diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/index.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/index.rst
index 926b73d0f3fd9..6f51bd4edc2ba 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/index.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/index.rst
@@ -10,6 +10,14 @@ This is the list of changes to pandas between each release. For full details,
 see the `commit logs <https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/commits/>`_. For install and
 upgrade instructions, see :ref:`install`.
 
+Version 1.6
+-----------
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 2
+
+   v1.6.0
+
 Version 1.5
 -----------
 
diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.6.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.6.0.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..eac5e5d3a0f52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.6.0.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+.. _whatsnew_160:
+
+What's new in 1.6.0 (??)
+------------------------
+
+These are the changes in pandas 1.6.0. See :ref:`release` for a full changelog
+including other versions of pandas.
+
+{{ header }}
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.enhancements:
+
+Enhancements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.enhancements.enhancement1:
+
+enhancement1
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.enhancements.enhancement2:
+
+enhancement2
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.enhancements.other:
+
+Other enhancements
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.notable_bug_fixes:
+
+Notable bug fixes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+These are bug fixes that might have notable behavior changes.
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.notable_bug_fixes.notable_bug_fix1:
+
+notable_bug_fix1
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.notable_bug_fixes.notable_bug_fix2:
+
+notable_bug_fix2
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.api_breaking:
+
+Backwards incompatible API changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.api_breaking.deps:
+
+Increased minimum versions for dependencies
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Some minimum supported versions of dependencies were updated.
+If installed, we now require:
+
++-----------------+-----------------+----------+---------+
+| Package         | Minimum Version | Required | Changed |
++=================+=================+==========+=========+
+|                 |                 |    X     |    X    |
++-----------------+-----------------+----------+---------+
+
+For `optional libraries <https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/getting_started/install.html>`_ the general recommendation is to use the latest version.
+The following table lists the lowest version per library that is currently being tested throughout the development of pandas.
+Optional libraries below the lowest tested version may still work, but are not considered supported.
+
++-----------------+-----------------+---------+
+| Package         | Minimum Version | Changed |
++=================+=================+=========+
+|                 |                 |    X    |
++-----------------+-----------------+---------+
+
+See :ref:`install.dependencies` and :ref:`install.optional_dependencies` for more.
+
+.. _whatsnew_160.api_breaking.other:
+
+Other API changes
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.deprecations:
+
+Deprecations
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+-
+-
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.performance:
+
+Performance improvements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+-
+-
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.bug_fixes:
+
+Bug fixes
+~~~~~~~~~
+
+Categorical
+^^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Datetimelike
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Timedelta
+^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Timezones
+^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Numeric
+^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Conversion
+^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Strings
+^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Interval
+^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Indexing
+^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Missing
+^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+MultiIndex
+^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+I/O
+^^^
+-
+-
+
+Period
+^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Plotting
+^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Groupby/resample/rolling
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Reshaping
+^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Sparse
+^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+ExtensionArray
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Styler
+^^^^^^
+-
+-
+
+Other
+^^^^^
+
+.. ***DO NOT USE THIS SECTION***
+
+-
+-
+
+.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.. _whatsnew_160.contributors:
+
+Contributors
+~~~~~~~~~~~~