Historical Events in 1609

Jan 31 Wisselbank of Amsterdam established

Event of Interest

Mar 25 Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Company to find a passage to Asia

Apr 5 Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa
Apr 9 Spain & Netherlands sign 12 Year Resistant Pact

Shakespeare's Sonnets Published

May 20 Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe

May 23 Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place
Jun 17 Netherlands, England and France sign 12 year Covenant
Jul 6 Majesteitsbrief: Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemia freedom of religion
Jul 9 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
Jul 10 Catholic German monarchy forms Catholic League
Jul 20 Emperor Rudolf II grants Silezische protestants freedom of religion
Jul 25 Admiral George Somers scuttles the "Sea Venture" in eastern Bermuda, the storm damaged flagship of the London Company bound for Jamestown, Virginia. Survivors construct two new ships and continue on to re-supply the embattled colony.
Jul 26 English mathematician Thomas Harriot is the first person to draw a map of the Moon by looking through a telescope

Event of Interest

Jul 29 Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New York setting the stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for the next 150 years

Galileo Demonstrates Telescope

Aug 8 Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei's telescope

Astronomer and Physicist Galileo Galilei

Aug 25 Galileo demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers, including to the Doge (ruler) of Venice, Leonardo Donato
Aug 28 English explorer Henry Hudson is the first European to sail into Delaware Bay - names it South Bay
Sep 1 Pieter Both sworn in as 1st governor general of Dutch East Indies
Sep 4 Navigator Henry Hudson is the first European to discover island of Manhattan [or Sep 11]
Sep 11 Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain's Moriscos
Oct 12 Children's rhyme "Three Blind Mice" is published in London in a book edited by and possibly written by Thomas Ravenscroft
Dec 8 Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan opens its reading room, second public library in Europe