1603
| Years: 1600 1601 1602 – 1603 – 1604 1605 1606 | |
| Decades: 1570s 1580s 1590s – 1600s – 1610s 1620s 1630s | |
| Centuries: 16th century – 17th century – 18th century 1603 in topic: | |
Events
- March 24 – Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England
- April 28 – Funeral of Elizabeth I of England in Westminster Abbey
- July 17 or July 19 – Sir Walter Raleigh arrested for treason.
- July 25 – Coronation of James I of England. By some criteria this was the start of the modern Great Britain
- November 17 – Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason in the converted Great hall of Winchester Castle
- December 22 – Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I.
- Johann Bayer's Uranometria, an atlas of the southern sky, is published.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu granted title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan and establishes the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, Japan. This ends the Azuchi-Momoyama period and begins the Edo period.
- Accademia dei Lincei founded
- Huguenot Pierre de Gua is granted royal permission to settle in North America
- Rebellion in Transylvania
- Plague in England
- English crush Irish rebellion. Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone surrenders.
- Yaqob deposed as Emperor of Ethiopia by Za Sellase, who appoints his cousin Za Dengel to replace him.
Births
- March 18 – King John IV of Portugal (d. 1656)
- Denis Gaultier, French lutenist and composer (d. 1672)
- Abel Janszoon Tasman, Dutch explorer (d. 1659)
- Gysbert Japiks, Frisian writer (d. 1666)
Deaths
- March 24 – Queen Elizabeth I of England, Wales, and Ireland (b. 1533)
- December 22 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (b. 1566)
Categories: 1603