| 1550–1600 | North America, South America, Europe [trade] | New agricultural products are exchanged between the New and Old Worlds. The Spanish introduce potatoes, tomatoes, quinine, cocoa, tapioca, and tobacco to Europe. From Europe, the New World gains barley, oats, rye, sugar cane, cattle, pigs, poultry, rabbits, and horses. |
| 1590–1600 | China, Ming Empire [wars] | The Chinese warlord Yang Yinglong maintains his rebellion against Ming imperial forces in the Huguang–Sichuan–Guizhou border region of China until veterans of the war in Choson (modern Korea) under Li Hualong annihilate the insurgents. |
| 1598 | United Netherlands [colonization] | A United Netherlands expedition lands on and claims the uninhabited island of Mauritius (named after Count Maurice of Nassau) in the Indian Ocean; it becomes the first Dutch colony. |
| 1598 | England [plays] | The comedy Every Man in his Humour by the English dramatist Ben Jonson is first performed, in London, England. It is presented by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, with William Shakespeare as one of the actors. It is first published in 1600. |
| 1598 | England [poetry] | The poem Hero and Leander by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe is published posthumously (having been completed after Marlowe's death by George Chapman). |
| 9 February 1598 | England [political events] | The English Parliament is dissolved, having enacted a Poor Law statute whose basic tenets are followed until 1834. Parish tithes for the relief of destitution through the institution of workhouses and the appointment of ‘Guardians of the Poor’ complement regularized punishments for ‘undeserving’ so-called ‘Sturdy Beggars’. |
| 17 February 1598 | Russia [political events] | Boris Godunov, brother-in-law of the late tsar Fyodor I, is elected tsar of Russia by the Zemsky Sobor (council of Boyars); to strengthen his position he forces the head of the rival Romanov family into a monastery. |
| 20 March 1598 | France [treaties] | By the Treaty of Ponts-de-Cé, Philippe-Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, leader of the Catholic League in Brittany, submits to King Henry IV of France for 4 million livres and the hand of Henry's illegitimate son, the Duke of Vendôme for his daughter, ending French Catholic resistance to Henry IV. |
| April - October 1598 | Japan, China, Ming Empire, Korea [political events] | The Japanese regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi, warned by Konishi Yukinaga of the futility of the Korean campaign, recalls half the forces, leaving Shimazu Yoshihiro at the head of the Satsuma levies of Kyushi to repel Chinese attacks, until Hideyoshi's death on 18 September leads to their withdrawal. |
| 13 April 1598 | France [political events] | King Henry IV of France promulgates the Edict of Nantes; the Huguenots (French Protestants) are granted freedom of worship in those places permitted by the 1577 Edict of Poitiers and the treaties of 1579–80, and one other in each Sénéchaussée and Baillage, with pastors salaried by the crown. Huguenot courts, Chambres de l'édit, are established and their representation is assured in the Parlements and in public office. They are to abandon alliances with foreign powers, sectarian armies, and dissolve their provincial assemblies. The chaos of the French Wars of Religion ends. |
| 13 September 1598 | Spain [births and deaths] | Philip II, king of Spain 1556–98, and king of Portugal 1580–98, who brought Spain to the zenith of its power, dies in El Escorial, Spain (71). |
| 18 September 1598 | Japan [births and deaths] | Toyotomi Hideyoshi (original name Hiyo-Shimaru, also known as Hashiba Chikuzen no kami), Japanese military leader, feudal lord, and chief imperial minister 1585–98 who completed the unification of Japan, dies in Fushimi, Japan (c. 61). |
