1606

CLEOPATRA

My salad days,

When I was green in judgment: cold in blood,

To say as I said then!

- William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, Scene 5 ~ the origin of the idiom "salad days"

In the year AD 1606...

• More chaos in Russia as supporters of nobleman Vasily Shuisky launch an assault on the Kremlin. Russian tsar Dmitri II leaps from his bedroom window in an attempt to escape, but breaks his leg in the fall and is shot dead on the spot by one of Vasily's supporters, whereafter Vasily ascends to the throne as Tsar Vasily IV.
• Ethiopian nobleman Susenyos defeats and kills Ethiopian emperor Yaqob at the Battle of Gol in southern Gojjam province, becoming the new emperor.
• Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon becomes the first European to lay eyes on the legendary continent of Australia.
• The so-called "Long War" between the Hapsburgs and the Ottoman Empire comes to an end with the Peace of Zsitvatorok, by which Transylvania is recognized as an independent nation and Austria no longer has to pay tribute to the Ottomans.
• In the Battle of Cape Rachado the fleets of the Dutch East India Company and the Portuguese Navy fight a major engagement in the Straits of Malacca for control of the lucrative spice trade, with the Dutch coming out on the losing end. However, the battle convinces the Sultan of Johor to provide much greater material support to the Dutch thenceforth.
• William Shakespeare writes his plays Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
• With the kingdoms of England and Scotland having been united by his ascension to the English throne three years before, King James I orders the establishment of the Union Jack (a combination of the English and Scottish flags) as the official flag of his realm.
• The arrival of a shipment in Amsterdam is the earliest record of tea reaching the Western world.
• The words retaliate, eavesdrop, missile, and starship appear in the English language for the first time.

These people were born in 1606:

• Inimitable Dutch master Rembrandt.
• The great French playwright Pierre Corneille, author of Le Cid.
• Chinese rebel leader Li Zicheng, who would overthrow the Ming Dynasty in 1644 and briefly rule as Chinese emperor.
• Chinese rebel leader and mass murderer Zhang Xianzhong.
• English poet, politician, and traitor Edmund Waller.

These people died in 1606:

• English Catholic Guy Fawkes and several of his co-conspirators, beheaded as punishment for their roles in the Gunpowder Plot the previous year.
• Russian Tsar Dmitri II, aka False Dmitri I, shot dead while attempting to flee from the supporters of Vasili Shuisky, who replaced him as Tsar.
• Belgian humanist scholar Justus Lipsius.
• English playwright John Lyly.
• Ethiopian emperor Yaqob, killed in battle against his successor Susenyos.

1605 - 1606 - 1607

17th century

How they were made