Editing 1587 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 7]] &ndash; Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] appoints [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] to be the Governor of the [[Roanoke Colony]], to be established later in the year by English colonists on [[Roanoke Island]] off the coast of what is now the U.S. state of [[North Carolina]].<ref name=Lawler>Andrew Lawler, ''The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke'' (Doubleday, 2018) pp.90, 181-182</ref> White and 121 other colonists depart from Portsmouth on three ships on May 8 and arrive at Croatoan Island on July 22.
* [[January 14]] &ndash; In Japan, [[Daijō-daijin|Chancellor of the Realm]] [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] ends [[Portuguese Nagasaki|Portugal's control]] of the port of [[Nagasaki]] after six years. Omura Sumitada had leased the fishing village to Portuguese Jesuits on August 15, 1580. <ref>Charles Boxer, ''The Great Ship From Amacon: Annals of Macao and the Old Japan Trade, 1555-1640'' (Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1959) p. 50</ref>
* [[February 5]] &ndash; (1st waxing of Tabaung 948 ME) King Nanda of Burma appoints his eldest son and heir apparent, [[Minye Kyawswa II of Ava|Minye Kyawswa II]], as Viceroy of Ava, now part of upper Burma, with a capital at [[Inwa]] (located in what is now the Mandalay Region of Myanmar.
* [[February 8]] &ndash; [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], the monarch of Scotland from 1542 to 1567, is beheaded in front of 300 witnesses at [[Fotheringhay Castle]], seven days after the signing of a [[death warrant]] by her cousin, [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth of England]]. Mary had been convicted of treason for her role in the [[Babington Plot]], a conspiracy to overthrow the English government and to assassinate Elizabeth.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hugh Chisholm|author2=James Louis Garvin|title=The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature & General Information|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4dGAQAAIAAJ|year=1926|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Company, Limited|page=823}}</ref>
* [[February 12]] &ndash; A period of exceptionally severe cold begins in western Europe and lasts until February 24.<ref>{{cite book|first=Cornelius|last=Easton|title=Les hivers dans l'Europe occidentale: étude statistique et historique sur leur température, discussion des observations thermométriques, 1852–1916 et 1757–1851, tableaux comparatifs, classifications des hivers, 1205–1916, notices historiques sur les hivers remarquables|publisher=Brill Archive|year=1928|page=98}}</ref>
* [[February 27]] &ndash; [[Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet|Sir Anthony Cope]], a member of the English Parliament, is imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] after presenting a Puritan revision of the Anglican ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir [[John Puckering]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|title=Cope, Sir Anthony|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6251?docPos=2| date=2004 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6251 |access-date=30 October 2017}}</ref> He is released on March 23.  
* [[March 6]] &ndash; In west Africa, [[Álvaro II of Kongo|Álvaro II Nimi a Nkanga]] becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, with a capital at [[M'banza-Kongo|São Salvador]] in what is now the city of M'banza-Kongo in the northern part of the Republic of Angola, and including parts of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alvaro II claims the throne upon the dath of his father, [[Álvaro I of Kongo|Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba]]. 
* [[March 15]] &ndash; English privateer accepts a commission from the Kingdom to disrupt Spanish freighters trading with Italy.