1608

Years:
1605 1606 1607 - 1608 - 1609 1610 1611

Decades:
1570s 1580s 1590s - 1600s - 1610s 1620s 1630s

Centuries:
16th century - 17th century - 18th century

1608 by topic:
Science - State leaders - Literature - Music

Events

March 18 - Sissinios formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia
May 14 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen.
July 3 - Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
August 24 - The first official English representative to India lands at Surat.
October 2 - Dutch lensmaker Hans Lippershey demonstrates the first telescope in the Dutch parliament
Swedish troops enter Moscow
First cheques come to use in Netherlands

January 28 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (died 1679)
February 6 - Antonio Vieira, Portuguese writer (died 1697)
April 25 - Gaston, Duke of Orléans, French politician (d. 1660)
July 13 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1657)
July 14 - George Goring, Lord Goring, English Royalist soldier (died 1657)
October 15 - Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (died 1647)
December 6 - George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (died 1670)
December 9 - John Milton, English poet (died 1674)
Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest (died 1685)
John Desborough, English soldier and politician (died 1680)
Richard Fanshawe, English diplomat (died 1666)
Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (died 1661)
Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor (died 1661)
Gaston, Duke of Orleans, third son of the French king Henry IV (died 1660)
Edward Rainbowe, English clergyman and a preacher (died 1684)
Eudoxia Streshneva, second wife of Mikhail I of Russia (died 1645)
Torii Tadaharu, Japanese nobleman (died 1651)

January 29 - Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (born 1557)
February 13 - Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (born 1526)
February 26 - John Still, English bishop
March 12 - Koriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord (born 1530)
April 19 - Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet (born 1536)
May 14 - Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (born 1543)
June 19 - Alberico Gentili, Italian jurist (b. 1551)
July 18 - Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1546)
October 11 - Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, Italian painter
October 19 - Geoffrey Fenton, English writer and politician
October 19 - Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (born 1551)
George Bannatyne, collector of Scottish poems (born 1545)
William Barclay, Scottish jurist (born 1546)
Luca Bati, Italian composer (born 1546)
William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England
December - John Dee, British mathematician, astronomer, and geographer
John Dee, British mathematician (born 1527)
Giambologna, Italian sculptor (born 1529)
Bess of Hardwick, English jailor of Mary I of Scotland (born 1520)
Laurence Tomson, English Calvinist theologian (born 1539)
Fiodor Nikiticz Trubczewski, Polish Prince
Nikita Kosoj Trubczewski, Polish Prince
Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (born 1575)
Edmund Whitelocke, English soldier and courtier (born 1565)