Middle Ages
The Tale of Genji: Murasaki Shikibu's Heian Masterpiece
A 54-chapter prose tale of court life became the most celebrated work of Japanese literature and is often described as the world's first novel.
Region
Asia
Middle Ages
Ly Thai To Moves the Capital to Thang Long (Hanoi), 1010
Thang Long became the capital of the Ly dynasty and, under later names, the long-term political centre of Vietnam.
Middle Ages
Al-Biruni and His Study of India: A Scholar in Ghazni
Al-Biruni produced the most detailed medieval account of Indian religion, science and society, and an estimate of the Earth's radius close to the modern value.
Middle Ages
Rajendra Chola I's Ganges Expedition and Gangaikonda Cholapuram
The Chola army reached the Ganges and returned with its water; Rajendra took the title Gangaikonda Chola and founded a new capital.
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.
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
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
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
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.
Middle Ages
Pagan Kingdom (1044): Anawrahta and the Rise of Burma
Anawrahta made Pagan the dominant power of the Irrawaddy valley, laying the foundations of the first Burmese kingdom and of its Theravada Buddhist culture.