In the year 1602...

• Crop failures in Russia cause a massive famine that leads to the deaths of aproximately 1 million peasants, and will kill over 100,000 in Moscow alone by the end of 1603.
• The Dutch East India Company is chartered by the States-General of the Netherlands to expand Dutch trade in Asia.
• Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel I's attempt to conquer Geneva by suprise attack is thwarted.
• Spanish troops surrender to Lord Mountjoy at Kinsale, ending an attempted invasion of Ireland in support of the rebellion begun by the Earl of Tyrone.
• Prince Sigismund Báthory of Transylvania abdicates in favor of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II for the second and final time.
• The Danish crown grants a monopoly on all trade to and from Iceland to a Copenhagen trading company, a policy that devastates the Icelandic economy.
• English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold explores the coasts of what are now Maine and Massachusetts, naming Cape Cod and several islands and establishing a fort at Cuttyhunk, westernmost of the Elizabeth Islands.
• Spanish navigator Sebastián Vizcaíno explores the California coast, discovering and naming San Diego, Santa Catalina Island, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Bay.
• Sir Thomas Bodley establishes the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
• Jesuit missionary to Beijing Matteo Ricci draws the "Gonyomangookjundo," a room-sized multi-sheet wall map of the world on rice paper.

These people were born in 1602:

• French statesman Jules Mazarin, who would virtually rule France from 1643 until his death in 1661.
• German physicist Otto von Guericke.
• Japanese painter Kano Tanyu, reviver of the Kano school of Japanese painting.
• Italian opera composer Pietro Francesco Cavalli.
• Spanish playwright and novelist Juan Pérez de Montalván.
• Italian sculptor Giacomo della Porta.
• French painter Philippe de Champaigne.
• French engraver and painter Abraham Bosse.
• English statesman and antiquarian Sir Simonds D'Ewes.

These people died in 1602:

• Persian scholar Abulfazl, adviser and biographer to Mughal emperor Akbar, murdered at the instigation of Akbar's heir Jahangir.
• Irish chieftan "Red" Hugh O'Donnell.

1601 - 1602 - 1603

17th century

1602 is the title of a Neil Gaiman comic series debuting August 13th, 2003. The series chronicles events in the year 1602 when the events of the Marvel universe have begun happening 400 years early.

The series is set to include many familiars from Marvel comics, altered appropriately to the time period. Examples include Carlos Javier, Count Otto von Doom, and more. The series is set for an eight-issue run, with the first issue 40 pages and subsequent issues at 32 pages. Debut price is 3.75 USD per issue in the United States.