1608
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 16th century – 17th century – 18th century |
| Decades: | 1570s 1580s 1590s – 1600s – 1610s 1620s 1630s |
| Years: | 1605 1606 1607 – 1608 – 1609 1610 1611 |
| 1608 in topic: |
| Subjects: Archaeology – Architecture – |
| Art – Literature – Music – Science |
| Leaders: State leaders – Colonial governors |
| Category: Establishments – Disestablishments |
| Births – Deaths – Works |
Year 1608 (MDCVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).
Contents |
Events of 1608
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 of Jamestown.
- January 7 – Fire destroys "all the houses in the fort" at Jamestown, Virginia; the fort is repaired in March.
- January 17 – Emperor Susenyos 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: Christopher Newport again sails for England.
- May 14 – The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.
July–December
- July 3 – 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.[1]
- August 24 – The first official English representative to India 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 8 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 ..."
Undated
- Swedish troops enter Moscow.
- The first cheques are used in the Netherlands.
October 2: Lippershey.
- Old Bushmills Distillery is founded in Bushmills, County Antrim, Ireland.
- Uniform Land-Tax Law is imposed in Korea.
- Five Royal Schools in Ulster are given Royal Charter by King James I
Old Bushmills Distillery.
Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1608 MDCVIII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2361 |
| Armenian calendar | 1057 ԹՎ ՌԾԷ |
| Bahá'í calendar | -236 – -235 |
| Bengali calendar | 1015 |
| Berber calendar | 2558 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2152 |
| Burmese calendar | 970 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7116 – 7117 |
| Chinese calendar | 丁未年十一月十四日 (4244/4304-11-14) — to —
戊申年十一月廿五日(4245/4305-11-25) |
| Coptic calendar | 1324 – 1325 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1600 – 1601 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5368 – 5369 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Bikram Samwat | 1664 – 1665 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1530 – 1531 |
| - Kali Yuga | 4709 – 4710 |
| Holocene calendar | 11608 |
| Iranian calendar | 986 – 987 |
| Islamic calendar | 1016 – 1017 |
| Japanese calendar | Keichō 13 (慶長13年) |
| Korean calendar | 3941 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2151 |
- January 28 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
- February 6 – Antonio Vieira, Portuguese writer (d. 1697)
- April 25 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France (d. 1660)
- June – Richard Fanshawe, English diplomat (d. 1666)
- July 13 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1657)
- July 14 – George Goring, Lord Goring, English Royalist soldier (d. 1657)
- October 15 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (d. 1647)
- December 6 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (d. 1670)
- December 9 – John Milton, English poet (d. 1674)
- date unknown
- Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest (d. 1685)
- John Desborough, English soldier and politician (d. 1680)
- Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (d. 1661)
- Edward Rainbowe, English clergyman and a preacher (d. 1684)
- Eudoxia Streshneva, Tsarina of Mikhail I of Russia (d. 1645)
- Torii Tadaharu, Japanese nobleman (d. 1651)
Deaths
- January 29 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
- February 13
- Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (b. 1526)
- February 26 – John Still, English bishop (b. c. 1543)
- March 12 – Koriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1530)
- April 19 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet (b. 1536)
- May 14 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)
- June 19 – Alberico Gentili, Italian jurist (b. 1551)
- July 18 – Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1546)
- August 1 – Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (b. 1575)
- August 13 – Giambologna, Italian sculptor (b. 1529)
- October 11 – Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, Italian painter (b. c. 1549)
- October 19
- December
- John Dee, British mathematician, astronomer, and geographer (b. 1527)
- William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. c. 1541)
- date unknown