# 1600
**1600** was a year marked by pivotal events in Japan, England, Rome, and science. On October 21, [Tokugawa Ieyasu](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokugawa-ieyasu)'s victory at the [Battle of Sekigahara](https://www.edgepedia.org/battle-of-sekigahara) ended the [Sengoku period](https://www.edgepedia.org/sengoku-period) and led to the Tokugawa shogunate,[1](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/battle-of-sekigahara.htm) • [2](https://saeculum.app/year/1600/) while on December 31 Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to London merchants trading to the East Indies, establishing the East India Company.[3](https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1600) The Vatican convicted Giordano Bruno on February 8, and he was burned at the stake in Rome on February 17.[4](https://islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/wor1600.htm) In science, William Gilbert published *De Magnete*, his treatise on magnetism arguing that the Earth is a giant magnet.[5](https://royalsociety.org/blog/2023/10/magnetic-halley/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Battle of Sekigahara | Fought on October 21, 1600; Tokugawa Ieyasu's victory ended the Sengoku period and led to the Tokugawa shogunate[1](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/battle-of-sekigahara.htm) • [2](https://saeculum.app/year/1600/) |
| East India Company | Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter on December 31, 1600 to London merchants trading to the East Indies[3](https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1600) |
| Giordano Bruno | Convicted by the Vatican on February 8 and burned at the stake in Rome on February 17, 1600[4](https://islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/wor1600.htm) |
| De Magnete | William Gilbert published his treatise on magnetism, arguing the Earth is a giant magnet[5](https://royalsociety.org/blog/2023/10/magnetic-halley/) |
## Japan: the Battle of Sekigahara
In October 1600, on a fog-covered plain in central Japan, about seventy thousand samurai fought for roughly six hours until the cavalry of Tokugawa Ieyasu shattered the coalition of [Ishida Mitsunari](https://www.edgepedia.org/ishida-mitsunari)[2](https://saeculum.app/year/1600/). The battle began about 7:30 a.m. on October 21, 1600[1](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/battle-of-sekigahara.htm). It marked the end of the long Sengoku period and the beginning of the Edo Period, marked by about 260 years of peace and stability[1](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/battle-of-sekigahara.htm). A shogunate was born, and the imperial court in Kyoto became largely ceremonial[2](https://saeculum.app/year/1600/).
In the same year the storm-battered Dutch ship *Liefde* drifted into Bungo Bay with twenty-four survivors of a fleet of five, among them the English pilot William Adams, who became the first Englishman to set foot on Japanese soil[2](https://saeculum.app/year/1600/).
## England: the East India Company
Queen Elizabeth I of England issued an official charter on December 31, 1600 to London merchants who traded with the [East Indies](https://www.edgepedia.org/east-indies), aiming to undermine the Dutch hold on the spice trade in the region that is now Indonesia[3](https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1600). The company was incorporated as "The Governor and Company of the Merchants of London trading to the East Indies," essentially a private association of aldermen and merchants of the [City of London](https://www.edgepedia.org/city-of-london), with a monopoly secured by charter for fifteen years[6](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/gdclccn/06/01/83/18/06018318/06018318.pdf).
## Rome: the execution of Giordano Bruno
The Vatican convicted the scholar [Giordano Bruno](https://www.edgepedia.org/giordano-bruno), an advocate of the Copernican theory and of the plurality of worlds, to death on February 8, 1600; he was burned at the stake in Rome on February 17[4](https://islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/wor1600.htm). His trial had lasted more than seven years, from his arrest in Venice on May 23, 1592 to his execution[7](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2000/02/18/l-interminable-proces-de-giordano-bruno_3681947_1819218.html).
## Science: Gilbert's De Magnete
In 1600 the English physician William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, published *De Magnete*, the first comprehensive and systematic account of magnetic phenomena[8](https://stwww1.weizmann.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/William-Gilberts-Investigation-of-Magnetism.pdf). Drawing on eighteen years of experiments with lodestones and iron filings, Gilbert declared that the Earth itself is a giant magnet[5](https://royalsociety.org/blog/2023/10/magnetic-halley/). The work is counted among the first early modern scientific works to use experiments systematically as part of its central argument[9](https://direct.mit.edu/posc/article/30/6/925/112217/Trust-No-One-But-Yourself-William-Gilbert-s-Use-of).
In February 1600, [Tycho Brahe](https://www.edgepedia.org/tycho-brahe) and [Johannes Kepler](https://www.edgepedia.org/johannes-kepler) met for the first time outside Prague[4](https://islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/wor1600.htm).
## Other events
In the [Eighty Years' War](https://www.edgepedia.org/eighty-years-war), a cavalry duel was fought by pre-arrangement on Vughterheide near 's-Hertogenbosch on February 5[10](https://historydata.com/year/1600).
## References
1. [Battle of Sekigahara, U.S. National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/battle-of-sekigahara.htm)
2. [1600 - Same year, around the world, Saeculum](https://saeculum.app/year/1600/)
3. [1600 Archives, HISTORY](https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1600)
4. [Chronology of World History (1600-1619), Ken Polsson](https://islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/wor1600.htm)
5. [Magnetic Halley, Royal Society](https://royalsociety.org/blog/2023/10/magnetic-halley/)
6. [The origin of the East India Company](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/gdclccn/06/01/83/18/06018318/06018318.pdf)
7. [L'interminable procès de Giordano Bruno, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2000/02/18/l-interminable-proces-de-giordano-bruno_3681947_1819218.html)
8. [William Gilbert's Investigation of Magnetism, Weizmann Institute](https://stwww1.weizmann.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/William-Gilberts-Investigation-of-Magnetism.pdf)
9. [Trust No One But Yourself: William Gilbert's Use of Experiment, Perspectives on Science](https://direct.mit.edu/posc/article/30/6/925/112217/Trust-No-One-But-Yourself-William-Gilbert-s-Use-of)
10. [1600 in History, HistoryData](https://historydata.com/year/1600)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › General historical chronologies › Year articles, early modern (1501–1800)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license