THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · High Middle Ages

The Millennium Turns

The world in 1000

In the year 1000, Song China, ruled by Emperor Zhenzong from the bustling city of Kaifeng, is the richest and most technologically advanced society on Earth, with printing, paper money on the way and a civil service chosen by examination. It faces powerful northern neighbours, the Khitan Liao.

The Islamic world is split among three caliphs: the Abbasid in Baghdad, under the control of the Buyid emirs; the Fatimid al-Hakim in Cairo; and the Umayyad in Córdoba, where the general Almanzor holds power. Mahmud of Ghazni is launching his raids into India. The Byzantine Empire under Basil II is at its medieval peak. In Europe, new Christian kingdoms are being born: Poland, Hungary, and the Rus of Vladimir the Great, while Emperor Otto III dreams of reviving Rome. In South India the Chola king Rajaraja I is building an empire. Norse sailors have reached Greenland and are exploring North America, and in Mexico the Toltecs dominate from Tula.

Open the map in 1000

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

In the Limpopo valley, chiefdoms such as K2 are growing rich on ivory and gold traded to the coast, and will soon give rise to Mapungubwe; early stone-walled settlement is beginning on the Zimbabwe plateau. Swahili towns such as Kilwa and Shanga trade with Arabia, Persia and India. Madagascar is home to Malagasy farming chiefdoms, and Khoisan peoples hold the southwest.

Northern Africa

The Fatimid Caliphate, under the unpredictable al-Hakim (r. 996–1021), rules Egypt, Syria and the Hejaz from Cairo, with the Zirids governing Tunisia for them. Christian Makuria and Alodia rule Nubia. In West Africa, the empire of Ghana is at its height, controlling the gold trade, while Gao, Takrur and Kanem are important trading kingdoms.

Europe

Otto III (r. 996–1002) rules the Holy Roman Empire and, in 1000, visits Gniezno to honour Poland's ruler Bolesław I the Brave, while Stephen I is crowned first king of Hungary (1000 or 1001). Vladimir the Great rules a newly Christian Kyivan Rus, Basil II rules a resurgent Byzantine Empire at war with Bulgaria, Robert II rules France, and Æthelred the Unready struggles against Danish raids in England. Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark wins the sea battle of Svolder against Norway's Olaf Tryggvason, and in Spain the Caliphate of Córdoba is at its peak under Almanzor, while Iceland adopts Christianity.

Middle East & South Asia

The Buyid emirs, under Baha al-Dawla, rule Iraq and western Iran and control the Abbasid caliph al-Qadir in Baghdad, while the Fatimids hold Syria and the Byzantines Anatolia and parts of northern Syria. Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998–1030) rules Afghanistan and eastern Iran and will defeat the Hindu Shahi king Jayapala in 1001. In India, the Chola king Rajaraja I (r. 985–1014) rules the Tamil south, the Western Chalukyas the Deccan, the Palas Bengal, and many Rajput kingdoms the north.

Northern & Central Asia

The Samanid Empire has just been destroyed (999) by the Karakhanids, a Turkic Muslim dynasty that now rules Transoxiana, and the Ghaznavids, who took Khorasan. The Kimek and Kipchak Turks dominate the western Siberian steppe, the Oghuz roam near the Aral Sea, and the Volga Bulgars and Pechenegs hold the western steppe. Siberia is home to hunting and reindeer-herding peoples.

East Asia

The Song dynasty, founded in 960, rules China from Kaifeng under Emperor Zhenzong (r. 997–1022). The Khitan Liao dynasty, under Emperor Shengzong and his formidable mother the Empress Dowager Xiao, rules Manchuria, Mongolia and part of north China, and the Tanguts under Li Jiqian are building the future Western Xia state in the northwest. Goryeo rules Korea, and Heian Japan, under Emperor Ichijō and the all-powerful minister Fujiwara no Michinaga, is the world of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji; Tibet is fragmented.

Southeast Asia

The Khmer Empire rules from Angkor, where Suryavarman I will soon take power (c. 1006). Srivijaya controls the Strait of Malacca and is at war with the Javanese kingdom of Mataram, which collapses in 1016. Đại Cồ Việt, independent from China since 938, is ruled by Lê Hoàn, and Champa, Pagan and the Mon kingdoms rule elsewhere in the region.

Northern North America

Norse settlers led by Erik the Red have colonized Greenland since 985, and around 1000 Leif Erikson reaches Vinland; a Norse camp at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland dates to this period. The Thule culture is taking shape in coastal Alaska; its rapid eastward migration, which will displace the Dorset, begins only around 1200. Athabaskan, Algonquian and Beothuk peoples hunt the forests.

Southern North America

The Toltecs dominate central Mexico from Tula, and Chichen Itza, with strong Toltec-style art, is the leading city of Yucatán. The Mixtecs and Zapotecs hold Oaxaca. In the Southwest, Chaco Canyon is the hub of the Ancestral Puebloan world, and the Mississippian culture is rising in the Mississippi valley, where Cahokia will soon grow into a city. In the Caribbean, Taino chiefdoms are forming.

Northern South America

The Wari Empire has collapsed and Tiwanaku is in decline, leaving the Andes divided among regional states. On the north coast of Peru the Sicán culture produces spectacular gold work, and the Chimú are beginning to build their kingdom. Tupi peoples live along the Brazilian coast, and chiefdoms flourish in the Amazon and the Colombian highlands.

Southern Cone

Hunter-gatherers occupy the pampas and Patagonia, and canoe peoples the southern channels. Diaguita farmers live in northwest Argentina, Mapuche ancestors in central Chile, and Guarani farmers in Paraguay and southern Brazil.

Australasia & Oceania

Aboriginal Australians live across the continent. Polynesians are about to settle eastern Polynesia, beginning with the Society Islands (c. 1025–1120 by recent radiocarbon dating), while the Tu'i Tonga line of sacred kings is founded in Tonga (c. 950). New Zealand and Rapa Nui are still unsettled.

Events

  1. Song dynasty founded
  2. Otto I crowned emperor, founding the Holy Roman Empire
  3. Erik the Red founds the Norse colony in Greenland
  4. Vladimir of Kyiv converts to Christianity
  5. Samanid Empire falls to the Karakhanids
  6. Stephen I crowned king of Hungary (1000 or 1001)
  7. Leif Erikson reaches North America (c. 1000)
  8. Mahmud of Ghazni defeats Jayapala at Peshawar

Moments of this period

Wars of this period

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Sources