Events January–June March 13 – Battle of Tondibi: In Mali, forces sent by the Saadi dynasty ruler of Morocco, Ahmad al-Mansur, and led by Judar Pasha, defeat the fractured Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one. April 10 – English merchant James Lancaster sets off on a voyage to the East Indies. April 21 – Japanese tea-master Sen no Rikyū commits seppuku, on the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. May 15 – In Russia, Tsarevich Dimitri, son of Ivan the Terrible, is found dead in mysterious circumstances, at the palace in Uglich. The official explanation is that he has cut his own throat during an epileptic seizure. Many believe he has been murdered by his rival, Boris Godunov, who becomes tsar. May 24 – Sir John Norreys, with an expeditionary force sent by Queen Elizabeth I of England, takes the town of Guingamp after a brief siege, on behalf of Henry of Navarre. May 30 – Timbuktu is captured by an expedition of Arma people, sent by the Saadi ruler of Morocco, and led by Judar Pasha. May 30 – Zutphen is captured by the Dutch and English, under Maurice of Nassau. June 10 – Deventer is captured by the Dutch, under Maurice of Nassau. July–December July – Battle of Bhuchar Mori in Gujarat: the Mughal Empire gains a decisive victory over the Nawanagar State. July 22 – The Durtnell (Dartnell) family of Brasted, Kent, England, begin to work as building contractors. The business continues under thirteen generations of the family until ceasing to trade in 2019. July 25 – Siege of Knodsenburg: Maurice of Nassau and Francis Vere defeat the Duke of Parma outside Nijmegen. August – Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex leads an English army in support of the Protestant Henry IV of France at the Siege of Rouen. August–September – During this year's Atlantic hurricane season, probably the most severe of the pre-1600 seasons, at least eight intense hurricanes occur. August 30–September 1 – Battle of Flores off Flores Island (Azores): the Spanish fleet is victorious over the English; English ship Revenge is captured on September 1 (and Richard Grenville fatally wounded) but soon afterwards lost with all hands in a week-long storm, along with a large number of the Spanish ships. September 14 – Siege of Hulst: Hulst is captured by Maurice. October 8 – The Separation Edict, a law preventing social mobility