1606

January–June

• January 29 - Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the Pitcairn Islands.
• January 24 - Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins.
• January 31 - Guy Fawkes is executed.
• February 9 - Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers Mehetia.
• February 12 - Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers Tauere atoll.
• February 26 - Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon makes the first confirmed sighting of Australia by a European.
• March - The Duke of York's ship Duyfken, under Captain Willem Janszoon, explores the western coast of Cape York Peninsula.
• March 19 - Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in the Fortezza Vecchia Chapel of Saint Francesco, elevates Livorno to the rank of city.
• April 10 - Charter of 1606: The First is adopted, by which King James I of England grants rights to the Virginia Company to settle parts of the east coast of North America.
• April 12 - The first version of the Union Flag is created, to be worn as a national flag by English and Scottish ships.
• May - Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the islands of Vanuatu; believing them to be Australia, he names them La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo.
• May 17 - Supporters of Vasili Shuisky invade the Kremlin, and kill Tsar Dmitry I of Russia.

  July–December

• August - Possible first performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth in London.
• August 16 - Battle of Cape Rachado: A Dutch fleet is defeated by the Portuguese.
• October - Luís Vaz de Torres is the first European to sail through the Torres Strait.
• September 20 - The trial in the gravedigging scandal of Frankenstein begins.
• November 11 - The Peace of Zsitvatorok is signed, between the Ottoman and Holy Roman Empires. The independence of Transylvania is recognized by both sides, and Austria's annual tribute to the Ottomans is abolished.
• December 19 - The Susan Constant sets out from the River Thames in England leading the Virginia Company's fleet for the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia.

  Date unknown

• A storm buries the village of St Ismail near modern-day Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales.
• The Jesuit Joannis Stribingius visits Latvia, and describes Latvian mythology.
• The Evangelic Lyceum, a Lutheran high school is founded in Bratislava.
• Gregor Richter succeeds Martin Möller as the chief pastor of Görlitz.
• The cryptographic text Steganographia, written by Johannes Trithemius c.1499, is published in Frankfurt.

  Births

January–March

• January 1 ' - Eva Ment, Dutch culture personality
• January 4 ' - Edmund Castell, English orientalist
• January 9 - William Dugard, English printer
• January 11 - Judit Rumy, Hungarian noble
• January 30 - Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Baronet, of Great Lever
• February 10 - Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy
• February 12 - John Winthrop, the Younger, Governor of Connecticut
• February 16 - William White, English politician
• February 23
• * George Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, Count of Nassau-Siegen
• * Richard Lloyd, English politician
• February 27 - Laurent de La Hyre, French Baroque painter
• c. February 28 - William Davenant, English poet and playwright
• March - Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester
• March 3 - Edmund Waller, English poet
• March 18 - John X of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck
• March 20 - Georg von Derfflinger, field marshal in the army of Brandenburg-Prussia
• March 25 - Gertrude More, English nun
• March 27 - Hans Svane, Danish statesman
• March 28 - Jacob Masen, German poet
• March 30 - Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer

  April–June

• April 1 - Ernest Christopher, Count of Rietberg
• April 5 - Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt, Translator
• April 6 - Amable de Bourzeys, French writer and academic
• April 14 - Juliana of Hesse-Darmstadt, Countess of East Frisia
• May 3
• * Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Soissons, wife of Thomas Francis
• * Lorenzo Lippi, Italian painter and poet
• May 6 - John Norton, American divine
• May 12 - Joachim von Sandrart, German Baroque art-historian and painter
• May 14 - Agnes of Hesse-Kassel, Princess consort of Anhalt-Dessau
• May 16 - John Bulwer, British doctor
• May 17 - Marco Faustini, Italian opera manager
• May 22 - Wouter van Twiller, Director-General of New Netherland from 1633 until 1638
• May 23 - Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer
• May 25 - Saint Charles Garnier, Jesuit missionary
• June 3 - George Aribert of Anhalt-Dessau, German nobleman
• June 6 - Pierre Corneille, French author
• June 16 - Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish peer and soldier
• June 19 - James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish politician and noble

  July–September

• July 8 - Jean Gamans, German hagiographer
• July 10 - Corfitz Ulfeldt, Danish statesman
• July 13 - Roland Fréart de Chambray, French writer
• July 15 - Rembrandt, Dutch painter
• July 20 - Hans Conrad Werdmüller, Swiss military commander
• August 13 - Esteban de Aguilar y Zúñiga, Spanish writer
• August 15 - Giovanna Maria Bonomo, beatified Italian Catholic nun
• August 18 - Maria Anna of Spain
• August 22 - Camille de Neufville de Villeroy, Archbishop of Lyon
• September 1 - Nicholas Slanning, English politician
• September 12 - John Spelman, English politician
• September 18
• * Preben von Ahnen, German-born civil servant and landowner in Norway
• * Zhang Xianzhong, Chinese rebel
• September 22
• * Li Zicheng, Chinese rebel
• * Richard Busby, English clergyman
• September 28 - Sir William Drake, 1st Baronet, English politician

  October–December

• October 1 - Julian Maunoir, French Jesuit priest
• October 12
• * Robert Barnham, English politician
• * Christoph Bernhard von Galen, German Catholic bishop
• October 14 - Joan Maetsuycker, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1653-1678
• October 16 - Ottavio Amigoni, Italian painter
• October 19 - Sir Gerrard Napier, 1st Baronet, English politician
• October 20 - Francesco Maria Mancini, Italian Catholic cardinal
• October 30 - Jean-Jacques Bouchard, 17th-century French writer
• November 9 - Hermann Conring, German philosopher
• November 12 - Jeanne Mance, French nurse and settler of New France
• December 1 - Johann von Hoverbeck, Prussian diplomat
• December 8 - Nicolò Sagredo, 105th Doge of Venice
• December 11 - Thomas Nott, English Army officer

  Date unknown

• Leonard Calvert, Colonial governor of Maryland
• Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi, Italian architect and painter
• Thomas Herbert, English traveller and historian
• John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor, English politician
• Pierre du Ryer, French dramatist
• Tokugawa Tadanaga, Japanese nobleman
• Thomas Washbourne, English clergyman and poet

  Deaths

• January 4 - George Villiers, English knight
• January 6 - Antonio Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona, Spanish diplomat
• January 11 - Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg, Lord of Rheda
• January 20 - Sibylle Elisabeth of Württemberg, Duchess consort of Saxony
• January 29 - Edward Tyrrell, English politician
• January 30
• * Thomas Bates, English Catholic involved in 1605 Gunpowder Plot
• * Everard Digby, English conspirator
• * John Grant, Gunpowder plotter
• * Robert Wintour, English conspirator
• January 31
• * Guy Fawkes, English conspirator
• * Robert Keyes, English criminal
• * Ambrose Rokewood, English conspirator
• * Thomas Wintour, English conspirator
• February 21 - Richard Field, English Jesuit
• March 2 - Martin Moller, German poet and mystic
• March 6 - Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, Dutch army commander
• March 7 - Bogislaw XIII, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin from 1603 to 1606
• March 10 - Emperor Yaqob of Ethiopia
• March 15 - Balthasar von Dernbach, Prince-Abbot of Fulda
• March 16 - Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey, Spanish colonial administrator and Viceroy of Mexico
• March 23
• * Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist
• * Turibius of Mogrovejo, Spanish missionary Archbishop of Lima
• * Saint Turibius de Mongrovejo, Spanish Grand Inquisitioner and missionary Archbishop of Lima
• March 25 - François de Bar, French scholar
• April 3 - Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devon, English politician
• April 7 - Edward Oldcorne, English martyr
• April 16 - John Addey, English shipwright
• May 3 - Henry Garnet, English Jesuit
• May 17
• * False Dmitriy I, pretender to the Russian throne
• * Niccolò Orlandini, Italian Jesuit writer
• May 22 - José de Sigüenza, Spanish theologian
• May 30 - Guru Arjan Dev, fifth of the Sikh gurus
• July 7 - Christopher, Duke of Brunswick-Harburg, co-ruler of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Harburg
• July 28 - Antonio de Raya Navarrete, Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Cuzco
• September 2 - Karel van Mander, Dutch painter and poet
• September 3 - Juan de Borja y Castro, Spanish noble
• September 9 - Leonhard Lechner, German composer and music editor
• September 28 - Nicolaus Taurellus, German philosopher and theologian
• October 5 - Philippe Desportes, French poet
• October 8 - Johann VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg
• November 8 - Girolamo Mercuriale, Italian philologist and physician
• November 16 - Alderano Cybo-Malaspina, Italian nobleman
• November 20 - John Lyly, English writer
• December 29 - Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania
• date unknown - Akaza Naoyasu, Japanese nobleman