Culture & IdeasThe 9th century

Culture & Ideas in the 9th century

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged culture and ideas — art, language, science and learning, narrowed to the 9th century — 9 of them, drawn from 8 nations, running from 800 to 886. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
9
Nations
8
Earliest
800
Latest
886
Asia
4
Africa
3
Europe
2

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. — Asia:

    Bangladesh

    Somapura Mahavihara built at Paharpur

    The Pala king Dharmapala builds the great monastery of Somapura at Paharpur, one of the largest Buddhist viharas south of the Himalayas and a centre of learning for centuries; today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    Era: Buddhist and Hindu Bengal: the Pala and Sena Dynasties

    Sources: Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Pala dynasty · Encyclopædia Britannica

  2. — Asia:

    Iraq

    The House of Wisdom and the Golden Age

    Under Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun, Baghdad's scholars — associated with the Bayt al-Hikmah, the 'House of Wisdom' — translate and advance Greek, Persian and Indian learning during the Islamic Golden Age.

    Era: Abbasid Baghdad and the Islamic Golden Age

    Sources: Hārūn al-Rashīd — Abbasid caliph · Encyclopædia Britannica, Bayt al-Ḥikmah — House of Wisdom · Encyclopædia Britannica

  3. — Africa:

    Kenya

    Rise of the Swahili coast

    Coastal Bantu communities trading across the Indian Ocean develop the Swahili language and an Afro-Islamic urban culture, founding settlements that grow into city-states.

    Era: Migrations and the Swahili Coast

    Sources: Swahili coast · Wikipedia, Kenya: People and ethnic groups · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  4. — Africa:

    Tanzania

    Rise of the Swahili coast

    Coastal communities trading across the Indian Ocean develop the Swahili language and an Afro-Islamic urban culture, founding settlements that grow into trading city-states.

    Era: Bantu Settlers and the Swahili Coast

    Sources: Swahili language · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Swahili language · Wikipedia

  5. — Asia:

    Iraq

    Samarra becomes the Abbasid capital

    The caliphs move their capital upriver to Samarra, building immense palaces and the Great Mosque with its spiral Malwiya minaret, today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

    Era: Abbasid Baghdad and the Islamic Golden Age

    Sources: Samarra Archaeological City — UNESCO World Heritage List · UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  6. — Africa:

    Nigeria

    The bronzes of Igbo-Ukwu

    An Igbo community at Igbo-Ukwu produced sophisticated cast-bronze ritual objects and vast quantities of trade beads, evidence of advanced metalworking and long-distance trade in the southeastern forests.

    Era: The Nok culture and Nigeria's early societies

    Sources: Nigeria (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hausa City-States (ca. 1000–1815) · BlackPast.org

  7. — Asia:

    Uzbekistan

    Samanid Bukhara, a centre of the Islamic Golden Age

    The Persian Samanid dynasty makes Bukhara its capital, a rival to Baghdad whose court fosters Persian literature, science and the refined art and architecture of the Islamic Golden Age.

    Era: The Arab Conquest and the Samanid Golden Age

    Sources: Samanid dynasty · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bukhara — Uzbekistan, Map, History & Facts · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  8. — Europe:

    Bulgaria

    Cyrillic and the Preslav and Ohrid schools

    Boris I gave refuge to the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who in the literary schools of Preslav and Ohrid developed the Cyrillic script and a Slavonic Christian literature that spread across the Orthodox Slavic world.

    Era: Thracians, Asparukh's Khanate and the First Bulgarian Empire

    Sources: Boris I · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Bulgaria · Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria

  9. — Europe:

    North Macedonia

    The Ohrid literary school of Clement and Naum

    Saint Clement of Ohrid, with Saint Naum, founded a Slavonic literary school at Ohrid, spreading the Slavic script and Christian learning and making the city a cradle of medieval Slavic culture.

    Era: Slavic Settlement, Tsar Samuel and the Ohrid Archbishopric

    Sources: Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, North Macedonia: History (Ancient, Ottoman, Yugoslav) · Encyclopaedia Britannica