1000 World population 300 million. Scandinavia and Hungary converted to Christianity. Leif Ericson lands in North America, calling it Vinland. Gunpowder invented in China. 1009 Muslims destroy Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 1010 The Tale of Genji, the book usually considered as the world’s first novel, by Shikibu Murasaki, lady in waiting to the empress of [...]

900 Vikings discover Greenland. 906 Annam (central Vietnam) attains independence from China. 912 Vikings and their leader, Rolo, become Christians. 925 First dyers guild established. 927 Prince Caslav Klonimirovic drives out Bulgarians, uniting (what today is) Serbia, Montenegro, Herzegovina and Bosnia to found Serbia. Orthodox Christianity is introduced as the state religion. 950 Córdoba, Spain [...]

800 Coronation of Charlemagne, king of the Franks and now first Holy Roman Emperor, on Christmas day. Crowned by Pope Leo III as “Augustus, crowned of God, emperor of the Romans” in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, he would become Charles I of France, called Charles the Great. 802 Byzantine empress Irene deposed and exiled [...]

700 The concept of Zero introduced (although it might have been used by early Babylonians). Porcelein introduced. Fingerprinting in use in China as a means of identifying people. Celts arrive in Ireland from parts of Gaul and Britain. 702 The Taiho Code is introduced in Japan, ruling the emperor as supreme moral authority and introducing [...]

601 The earliest dated English words are ‘Town’ and ‘Priest’, both recorded in the Laws of Ethelbert. 604 Prince Shôtoku writes The Seventeen Articles, the Constitution of Japan. The emphasis is on the prevention of dispute instead of the resolve of disputes as found in Western law. Pope Gregory the Great dies. 609 ? The [...]

500 Scriptures have now been translated into more than 500 languages. 507 Clovis, King of the Franks, defeats the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouille. 508 Paris (now called Lutetia) established by Clovis as the capital of the Kingdom of the Franks 511 Clovis, King of the Franks, dies. The Merovingian Dynasty is continued by [...]

401 Visigoths begin to attack the northern Italy. 406 Gunderic, King of the Germanic Vandals, attack towns and cities in Gaul. 407 Roman legions withdrawn from Britain; Picts, Scots and Saxons invade. The Saxons become rulers of the British Isles. 410 Goths attack Rome. Alaric lead the Asiatic Huns to attack the Roman Empire, sacking [...]

300 The church council of Elvira, Spain, prohibits intermarriage between Jews and Christians, also forbidding them to eat together. 301 The Kingdom of Armenia is the first nation to make Christianity its official religion. 303 Emperor Diocletian orders the persecution of Christians. 312 Constantine defeats Maxentius at Battle of Milvian Bridge and becomes the ruler [...]

200 Palestinian scholar Judah ha-Nasi compiles tracts of the Mishnah, beginning the creation of Jewish Talmudic law. Rome boasts 1.5 million inhabitants, most living in 3- to 8-story-high insulae, apartment blocks made of brick, wood or rubble. 203 Origen, aged 22, succeeds Clement as leader of the Christian school in Alexandria. 213 Completion of the [...]

100 Jewish Christians forced to leave the Jewish fold. 105 Chinese government servant named Ts’ai Lun invents paper, made from hemp waste, mulberry fibers, rags, and other materials. (It would take many centuries for this invention to travel west, reaching Samarkand, Central Asia, in 751 and Baghdad in 793, arriving in Europe in the 12th [...]