Middle Ages
Founding of the Khmer Empire: Jayavarman II in 802
Jayavarman II proclaimed himself universal monarch independent of Java, founding the Angkorian Khmer state that lasted until the fifteenth century.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Hedeby: Viking Trading Town and the Danevirke (804)
Hedeby became the largest trading centre of Viking Age Scandinavia before its destruction in the 11th century; with the Danevirke it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Middle Ages
Battle of Pliska (811): Khan Krum Destroys a Byzantine Army
Decisive Bulgarian victory; Emperor Nikephoros I was killed and much of his army destroyed.
Middle Ages
Samanid Empire (819–999): Persian Revival in Bukhara
The Samanids made Bukhara a centre of Persian culture and Sunni learning before their state fell to the Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids around 999.
Middle Ages
Plan of Saint Gall (c. 820): A Carolingian Ideal Monastery
A detailed parchment plan of an ideal Benedictine monastery survived; it is the only major architectural drawing to survive from the early Middle Ages.
Middle Ages
Tomb of St James Found (c. 820–830): The Origins of Santiago
A tomb was identified as that of the apostle James; a church was built over it, and the site grew into the city and pilgrimage centre of Santiago de Compostela.
Middle Ages
Al-Khwarizmi and the Birth of Algebra in Abbasid Baghdad
Al-Khwarizmi's books made algebra a distinct field of mathematics and spread Hindu-Arabic numerals to the Islamic world and Europe.
Middle Ages
Tang-Tibet Treaty of 821-822 and the Lhasa Treaty Pillar
Tang China and Tibet agreed a lasting peace and border, which held until the Tibetan Empire broke up in the 840s.
Middle Ages
Muslim Conquest of Sicily (827–902): The Emirate of Sicily
Sicily passed from Byzantine to Muslim rule and became an emirate centred on Palermo until the Norman conquest of the 11th century.
Middle Ages
Jang Bogo and Cheonghaejin (828): Silla's Maritime Trader
Jang Bogo suppressed slave-raiding pirates and dominated East Asian sea trade for over a decade, until his murder and the abolition of Cheonghaejin in 851.
Middle Ages
House of Wisdom: Baghdad's Centre of Translation and Science
The translation movement linked to the House of Wisdom made Greek, Persian and Indian learning available in Arabic and laid foundations for medieval science.
Middle Ages
Great Moravia: The First Major Slavic State in Central Europe
A powerful Slavic realm that hosted the Cyrillo-Methodian mission before collapsing under Magyar attacks in the early 10th century.