1620
| Years: 1617 1618 1619 - 1620 - 1621 1622 1623 | |
| Decades: 1590s 1600s 1610s - 1620s - 1630s 1640s 1650s | |
| Centuries: 16th century - 17th century - 18th century 1620 in topic: | |
Events
- September 6 - English emigrants on the Mayflower depart from Plymouth, England for the future New England and arrive at the end of the year. The Mayflower Compact is signed on November 11.
- November 8 - The Battle of White Mountain, the first battle in the Thirty Years' War, takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.
- Two officers of the British East India Company attempt to claim the Table Mountain region (in present-day South Africa) for England, but fail.
- Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada restores Osaka Castle. Its current appearance dates from this remodeling.
- Modern violin
- Witch hunts begin in Scotland.
- Cornelius Drebbel builds an undersea boat.
- J.P.Donnet, teacher of deaf children in the Spanish court, creates sign alphabet.
- Bonesetting becomes a science.
Births
- February 16 - Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg (d. 1688)
- October 31 - John Evelyn, English diarist and writer (d. 1706)
Deaths
- March 1 - Thomas Campion, English poet and composer (b. 1567)
- May 16 - William Adams, English navigator and Japanese samurai (b. 1564)