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