1573

January–June

• January 25 - Battle of Mikatagahara in Japan: Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• January 28
• * Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning religious freedom in Poland.
• * The Croatian–Slovene Peasant Revolt breaks out against the oppressive nobility; the revolt is quelled violently by February 15 and Matija Gubec, leader of the rebellion, publicly executed in Zagreb.
• February-March - The Siege of Noda Castle takes place in Japan.
• March 7 - The Ottoman–Venetian War is ended by a peace treaty, confirming the transfer of control of Cyprus from the Republic of Venice to the Ottoman Empire, and also confirming Turkish occupation of the more fertile region of Dalmatia.
• May 11-16 - The Duke of Anjou is elected to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Polish nobility.
• May 26 - Battle of Haarlemmermeer: Geuzen ships, attempting to break the Siege of Haarlem, are defeated by a combined Spanish and Amsterdam fleet.

  July–December

• July 6 - Córdoba, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
• July 12 - Siege of Haarlem: Spanish forces under the Duke of Alva capture Haarlem, after a seven-month siege.
• July - The Edict of Boulogne is signed by Charles IX of France, granting limited rights to Huguenots, and ending the Fourth War of Religion in France.
• August - Alva begins to besiege Alkmaar in North Holland.
• August 27 - Oda Nobunaga drives the 15th Ashikaga shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki out of Kyoto, effectively destroying the Ashikaga shogunate, and historically ending the Muromachi and Sengoku periods. The Azuchi–Momoyama period of Japan begins.
• September 8-16 - Siege of Hikida Castle, Siege of Ichijōdani Castle in Japan: The Asakura clan is eliminated by Oda Nobunaga.
• September 22-26 - Siege of Odani Castle in Japan: The Azai clan is eliminated by Oda Nobunaga.
• October 8 - The Spanish abandon the siege of the city of Alkmaar.
• November 15 - Santa Fe, Argentina, is founded by Juan de Garay.
• November - Alva resigns as Spanish Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in the Netherlands, and is succeeded by Luis de Requesens, who attempts to pursue a more conciliatory policy.

  Date unknown

• Sarsa Dengel, emperor of Ethiopia, defeats the Oromo in a battle near Lake Zway.
• The first Spanish galleon, laden with silver for the porcelain and silk trade with the Ming Dynasty of China, lands at Manila in the Philippines. This occasion marks the beginning of the Spanish silver trade to China, that will trump that of the Portuguese, the latter of whom acted as an intermediary between the silver mines of Japan, and the luxury items in China to be purchased with that silver. Most of the silver entering China comes from what is now Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru in the New World.
• The Luzhou Laojiao liquor is made.
• The Portuguese are expelled from the Maldives.
• Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys, Barnet, England, is formed.