 1588. Tabriz is recaptured after 29 days.
123Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN0-14-102715-0.
↑Weir, Alison (1999), Elizabeth the Queen, London: Pimlico, p.486, ISBN978-0-7126-7312-9
↑Sænluang Ratchasomphan and David K. Wyatt, The Nan Chronicle (SEAP Publications, 1994) p.69
↑F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964 (Penguin, 1964) p. 168
↑Cesáreo Fernández Duro, Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón ("The Spanish Armada after the Union of the Kingdoms of Castille and Aragon") (Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, 1898) p. 223
↑The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire, ed. by Selcuk Aksin Somel (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010) p.41
↑The Library of Historic Characters and Famous Events of All Nations and All Ages, ed. by A. R. Spofford, Frank Weitenkampf and J. P. Lamberton (Art Library Publishing Company, 1904) pp. 64-65
↑Des Sauvages: ou voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouages, faite en la France nouvelle l'an 1603.