1606

January 9 – The Black Nazarene arrives in Manila from Mexico. January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins. January 29 – Explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós of Portugal, accompanied by a party of 160 men on the ships San Pedro, San Pablo and Los Tres Reyes, leads the first Europeans to discover the Pitcairn Islands. February 9 – Queirós and his crew discover Mehetia, followed three days later by the Tauere atoll. February 26 – Sailing on the Dutch ship Duyfken, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon and the crew make the first confirmed sighting of Australia by a European, reaching the Cape York Peninsula, at the Pennefather River near what is now Weipa, Queensland. The Duyfken follows by exploring the western coast. 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 Charter of Virginia is adopted, by which King James I of England grants rights to the Virginia Company (comprising the London Company and Plymouth 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. April 17 – Venetian Interdict: Pope Paul V places the Republic of Venice under an interdict, as well as excommunicating Leonardo Donato, the Doge of Venice, as well as members of the Venetian Senate. May 1 – Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the islands of Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides). Believing them to be Australia, he names them La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. May 17 – Russia's Tsar Dmitry I is assassinated in the Kremlin by supporters of Vasili Shuisky. May 19 – Vasili Ivanovich Shuisky becomes the new Tsar of Russia as Vasili IV. June or October – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: An improvised Spanish fleet under Luis Fajardo defeats the Dutch fleet under Willem Haultain.