Places

• A severe frost in England, with the Thames frozen. 13 continuous days of snow in Scotland. On Eskdale Moor only 35 of a flock of 20,000 sheep survived.

Events of 1620

September: Battle of Cecora.

January–June

• February 4 – Prince Bethlen Gabor signs a peace treaty with Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.

• May 17 – The first merry-go-round is seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey).

• June 3 – The oldest stone church in French North America, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, is begun at Quebec City, Quebec Canada.

July–December

• July 3 – Under the terms of the Treaty of Ulm, the Protestant Union declares neutrality and ceases to support Frederick V of Bohemia.

• July 15 – The ship Speedwell departs Delfshaven with the Leiden colonists and Pilgrims.

• August 5 (O.S.) – The Mayflower and Speedwell depart together from Plymouth, England, but the Speedwell starts to leak again and must stop.

• August 7 – The mother of Johannes Kepler is arrested for witchcraft.

• August 7 – Battle of Les Ponts-de-Cé, Poitou: French king Louis XIII defeats his mother Marie de' Medici.

• August 8 – Mysterious rain of frogs in Weil der Stadt

• September 6 (O.S.) – The Mayflower departs from Plymouth, England, on its 3rd attempt without the Speedwell, arriving on November 11 (Old Style date) at Cape Cod (named from Concord voyage of 1602).

• September 17 to October 7 – Battle of Cecora: The Ottoman Empire defeats Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth–Moldavian troops.

• October 6 – The Roman Catholic Ras Sela Kristos, half-brother of the Emperor Susenyos crushes a group of rebels in at Mount Amedamit in Gojjam, who were opposed to Susenyos' pro-Catholic beliefs.

November 21: Mayflower.

• November 3 – The Great Patent is granted to Plymouth Colony.

• November 8 – Thirty Years' War – Battle of White Mountain: Catholic forces are victorious in only two hours near Prague.

• November 21 (N.S.) – The Mayflower arrives inside the tip of Cape Cod, with the Pilgrims and Planters.

• November 21 – Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (11 November, O.S.).

• December 21 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Osaka Castle.

Undated

• Francis Bacon publishes the Novum Organum (beyond Aristotle's Organon) on logical thinking.

• Two officers of the British East India Company attempt to claim the Table Mountain region (in present-day South Africa) for England, but fail.

• Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada restores Osaka Castle. Its current appearance dates from this remodeling.

• The modern violin is developed.

• Witch hunts begin in Scotland.

F. Bacon.

• Cornelius Drebbel, at the Thames, builds an undersea boat (history of submarines).

• J.P. Donnet, teacher of deaf children in the Spanish court, creates the sign alphabet.

• Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) continues (principally on the territory of today's Germany).

Births

• February 4 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)

• February 5 – Paul Barbette, Dutch physician (d. 1666?)

• February 15 – François Charpentier, French archaeologist (d. 1702)

• February 16 – Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg (d. 1688)

• March 12 – Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Swiss philologist and theologian (d. 1667)

• April 17 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French Catholic nun and founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame (d. 1700)

• July 20 – Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder, Dutch scholar (d. 1691)

• July 21 – Jean Picard, French astronomer (d. 1682)

• October 1 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (d. 1683)

• October 20 – Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (d. 1691)

• October 31 – John Evelyn, English diarist and writer (d. 1706)

• November 20 – Peregrine White, first English child born at Plymouth Colony (d. 1704)

• December 18 – Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)

Deaths

• February 19 – Roemer Visscher, Dutch writer (b. 1547)

• March 1 – Thomas Campion, English poet and composer (b. 1567)

• March 17 – St. John Sarkander, Moravian priest (injuries caused by torturing) (b. 1576)

• March 25 – Johannes Nucius, German composer (b. c. 1556)

• May 6 – Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1543)

• May 16 – William Adams, English navigator and samurai (b. 1564)

• August 18 – Wanli Emperor of China (b. 1563)

• September 26 – Taichang Emperor of China (b. 1582)

• October 7 – Stanisław Żółkiewski, Polish military leader (b. 1547)