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Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 10th century AD.
The 10th century is the period from 901 to 1000 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era.
[edit] Overview
The tenth century is usually regarded as a low point in European history. In China it was also a period of political upheaval. In the Muslim World, however, it was a cultural zenith, especially in Spain. Also it was the zenith for the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires.
Medievalist and historian of technology Lynn White said that "to the modern eye, it is very nearly the darkest of the Dark Ages", but concluded that ". . . if it was dark, it was the darkness of the womb."[1] Similarly, Helen Waddell wrote that the tenth century was that which "in the textbooks disputes with the seventh the bad eminence, the nadir of the human intellect."[2] Even in the fifteenth century, Lorenzo Valla described it as the Century of Lead and Iron.
[edit] Events
This statue of a
yogini goddess was created in Kaveripakkam in
Tamil Nadu,
India, during the 10th century.
[edit] Africa
[edit] Americas
[edit] Eurasia
- Buddhist temple construction commences at Bagan, Myanmar
- In 932, the first use of gunpowder in battle occurred with the Chinese Battle of Lang-shan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River), where the naval fleet of the Wen-Mu King was defeated by Qian Yuan-guan because he had used 'fire oil' (huo yóu, 火油) of gunpowder-fuse ignited flamethrowers to burn his fleet.
- Laguna Copperplate Inscription, Kavi script, inscribed in Luzon, Philippines, dated Saka year 822 (AD 900)
- In 910 Parantaka I of the Chola Dynasty drove out the Pandayas from southern India into Sri Lanka, which he also eventually conquered.
- Coastal cities on the Malay Peninsula are the seed for the first recorded Malay kingdoms
- 993 — the Arab maritime captain Abu Himyarite from Yemen toured Guangzhou port, and was an avid visitor to China
[edit] Europe
The Bulgarian victory at Anchialos.
[edit] Oceania
[edit] Significant people
Half-section of the
Night Revels of Han Xizai, by
Chinese artist Gu Hongzhong, 10th century. A women is seen entertaining guests with a
pipa on the right-hand side.
[edit] Africa
[edit] Americas
[edit] Eurasia & Eastern Roman Empire
- Adikavi Pampa an early Kannada language poet (born in 902)
- Ranna, an early Kannada language poet from India, (born in 949)
- Huyan Zan, Chinese general (died in 1000)
- Li Cheng, Chinese landscape painter
- Tailapa II, re-established the Western Chalukya Empire of India (reigned 973-997)
- Zhang Sixun, Chinese astronomer and mechanical engineer
- Ferdowsi Persian poet
- Li Fang, Chinese scholar and encyclopedist (925-996)
- Emperor Taizu of Song, founder of the Chinese Song Dynasty (lived March 21, 927–November 14, 976, reigned 960-976)
- Parantaka I, ruler of the Chola Dynasty of India (reigned 907-950)
[edit] Europe
- Harald Fairhair, king of Norway, united Norway in 872 and remained it's ruler until 933. One of the most powerfull lords of Europe at the time.
- Tomislav, king of Croatia,united the medieval Croatian state into the Kingdom of Croatia , crowned in 925
- Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba
- Simeon the Great, Emperor of Bulgaria (reigned 893–927)
- Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor (lived 912–973, reigned 936–973)
- King Edmund I of England (lived 921–946, reigned 939–946)
- Hugh Capet (lived 938–996), first Capetian King of France
- Géza of Hungary, ruler of the Magyars (lived 940–997, reigned 970–997)
- Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (lived 955–983, reigned 973–983)
- Theophanu, wife of Otto II, mother and Regent of Otto III, (lived 956–991, reigned 983–991)
- Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria (lived 958–1014, reigned 976–1014)
- Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (lived 980–1002, reigned 983–1002)
- Erik the Red, Norwegian explorer, founded Greenland
- Leif Eiriksson, Norwegian explorer, son of Eirik the Red, made the first European attempt to settle in America.
- Olav Tryggvason becomes the first king to try to Christianize Norway, dies at the Battle of Svolder in 1000 AD.
[edit] Oceania
[edit] Inventions, discoveries, introductions
Earliest known representation of a gun (a
fire lance) and a
grenade (upper right), from the cave murals of
Dunhuang, China, 10th century.
[edit] Decades and years
- ^ Quoted in The Tenth Century: How Dark the Dark Ages?, edited by Robert Sabatine Lopez. Holt, Reinhart and Winston: 1959.
- ^ The Wandering Scholars. Constable and Co: London, 1927.
[edit] Further reading
- Heinrich Fichtenau: Living in the Tenth Century: Mentalities and Social Orders (transl. Patrick J. Geary; Chicago cool London: 1991).
