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10th Century Timeline: 901 to 1000

904 Recent emperors in China have been incompetent and the puppets of palace eunuchs. Many in China believe that these emperors have lost the Mandate of Heaven.

905 China's emperor looses control over Annam (northern Vietnam). There a village notable, Khuc Thua Du, has led a rebellion. The Chinese garrison at Tong Binh (Hanoi) is vanquished. Khuc Thua Du declares Annam autonomous.

911 The King of France, Charles III, gives part of the territory to be known later as Normandy to Vikings in return for the Viking leader, a Norwegian, Rollo pledging his allegiance to him - the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. Rollo and his Vikings (mostly Danes) are to defend his part of the coast of France from attacks by other Vikings.

912 Rollo and his Vikings become Christian.

924 Bulgarians overrun the lands of Prince Caslav Klonimirovic in what today is Serbia.

927 Prince Caslov drives away the Bulgarians and expands his kingdom, uniting what today is Serbia, Montenegro, East Herzegovina (Hercegovina) and Bosnia, then called Raska, Duklja, Travunija and Bosnia - said by Serbians to be the founding of Serbia. Orthodox Christianity is the state religion.

929 At Cordoba Spain, Abd-ar-Rahman, of the Umayyad dynasty, elevates himself from an emir to caliph, putting himself in rivalry with the Abbasid caliph at Baghdad.

950 Women in a Chinese harem invent playing cards.

960 In China, palace guards surround their commander and demand that he become emperor. The commander agrees but only if they vow to obey him and not plunder, not harm citizens and not harm the ruling family they are overthrowing. The troops agree. The new emperor is Taizu, who will begin the Song Dynasty.

970 Córdoba, on the Iberian Peninsula, is Europe's intellectual center and the world's most populous city. Constantinople is the only other European city in the top ten of the world's most populous cities. Córdoba is a Muslim city. Caliph al Hakam II has been in power since 961 and is contributing to the building of Cordoba's libraries. Córdoba has Europe's best university, with a spirit of free inquiry. It has medical schools. Work is being done also in math and astronomy. The city is tolerant toward its Jewish and Christian minority.

970 In China, paper money, invented there around 100 C.E., now dominates as the monatary unit.

975 Europeans begin to use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, et cetera), which are more convenient in arithmatic than Roman numerals.

980 Wealthy landowners in Japan have freed themselves from paying taxes. The government has little in revenues and has stopped supporting a national army. The wealthy landowners have been consolidating their various lands into single administrative units and creating their own armies. The men hired for these armies are to be known as samurai (men who serve), or bushi (warriors).

982 Erik the Red has been expelled from Iceland. He leads a group in the exploration of Greenland.

985 Erik the Red has returned to Iceland. With 25 ships filled with people and their belongings he heads back to Greenland. Many are lost at sea. With the 350 persons who arrive in Greenland, he establishes a settlement.

988 In Kiev, Prince Vladimir I adopts the religion of the Byzantine Empire as the state religion of the Rus' state.

990 Between Timbuktu and the Atlantic coast, authoritarian kings have enriched themselves by forcing tradesmen to give them a cut in the gold that has been passing through their territory from mines to their south on their way northward. Their kingdom is called Ghana. Ghana extends its empire by conquering the Berber-dominated town of Awdaghost, to the northwest of Ghana, and Ghana is now at the peak of its power.

1000 A few Turks are in Iran employed as soldiers. Now tribes of Turks start moving into Iran.

1000 Muslims looking forward to the future are expanding southward along the Somali coast in eastern Africa. The town of Mogadishu is founded, where Muslim merchants are to trade in gold dust from the south.

1000 For centuries Christians have been expecting the Second Coming of Jesus - the Day of Judgment. Giving importance to a round figure such as 1000, and assuming that Jesus was born in the exactly one thousand years earlier, many believe this is the year that it will happen. The passing of the year leaves believers thanking God the postponement of Armageddon.

1000 Per capita world Gross Domestic Product (according to today's economic historian Angus Maddison) is $435, measured in 1990 dollars. This (according to Maddison) is down from $444 in the year 1.