Year 1624 (MDCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1624

January - June

• January 24 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.

July - December

• August - The Siege of Breda begins, and will continue for 11 months.
• October (start) - A Tuscan/Papal/Neapolitan force defeats the Algerians near Sardinia (details).

Undated

• Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible is publicly burned by order of the Pope.
• The Netherlands establishes a trading colony at Kaohsiung on Taiwan.
• Thirty Walloon families settle in the New Netherland colony.
• The Virginia Land Company's charter is revoked and Virginia becomes a crown colony.
• Oslo is destroyed by fire: when rebuilt by Christian IV, it will be renamed Christiania.
• Jakob Bartsch records the constellation Camelopardalis around the north star.
• The Palace of Versailles is first built, as a hunting lodge.
• The Dutch city of Ommen is devastated by fire.
• The Japanese Shogun expels the Spanish from the land and severs trade with the Philippines.
• Mail service begins in Denmark.
• A university is founded in Bolivia.
• Cornelius Drebbel first discovers gases.
• Cardinal Richelieu is appointed by Louis XIII to be his advisor.
• Henry Briggs publishes Arithmetica Logarithmica.
• The French Parliament passes a decree forbidding criticism of Aristotle on pain of death.
• Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba starts to rule.
• The Latymer School and Latymer Upper School in London are founded by the bequest of Edward Latymer.
• The city of Dunfermline is also destroyed by fire, but The Abbey, The Palace, the The Abbot House and many other buildings survive.

Births

• January 3 - William Tucker, the first black child born in America
• January 9 - Meish“, empress of Japan (d. 1696)
• January 15 - Rombout Verhulst, Dutch sculptor (d. 1698)
• January 31 - Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
• June 15 - Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist (d. 1704)
• July - George Fox, English founder of the Quakers (d. 1691)
• August 22 - Jean Renaud de Segrais, French writer (d. 1701)
• August 25 - Père François de La Chaise, French churchman (d. 1709)
• September 10 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (d. 1689)
• October 30 - Paul Pellisson, French author (d. 1693)
• date unknown
  • Koxinga, Chinese military leader (d. 1662)

See also Category:1624 births.

Deaths

• February 12 - George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist (b. 1563)
• February 13 - Stephen Gosson, English satirist (b. 1554)
• February 17 - Juan de Mariana, Spanish historian (b. 1536)
• July - Alonso Fajardo y Tenza, governor of the Philippines
• November 10 - Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, English patron of the theater (b. 1573)
• November 17 - Jakob Böhme, German mystic (b. 1575)
• December 5 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (b. 1560)
• December 14 - Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman (b. 1536)
• December 26 - Simon Marius, German astronomer (b. 1573)
• date unknown
  • Francesco Andreini, Italian actor (b. c. 1548)

See also Category:1624 deaths.