Middle Ages
Jiaozi (1024): China Issues the World's First Paper Money
The Song state created an official Jiaozi Bureau and began issuing printed paper notes, the first government paper currency in history.
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
Avicenna and The Canon of Medicine: Ibn Sina's Legacy
The Canon of Medicine became the standard medical textbook of the Islamic world and of European universities, used in teaching into the seventeenth century.
Middle Ages
Boleslaw I the Brave (1025): Poland's First Crowned King
Bolesław became the first crowned King of Poland shortly before his death on 17 June 1025.
Middle Ages
Mahmud of Ghazni and the Sack of Somnath Temple (1025)
Mahmud's army took Somnath, broke the temple's linga and carried off great treasure; the temple was later rebuilt several times.
Middle Ages
Chola Invasion of Srivijaya (1025): Rajendra's Naval Raid
The Chola fleet sacked a series of Srivijayan ports and captured their king; Srivijaya survived but was weakened, and Chola influence in the region grew.
Middle Ages
Battle of Stiklestad (1030): Death of St Olaf of Norway
Olaf was killed and his army defeated; within a year he was declared a saint, and his son Magnus regained Norway in 1035.
Middle Ages
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv: Yaroslav's Great Church
Kyiv's cathedral became the religious centre of Rus and survives with much of its 11th-century mosaic and fresco decoration.
Middle Ages
Western Xia (1038): Li Yuanhao's Tangut Empire in China
The Tangut Western Xia state held its own against Song and Liao for nearly two centuries before being destroyed by the Mongols in 1227.
Middle Ages
Macbeth, King of Scots (1040-1057): History Behind Shakespeare
Macbeth ruled Scotland from 1040 to 1057 before being killed by Duncan's son Malcolm at Lumphanan.
Middle Ages
Almoravids: The Berber Empire of North Africa and Spain
The Almoravids united Morocco and al-Andalus under one Berber dynasty for about sixty years before the Almohads overthrew them in 1147.
Middle Ages
Battle of Dandanaqan (1040): Rise of the Seljuk Turks
Decisive Seljuk victory; the Ghaznavids lost Khorasan and the Seljuks began building the Great Seljuk Empire.
Middle Ages
Bi Sheng and the Invention of Movable Type Printing (c. 1040)
Bi Sheng created the first known system of movable type, using baked clay characters; the technique was later developed in wood and metal across East Asia.