In the year 1602...
- Crop failures in Russia cause a massive famine that leads to the deaths of aproximately 1 million peasants, and will kill over 100,000 in Moscow alone by the end of 1603.
- The Dutch East India Company is chartered by the States-General of the Netherlands to expand Dutch trade in Asia.
- Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel I's attempt to conquer Geneva by suprise attack is thwarted.
- Spanish troops surrender to Lord Mountjoy at Kinsale, ending an attempted invasion of Ireland in support of the rebellion begun by the Earl of Tyrone.
- Prince Sigismund Báthory of Transylvania abdicates in favor of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II for the second and final time.
- The Danish crown grants a monopoly on all trade to and from Iceland to a Copenhagen trading company, a policy that devastates the Icelandic economy.
- English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold explores the coasts of what are now Maine and Massachusetts, naming Cape Cod and several islands and establishing a fort at Cuttyhunk, westernmost of the Elizabeth Islands.
- Spanish navigator Sebastián Vizcaíno explores the California coast, discovering and naming San Diego, Santa Catalina Island, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Bay.
- Sir Thomas Bodley establishes the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
- Jesuit missionary to Beijing Matteo Ricci draws the "Gonyomangookjundo," a room-sized multi-sheet wall map of the world on rice paper.
These people were born in 1602:
These people died in 1602:
1601 - 1602 - 1603
17th century