Events January–March January 4 A naval battle takes place in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Goa in South India as a Netherlands fleet commanded by Admiral Adam Westerwolt decimates the Portuguese fleet. A fleet of 80 Spanish ships led by Governor-General Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera attacks the Sultanate of Sulu in the Philippines by beginning an invasion of Jolo island, but Sultan Muwallil Wasit I puts up a stiff resistance. January 8 – The siege of Shimabara Castle ends after 27 days in Japan's Tokugawa shogunate (part of modern-day Nagasaki prefecture) as the rebel peasants flee reinforcements sent by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. January 22 – The Shimabara and Amakusa rebels, having joined up after fleeing the shogun's troops, begin the defense of the Hara Castle in modern-day Minamishimabara in the Nagasaki prefecture. The siege lasts more than 11 weeks before the peasants are killed. February 28 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in opposition to changes to the Church of Scotland proposed by King Charles I. March 3 – Thirty Years' War: Battle of Rheinfelden – A mercenary army under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, fighting for France, defeats forces of the Holy Roman Empire. March 5 – Thirty Years' War: The Treaty of Hamburg is signed by France and Sweden, providing the latter with funds. March 22 Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his sons capture the city of Kandahar from the Safavids. Anne Hutchinson is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for heresy and goes to Rhode Island. March 28 – Dutch merchant Willem Kieft is appointed Director of New Netherland by the Dutch East India Company to succeed Wouter van Twiller. March 29 – Settlers from Sweden arrive on the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip to establish the settlement of New Sweden in Delaware, beginning the Swedish colonization of the Americas. April–June April 3 – Preacher John Wheelwright is banished from Boston and founds Exeter, New Hampshire. April 14 – The Netherlands colonizes Mauritius, with colonists from the ship Dragon going ashore after sighting it the day before, an event chronicled by British traveler Peter Mundy. April 15 – Shogunate forces defeat the last remnants of the Shimabara Rebellion, in the fortress of Hara. April 25 – Settlement of what will become New Haven, Connecticut begins. May 13 – Construction begins on the Red Fort in Delhi (India) for Mughal Emperor Shah