1597

Events 
 17 January – A court case in Guildford recorded evidence that a certain plot of land was used for playing “kreckett” (i.e., cricket) as early as 1550.
 January 24 – Battle of Turnhout.  Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas in the Netherlands
 February 5 – In Nagasaki, Japan, 26 people were martyred. They practiced Catholicism and were taken captive after all forms of Christianity were outlawed the previous year.
 The first opera is considered to have been written.
 Bali discovered by the Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman
 Abbas I ends the Uzbek raids on his lands.
 Yaqob succeeds his father Sarsa Dengel as Emperor of Ethiopia
 First edition of Francis Bacon's Essays published.