May 23 - Jamestown, Virginia: Acting as temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, along with John Rolfe, Ralph Hamor, Sir George Somers, and other survivors from the Sea Venture (wrecked at Bermuda) arrive at Jamestown; they find that 60 have survived the "starving time" (during winter), the fort palizadoes and gates have been torn down, and empty houses have been used for firewood, in fear of attacks by natives outside the fort area.
August 9 - Jamestown: The English launch a major attack on the Paspahegh village, capturing and executing the native queen and her children, burning houses and chopping down the corn fields; the subsequent use of the term "Paspahegh" in documents refers to their former territory.
By this year, the Portuguese colony of Brazil has either 400 mills producing 57,000 tons of sugar a year, or only 230 mills producing 14,000 tons of sugar a year; accepting either figure depends on which expert you believe is more accurate, according to Alfred W. Crosby Jr. on page 69 of his book The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. In any case, the incredible wealth the Portuguese acquire from selling sugar in Europe prompts the English and French to follow suit in this century.
The Manchu tribal leader Nurhaci breaks his relations with the Ming Dynasty of China, then under the aloof and growingly negligent Wanli Emperor; Nurhaci's line later becomes the emperors of the Qing Dynasty that overthrow the short-lived Shun Dynasty in 1644 and the remnants of the Ming throne in 1662.
