Directory

600 CE

600-900 - Palace and Temple of the Inscriptions (tomb-pyramid of K'inich Janaab' Pakal), Palenque, Mexico, are built. Maya culture. Chinese-influenced sculptures of Buddha begin to be created in Japan. King Agilulf of the Lombards and Queen Theodelinda build a palace complex at Monza, northeast of Milan.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • The first of the Japanese embassies to Imperial China is sent (approximate date).source
  • The Britons of Strathclyde (Scotland), Wales, and Cornwall are all separated by the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.source
  • Namri Songtsen becomes the new king of Tibet (approximate date).source
  • Rome continues as part of the Byzantine Empire. The Italian mainland is divided into independent cities and duchies.source

Conflict & Security

  • The Wari Empire is established in The Andes (approximate date)source
  • Mu becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Baekje.source
  • According to the Ynglinga saga, king Ingvar Harra of Sweden invades Adalsysla (present day Lääne County in Estonia), but is killed by the locals (approximate date).source
  • The Welsh bard, Prince Aneirin of the Pennines (North West of England), writes the poem, "Y Gododdin", recording the events of the Battle of Catraeth.source
  • King Chlothar II of Neustria is defeated by his nephews, Theudebert II and Theuderic II, at Dormelles (approximate date).source
  • Moravians gain independence, by holding off the attacks from the Avars and the Franks who try to invade.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Germanic and Slavic peoples have tremendous population growth, with the Slavs colonizing the Balkan Peninsula.source
  • The Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbott) recounts a 7-year trip to a land across the sea by the Irish saint and a band of acolytes about this time.source
  • The Germanic peoples, due to the more abundant food supply available, use the "moldboard" plow, introduced by the Slavs in Eastern Europe. The plow works the land with horses and oxen.source
  • Venice continues as an independent realm, having been built up from fishing villages and settled by fugitives.source
  • The Middle Horizon period starts in the Andes.source
  • Early settlers from the Marquesas build the Alakoko fishpond and taro fields on Kauai, Hawaii.source
  • Dorestad, lying in a fork between two branches of the Rhine, is established by the Franks as a trade center.source

Religion & Belief

  • 600-900 - Palace and Temple of the Inscriptions (tomb-pyramid of K'inich Janaab' Pakal), Palenque, Mexico, are built. Maya culture.source
  • Augustine of Canterbury converts Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity (approximate date).source
  • Irish missionaries preach in Scotland and Germany (approximate date).source
  • Nubian rulers become Christian (approximate date).source
  • The oldest inscription in Mon language dated from 600 AD. later found at Wat Phorang, Thailand.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Yangdi, a Sui emperor, extends the Grand Canal. He reportedly assumes power by poisoning his father. Ma Shu-mou, aka Mahu, was one of the canal overseers and was said to have eaten a steamed 2-year-old child each day he worked on the canal. On completion the canal extended for 1,100 miles. 5.5 million people were pressed into service to complete the 1,550 mile canal.source
  • Chinese-influenced sculptures of Buddha begin to be created in Japan.source
  • Quill pens, made from the outer feathers of crows and other large birds, became popular. The first books are printed in China.source
  • The Persians begin to use windmills for irrigation (approximate date).source
  • King Agilulf of the Lombards and Queen Theodelinda build a palace complex at Monza, northeast of Milan.source

Health & Medicine

  • The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people (approximate date).source
  • Smallpox arrives in Western Europe for the first time (approximate date).source

Crime & Justice

  • Chaturanga is played in its current form in India (approximate date).source

Climate & Environment

  • Sumatra, Java, and the surrounding islands are converted to Buddhism.source
  • Moche culture ends in the Andes (approximate date).source
  • Loma Caldera (El Salvador) erupts, burying the Maya village of Joya de Cerén (approximate date).source
  • Nazca culture ends in the Andes (approximate date).source

Culture & Society

  • 600-900 - Cylindrical vessel is made. Maya culture. It is now kept at the Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey.source
  • The Hopewell tradition (North America) ceases to be the dominant culture (approximate date).source
  • 600-750 - Maguey Bloodletting Ritual, fragment of a fresco from Teotihuacan, Mexico, is made. Teotihuacan culture. It is now kept at the Cleveland Museum of Art.source
  • Possibly the first reference to chess is made in the Persian work Karnamak-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan.source

Births

  • September 11 – Yuknoom the Great a Maya ruler of Calakmulsource
  • Yan Liben, Chinese painter (approximate date)source
  • Li Shimin, son of Chinese General Li Yuan (the Duke of Tang)source
  • Audomar, bishop of Thérouanne (approximate date)source
  • Cunibert, bishop of Cologne (approximate date)source
  • Judoc, Breton noble and Catholic saint (d. 668)source
  • Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muslim caliph and Shī‘ah imām (approximate date)source
  • Birinus, bishop of Dorchester (approximate date)source
  • Candrakīrti, Indian Madhyamaka philosophersource
  • Remaclus, bishop of Maastricht (approximate date)source
  • Bhāskara I, Indian mathematician (approximate date)source
  • Wandregisel, Frankish monk and abbot (approximate date)source

Deaths

  • March 13 - Leander, bishop of Seville possibly in 601)source
  • Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, one of the last representatives of Classical Latin poetrysource
  • Uatu mac Áedo, king of Connacht (Ireland)source
  • Yang Jun, prince of the Sui dynasty (b. 571)source
  • Bhavavarman I, king of Cambodiasource
  • Cainnech of Aghaboe, Irish abbot and saint (b. c.515)source
  • Aedh Buidhe, king of Uí Maine (Ireland)source