Unix Timestamp: -11583216000
Wednesday, December 11. 1602, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The iconoclast and Confucian scholar Li Zhi commits suicide while in a Chinese prison during the late Ming Dynasty he had taught that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given equal opportunity in education he was charged with spreading dangerous ideas.

Copies are printed of the geographical map of East Asia created by Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit stationed in Ming Dynasty Beijing, China, with Chinese-written labeling and map symbols.

William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is published.

A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva (This actually took place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend).

Ben Jonson writes "The Poetaster".

Publication of the play "A Larum for London, or the Siedge of Antwerp" in London.

Portuguese expelled from Bahrain.

Russian famine of 1601–1603.

Persia and Spain conclude a defensive alliance and declare war on the Ottoman Empire.

A private trading company is established in Copenhagen, with a monopoly on the trade with Iceland.