The 10th century

Africa

1. 🇰🇲COM

   Comoros · Economy & Trade · 9th–12th century

   Dembeni phase and Indian Ocean trade

   The Dembeni-phase settlement flourishes as one of the richest sites of its age in the region, trading rock crystal and other goods with the Abbasid and Fatimid worlds and importing Persian and Chinese ceramics.

   Settlement and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: Dembeni (archaeological site) (Wikipedia) · Islamic Archaeology in the Comoros: The Swahili and the Rock Crystal Trade with the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates (Journal of Islamic Archaeology) · History of the Comoros (Wikipedia)

2. 🇩🇯DJI

   Djibouti · Religion · c. 9th–10th century

   Zeila a centre of Islam and trade

   The port of Zeila, just south of present-day Djibouti, grows into one of the oldest Muslim towns of the Horn and a hub of Red Sea commerce serving the interior.

   Ancient Trade and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: History of Djibouti (Wikipedia) · Djibouti (New World Encyclopedia)

3. 🇬🇲GMB

   Gambia · Culture & Ideas · c. 10th–14th centuries CE

   A sacred landscape of more than a thousand monuments

   Over fifteen centuries a prosperous, organised society created more than 1,000 stone circles and tumuli across a band some 100 km wide along 350 km of the river; burials near Wassu date to roughly AD 900–1300.

   Stone circles and the peoples of the river

   Sources: Stone Circles of Senegambia (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Senegambian stone circles (Wikipedia) · Stone circles of Senegambia (Smarthistory)

4. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · Religion · c. 9th–10th century CE

   Islam established on the Somali coast

   Trade and migration across the Gulf of Aden carry Islam to the Horn, and Muslim merchant communities take root in the coastal towns that become Somalia's medieval city-states.

   Islam, the Coastal City-States and the Adal Sultanate

   Sources: Somalia (country and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Somalia (Wikipedia)

5. SOL

   Somaliland · Economy & Trade · c. 9th–13th century

   Zeila flourishes as a trading emporium

   The port of Zeila became a major centre of medieval Islamic commerce, exporting goods of the interior and importing wares from across the Red Sea, and an early seat of Muslim political power on the coast.

   An Ancient Coast: Zeila, Islam and Adal

   Sources: Zeila (Wikipedia) · A complete history of Zeila (Zayla), a medieval city in Somaliland (African History Extra)

Asia

1. 🇰🇬KGZ

   Kyrgyzstan · Culture & Ideas · c. 9th–12th c.

   Transmission of the epic of Manas

   The Kyrgyz preserved the vast oral epic of Manas, recited by bards (manaschi), telling of the legendary hero who united the Kyrgyz tribes; it remains the cornerstone of Kyrgyz cultural memory.

   The Yenisei Kyrgyz and the Epic of Manas

   Sources: Manas the Noble (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Kyrgyz epic trilogy: Manas, Semetey, Seytek (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage)

2. 🇵🇭PHL

   Philippines · Formation · 900 CE

   The Laguna Copperplate Inscription

   Dated to 900 CE, the earliest known Philippine document records a debt remission and reveals an organised society of datus and nobles already linked to the wider Malay and Javanese world.

   Barangays, Indianised Polities and the Islamic Sultanates

   Sources: Philippines (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Culture & Ideas · from 870

   Birth of the Maltese language

   The Arabic of the islands' settlers evolved into Maltese, a Semitic language that is unique in being written in the Latin alphabet and that survives as the national language today.

   Arabs, Normans and Medieval Malta

   Sources: Maltese (people) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇳🇴NOR

   Norway · Economy & Trade · c. 900

   Control of the coastal trade routes

   From his base at Avaldsnes on Karmøy, Harald Fairhair dominated the coastal sailing route that linked northern Norway with the markets of Kaupang and Hedeby, anchoring royal power in trade.

   The Viking Age and the Unification of Norway

   Sources: Harald 1 Hårfagre (Store norske leksikon)

North America

1. 🇧🇿BLZ

   Belize · Catastrophe · 9th–10th centuries

   The Classic Maya collapse

   From the late eighth century the southern lowland cities ceased raising monuments and were abandoned, in a prolonged collapse attributed to drought, environmental stress and warfare — though Lamanai and scattered Maya communities endured.

   The land of the Maya

   Sources: History of Belize (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Guyana and Belize: Country Studies (Federal Research Division) (Library of Congress)

2. 🇬🇹GTM

   Guatemala · Catastrophe · c. 900 CE

   Classic Maya collapse

   Tikal and the southern lowland centres are depopulated and abandoned as the Classic Maya order disintegrates.

   The Maya Heartland

   Sources: Maya (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Tikal National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · War & Rupture · early 10th c.

   Fall of Great Moravia

   Weakened by internal division and overwhelmed by the Magyars, Great Moravia disintegrated in the early tenth century, and leadership of the western Slavs shifted to the Premyslid dukes of Bohemia.

   Great Moravia, Saint Wenceslas and the Premyslid Dukes

   Sources: Great Moravia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇰SVK

   Slovakia · War & Rupture · 906–907

   Fall of Great Moravia to the Magyars

   Weakened by internal strife and Frankish wars, Great Moravia collapsed as the Magyars occupied the Carpathian Basin; a Magyar victory in 906–907 is taken to mark the end of the state.

   Great Moravia and the Mission of Cyril and Methodius

   Sources: Moravia (and Great Moravia) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Slovakia (Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal))

Africa

1. 🇹🇳TUN

   Tunisia · Religion · 909 CE

   Fatimid Caliphate

   The Shia Fatimids overthrow the Aghlabids; after moving to Cairo in 972 they leave the Zirids to govern locally.

   Islam, Kairouan & the Medieval Dynasties

   Sources: The Great Mosque of Kairouan (Smarthistory) · History of Tunisia (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇰🇵PRK

   North Korea · Formation · 918 CE

   Goryeo dynasty founded

   Wang Geon establishes the Goryeo dynasty, which reunifies the peninsula and gives rise to the Western name Korea.

   Shared Korean Heritage

   Sources: Korea (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇰🇷KOR

   South Korea · Formation · 918 CE

   Wang Geon founds Goryeo

   The general Wang Geon establishes the Goryeo dynasty at Kaesong; by 936 he reunifies the peninsula, giving rise to the Western name Korea.

   Unified Silla and Goryeo

   Sources: Koryo (Goryeo) dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Korea (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Formation · c. 925

   Tomislav recognised as king of the Croats

   Having united the Croats of Dalmatia and Pannonia and held off the Magyars and Bulgars, Tomislav was addressed as king in letters of Pope John X and is regarded by tradition as the first king of a unified Croatia.

   The Medieval Kingdom and the Union with Hungary

   Sources: Tomislav, ruler of Croatia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Croatia in Europe through the Ages: Development of the State (Croatia.eu (Miroslav Krleza Institute of Lexicography))

Europe

1. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · Formation

   England unified under Athelstan

   By capturing Viking-held York and securing the submission of other rulers, Athelstan became the first king to rule over all of England, forging a single English kingdom.

   Roman Britain and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

   Sources: Athelstan, King of England (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Story of England: 1066 and the Norman Conquest (English Heritage)

Europe

1. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · Religion · c. 929

   Martyrdom of Saint Wenceslas

   Wenceslas (Vaclav), Premyslid duke of Bohemia and promoter of Christianity, was murdered by his brother and was at once venerated as a martyr, becoming the patron saint of the Czech nation.

   Great Moravia, Saint Wenceslas and the Premyslid Dukes

   Sources: Wenceslas I, prince of Bohemia (Saint Wenceslas) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Politics & Power · 929 CE

   Caliphate of Córdoba proclaimed

   Abd al-Rahman III declared himself caliph at Córdoba, marking the political and cultural zenith of Al-Andalus, whose capital became a leading centre of learning and the arts in Europe.

   Al-Andalus and the Reconquista

   Sources: Al-Andalus (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Art of the Umayyad Period in Spain (711–1031) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Europe

1. 🇮🇸ISL

   Iceland · Formation

   Founding of the Althing at Þingvellir

   The settlers established a general assembly, the Althing, on the plain of Þingvellir, where law was recited from the Law Rock; it is one of the oldest parliaments in the world and the centre of the Icelandic Commonwealth.

   The Settlement and the Icelandic Commonwealth

   Sources: History of Þingvellir and the Alþing (Þingvellir National Park (official)) · Thingvellir (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Discovery and Settlement of Iceland (Encyclopedia.com)

2. 🇮🇸ISL

   Iceland · Politics & Power · 930–1262

   The Icelandic Commonwealth

   A stateless society of chieftains and farmers governed itself for over three centuries through the Althing and its law council, without a king or central executive.

   The Settlement and the Icelandic Commonwealth

   Sources: History of Þingvellir and the Alþing (Þingvellir National Park (official)) · Iceland: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇳🇴NOR

   Norway · Politics & Power · c. 930–933

   Death of Harald Fairhair and fragmentation

   On Harald's death his realm broke apart among his sons, beginning decades of dynastic conflict, though the idea of a single Norwegian kingship endured.

   The Viking Age and the Unification of Norway

   Sources: Harald 1 Hårfagre (Store norske leksikon)

Europe

1. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · Formation · c. 936–958

   Reign of Gorm the Old at Jelling

   Gorm the Old, the first historically recognised king of Denmark, ruled from Jelling in Jutland and raised the older Jelling stone in memory of his wife Thyra, founding the royal line that endures today.

   The Viking Age and the Birth of the Kingdom

   Sources: Denmark: The Viking era (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Gorm the Old, Harald Bluetooth and Svein Forkbeard (National Museum of Denmark)

Asia

1. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · Independence · 938 CE

   Battle of Bach Dang and independence

   Ngo Quyen destroys a Southern Han fleet at the Bach Dang River using hidden iron-tipped stakes, ending Chinese rule; he proclaims himself king in 939.

   Legendary Origins and a Thousand Years of Chinese Rule

   Sources: Ngo Quyen (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇹🇯TJK

   Tajikistan · Culture & Ideas · 10th century CE

   Rudaki and the rebirth of Persian poetry

   At the Samanid court in Bukhara, the poet Rudaki composes in New Persian and is honoured as the father of Persian poetry, anchoring the literary heritage Tajiks claim as their own.

   The Samanid Golden Age

   Sources: Rūdakī — Persian poet (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Samanid dynasty (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇲🇿MOZ

   Mozambique · Economy & Trade · 10th century CE

   Sofala recorded as a gold port

   The geographer al-Masʿudi describes Muslim trade in the Sofala region; Sofala becomes the chief outlet for gold carried down from the interior highlands.

   The Swahili Coast and the Gold of Sofala

   Sources: Sofala (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · A history of the medieval coastal towns of Mozambique (c. 500–1890 CE) (African History Extra) · Sofala (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. 🇲🇱MLI

   Mali · Economy & Trade · c. 950

   Ibn Hawqal records Ghana's wealth

   The Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal, visiting the western Sudan, describes Ghana's ruler as among the richest kings in the world on account of his gold.

   The Ghana Empire (Wagadou)

   Sources: The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade (7th–14th Century) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) · Rise and Fall of Ghana (EBSCO Research Starters)

Asia

1. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Economy & Trade · 960 CE

   Song dynasty and a commercial revolution

   The Song dynasty (960-1279) presides over an economic and technological boom, introducing movable-type printing, government paper money, the navigational compass, and gunpowder weapons.

   Division, Reunification, and the Tang-Song Golden Age

   Sources: Song Dynasty and the golden age (Asia for Educators) (Columbia University, Asia for Educators) · China (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇦🇲ARM

   Armenia · Culture & Ideas · c. 961

   Ani becomes the Bagratid capital

   King Ashot III moved the capital to Ani, which flourished as a major medieval city known as the 'city of a thousand churches' for its cathedral and monastic architecture.

   Bagratid Ani and Cilician Armenia

   Sources: Ani, historical city, Armenia (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇩🇪DEU

   Germany · Formation · 2 Feb 962

   Otto I crowned emperor

   Pope John XII crowned Otto I of East Francia emperor in Rome, uniting the German and Italian kingdoms and founding the Holy Roman Empire that would frame German political life for over 800 years.

   The Holy Roman Empire and the Reformation

   Sources: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇱🇺LUX

   Luxembourg · Formation

   Siegfried acquires Lucilinburhuc

   Count Siegfried of the Ardennes obtained the rocky promontory of Lucilinburhuc above the Alzette and built a castle on the Bock, the founding act of the city, the country and the nation.

   Siegfried's Rock and the County of Luxembourg

   Sources: History of the City of Luxembourg (Ville de Luxembourg (City of Luxembourg)) · History of the city of Luxembourg (Luxembourg City Tourist Office)

Europe

1. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · Religion · c. 965

   Christianization of the Danes

   Harald Bluetooth accepted Christianity around 965, the official start of Denmark's conversion, binding the new kingdom to Latin Christendom and to the wider culture of medieval Europe.

   The Viking Age and the Birth of the Kingdom

   Sources: Harald I, king of Denmark (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Jelling Stone (National Museum of Denmark)

2. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · Formation · c. 965

   The Jelling Stone names Denmark

   King Harald Bluetooth raised a great rune-stone at Jelling proclaiming that he had unified Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian; it carries the earliest written record of the name Denmark.

   The Viking Age and the Birth of the Kingdom

   Sources: Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · The Jelling Stone (National Museum of Denmark)

Europe

1. 🇵🇱POL

   Poland · Religion

   The Baptism of Poland

   Duke Mieszko I accepted Christianity in the Latin rite, conventionally dated to 14 April 966, bringing his realm into Western Christendom and marking the traditional birth of the Polish state.

   The Birth of the Piast State and the Christianization of Poland

   Sources: Mieszko I (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Historical Facts about the Baptism of Poland (Culture.pl (Adam Mickiewicz Institute))

Asia

1. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Politics & Power · 10th century CE

   The Sharifate of Mecca takes shape

   A line of sharifs descended from the Prophet came to administer Mecca and the Hejaz, holding local authority for nearly a thousand years under shifting overlords.

   The Caliphates and the Hejaz under Outside Rule

   Sources: Sharifate of Mecca (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Politics & Power · 969 CE

   Fatimids conquer Egypt and found Cairo

   The Fatimid general Jawhar conquers Egypt and founds al-Qahira (Cairo); the al-Azhar mosque, begun in 970, becomes a great seat of learning.

   Islamic Egypt: Caliphs, Fatimids and Mamluks

   Sources: Egypt: The Ayyubid dynasty (1171–1250) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Formation

   Carniola first attested

   The march of Carniola, in the central part of present-day Slovenia, appears in the records as a frontier zone of the empire, the nucleus of the duchy that would later define the Slovene lands.

   Carantania and the Slavic Settlement of the Eastern Alps

   Sources: History of Slovenia (Government of Slovenia (gov.si)) · Slovenia: The Middle Ages (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇦🇹AUT

   Austria · Formation

   The Eastern March granted to the Babenbergs

   The marchia orientalis, a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire on the Danube, was entrusted to Count Liutpold of the Bavarian house of Babenberg, beginning their long rule over the future Austria.

   Ostarrîchi: The Babenberg March and Duchy

   Sources: Ostarrîchi: Austria under the Babenbergs (Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs))

North America

1. 🇬🇱GRL

   Greenland · Colonisation · c. 985

   Erik the Red founds the Norse colony

   Erik the Red, exiled from Iceland, led settlers to south-west Greenland and established the Eastern and Western Settlements, the first European colony on the island.

   Erik the Red and the Norse Colony

   Sources: Erik the Red, Norse explorer (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇫🇷FRA

   France · Formation

   Hugh Capet elected king

   Beginning of the Capetian dynasty and the long consolidation of the French crown.

   The Franks & the Birth of France

   Sources: Hugh Capet (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇾BLR

   Belarus · Religion · c. 988

   Christianization of the Rus lands

   The conversion of Kievan Rus to Orthodox Christianity in the late tenth century bound Polotsk and the Belarusian lands to Byzantine Christendom and its written, ecclesiastical culture.

   Polotsk and the Early East Slavs

   Sources: History of Belarus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇷🇺RUS

   Russia · Religion · c. 988 CE

   Vladimir the Great adopts Orthodox Christianity

   Vladimir of Kiev is baptized and orders the mass baptism of his people in the Dnieper, adopting Byzantine Orthodox Christianity as the state religion and binding the Rus' to Constantinople's faith and culture.

   Kievan Rus' and the Mongol Yoke

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Christianization of Kievan Rus' (Wikipedia)

3. 🇺🇦UKR

   Ukraine · Religion

   The Baptism of Rus'

   Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great adopted Christianity in the Byzantine rite and had the people of Kyiv baptized, bringing Rus' into Eastern Christendom and shaping the culture of the East Slavs.

   Kievan Rus' and the Baptism of 988

   Sources: Vladimir I (Volodymyr the Great) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Kyivan Rus (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇦🇹AUT

   Austria · Formation · 1 Nov 996

   First mention of 'Ostarrîchi'

   A charter of Emperor Otto III used the word 'Ostarrîchi', the 'eastern realm', the earliest recorded form of the name Österreich (Austria), referring to the Babenberg march.

   Ostarrîchi: The Babenberg March and Duchy

   Sources: Ostarrîchi: Austria under the Babenbergs (Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs))

2. 🇭🇺HUN

   Hungary · Religion

   Pannonhalma Abbey founded

   Benedictine monks settled at Pannonhalma, founding Hungary's first Christian monastery; it would help convert the Magyars, found the country's first school and, in 1055, produce the first document written in Hungarian.

   The Magyar Conquest and the Christian Kingdom

   Sources: Millenary Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and its Natural Environment (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇲🇰MKD

   North Macedonia · Formation · reigned to 1014

   Tsar Samuel's state centred on Ohrid

   Samuel built a powerful western Bulgarian state with its capital and a patriarchate at Ohrid, resisting Byzantine expansion for decades until his defeat by the emperor Basil II.

   Slavic Settlement, Tsar Samuel and the Ohrid Archbishopric

   Sources: Samuel, tsar of western Bulgaria (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · North Macedonia: History (Ancient, Ottoman, Yugoslav) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇦🇫AFG

   Afghanistan · Politics & Power · 998–1030 CE

   Mahmud of Ghazni and the Ghaznavid empire

   Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni builds a vast empire from Afghanistan into Iran and India and turns his capital Ghazni into a centre of Islamic culture and learning.

   Islam, the Ghaznavids, Ghurids and Timurids

   Sources: Ghaznavid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Maḥmūd — sultan of Ghazna (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇰🇿KAZ

   Kazakhstan · Economy & Trade · 10th–12th centuries

   Silk Road towns of the south flourish

   Caravan cities such as Otrar, Taraz, Sauran, and Yasi prosper on the trade between China and the Mediterranean, becoming centres of commerce, craft, and Islamic learning along the southern Kazakh steppe.

   The Saka and the Turkic Steppe

   Sources: History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇹🇯TJK

   Tajikistan · War & Rupture · 999 CE

   Karakhanid conquest of Bukhara

   The Turkic Karakhanids capture Bukhara, ending Samanid rule in Transoxania and opening centuries of Turkic and Mongol domination over the region.

   The Samanid Golden Age

   Sources: Samanid dynasty (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Tajikistan (Encyclopædia Britannica)