1608

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January 7: Jamestown fire.

July 3: Samuel de Champlain.

Old Bushmills Distillery.

1608 (MDCVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (dominical letter FE) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday (dominical letter CB) of the Julian calendar, the 1608th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 608th year of the 2nd millennium, the 8th year of the 17th century, and the 9th year of the 1600s decade. Note that the Julian day for 1608 is 10 calendar days difference, which continued to be used from 1582 until the complete conversion of the Gregorian calendar was entirely done in 1929.

Events

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 launched O'Doherty's Rebellion in the Kingdom of Ireland
• 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, 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 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 ..."

Date unknown

• The first cheques are used in the Netherlands.
• 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

Births

• January 28 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
• February 6 – António Vieira, Portuguese writer (d. 1697)
• February 12 – Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest (d. 1685)
• April 20 – Edward Rainbowe, English clergyman and preacher (d. 1684)
• April 25 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France (d. 1660)
• June – Richard Fanshawe, English diplomat (d. 1666)
• June 19 (bapt.) – Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (d. 1661)
• 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)
• November 13 (bapt.) – John Desborough, English soldier and politician (d. 1680)
• December 6 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (d. 1670)
• December 8 – Vendela Skytte, Swedish poet (d. 1629)
• December 9 – John Milton, English poet (d. 1674)
• date unknown
  • Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, English churchman (d. 1691)
  • Eudoxia Streshneva, Tsarina of Mikhail I of Russia (d. 1645)

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 – Kōriki 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 3 – William Barclay, Scottish jurist (b. 1546)
• July 18 – Joachim III Frederick, 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 17
  • Luca Bati, Italian composer (b. 1546)
  • Laurence Tomson, English Calvinist theologian (b. 1539)
• October 19
  • Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)
  • Geoffrey Fenton, English writer and politician (b. c. 1539)
• December
  • William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. c. 1541)
  • John Dee, British mathematician, astronomer, and geographer (b. 1527)
• date unknown
  • George Bannatyne, collector of Scottish poems (b. 1545)

References