Early Modern
Roanoke Colony (1587): The Mystery of the Lost Colony
The roughly 115 colonists left on Roanoke Island in 1587 disappeared before John White's return in 1590; their fate remains unknown.
Region
Europe
Early Modern
Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1588) at Blois
Guise and his brother the cardinal were killed; the Catholic League rose against Henry III, who allied with Henry of Navarre.
Early Modern
Spanish Armada (1588): Philip II's Invasion Fleet Against England
The invasion failed; the Armada was driven into the North Sea and lost an estimated 50 to 65 ships, mostly in storms on the way home.
Early Modern
Assassination of Henry III of France (1589) by Jacques Clément
Henry III died on 2 August 1589; the Valois dynasty ended and the Protestant Henry of Navarre claimed the throne as Henry IV.
Early Modern
Battle of Ivry (1590): Henry IV Defeats the Catholic League
Decisive royalist victory; the League field army was broken, but Henry IV still could not take Paris until 1594.
Early Modern
North Berwick Witch Trials (1590): James VI Hunts Witches
Dozens were accused and several executed; the trials shaped James VI's Daemonologie and later Scottish witch hunts.
Early Modern
Long Turkish War (1593-1606): Habsburgs Versus Ottomans
A costly stalemate ended by the Peace of Zsitvatorok (1606), which kept the frontier largely unchanged but ended Habsburg tribute to the sultan.
Early Modern
First Dutch Voyage to the East Indies (1595-1597): de Houtman
Three of four ships and fewer than 90 of about 249 men returned with a modest cargo of pepper, but the voyage proved the Dutch could reach the Indies and sparked a rush of expeditions that led to the VOC.
Early Modern
Willem Barentsz's Voyage (1596-1597): Winter on Novaya Zemlya
No Northeast Passage was found, but Bear Island and Spitsbergen were discovered and 12 of the 17 men who wintered on Novaya Zemlya returned home.
Early Modern
Edict of Nantes (1598): Henry IV Grants Toleration in France
The French Wars of Religion ended with limited legal toleration for Protestants in a Catholic kingdom; the edict was revoked by Louis XIV in 1685.
Early Modern
English East India Company Founded (1600) and Its First Voyage
London merchants received a 15-year royal monopoly of English trade east of the Cape of Good Hope, and the first voyage returned in 1603 with a large cargo of pepper.
Early Modern
Execution of Giordano Bruno (1600): Infinite Worlds and Heresy
Bruno was condemned as an impenitent heretic and burned alive; his works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books in 1603.