By year
Steppe Chronology
Every dated statement in the atlas, in one column. It merges the chronology proper with the dates that only the articles hold — when a ruler died, how long a realm stood, and, on the same line as the events they report, when the sources themselves were written.
- Span
- Death
- War
- Realm
- Reign
- Source written
1181 entries across 434 years. The marks tell politics from culture, economy, technology and environment; the buttons above hide a kind while you read. A year with an entry of its own links to its page, where the steppe, China, Persia and Byzantium stand side by side. The column reaches further at both ends than the subject does: the sources that report these events were written from the first century BC to the eleventh, and neighbours such as Byzantium outlived the steppe empires by centuries. 449 articles carry no date at all — titles, beliefs, places and debates that no year holds; they are reachable from the categories.
25th century BC
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Afanasevo culture reaches the Yenisei-Minusinsk region and the Altai by the middle of the third millennium: Europoid stockbreeders with some metal-working, whose contacts point west to the Pontic steppe
A simplified outline; the chronology of these cultures is still much discussed
- Span
History of the Turkic peoples — begins (2500 BC–969)
20th century BC
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Okunevo culture replaces Afanasevo in South Siberia at the beginning of the second millennium: a population probably from the Siberian forest belt, with stockbreeding and metallurgy more emphasised
15th century BC
- Technology · Eastern steppe
Andronovo-type cultures, of western Eurasian origin and most probably Indo-Iranian, stretch from the Pontic steppe to the Yenisei from about 1500 BC; about the same time, by an uncertain dating, riding is developed enough for a true culture of mounted riders
13th century BC
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Karasuk culture in the Minusinsk region, about 1300 to 800 BC, transhumant or semi-nomadic, breeding camels among other animals; the transition to pastoral nomadism is placed at its end
10th century BC
- Culture · Western steppe
The Cimmerians, an equestrian nomadic people whose ethnic identity is undetermined, hold the western steppe from about 1000 to 800 BC
- Span
Cimmerians — begins (1000 BC–600 BC)
8th century BC
- Culture · Western steppe
The Scythians, coming from the east, take the western steppe from the Cimmerians in the late ninth or early eighth century and soon raid the Near East
- Technology · Eastern steppe
The Tagar culture supplants Karasuk in the Minusinsk region; beyond it the Early Nomads, equestrian pastoralists of probable Scytho-Saka origin organised in tribal unions, and the coming of iron to the region
- Span
Saka — begins (800 BC–100 BC)
- Span
Scythians — begins (800 BC–300 BC)
- Technology · China
The fall of the Western Zhou, attributed to the attacks of raiders from the steppe: cavalry warfare attested in the Inner Asian–East Asian borderlands in the eighth century
7th century BC
- Technology · Eastern steppe
The bridle developed among the nomads of the Altai, about the seventh century; horses ritually slaughtered and buried with their owners, and transportable dwellings
- Technology · Western steppe
Cavalry warfare attested in western Eurasia by about 690 BC, with the Cimmerians and the Scythians who supplanted them; Cimmerian and then Scythian raids on the Near East in the eighth to sixth centuries
6th century BC
- Culture · Western steppe
The Royal Scythians, the ruling tribe of Herodotus's day, migrate into the Pontic steppe about 600 BC; Achaemenid attempts to conquer the Scytho-Saka nomads meet limited success
- Span
Cimmerians — ends (1000 BC–600 BC)
5th century BC
500 BC
- Span
Egiin Gol — begins (500 BC–200)
- Culture · Eastern steppe
Equestrian nomadism adopted, possibly, by elements of the Turkic and other Altaic-speaking peoples by the late fifth century BC; the Scytho-Siberian cultural community takes shape with Scytho-Saka elements in the lead
A possible dating, not an established one
4th century BC
400 BC
- Span
Sarmatians — begins (400 BC–400)
- Culture · Western steppe
The Sarmatians challenge and end Scythian hegemony in the western steppe, early in the fourth century or in the third to second century BC
Both datings stand; the year is a midpoint, not a date
- Span
Berel — begins (350 BC–800)
3rd century BC
300 BC
- Span
Camels — begins (300 BC–922)
- Span
Donghu — begins (300 BC–206 BC)
- Span
Sheep — begins (300 BC–982)
- Span
Xiongnu Herds — begins (300 BC–100)
- Span
Scythians — ends (800 BC–300 BC)
- Technology · China
The Qin push Duman north from the Ordos and build the fortifications that became the Great Wall
- Eastern steppe
Modu kills his father Duman and becomes Chanyu of the Xiongnu
- Technology · Eastern steppe
Twenty-four leaders of ten thousand each, subdivided on decimal lines: the Xiongnu military order that later steppe states copied
Military organisation rather than a tool; the Shiji names commanders of 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000
- Eastern steppe
Modu's wars: the Donghu in the east, the Yuezhi in the west, the peoples of the north, and the Han at Baideng — begins (209 BC–200 BC)
A modern grouping of the campaigns the Shiji lists under Modu
- Eastern steppe
Xiongnu confederation, from Modu's seizure of power to the Xianbei victory that ends the Northern Xiongnu — begins (209 BC–155)
One reckoning ends the confederation in 155; a second sets its effective end at the defeat of 89 AD
- Eastern steppe
Modu rules the Xiongnu — begins (209 BC–174 BC)
- Span
Archaeogenetics of the Steppe Empires — begins (209 BC–840)
- Span
Army of the Steppe Empires — begins (209 BC–840)
- Span
Chanyu — begins (209 BC–216)
- Span
Luandi — begins (209 BC–216)
- Span
The Göktürks and the Xiongnu — begins (209 BC–552)
- Span
The Great Empires of the Steppe — begins (209 BC–969)
- Span
The language of the Xiongnu — begins (209 BC–311)
- Span
Warfare of the Steppe Empires — begins (209 BC–840)
- Span
Worthy Kings of the Left and Right — begins (209 BC–300)
- Span
Xiongnu Agriculture — begins (209 BC–155)
- Span
Xiongnu: Making the First Steppe Empire — begins (209 BC–745)
- Span
Yuezhi — begins (209 BC–130 BC)
- Span
The steppe before the Xiongnu — ends (2500 BC–209 BC)
- Eastern steppe
Modu destroys the Donghu after giving them a horse, a consort and nothing else
Bagatur (Modu Chanyu) · Donghu · Xiongnu
The Shiji gives no year; it stands between the accession of 209 and the recovery of the Ordos before 200.
- Span
Wuhuan — begins (206 BC–206)
202 BC
- Realm
Han dynasty — begins (202 BC–220)
- Eastern steppe
Modu brings the Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun (Kirghiz) and Xinli under Xiongnu control
Xiongnu · Yenisei Kirghiz · Bagatur (Modu Chanyu) · Dingling
2nd century BC
- China
Modu besieges the Han emperor Gaozu at Baideng; the first heqin marriage and yearly gifts follow
Xiongnu · Bagatur (Modu Chanyu) · Siege of Baideng · Heqin
One account gives the siege at length; a second has Modu nearly capture Gaozu
- Event
The Han–Xiongnu heqin treaties
- Eastern steppe
Modu's wars: the Donghu in the east, the Yuezhi in the west, the peoples of the north, and the Han at Baideng — ends (209 BC–200 BC)
- Span
Bronze Mirrors of the Steppe — begins (200 BC–700)
- Span
Captives and the Unfree — begins (200 BC–982)
- Span
Craftsmen in the Steppe Empires — begins (200 BC–840)
- Span
Dingling — begins (200 BC–500)
- Span
Diplomacy of the Steppe Empires — begins (200 BC–847)
- Span
Envoys and Embassies — begins (200 BC–922)
- Span
Lacquerware — begins (200 BC–525)
- Span
Seasonal Pastures — begins (200 BC–982)
- Span
The Xiongnu–Han Wars — begins (200 BC–93)
- Span
Tribute Missions and Bestowals — begins (200 BC–840)
- Span
Wood and Woodworking — begins (200 BC–982)
- Span
Xiongnu Pottery — begins (200 BC–100)
198 BC
- Span
Heqin — begins (198 BC–133 BC)
- Western steppe
Modu's letter to the Han court reports the conquest of the Yuezhi, Loulan, Wusun and Hujie
- Eastern steppe
Modu dies; his son Laoshang succeeds and crushes the Yuezhi
- Eastern steppe
Laoshang rules the Xiongnu — begins (174 BC–161 BC)
The Shiji dates by Han reign years; 174 to 161 is the reckoning of the literature.
- Eastern steppe
Modu rules the Xiongnu — ends (209 BC–174 BC)
- Span
Gold of the Xiongnu Court — begins (174 BC–51 BC)
- China
Laoshang invades China; the Han acquiesce for a time in Xiongnu dominance of the nomadic north
- Western steppe
- Eastern steppe
Junchen rules the Xiongnu — begins (161 BC–126 BC)
- Eastern steppe
Laoshang rules the Xiongnu — ends (174 BC–161 BC)
- China
The Han hide 300,000 men around Mayi and offer the town to Junchen; he turns back short of it and the heqin settlement ends
- Eastern steppe
First of the great Han offensives under Wudi against the Xiongnu
- Eastern steppe
Wudi's wars against the Xiongnu: the great offensives of 127, 121 and 119 BC — begins (127 BC–119 BC)
The article follows the literature's three dates; the aim, in its phrase, was to cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu, the western regions
- Eastern steppe
Junchen rules the Xiongnu — ends (161 BC–126 BC)
- Eastern steppe
Han troops penetrate as far as Lake Baikal; the Xiongnu are pushed deeper into the steppe
- Event
Mobei campaign, 119 BC
- Eastern steppe
Wudi's wars against the Xiongnu: the great offensives of 127, 121 and 119 BC — ends (127 BC–119 BC)
- Span
Zhao Xin City — begins (119 BC–90 BC)
117 BC
- Death
Huo Qubing dies
114 BC
- Death
Yizhixie Chanyu dies
106 BC
- Death
Wei Qing dies
105 BC
- Death
Wuwei Chanyu dies
- Span
Livestock Losses in the Annals — begins (105 BC–840)
102 BC
- Death
Er Chanyu dies
101 BC
- Death
Xulihu Chanyu dies
- Span
Han Military Farms in the Western Regions — begins (101 BC–)
- Span
Luntai — begins (101 BC–719)
- Span
Quli — begins (101 BC–)
1st century BC
- Eastern steppe
Qiedihou Chanyu sends home the Han envoys who had not surrendered; the Han answer with Su Wu and rich gifts, and the chanyu grows arrogant
- Span
Noin Ula — begins (100 BC–100)
- Span
Tashtyk Culture — begins (100 BC–700)
- Span
Saka — ends (800 BC–100 BC)
99 BC
- Span
The Kirghiz descent from Li Ling — begins (99 BC–847)
96 BC
- Death
Qiedihou Chanyu dies
91 BC
- Culture · Source written
Shiji compiled
90 BC
- Span
Zhao Xin City — ends (119 BC–90 BC)
89 BC
- Death
Li Guangli dies
87 BC
- Death
Emperor Wu of Han dies
86 BC
- Death
Jin Midi dies
85 BC
- Death
Hulugu Chanyu dies
77 BC
- Realm
Shanshan — begins (77 BC–)
68 BC
- Death
Huyandi Chanyu dies
- Eastern steppe
Internecine strife among the Xiongnu; the beginning of the first division
- Eastern steppe
Civil wars of the Xiongnu: the strife of the chanyus, then Huhanye against Zhizhi — begins (60 BC–36 BC)
From the internecine strife of about 60 BC to the death of Zhizhi in Kangju; the submission of Huhanye and the killing of Zhizhi are in Han Shu 94下
- Death
Xulüquanqu Chanyu dies
- Span
Wulei — begins (60 BC–)
- Span
Tongpu Duwei — ends
- Eastern steppe
Huhanye rules the Xiongnu — begins (58 BC–31 BC)
- Death
Woyanqudi Chanyu dies
- Western steppe
Zhizhi rules a separate Xiongnu realm against his brother — begins (56 BC–36 BC)
- China
Huhanye moves his people south to the Han frontier and sends his son to court as a hostage: the submission of the southern Xiongnu
Han Shu 94下 dates it itself: 是歲，甘露元年 — that year was the first of Ganlu.
Also dated 54 BC by one reading, which puts the submission after 54: Reckoned from the reign, not from the chapter's own era date
Also dated 58 BC by one reckoning, which gives Huhanye's reign as 58 to 31 BC: That is the accession, not the submission
- China
Huhanye appears before the emperor at the Ganquan palace, ranked above the vassal kings and addressed without his personal name
Han Shu 94下: 呼韓邪單于款五原塞，願朝三年正月 — he asked at the Wuyuan frontier to attend in the first month of the third Ganlu year.
- Span
Han Bestowals on the Chanyu — begins (51 BC–143)
- Span
Gold of the Xiongnu Court — ends (174 BC–51 BC)
- Eastern steppe
Zhizhi breaks the Jiankun, receives the submission of the Wujie and the Dingling, and makes his capital on the Yenisei
Zhizhi Chanyu · Yenisei Kirghiz · Dingling
Han Shu 94下: 堅昆東去單于庭七千里，南去車師五千里，郅支留都之.
- Western steppe
Zhizhi, Chanyu of the northern Xiongnu, is killed by Han forces in Kangju; 1,518 of his three thousand die with him
Xiongnu · Zhizhi Chanyu · Kangju
The killing in Kangju by Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang stands in Han Shu 94下, which refers to the biography of Chen Tang (Han Shu 70) for the rest; the figures are those of that biography, and one reading uses them against the idea that Zhizhi's move began the Hun migration
- Eastern steppe
Civil wars of the Xiongnu: the strife of the chanyus, then Huhanye against Zhizhi — ends (60 BC–36 BC)
- Western steppe
Zhizhi rules a separate Xiongnu realm against his brother — ends (56 BC–36 BC)
- Eastern steppe
Huhanye rules the Xiongnu — ends (58 BC–31 BC)
20 BC
- Death
Fuzhulei Chanyu dies
1st century
1
- Span
Gol Mod — begins (1–130)
- Eastern steppe
A succession struggle divides the Xiongnu into a northern and a southern confederation; the southern falls under Han control
Xiongnu · Xiongnu split of 48 · Southern Xiongnu
One reckoning puts the split in the middle of the first century; a second names Huduershi, 48 to 56, for the northern revival
- China
The Southern Xiongnu realm is founded under a chanyu who takes his grandfather's title, Huhanye — begins (48–216)
- Span
Horse and Camel Races at the Xiongnu Sacrifices — begins (48–)
52
- Event
Han Reply to the Northern Xiongnu (AD 52)
56
- Death
Bi Chanyu dies
84
- Event
Northern Xiongnu Market at Wuwei (AD 84)
- Eastern steppe
The Xianbei break the Northern Xiongnu and kill the Youliu Chanyu; 58 tribes and 200,000 people surrender to the Han
Han campaigns against the Northern Xiongnu · Xianbei · Xiongnu
- Eastern steppe
Han campaigns with the southern Xiongnu, the Xianbei and the Wuhuan against the northern Xiongnu — begins (87–93)
Xiongnu · Xianbei · Hou Han Shu
The campaign of 89 stands in Hou Han Shu 89; the frame of 87 to 93 is the literature's
- Eastern steppe
The Han and their Xianbei and Wuhuan allies defeat the Northern Xiongnu; the campaigns run from 87 to 93 and the northern Xiongnu go west
Xiongnu · Xianbei · Huns · Han campaigns against the Northern Xiongnu · Southern Xiongnu · Wuhuan
Hou Han Shu 89 records the campaign of 89 in one sentence: Dou Xian and Geng Bing with eight thousand horsemen, the Duliao troops and thirty thousand riders of the southern Chanyu out of Shuofang, the northern Chanyu in flight, more than two hundred thousand killed or taken; one reading places the decisive battle in the Altai
91
- Span
The Huns and the Xiongnu — begins (91–469)
- Span
Yueban — begins (91–)
92
- Death
Dou Xian dies
- Eastern steppe
Han campaigns with the southern Xiongnu, the Xianbei and the Wuhuan against the northern Xiongnu — ends (87–93)
- Span
Han campaigns against the Northern Xiongnu — ends (87–93)
- Span
The Xiongnu–Han Wars — ends (200 BC–93)
100
- Span
Alans — begins (100–1240)
- Span
Noin Ula — ends (100 BC–100)
- Span
Xiongnu Herds — ends (300 BC–100)
- Span
Xiongnu Pottery — ends (200 BC–100)
2nd century
102
- Death
Ban Chao dies
- China
The Southern Xiongnu revolt with the Wuhuan and part of the Xianbei; the rising is put down
111
- Culture · Source written
Han Shu compiled
130
- Span
Gol Mod — ends (1–130)
143
- Span
Han Bestowals on the Chanyu — ends (51 BC–143)
- Eastern steppe
The Xianbei crush the Northern Xiongnu's attempt to recover their old lands; the Northern Xiongnu fade from view
- Eastern steppe
Xiongnu confederation, from Modu's seizure of power to the Xianbei victory that ends the Northern Xiongnu — ends (209 BC–155)
- Span
Xiongnu Agriculture — ends (209 BC–155)
177
- Span
Chinese Weaponsmiths among the Xianbei — begins (177–222)
181
- Death
Tanshihuai dies
200
- Span
Egiin Gol — ends (500 BC–200)
3rd century
206
- Span
Wuhuan — ends (206 BC–206)
- Realm
Five Divisions of the Xiongnu — begins (216–304)
- China
The Southern Xiongnu realm is founded under a chanyu who takes his grandfather's title, Huhanye — ends (48–216)
- Span
Chanyu — ends (209 BC–216)
- Span
Luandi — ends (209 BC–216)
220
- Realm
Han dynasty — ends (202 BC–220)
222
- Span
Chinese Weaponsmiths among the Xianbei — ends (177–222)
224
- Realm
Sasanian Persia — begins (224–651)
280
- Span
Murong — begins (280–436)
300
- Span
Jie — begins (300–360)
- Span
Tuyuhun — begins (300–670)
- Span
Kangju — ends (150 BC–300)
- Span
Worthy Kings of the Left and Right — ends (209 BC–300)
4th century
- China
Former Zhao (Northern Han), a dynasty of Xiongnu origin in northern China — begins (304–329)
- Realm
Xiongnu Han — begins (304–329)
- Realm
Five Divisions of the Xiongnu — ends (216–304)
- China
The Xiongnu Han take Luoyang; a Sogdian merchant in Gansu reports the fall and calls the conquerors Huns
Xiongnu Han · Luoyang · Sogdian Ancient Letters · Nanai-vandak · Huns
- Span
The language of the Xiongnu — ends (209 BC–311)
- Economy · China
The Sogdian Ancient Letters, written probably in 313, show Sogdian merchants settled in Gansu and the Chinese capitals
Sogdians · Sogdian Ancient Letters · Nanai-vandak · Dunhuang · Wuwei
- Span
The Sogdian language — begins (313–1000)
- China
Former Zhao (Northern Han), a dynasty of Xiongnu origin in northern China — ends (304–329)
- Realm
Xiongnu Han — ends (304–329)
330
- Realm
Byzantium — begins (330–1453)
337
- Realm
Former Yan — begins (337–370)
340
- Span
Duan — ends (250–340)
- China
Ran Min orders the massacre of all Xiongnu in the Later Zhao realm; officials can tell them from Chinese only by nose and beard
360
- Span
Jie — ends (300–360)
- Western steppe
The Huns subdue the Alans of the Don and break the Gothic realm of Hermanaric; the Goths flee to the Danube — begins (370–376)
Hunnic conquest of the Goths · Hermanaric · Alans · Goths · Huns
Neither Ammianus nor Jordanes gives a year; the conquest is usually dated to about 375
- Western steppe
Hunnic Empire, from the conquest of the Alans and the Goths north of the Black Sea to the death of Dengizich — begins (370–469)
- Realm
Former Yan — ends (337–370)
- Span
Amilzuri — begins (370–435)
- Span
Boisci — begins (370–435)
- Span
Itimari — begins (370–435)
- Span
The Hunnic language — begins (370–469)
- Span
Tounsoures — begins (370–435)
- Western steppe
The Huns subdue the Alans of the Don and break the Gothic realm of Hermanaric; the Goths flee to the Danube — ends (370–376)
Hunnic conquest of the Goths · Hermanaric · Alans · Goths · Huns
380
- Span
Hunnic Cauldrons — begins (380–450)
- Span
Hunnic Diadems — begins (380–450)
- Span
Qifu — begins (380–431)
- Span
Wagons of the Steppe Peoples — begins (380–843)
384
- Realm
Later Yan — begins (384–407)
385
- Span
Coinage of the Huna Peoples — begins (385–565)
- Eastern steppe
Northern Wei — begins (386–534)
- Span
Tuoba — begins (386–557)
- Span
Yujiulü — begins (386–554)
390
- Span
Alchon Huns — begins (390–600)
- Span
Tufa — begins (390–414)
- Eastern steppe
Shelun and his brother Heduohan abandon their father and flee west; Heduohan is killed by the Wei, Shelun takes refuge with his uncle Pihouba
- Environment · Caucasus and Crimea
The Huns, apparently driven by famine in the steppe, raid through the Caucasus into Sasanian and Roman lands
- Realm
Western Roman Empire — begins (395–476)
399
- Span
The Battue — begins (399–)
- Eastern steppe
Shelun gathers a following in the Gobi, defeats the Tiele and takes the title khagan
- Eastern steppe
Rouran Khaganate — begins (400–554)
- Span
Bride-Price in Livestock — begins (400–922)
- Span
Gepids — begins (400–567)
- Span
Ötüken — begins (400–840)
- Span
Rouran Domination of the Turkic Peoples — begins (400–552)
- Span
The origin of the Old Turkic script — begins (400–750)
- Span
Sarmatians — ends (400 BC–400)
5th century
- Eastern steppe
Shelun raids the Wei frontier while Daowu campaigns against Yao Xing; ten thousand Wei horse fail to catch him
- Eastern steppe
Shelun Khan reigns over the Rouran, the first ruler of the steppe to bear the title khan — begins (402–410)
Shelun Khan · Rouran Khaganate · Khan (Khagan)
The Wei Shu gives no year for the title; 402 is a modern reckoning
- Span
The Rouran–Wei wars, 402–449 — begins (402–449)
407
- Realm
Later Yan — ends (384–407)
- Eastern steppe
Shelun dies on the road in flight before Mingyuan's campaign; his brother Hulü becomes khan
A second reading: of wounds in battle in May 410
- Eastern steppe
Hulü Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (410–414)
- Eastern steppe
Shelun Khan reigns over the Rouran, the first ruler of the steppe to bear the title khan — ends (402–410)
- Eastern steppe
Hulü is seized in his tent by the ministers at Buluzhen's instigation and sent to Feng Ba's court with his daughter; Buluzhen is set up and strangled by Datan within the year
- Eastern steppe
Buluzhen Khan reigns over the Rouran for part of a year — begins (414–414)
- Eastern steppe
Datan Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (414–429)
- Eastern steppe
Buluzhen Khan reigns over the Rouran for part of a year — ends (414–414)
- Eastern steppe
Hulü Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (410–414)
- Span
Tufa — ends (390–414)
420
- Span
Kidarites — begins (420–509)
- Eastern steppe
Datan raids Yunzhong and surrounds the young emperor Taiwu fifty ranks deep; he withdraws after his nephew is shot
Datan Khan · Northern Wei · Taiwu's campaign against the Rouran (429)
- Eastern steppe
The Northern Wei against the Rouran under Taiwu: Datan's raid on Yunzhong, the five-road campaign, the crossing of the desert — begins (424–429)
- Span
Six Garrisons — begins (424–534)
- Eastern steppe
Taiwu marches into the steppe on five roads; Datan's people flee north
- China
Taiwu crosses the Gobi and scatters the Rouran at the Li river; more than three hundred thousand surrender and Datan dies
Rouran Khaganate · Taiwu's campaign against the Rouran (429) · Datan Khan
Also dated 429 by Wei Shu 103: 神䴥二年: Taiwu crosses the desert, scatters Datan's people at the Li river and takes the surrender of more than three hundred thousand; 始光元年 (424) is Datan's raid on Yunzhong in which the emperor was surrounded and escaped, 425 the five-road campaign
- Event
The Gaoche Herds of 429
- Eastern steppe
The Northern Wei against the Rouran under Taiwu: Datan's raid on Yunzhong, the five-road campaign, the crossing of the desert — ends (424–429)
- Eastern steppe
Wuti Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (429–444)
The end of the reign is not dated; Tuhezhen is newly established in 449
- Eastern steppe
Datan Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (414–429)
431
- Span
Qifu — ends (380–431)
- Western steppe
Rua, king of the Huns, dies; his nephews Bleda and Attila succeed him together
Also dated 436 by a second reckoning, after the church historian Theodoret: Theodoret implies a date after the end of 435
- Eastern steppe
Wuti marries the Wei princess of Xihai and gives the emperor his sister; the first marriage alliance between the Rouran and the Wei
- Western steppe
Attila rules the Huns, together with his brother Bleda until about 445 and alone after him — begins (434–453)
Rua's death and the accession of the brothers are dated to 434 in one reckoning and after the end of 435 in a second
- Byzantium
Treaty of Margus: the eastern Romans double the yearly tribute to the Huns from 350 to 700 pounds of gold
Treaty of Margus · Attila · Bleda
Also dated 438 by a second reckoning, which places the treaty after 15 November 438: Epigenes still held a lower office on that day, and Priscus calls him quaestor
Also dated 433 by the dating of the edition: Priscus gives no year
- Span
Sorosgi — begins (435–440)
- Span
Amilzuri — ends (370–435)
- Span
Boisci — ends (370–435)
- Span
Itimari — ends (370–435)
- Span
Tounsoures — ends (370–435)
- China
The Northern Wei attack the Northern Liang in Gansu; the Ashina village destroyed, by the legend
- Eastern steppe
Wuti breaks the peace with the Wei and raids the frontier
- Span
Murong — ends (280–436)
- Eastern steppe
Taiwu marches north on three roads to the Tianshan in a year of drought and finds no Rouran
- Tarim and Sogdiana
capitulation on 11 September: The Northern Liang capitulate to the Northern Wei; the Ashina flee with five hundred families to the Rouran and work iron for them on the Golden Mountain
The Flight of the Ashina (439) · Ashina · Pingliang · Rouran Khaganate · Gaochang · Altai
The Sui Shu gives no year for the flight; it follows the fall of the Liang, which the Wei Shu dates to 439. One reconstruction takes the Ashina by Gaochang to the Altai
Also dated 450 by Bei Shi 99, as read in the Bumin article: Settlement date in the middle decades of the fifth century
- China
Northern Liang, a dynasty of Xiongnu (Juqu) origin in Gansu, whose fall to the Wei sends the Ashina to the Rouran — ends (398–439)
- Span
Vandals — begins (439–455)
- Economy · China
Sogdian embassies to China break off; they resume in 457 under a Kidarite king
- Byzantium
Attila's wars in the Balkans: the Huns take the Danube cities, beat the eastern armies and force up the tribute — begins (441–447)
Attila's Balkan wars · Attila · Bleda · Theodosius II
One reckoning has a war in 441 and 442 and a great invasion in 447; a second a war from 441 to 443 and a second invasion in 447
- Byzantium
The Huns take Naissus, the birthplace of Constantine, with siege engines; the city lies desolate until Justinian
Siege of Naissus · Naissus · Attila's Balkan wars
Also dated 443 by a second reckoning: The Huns rode up the Morava to Naissus after taking Ratiaria, once a one-year truce had broken down
Also dated 447 by a third reckoning, which leaves the choice between 442 and 447 open: The account of Priscus gives no year
- Byzantium
Peace of Anatolius: the eastern Romans hand back the fugitives, pay 6,000 pounds of gold in arrears and raise the tribute to 2,100 pounds a year
Peace of Anatolius · Attila's Balkan wars · Attila · Theodosius II
Also dated 447 by a second reckoning: Priscus dates the peace only after the battle in the Chersonese
- Western steppe
Attila has his brother Bleda killed and unites the Huns under his own rule
The chronicles date the murder to 444, 445 or 446
- Culture · Source written
Hou Han Shu compiled
- Span
Sword of Mars — begins (445–453)
- Byzantium
On the river Utus the Huns defeat the eastern field army; its commander Arnegisclus falls
- Byzantium
Attila's wars in the Balkans: the Huns take the Danube cities, beat the eastern armies and force up the tribute — ends (441–447)
- Western steppe
Embassy of Maximinus to Attila's court, with Priscus; the plot of Chrysaphius and Edeco against Attila comes to light
Embassy of Maximinus to Attila · Priscus · Attila · Edeco · Chrysaphius · Onegesius · Maximinus · Bigilas · Orestes · Scottas · Zercon
Also dated 448 by the dating of the edition: Priscus gives no year, only the days of the journey
- Eastern steppe
Tuhezhen besieges the Wei eastern column under the prince of Gaoliang, breaks off and is pursued nine days and nights; a million people and stock are taken
- Eastern steppe
Tuhezhen Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (449–464)
- Span
Kamos — begins (449–449)
- Span
Kamos — ends (449–449)
- Span
The Rouran–Wei wars, 402–449 — ends (402–449)
- Culture · Western steppe
Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles
- Technology · Eastern steppe
The Ashina, settled on the Golden Mountain under the Rouran, work iron; the Sui Shu's 工於鐵作
Dated only by the migration of 439; the founding of the clan is put at 439 or at 460
- Byzantium
Theodosius II dies; his successor Marcian refuses to pay the Huns their tribute
- Death
Chrysaphius dies
- Span
Hephthalites — begins (450–560)
- Span
Hunnic Cauldrons — ends (380–450)
- Span
Hunnic Diadems — ends (380–450)
- Western steppe
Battle on the Catalaunian Plains: Aetius and the Visigoths meet Attila, the Visigothic king Theodorid falls, and Attila withdraws behind his wagons
Battle of the Catalaunian Plains · Attila · Aetius · Ardaric · Theodoric I · Thorismund · Valamir
- Western steppe
Attila invades Gaul with the Huns and the subject peoples — begins (451–451)
Hunnic invasion of Gaul, 451 · Attila · Aetius · Alans · Theodoric I · Gaiseric · Valentinian III
- Western steppe
Attila invades Gaul with the Huns and the subject peoples — ends (451–451)
Hunnic invasion of Gaul, 451 · Attila · Aetius · Alans · Theodoric I · Gaiseric · Valentinian III
- Western steppe
Attila invades Italy and destroys Aquileia, then takes Milan and Ticinum; he turns back without reaching Rome — begins (452–452)
Hunnic invasion of Italy, 452 · Attila · Aetius · Aquileia · Valentinian III
- Western steppe
Attila invades Italy and destroys Aquileia, then takes Milan and Ticinum; he turns back without reaching Rome — ends (452–452)
Hunnic invasion of Italy, 452 · Attila · Aetius · Aquileia · Valentinian III
- Western steppe
Attila dies in the night after his marriage to Ildico; the Huns mourn him with their own blood and bury him by night
Also dated 454 by Marcellinus Comes: Prosper, Victor of Tunnuna and the chronicle of 511 agree on 453
- Western steppe
Attila rules the Huns, together with his brother Bleda until about 445 and alone after him — ends (434–453)
- Death
Maximinus dies
- Death
Thorismund dies
- Span
Strava — begins (453–453)
- Span
Logades — ends (430–453)
- Span
Strava — ends (453–453)
- Span
Sword of Mars — ends (445–453)
- Western steppe
At the Nedao in Pannonia the subject peoples under the Gepid king Ardaric defeat Attila's sons; his eldest son Ellac falls
Battle of the Nedao · Ardaric · Ellac · Hunnic Empire
Also dated 455 by a second reckoning: Jordanes gives no year
- Death
Aetius dies
- Span
Angisciri — begins (454–470)
- Span
Bardores — begins (454–470)
- Span
Bittugures — begins (454–488)
- Span
Ultzinzures — begins (454–474)
455
- Death
Valentinian III dies
- Span
Vandals — ends (439–455)
- Eastern steppe
The emperor Wencheng crosses the desert with a hundred thousand horse and a hundred and fifty thousand carts; Tuhezhen flees
- Western steppe
The Rouran subdue the Tiele in the west
Not in the Rouran or Gaoche sections of Wei Shu 103; the date is the literature's
- Span
Nezak Shahs — begins (460–720)
- Western steppe
Driven west by the Sabirs, the Saragurs, Urogi and Onogurs send envoys to Constantinople; the Saragurs defeat the Akatziri
- Span
Oghur Turkic — begins (463–)
- Span
Ogurs — begins (463–)
- Span
Turkic Tribes in Europe — begins (463–650)
- Eastern steppe
Yucheng proclaims the era Yongkang, the first Rouran reign era
- Eastern steppe
Yucheng Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (464–485)
- Eastern steppe
Tuhezhen Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (449–464)
- Persia
The Persian king Peroz tries to end his war with the Kidarite Huns by a false marriage; their king Kunchas kills or maims 300 Persian nobles
- Persia
A Persian embassy announces in Constantinople the defeat of the Kidarite Huns and the capture of their city Balaam
- Byzantium
Attila's son Dengizich falls against the Roman general Anagastes; his head is brought to Constantinople
- Western steppe
Hunnic Empire, from the conquest of the Alans and the Goths north of the Black Sea to the death of Dengizich — ends (370–469)
- Span
The Hunnic language — ends (370–469)
- Span
The Huns and the Xiongnu — ends (91–469)
- Economy · Eastern steppe
A merchant dies near Hohhot with his goods, Byzantine and Sasanian silver cups and a gold coin of Leo I
- Eastern steppe
The emperor Xianwen defeats Yucheng at the Nü river with fifty thousand dead and renames it the Wuchuan
- Span
Angisciri — ends (454–470)
- Span
Bardores — ends (454–470)
- Span
Goths — ends (370–470)
474
- Span
Ultzinzures — ends (454–474)
- Eastern steppe
Yucheng asks the Wei for a marriage and is refused with a lecture in the rites
476
- Realm
Western Roman Empire — ends (395–476)
- Death
Orestes dies
480
- Span
Bulgars — begins (480–1400)
- Economy · China
A stupa deposit at Dingxian, south-west of Beijing, holds forty-one Sasanian silver coins
- Economy · Persia
Peroz falls to the Hephthalites; the Sasanians pay them a colossal tribute in silver for decades
- Eastern steppe
Tulun Khan succeeds his father Yucheng and kills the minister Shiluohou who counselled peace
- Eastern steppe
Tulun Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (485–492)
- Eastern steppe
Yucheng Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (464–485)
- Eastern steppe
Afuzhiluo leads more than a hundred thousand tents of Gaoche out of the Rouran khaganate and founds a kingdom north-west of Gaochang
Gaoche secession (487) · Afuzhiluo · Tulun Khan · Tiele
Also dated 492 by Wei Shu, Rouran chapter: tells the secession under the Wei campaign of 492
- Realm
Gaoche — begins (487–541)
- Eastern steppe
Afuzhiluo rules the Gaoche kingdom north-west of Gaochang as 'great son of heaven' — begins (487–)
Killed by his own people in an undated year before the Hephthalite restoration of Mi'etu
- Span
Fufuluo — begins (487–541)
488
- Span
Bittugures — ends (454–488)
- Eastern steppe
Beaten repeatedly by Afuzhiluo, Tulun is killed with his mother by his own people, who make his uncle Nagai khan
- Eastern steppe
Nagai Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (492–506)
The end of the reign is a modern reckoning
- Eastern steppe
Tulun Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (485–492)
494
- Realm
Buyeo — ends
500
- Span
Baidie Cotton — begins (500–)
- Span
Farming and Taxes in Gaochang — begins (500–640)
- Span
Dingling — ends (200 BC–500)
6th century
502
- Span
Mumocheng — begins (502–552)
- Eastern steppe
Futu sends Wuliuba to the Wei asking for peace and is refused; refused again in 508
- Eastern steppe
Futu Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (506–508)
- Eastern steppe
Nagai Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (492–506)
- Western steppe
The Tiele rise successfully; the Rouran khan Tahan is beaten and killed by their leader Mietu
- Eastern steppe
The Tiele against the Rouran: Futu killed by Mietu, Chounu's victory in the west — begins (508–516)
Tiele · Rouran Khaganate · Anagui
One account gives the decisive victory to Anagui after 520; the Wei Shu gives it to Chounu in 516
- Eastern steppe
Chounu Khan reigns over the Rouran — begins (508–520)
- Eastern steppe
Futu Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (506–508)
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Hephthalite embassies replace Sogdian ones at the Chinese court; the Hephthalite conquest of Sogdiana
- Span
Kidarites — ends (420–509)
- Eastern steppe
Chounu sends the monk Hongxuan to the Wei court with a jewelled image, the earliest notice of Buddhism at the Rouran court
- Eastern steppe
Chounu marches west, crushes the Gaoche, captures and kills their king Mi'etu and makes his skull a drinking cup
- Eastern steppe
The Tiele against the Rouran: Futu killed by Mietu, Chounu's victory in the west — ends (508–516)
- Western steppe
Anagui marches west and breaks the Tiele in Dzungaria after their decade of independence
Also dated 516 by Wei Shu 103: 熙平元年: the western campaign that crushed the Gaoche and captured and killed their king Mietu is Chounu's; of Anagui the chapter records only an undated later victory over the Gaoche king Yifu
- Eastern steppe
Anagui takes the Rouran throne out of the civil war of the Yujiulü
Also dated 516 by one narrative account: The index of the same account gives 520, the usual reckoning
- Eastern steppe
Chounu's mother has the shamaness Diwan strangled; Chounu, beaten by the Azhiluo, is killed by his mother and ministers
- Economy · Tarim and Sogdiana
Sasanian silver is the currency of all Central Asia to Gansu, spread by the Sogdians from the Hephthalite treasury; the Hephthalite realm at its height
- Eastern steppe
Civil war of the Yujiulü: Anagui driven out by Shifa, Boluomen raised, both at the Wei court — begins (520–521)
- Eastern steppe
Anagui rules the Rouran — begins (520–552)
- Eastern steppe
Chounu Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (508–520)
- Eastern steppe
Poluomen destroys the usurper Shifa and is made khan; driven out by the Gaoche, he surrenders at Liangzhou and is settled at Dunhuang
- Eastern steppe
Civil war of the Yujiulü: Anagui driven out by Shifa, Boluomen raised, both at the Wei court — ends (520–521)
- Eastern steppe
Poluomen Khan rules the Rouran during Anagui's exile — begins (521–521)
- Eastern steppe
Poluomen Khan rules the Rouran during Anagui's exile — ends (521–521)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Hunger in the eastern steppe; Anagui takes the Rouran south to plunder the Six Garrisons
- China
In a year of hunger Anagui attacks the Six Garrisons of the Northern Wei and fails to take them
- Span
Revolt of the Six Garrisons — begins (523–530)
- Eastern steppe
Poluomen, captured after trying to defect to the Hephthalites, dies in the lodge south of the Luo at Luoyang
- Environment · China
Drought and hunger in the Hetao plain behind the Six Garrisons; the garrisons revolt
- China
The Six Garrisons revolt; the Wei emperor calls in the Rouran, who suppress the rising and plunder the rebel districts
Anagui · Rouran Khaganate · Tiele · Huaihuang
- Span
Lacquerware — ends (200 BC–525)
- Byzantium
Justinian on the Roman throne: the reconquest of Africa and Italy, the codification of the law, and the embassies that first look for allies beyond Persia — begins (527–565)
530
- Span
Revolt of the Six Garrisons — ends (523–530)
- Persia
Khosrow I on the Persian throne: the reform of the army and the land tax, the destruction of the Hephthalites with Istemi, and the closing of the frontier against the Göktürk silk — begins (531–579)
- Eastern steppe
The Northern Wei split into the Eastern and Western Wei
Northern Wei · Western Wei · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Hegemony Wars in Northern China: the wars from the break-up of the Northern Wei to the Tang capture of Ilig — begins (534–630)
Hegemony Wars in Northern China
A modern grouping, not a war the sources name
- Realm
Eastern Wei — begins (534–550)
- Eastern steppe
Northern Wei — ends (386–534)
- Span
Six Garrisons — ends (424–534)
- China
Western Wei — begins (535–557)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
March: A great eruption in the northern hemisphere; the sun dimmed from 24 March for up to eighteen months; the coldest summer of two thousand years
Climate and the steppe empires · The Turkic War of Independence
From the ice cores and the tree rings
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Extreme weather in the eastern steppe, by the tree rings; one reading takes the six-year length of Bumin's war as a consequence
The Turkic War of Independence
The same decade is the coldest of two thousand years by the tree rings of the Altai and by the ice cores
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Late Antique Little Ice Age: the cold phase the Altai tree rings define from 536 to about 660
Climate and the steppe empires · First Göktürk Khaganate · Avars
The coldest decade in the Altai is the 540s
- Culture · Byzantium
The Hagia Sophia is dedicated in Constantinople
- China
Yuwen Tai defeats Gao Huan at Shayuan in the bend of the Wei river; seventy thousand of the eastern army are taken
- China
Anagui's eldest daughter reaches Chang'an and becomes empress of the Western Wei; the empress Yifu is deposed
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A tropical eruption, larger than Tambora in its aerosol; summers cold again from 541 to almost 550
Climate and the steppe empires · The Turkic War of Independence
Also dated 539 by the Antarctic ice cores: The second episode falls in 539 or 540
- China
The Rouran cross the Yellow River against the Western Wei; the deposed empress Yifu is ordered to take her life
- Death
Empress Yujiulü dies
- Environment · Byzantium
The Justinianic plague breaks out across the eastern Roman empire after the food shortages of the first cold
- Realm
Gaoche — ends (487–541)
- Span
Fufuluo — ends (487–541)
- China
winter: Göktürk horsemen cross a frozen river into Western Wei territory and withdraw without a battle
Göktürk raid of 542 · Bumin Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Western steppe
Tuwu dies and Bumin takes hold of the Ashina
Bumin Khan · Tuwu · Ashina
- Event
The Göktürk–Wei alliance
- Western steppe
Yuwen Tai sends the Sogdian An Nuopantuo to the Göktürks; Bumin receives the Western Wei embassy
Western Wei embassy of 545 · Bumin Khan · Yuwen Tai · Western Wei · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Span
Chinese transcriptions of Turkic — begins (545–750)
- Span
Post and Communication — begins (545–840)
- Span
Silk in the Steppe — begins (545–840)
- Span
Turkic-Sogdian Synthesis — begins (545–840)
- Eastern steppe
Anagui refuses Bumin a princess and calls him his blacksmith slave; Bumin kills the envoy; the War of Independence begins
The Rouran Marriage Refusal (546) · The Turkic War of Independence · Anagui · Bumin Khan · Rouran Khaganate
The war is dated from the refusal, not from the raid of 542
- Western steppe
Bumin intercepts the Tiele rising against the Rouran and defeats them; more than fifty thousand submit to him
Defeat of the Tiele, 546 · Tiele · Bumin Khan · Anagui · Dzungaria
- China
Bumin returns an embassy of his own to the Western Wei court
- Eastern steppe
The Turkic War of Independence — begins (546–552)
- Span
The Chile Song — begins (546–547)
- Span
The Göktürk–Rouran Wars — begins (546–598)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A third, smaller eruption closes the volcanic cluster that opened the cold phase
- Death
Gao Huan dies
- Span
The Chile Song — ends (546–547)
548
- Span
Utigurs — begins (548–576)
549
- Span
Sabao — begins (549–750)
- China
The Northern Qi replace the Eastern Wei in north-eastern China
- Realm
Eastern Wei — ends (534–550)
- Death
Princess Linhe dies
- Culture · Source written
Tomb of Princess Linhe compiled
- Span
Apa Tarkan — begins (550–750)
- Span
Göktürk Face-Cutting — begins (550–630)
- Span
Horses in Göktürk Law — begins (550–630)
- Span
Stone Figures — begins (550–800)
- Western steppe
Bumin marries the Western Wei princess Changle; the alliance secured by Yuwen Tai
Bumin Khan · The Turkic War of Independence · Yuwen Tai · Western Wei · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Korea
Ten thousand Göktürks appear on the frontier of Koguryŏ and besiege several towns, by a Korean source
- Span
Kutrigurs — begins (551–)
- Western steppe
January: A Rouran force sent west is beaten by the Göktürks in Dzungaria
- Eastern steppe
spring: Anagui dies, by his own hand according to the Chinese account; the Rouran nobility scatters south and west
Anagui · Rouran Khaganate · Battle of Huaihuang, 552 · Mumocheng · Avars
- Culture · Eastern steppe
At the founding of the state the Göktürks write in a script like that of the hu, by the Zhou Shu; the Sogdian alphabet, by the literature
- Eastern steppe
Bumin dies within the year of his victory, on the usual reading; his son Issik succeeds him
The Zhou Shu gives the death directly after the proclamation and names no year
Also dated 553 by the Zizhi tongjian, which enters the death at the beginning of 553: One reading takes that entry for the place where the annalist put an undated event
- Eastern steppe
April: Bumin enters Ötüken and takes the title Illig Khan; the First Göktürk Khaganate is founded
Bumin Khan · Ötüken · The Turkic War of Independence · First Göktürk Khaganate · Khan (Khagan) · Proclamation of Bumin Khan (552)
- Culture · Tarim and Sogdiana
The Kizil mural near Kucha showing armoured newcomers received by the city's rulers, dated to this year by one reading
- China
first month of the Chinese year, 11 February to 10 March: The main Rouran army is destroyed north of Huaihuang
Battle of Huaihuang, 552 · Bumin Khan · Anagui · Huaihuang · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
Also dated 552 by one modern reckoning: Puts the march east, and with it the battle, in March
- China
second half of the year: The Northern Qi attack Göktürk territory on behalf of the Rouran exiles
Issik Khan · Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
Also dated 552 by one reconstruction: Late summer or autumn, because no one campaigned on that frontier in winter
- Technology · China
tenth month: The Qi emperor Wenxuan has a long wall thrown up from the Huanglu pass north to the Shegan garrison, over four hundred li, with thirty-six garrisons on it
Northern Qi · Issik Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate
The first of the Qi walls against the steppe, begun in the year Bumin broke the Rouran
- Eastern steppe
The Turkic War of Independence — ends (546–552)
- Eastern steppe
First Göktürk Khaganate — begins (552–630)
- Western steppe
Western Göktürk Khaganate: Istemi's wing, a state of its own after the civil war, to the capture of Ashina Helu — begins (552–659)
The article dates the western polity 552 to 659; a second reckoning ends it in 657
- Eastern steppe
Bumin Khan reigns — begins (552–552)
- Eastern steppe
Issik Khan reigns — begins (552–553)
- Western steppe
Istemi holds the western wing as yabgu — begins (552–576)
- Eastern steppe
Anagui rules the Rouran — ends (520–552)
- Eastern steppe
Bumin Khan reigns — ends (552–552)
- Span
Illig — begins (552–)
- Span
Lesser Khan — begins (552–744)
- Span
The Old Turkic script — begins (552–1000)
- Span
Rouran Domination of the Turkic Peoples — ends (400–552)
- Span
The Göktürks and the Xiongnu — ends (209 BC–552)
- China
spring: Issik breaks Dengshuzi's Rouran at Mount Mulai north of Woye, on the edge of the Ordos
Battle of Mount Mulai (553) · Mount Mulai · Issik Khan · Ordos · Dengzhu · Rouran Khaganate
The Zhou Shu gives no year; the Zizhi tongjian sets the battle under 553
- Eastern steppe
Issik dies, of an illness by the Chinese account; his brother Mukan succeeds
- Western steppe
spring: Istemi leads an army west from the Altai
Also dated 553 by the older literature, with a hundred thousand men; a newer estimate gives thirty to fifty thousand: Size of the army, not the date
- Western steppe
summer: Istemi reaches the Seven Rivers
- Economy · China
April: The Göktürks send the Western Wei some fifty thousand horses and receive several hundred thousand bolts of silk
- China
twelfth month: The Qi emperor deposes Kuti, sets up Anagui's son Anlouchen as ruler of the Rouran remnant on the Mayi river, and pursues the Göktürks to Shuozhou
The Qi March to Shuozhou (553) · Anluochen · Dengzhu · Rouran Khaganate · Northern Qi · Issik Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
The Qi annals add that the Göktürks asked to submit there; no Göktürk or Zhou source confirms it
- China
February: The Qi emperor forces Dengzhu to march against the Göktürks
Issik Khan · Dengzhu · Anagui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Yuwen Tai leads thirty thousand horsemen to Guzang; the Tuyuhun send tribute; Shi Ning intercepts a Tuyuhun embassy returning from the Qi
- Eastern steppe
Mukan Khan reigns — begins (553–572)
- Eastern steppe
Issik Khan reigns — ends (552–553)
- Span
Göktürk Expansion along the Silk Road — begins (553–629)
- Span
Mukan's Eastern and Northern Wars — begins (553–572)
- China
third and fourth months: Anlouchen rises against the Qi; the emperor beats him in the third month and takes his wife and children and thirty thousand people in the fourth
Anluochen · Rouran Khaganate · Anagui · Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
Also dated 553 by an earlier reckoning, before the Qi annals were read: September 553, with fifty thousand men; the Bei Qi Shu dates the rising to the third month of 554 and gives no figure for his army
- China
20 January: The last Göktürk victory over the Rouran remnant
Rouran Khaganate · Issik Khan · Anagui
The Qi annals have the Qi still destroying Rouran in the summer of 555, which leaves the date of a last Göktürk victory open
- China
Western Wei armies take Jiangling; the Liang emperor Yuan is killed and more than a hundred thousand people are enslaved
- Eastern steppe
Mukan conquers the Kirghiz on the Yenisei and the Khitan in the east — begins (554–560)
Mukan Khan · Yenisei Kirghiz · Khitan · First Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Rouran Khaganate — ends (400–554)
- Culture · Source written
Wei Shu compiled
- Span
Yujiulü — ends (386–554)
- Technology · Byzantium
Byzantium has silkworms of its own, smuggled from the east by two Sogdians through the young khaganate
- Western steppe
- China
summer: The Qi emperor rides from the White Road with five thousand light horse, catches the Rouran at Huaishuo and at Woye, and takes more than twenty thousand people
- Technology · China
The Qi levy a million eight hundred thousand men and carry the wall from Xiakou north of Youzhou to Hengzhou, over nine hundred li; front and rear the Qi walls run three thousand li
Northern Qi · Issik Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate
The emperor had ridden the frontier himself in 554 to choose the line
- China
The Rouran who fled to the Western Wei are handed to Mukan's envoys at his request; some three thousand are killed outside the Qingmen gate of Chang'an
The Qingmen Executions (555) · Mukan Khan · Rouran Khaganate · Issik Khan · Anagui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
The Western Wei seize Dengshuzi and three thousand Rouran at Mukan's request and hand them to the Göktürk envoys
The Qingmen Executions (555) · Western Wei · Yuwen Tai · Dengzhu · Mukan Khan · Mukan's Destruction of Dengshuzi (553–555)
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Istemi and Khosrow destroy the Hephthalite realm — begins (555–563)
Hephthalites · Istemi · Battle of Bukhara · Sasanian Persia · Khosrow I · Sogdiana · The Göktürk–Hephthalite war, 555–563
The realm fell about 560; one reckoning gives 557 and a second 563 to 567. The first collision under Mukan fell earlier
- China
Mukan Khan and the Western Wei general Shi Ning take Hezhen and Shudun from the Tuyuhun
Göktürk–Wei Campaign against Tuyuhun (556) · Western Wei · Mukan Khan · Tuyuhun
The Zhou Shu's Tuyuhun chapter dates the campaign to 555, its Göktürk chapter to a third year read as 556
- China
tenth month: Yuwen Tai dies at Yunyang; his son takes his offices
- Western steppe
The Avars flee west before the Göktürks and reach the Alans north of the Caucasus
- Event
The Göktürk–Zhou alliance
- China
The Western Wei give way to the Northern Zhou
Northern Zhou · Western Wei · Yuwen Tai · Mukan Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · First Göktürk Khaganate
The Bei Qi Shu dates the abdication to the twelfth month of Tianbao 7, which falls in January 557
- Eastern steppe
The Zhou envoy Yang Jian persuades Mukan to keep the marriage promise against his brother, the Ditou Khan
- China
first month: Yuwen Jue takes the throne at Chang'an as Heavenly King of the Zhou
- China
Northern Zhou — begins (557–581)
- China
Western Wei — ends (535–557)
- Span
Göktürk Expansion into Europe — begins (557–598)
- Span
The Zhou–Qi war, 557–577 — begins (557–577)
- Span
Tuoba — ends (386–557)
- Technology · Byzantium
The Avars bring the stirrup to Europe, by one reading, which infers that the Göktürks had it too
- Persia
Istemi meets Khosrow at Gurgan; the border fixed along the Oxus; Faganish surrendered; a daughter of Istemi married to Khosrow
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Istemi takes Bukhara; the Hephthalite realm is destroyed in concert with Khosrow I
Battle of Bukhara · Istemi · Hephthalites · Bukhara · Khosrow I · Sogdiana
Also dated 557 by one modern reckoning: A second reckoning sets the end between 563 and 567; the fall is dated about 560 here
- Eastern steppe
Mukan drives the Khitan off to the east and annexes the Qigu, the Kirghiz, in the north
Mukan's Eastern and Northern Wars · Mukan Khan · Khitan · Yenisei Kirghiz
The Zhou Shu gives no year; one reckoning puts the annexation of the Kirghiz about 560
- Technology · Western steppe
New canal irrigation spreads through the Chach oasis and the towns grow with it, in the decades in which the Göktürk empire sets a tudun over Chach from Otrar
The literature gives the sixth century, not a year; 560 stands for it
- Eastern steppe
Mukan conquers the Kirghiz on the Yenisei and the Khitan in the east — ends (554–560)
Mukan Khan · Yenisei Kirghiz · Khitan · First Göktürk Khaganate
- Span
The Göktürk–Sasanian Trade Conflict — begins (560–570)
- China
A Göktürk and Zhou army enters Qi territory and advances on Jinyang; Yang Zhong brings ten thousand men, Mukan a hundred thousand horse
Mukan Khan · Northern Qi · Northern Zhou · The Zhou–Qi war, 557–577 · Jinyang campaign, 563–564 · Jinyang · Yang Zhong · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Göktürks and Zhou armies against the Northern Qi at Jinyang — begins (563–564)
Mukan Khan · Northern Zhou · Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Istemi and Khosrow destroy the Hephthalite realm — ends (555–563)
Hephthalites · Istemi · Battle of Bukhara · Sasanian Persia · Khosrow I · Sogdiana · The Göktürk–Hephthalite war, 555–563
- China
spring: The assault on Jinyang fails in the first month; Mukan plunders the country and goes home, and in the spring the Qi force the allies back
Mukan Khan · Northern Qi · The Zhou–Qi war, 557–577 · Jinyang campaign, 563–564 · Jinyang · Emperor Wucheng of Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Technology · China
Yang Zhong reports to the Zhou emperor that the Göktürks have bad armour, light rewards, many chiefs and no laws
Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Yang Zhong · Jinyang campaign, 563–564
- China
twelfth month: Yuwen Hu's offensive on Luoyang collapses; Mukan, who had come at the appointed time, withdraws
The Woye and Luoyang Campaign (564) · Northern Zhou · Yuwen Hu
- China
Göktürks and Zhou armies against the Northern Qi at Jinyang — ends (563–564)
Mukan Khan · Northern Zhou · Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
spring: A Zhou delegation of a hundred and twenty under Yuwen Chun comes for Mukan's daughter and is held
- China
Four dukes and a hundred and twenty women go to Mukan's camp to fetch the empress and are kept there for years
- Byzantium
Justinian on the Roman throne: the reconquest of Africa and Italy, the codification of the law, and the embassies that first look for allies beyond Persia — ends (527–565)
- Span
Coinage of the Huna Peoples — ends (385–565)
567
- Span
Avar Craftsmen — begins (567–822)
- Span
Gepids — ends (400–567)
- China
A storm damages Mukan's golden tent; his daughter goes to Chang'an and becomes empress of the Northern Zhou
Mukan Khan · Empress Ashina · Northern Zhou · Ashina · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Music of Empress Ashina (568)
- Technology · Tarim and Sogdiana
Göktürk traders offer the Romans iron when Zemarchos reaches Sogdiana; the smiths of the Altai a generation on
- Culture · Byzantium
Istemi's letter to Justin II is written in Scythian letters: Old Turkic by one reading, the Sogdian alphabet by the literature on the Sogdians
- Persia
Khosrow burns the goods of a Sogdian embassy and poisons a Göktürk one at Ctesiphon
Istemi · Sasanian Persia · Khosrow I · The embassies to Ctesiphon, 568
- Byzantium
summer: Maniakh reaches Constantinople; Justin II receives him and the Göktürks and the Romans become allies
Maniakh · Istemi · Byzantium · Avars · Maniakh's embassy to Constantinople, 568
- Event
The Göktürk–Byzantine alliance
- Death
Yang Zhong dies
- Western steppe
Istemi receives Zemarchos at Ektag on a golden throne and takes him on a raid toward Persia
Zemarchos · Istemi · Ektag · Tengrism · The embassy of Zemarchos, 569
Menander gives no date for the reception. It follows a departure at the beginning of August 569 by a journey of many days, so it falls at the end of that year or in 570.
- Event
Istemi's campaign against Persia, 569
- Persia
The khagan Sinjibu, that is Istemi, comes with 110,000 men to the gate of Sul and demands money; Khosrow, behind his new fortifications, refuses, and the khagan goes home
Khosrow I · Derbent · Istemi · Sasanian Persia
Tabari gives no year; one reckoning dates the raid to 569 or 570, when Zemarchos was with Istemi
- Byzantium
August: Zemarchos leaves Constantinople for the Göktürks
Zemarchos · Istemi · The embassy of Zemarchos, 569
Also dated 568: the older reckoning, which counts the fourth year of Justin II from his accession year rather than from November 565
- Death
Emperor Wucheng of Northern Qi dies
570
- Death
Maniakh dies
- Span
The Göktürk–Sasanian Trade Conflict — ends (560–570)
- Byzantium
Zemarchos returns to Constantinople with the Göktürk embassy of Tagma Tarkhan
Zemarchos · Tagma Tarkhan · The embassy of Zemarchos, 569
John of Ephesus has the envoys home after an absence of two years; reckoned from Menander's departure in August 569, the return falls late in 571.
- Culture · Source written
Tomb of Kang Ye compiled
- China
third month: Emperor Wu kills the regent Yuwen Hu; Hu's son is killed on embassy among the Göktürks
- Eastern steppe
Mukan dies; his brother Taspar succeeds; envoys from Zhou and Qi hurry to the new khan
- Eastern steppe
Taspar sets his nephews Ishbara and Börü as lesser khans in the east and west of his domain
Taspar Khan · Khan (Khagan) · Ishbara Khan · Taspar's Appointment of the Lesser Khans (572)
- Economy · China
The Zhou give Taspar a hundred thousand pieces of silk a year and the Qi empty their treasury to match; the surplus goes west with the Sogdians
- Eastern steppe
Taspar Khan reigns — begins (572–581)
- Eastern steppe
Mukan Khan reigns — ends (553–572)
- Death
Hulü Guang dies
- Span
Buddhism among the Göktürks — begins (572–581)
- Span
Mukan's Eastern and Northern Wars — ends (553–572)
- Persia
After taking Dara, Khosrow I sends two thousand captive maidens to the Göktürks; on the road they drown themselves in a river
Khosrow's gift of maidens (573) · Khosrow I · John of Ephesus
- Environment · Eastern steppe
An eruption dated in the ice to 574, and a cold summer after it in the northern tree rings
- Culture · China
fifth month: Emperor Wu abolishes Buddhism and Daoism in the Zhou lands
- Western steppe
Istemi dies; his son Tardush succeeds him as yabgu and moves the western seat to Suyab
Istemi · Tardush · Suyab · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Funeral of Istemi (576)
Menander gives no year; the death falls shortly before the embassy of Valentinos, which set out between December 575 and December 576
- Event
Siege of Bosporos, 576
- Caucasus and Crimea
The embassy of Valentinos is received; Göktürk forces besiege Bosporus in the Crimea
First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · Istemi · Türk-shad · Tardush · Byzantium · Embassy of Valentinos (576) · Subjugation of the Alans and Onogurs (before 576) · Funeral of Istemi (576)
- Western steppe
Tardush rules the western wing — begins (576–603)
- Western steppe
Istemi holds the western wing as yabgu — ends (552–576)
- Span
Dochia — begins (576–576)
- Span
Dochia — ends (576–576)
- Span
Ektag — ends (569–576)
- Span
Utigurs — ends (548–576)
- China
The Northern Zhou conquer the Northern Qi; Gao Shaoyi flees to Taspar's court
Taspar Khan · Northern Zhou · Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · The Qi Court in Exile (577–580)
- Span
The Zhou–Qi war, 557–577 — ends (557–577)
- China
fifth and sixth month: Emperor Wu leads the six armies north against Taspar and dies on the way back
- China
Taspar raids the Zhou frontier again in the eleventh month, besieges Jiuquan and plunders the country around it
The Siege of Jiuquan (578) · Taspar Khan · Northern Zhou · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Chinese monk Huilin converts Taspar, who builds him a pagoda; no other Göktürks follows
Taspar Khan · Buddhism among the Göktürks · Tengrism
Undated in the sources; late 570s
- China
April: The Göktürks enter Youzhou on behalf of the Qi resistance; the Zhou emperor Wu dies
Taspar Khan · Empress Ashina · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · The Raid on Youzhou (578)
- China
Taspar's war with the Northern Zhou for the Qi resistance under Gao Shaoyi — begins (578–580)
Taspar Khan · Northern Zhou · First Göktürk Khaganate · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Technology · China
sixth month: The Zhou call up the men of the eastern provinces to repair the Long Wall against the Göktürks
- Western steppe
Tiberius tells the envoys of the Avars that the Göktürks lie encamped near Cherson in the Crimea
Siege of Bosporos, 576 · Avars · Byzantium · Western Göktürk Khaganate · The Göktürks before Cherson (579)
- Persia
Khosrow I on the Persian throne: the reform of the army and the land tax, the destruction of the Hephthalites with Istemi, and the closing of the frontier against the Göktürk silk — ends (531–579)
- Culture · Source written
Tomb of An Jia compiled
- Eastern steppe
Gao Shaoyi is seized by a ruse and surrendered to the Zhou; peace and the princess Qianjin
Taspar Khan · Ötüken · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · The Qi Court in Exile (577–580) · The Marriage of Princess Qianjin (580)
- China
Taspar's war with the Northern Zhou for the Qi resistance under Gao Shaoyi — ends (578–580)
Taspar Khan · Northern Zhou · First Göktürk Khaganate · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Culture · Source written
Tomb of Shi Jun compiled
- Span
Livestock Raids — begins (580–842)
- Span
Yuwen — ends (250–580)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Extreme weather accompanies the first years of the civil war, by the tree rings
- Eastern steppe
Taspar dies; the nobility assembles at Ötüken, overrides his wish for Töremen, and elects Amrak
Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · Taspar Khan · Amrak · Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Toy · Töre · Ötüken
- China
Yang Jian takes the Zhou throne and founds the Sui; the Zhou court is slaughtered, Empress Ashina spared
Sui · Empress Ashina · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · Northern Zhou · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Sui — begins (581–618)
- China
Northern Zhou — ends (557–581)
- Eastern steppe
Amrak is khan — begins (581–582)
- Eastern steppe
Taspar Khan reigns — ends (572–581)
- Span
Buddhism among the Göktürks — ends (572–581)
- Eastern steppe
Amrak abdicates in Ishbara's favour; Töremen, as Apa Khan, goes to war, supported by Tardush
Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · Amrak · Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Tardush
- China
Empress Ashina dies at Chang'an, aged thirty-one
- China
In Ishbara's great invasion of the Sui his army fights a Sui force of two thousand under Daxi Zhangru for three days at Zhoupan
Battle of Zhoupan (582) · Ishbara Khan · Sui · The Göktürk–Sui wars, 582–603
- Western steppe
The Tarniach and the Kotzager flee from the Göktürks into Europe and join the Avar khan; the Avars gain ten thousand men
Flight of the Tarniach and Kotzager · Avars · Kutrigurs · Revolt of Turum
Also dated 598 by A second reading: The flight belongs to the last years of the century
- China
Ishbara's war with the Sui: the invasion of 582, Baidao, the purge and the flight — begins (582–585)
Ishbara Khan · Sui · First Göktürk Khaganate · The Göktürk Civil War · Tardush · Töremen Apa · The Göktürk–Sui wars, 582–603
- Eastern steppe
Ishbara Khan reigns — begins (582–587)
- Eastern steppe
Amrak is khan — ends (581–582)
- Span
Kotzager — begins (582–598)
- Span
Tarniach — begins (582–598)
- Span
Zabender — begins (582–598)
- China
Ishbara, Apa, Tardush and Bagha invade Sui China; a Tiele rising draws Tardush off; the Sui break the Göktürks near Baidao in June
First Göktürk Khaganate · Tiele · Tardush · Ishbara Khan · Bagha Khan · Sui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Edict of Emperor Wen against the Göktürks (583) · Battle of Baidao (583)
- China
Answering Ishbara's letter, the Sui send Yu Qingze; Ishbara receives the emperor's letter on his knees and calls himself the emperor's subject
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Bugut inscription, in Sogdian, set up for Taspar
- Eastern steppe
Civil war among the Ashina princes — begins (584–603)
First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · The Göktürk Civil War · Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Tardush · Tulan Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
One reading dates the beginning of Tardush's revolt to about 582; a second counts the war from 584
- Eastern steppe
September: The western army marches on Ötüken; Ishbara has fled to China and submitted to the Sui
Ötüken · Ishbara Khan · Tardush · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · The Göktürk Civil War · Submission of Ishbara (585)
- China
Ishbara's war with the Sui: the invasion of 582, Baidao, the purge and the flight — ends (582–585)
Ishbara Khan · Sui · First Göktürk Khaganate · The Göktürk Civil War · Tardush · Töremen Apa · The Göktürk–Sui wars, 582–603
- Eastern steppe
Ishbara dies; by his will his brother Bagha becomes khan and takes Apa alive; the khaganate is two
Ishbara Khan · Bagha Khan · Töremen Apa · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · The Göktürk Civil War · The Succession of 587 · Capture of Apa (587) · Ishbara's Hunt (587)
- Eastern steppe
Bagha Khan reigns — begins (587–588)
- Eastern steppe
Ishbara Khan reigns — ends (582–587)
- Persia
Bagha crosses the Oxus, takes Balkh and Herat, is beaten by Bahram Chobin at the Hyrcanian rock in April and, reportedly, killed on the Oxus
Bagha Khan · Šāba · Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Bahram Chobin · Herat · Western Göktürk Khaganate
Also dated 589 by one modern reckoning: The defeat at Herat in 589, of an army led by Tardush's son Šāba, after Tabari and Theophylact
- Environment · Western steppe
Drought after natural disasters drives Bagha's army toward the cities of the Oxus
- Economy · China
Frontier markets are opened for the Göktürks; the Sui end the silk payments of the Zhou years
- Persia
Göktürk–Persian war: Bagha crosses the Oxus and falls to Bahram Chobin — begins (588–589)
Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Bagha Khan · Šāba · Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Tulan Khan reigns — begins (588–599)
- Eastern steppe
Bagha Khan reigns — ends (587–588)
- Death
Faghfura dies
- Persia
Bahram Chobin retakes Herat, is said to take the khan's golden throne, and reaches the country of Bukhara; then rises against his own king
Bahram Chobin · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Herat · Bukhara · Sasanian Persia
- Persia
Göktürk–Persian war: Bagha crosses the Oxus and falls to Bahram Chobin — ends (588–589)
Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Bagha Khan · Šāba · Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate
590
- Death
Hormizd IV dies
- Persia
Bahram Chobin, beaten by Khosrow II, flees east; Tabari and aṯ-Ṯaʿālibī bring him to the Göktürk khan, whose khatun has him murdered, Sebeos to Balkh, where the inhabitants kill him
Bahram Chobin · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Sasanian Persia · Murder of Bahram Chobin · Göktürk prisoners with the cross (591)
592
- Culture · Source written
Tomb of Yu Hong compiled
593
- Death
Princess Qianjin dies
- Byzantium
A Göktürk embassy brings the emperor Maurice the khan's letter of victory, in which he calls himself lord of seven races; Theophylact tells it under the summer of 595
The khan's letter to Maurice · Revolt of Turum · Theophylact Simocatta
Also dated 582 by One reading: Soon after Maurice's accession
Also dated 598 by A second reading: The embassy belongs to the last years of the century
- Eastern steppe
Yami sends secretly to the Sui and has the princess Qianjin, now Tulan's wife, murdered
Yami Khan · Tulan Khan · Sui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Death of Princess Dayi
- Western steppe
Tardush has recovered from the defeat in Persia and domestic disturbances and moves to take the whole steppe empire
- Span
Göktürk Expansion into Europe — ends (557–598)
- Span
Kotzager — ends (582–598)
- Span
Tarniach — ends (582–598)
- Span
The Göktürk–Rouran Wars — ends (546–598)
- Span
Zabender — ends (582–598)
- China
Tulan and Tardush destroy Yami's kin; Yami flees to the Sui with five horsemen and the envoy Zhangsun Sheng
Yami Khan · Tulan Khan · Tardush · Sui · The Attack on Yami Khan (599)
- Eastern steppe
Tulan is killed by his own followers before the Sui army reaches the frontier; Tardush proclaims himself Bujia Khan
Tulan Khan · Tardush · Yami Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Death of Tulan Khan
- China
Yami is made Qimin Khan, 'wise and strong', and given the walled town of Dali and the Yicheng princess
Yami Khan · Sui · The Sui Campaign of 599 · The Archery Match at the Wu'an Hall (599)
- Eastern steppe
Tardush's war with the Sui and their client Yami for the whole khaganate — begins (599–603)
Tardush · Yami Khan · Sui · The Göktürk Civil War · Tulan Khan · The Göktürk–Sui wars, 582–603
Tardush beats Yami in 602 and is beaten in 603; the Sui Shu dates his flight to 601
- Eastern steppe
Tulan Khan reigns — ends (588–599)
- Death
Princess Anyi dies
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Lake Telmen stands 4.8 metres above its present level, a humid phase before the drying that follows
- China
Tardush meets the Sui general Shi Wansui at Mount Dajin and flees without a fight
Battle of Mount Dajin (600) · Tardush · Yami Khan · Sui
Also dated 599 by The annals of the Sui Shu, in one translation: Shi Wansui's victory stands under 599, before Tulan's death
- Environment · Eastern steppe
The Late Antique Little Ice Age reaches central Mongolia, by the lake record: long hard winters, livestock deaths, famine; the good grass of the khaganate's founding ends
Climate and the steppe empires · The Göktürk Civil War · First Göktürk Khaganate
From the sediments of Lake Telmen; the study links it to the disintegration of about 603
- Economy · Western steppe
The many small lords of the Chach oasis strike coins with legends entirely in Sogdian and the Sogdian title xwb, lord; a single very rare type carries the Göktürk title tudun
The literature dates the coinage to the sixth and seventh centuries, not to a year
- Eastern steppe
Tardush holds supreme power in the united khaganates — begins (600–603)
- Span
Alchon Huns — ends (390–600)
7th century
- China
Yang Su leads Qimin north against the tribes that raided him and recovers six thousand people and two hundred thousand animals
- Eastern steppe
- Persia
The last war between Rome and Persia, twenty-six years long; both empires come out of it unable to hold their frontiers — begins (602–628)
Sasanian Persia · Byzantium · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629
- Western steppe
A Tiele rising drives Tardush into exile, where he dies; the realm is finally divided
Tardush · Tiele · First Göktürk Khaganate · Western Göktürk Khaganate · The Göktürk Civil War · Heshana Khan · Fall of Tardush (603)
One reading has Tardush flee to the Tuyuhun and disappear; a second has him die in exile in northern Tibet
- Eastern steppe
Yami marches into Ötüken with Göktürk and Chinese troops
- Eastern steppe
Civil war among the Ashina princes — ends (584–603)
First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · The Göktürk Civil War · Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Tardush · Tulan Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Tardush's war with the Sui and their client Yami for the whole khaganate — ends (599–603)
Tardush · Yami Khan · Sui · The Göktürk Civil War · Tulan Khan · The Göktürk–Sui wars, 582–603
- Western steppe
Heshana (Chuluo) Khan rules the western Göktürks after Tardush — begins (603–611)
- Eastern steppe
Yami Khan reigns as a Sui client — begins (603–609)
- Eastern steppe
Tardush holds supreme power in the united khaganates — ends (600–603)
- Western steppe
Tardush rules the western wing — ends (576–603)
- Death
Niri Khan dies
- Western steppe
The Tiele rise against the western ruler over taxation and the execution of their chiefs, set up a khan of the Qibi, and drive the Göktürks from Dzungaria to the Ili
Tiele · Dzungaria · Heshana Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Tiele Revolt (605)
- Event
Sui Variety Shows for Yami Khan (606–610)
- Persia
The great khan's host crosses the Oxus against the Persian general Smbat Bagratuni and raids as far as Rey and Isfahan
Smbat Bagratuni's war with the khan · Sebeos · Badghis
Also dated 597 by A second reading: The campaign falls in 597 and 598
Also dated 614 by A third reading: Counted back from Smbat's death in the twenty-eighth year of Khosrow II
- Persia
Second Göktürk war with Persia — begins (606–607)
Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Heshana Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
The cities of Sogdiana and Bactria lost in 589 return to Göktürk rule, by one reading
- China
Yangdi at Yulin feasts Qimin and three thousand five hundred chiefs; Qimin asks for Chinese dress and laws and is refused
Yami Khan · Sui · Yangdi's Visit to Yami Khan (607) · Sui Variety Shows for Yami Khan (606–610)
- Persia
Second Göktürk war with Persia — ends (606–607)
Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Heshana Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Western steppe
The Sui envoy Cui Junsu threatens the life of Heshana's Chinese mother; the western khan kneels to receive the emperor's letter
- Eastern steppe
Yami dies; his son Shibi succeeds
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Yangdi receives the king of Gaochang, the tudun shad of Yiwu and the envoys of twenty-seven western states at Mount Yanzhi
- Eastern steppe
Shibi Khan reigns — begins (609–619)
- Eastern steppe
Yami Khan reigns as a Sui client — ends (603–609)
- Byzantium
Heraclius takes the Roman throne in a coup, with the empire already losing its eastern provinces to Persia
- China
Pei Ju's plan: the Sui emperor gives Shegui's envoy a white-feathered arrow and the promise of the title Great Khan against Heshana
Shegui Khan · Heshana Khan · Sui · Fall of Heshana Khan (611)
The sixth year of Daye in the Sui Shu; the attack that followed is dated 611 in the literature
- Western steppe
Shegui, allied with the Sui through Pei Ju, drives Heshana to Gaochang; Heshana submits and receives the title Heshana Khan and a princess
Shegui Khan · Heshana Khan · Gaochang · Sui · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Fall of Heshana Khan (611)
- Western steppe
Shegui Khan rules the western Göktürks — begins (611–619)
Shegui Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
618 by one reading, 619 by a second
Also dated 618 by two modern reckonings: One gives 618 or 619; the other has Tong Yabgu on the throne no later than 618
- Western steppe
Heshana (Chuluo) Khan rules the western Göktürks after Tardush — ends (603–611)
- Korea
The Sui send four armies against Goguryeo in three years; the failure and its cost begin the risings that end the dynasty — begins (612–614)
Goguryeo · Sui · The siege of Yanmen, 615 · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Byzantium
The Persians take Jerusalem and carry off the relic of the Cross
- Korea
The Sui send four armies against Goguryeo in three years; the failure and its cost begin the risings that end the dynasty — ends (612–614)
Goguryeo · Sui · The siege of Yanmen, 615 · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Pei Ju lures Shishu Huxi, Shibi's trusted adviser, to a pretended market below Mayi and has him killed; Shibi stops coming to court
- China
eighth month: Shibi besieges the Sui emperor at Yanmen and withdraws when the relief armies come up; from this year the khaganate sends the Sui no tribute
Shibi Khan · Yanmen · First Göktürk Khaganate · Sui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · The siege of Yanmen, 615
- China
Shibi raids Mayi and is driven off by Li Yuan, duke of Tang
Shibi Khan · Sui · Tang
- China
Shibi sends two thousand horses and five hundred riders to Li Yuan
Shibi Khan · Tang · First Göktürk Khaganate · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Göktürk Aid to Li Yuan (617)
- China
Li Yuan founds the Tang
- Economy · China
The Tang cavalry grows from five thousand horses to more than seven hundred thousand, supplied by the Göktürks
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu gives the kings of the western countries the title of ilteber and sets a tudun over them to supervise them and press in the revenue
Tong Yabgu · Tudun · Ilteber · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Sogdiana
The Xin Tang Shu gives the arrangement in its account of Tong Yabgu's reign without a year of its own.
- Tibet
The empire of the Yarlung kings on the Tibetan plateau, the third great power of inner Asia beside China and the steppe — begins (618–842)
- China
Sui — ends (581–618)
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu rules the western Göktürks from Suyab — begins (618–630)
Tong Yabgu · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Suyab
One reading ends the reign in 628, a second in 630
- China
Heshana, having lost all control of his khaganate, is handed by the first Tang emperor to eastern Göktürk envoys at Chang'an and executed
Heshana Khan · Tang · Shibi Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Killing of Heshana Khan (619)
- Eastern steppe
Shibi dies on a raid; his brother Chula succeeds
- Western steppe
Shegui Khan rules the western Göktürks — ends (611–619)
- Eastern steppe
Shibi Khan reigns — ends (609–619)
- Eastern steppe
Chula dies, perhaps poisoned; Ilig Khan takes the throne
- China
Chula fetches the Sui empress Xiao and Yang Zhengdao and sets him up as king of Sui at Dingxiang with ten thousand followers
Chula Khan · Sui · The Sui Court in Exile at Dingxiang (620)
- Economy · Tarim and Sogdiana
- Eastern steppe
Ilig Khan reigns — begins (620–630)
- Eastern steppe
Töles Khan, Shibi's son, lesser khan of the eastern wing with his camp north of Youzhou — begins (620–630)
- China
Ilig takes Yanmen, wins five battles, and advances into the Taiyuan region in August; the Tang offer tribute and a princess
Ilig Khan · Tang · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Raid on Yanmen (621)
- China
Ilig, checked at Yanmen, asks the Tang for peace and sends fish glue so that the two states may be as one
- China
Ilig's riders with Liu Heita surround and kill the Tang general Li Da'en; Ilig raids Fenzhou with fifty thousand horse
- Culture · Arabia and the caliphate
The community of Muhammad moves from Mecca to Medina; the year later becomes the first of the Islamic era
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu promises to march with the Tang against Ilig in the winter; Ilig, afraid, makes peace with him
- China
Ilig and Tuli invade by Yuanzhou; Li Shimin rides to their line with a hundred horsemen and divides uncle from nephew
- China
Ilig plunders Shuozhou with a hundred thousand men and destroys Zhang Jin's army at Taiyuan
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu asks the Tang for a princess, as he had in 622; the emperor agrees and sends Daoli, Prince of Gaoping, to his court
Tong Yabgu · Western Göktürk Khaganate
The advice to agree is Pei Ju's in the Zizhi tongjian and the Cefu yuangui, Feng Deyi's in the Jiu Tang Shu and the Tongdian
- Persia
Tong Yabgu campaigns against the Hephthalites, reaches the Indus and subdues most of Bactria; his son becomes the first yabgu of Tokharistan
- Realm
Turk Shahi of Kabul and Kapisa — begins (625–843)
- Realm
Yabgus of Tokharistan — begins (625–759)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A large eruption in 626; a dimmed sky recorded in 626 and 627; the summer of 627 among the four coldest of fifteen hundred years
Climate and the steppe empires · Ilig Khan
From the ice cores; one line of argument leads from it to the fall of 630
- China
Eighteen days after Taizong takes the throne, Ilig stands before Chang'an with a great army and withdraws
Ilig Khan · Tang · First Göktürk Khaganate · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · The Wei bridge, 626 · Battle of Jingyang (626)
- Byzantium
The Avars and the Persians besiege Constantinople together and fail; Heraclius is in the east and does not come back for it
Byzantium · Avars · Sasanian Persia · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629
- Span
Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 — begins (626–630)
- China
A great snow, several feet on level ground, kills the Göktürk herds; the people starve
Ilig Khan · Climate and the steppe empires · The great snow of 627
- Caucasus and Crimea
Börü Shad appears before Derbent with forty thousand men; Tong Yabgu meets Heraclius before Tiflis, which the allies take and sack after Nineveh
Tong Yabgu · Börü Shad · Derbent · Tiflis · Shad · Byzantium · Sasanian Persia · Khazar Khaganate · Western Göktürk Khaganate · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629 · Heraclius · Meeting of Heraclius and Ziebel (627) · Siege of Tiflis (627–629)
In Theophanes the forty thousand are the men Ziebel hands to Heraclius for the march into Persia; in the Armenian history the city falls in a second siege, without the emperor
Also dated 626 by one modern reckoning: The meeting before Tiflis in 626, from Theophanes, whose years here run one too early
Also dated 628 by Movses Dasxuranci: The khan arrives in the thirty-eighth year of Khosrow, the year of his murder
- Western steppe
The Karluks revolt against Tong Yabgu
- Eastern steppe
The Xueyantuo, the Uyghurs and the Bayirku rise against Ilig and drive off his Yugu Shad; Töles, sent against them, loses his army
Revolt of the Tiele (627) · Ilig Khan · Töles Khan · Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush)
Also dated 626 by Cefu yuangui: The rising stands under the ninth year of Wude
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu sends a gold belt and five thousand horses to fetch the princess; Ilig threatens to stop her on his road
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Göktürks in the Caucasus with Heraclius against Persia: Derbent and Tiflis — begins (627–628)
Tong Yabgu · Byzantium · Sasanian Persia · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Tiflis · Khazar Khaganate · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629
- Eastern steppe
The Tang war against Ilig: the risings, the winter offensive, the Iron Mountain — begins (627–630)
Ilig Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate · Tang · Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush) · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Persia
Khosrow II is deposed and killed by his own nobles; four years of disputed succession follow
- China
Taizong refuses to rebuild the Long Wall against the Göktürks and names the signs of their coming ruin
Taizong's Speech on the Signs of Ruin (628) · Tang · Ilig Khan
- Eastern steppe
Töles submits to the Tang on 21 April; the Xueyantuo secede from Ilig as a khaganate of their own
Ilig Khan · Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush) · Tiele · Defection of Töles (628)
Also dated 629 by Jiu Tang Shu 194上: 三年，薛延陀自稱可汗於漠北: the khan's self-proclamation in the third year of Zhenguan; the risings north of the Yinshan are in the first year, 627
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Göktürks in the Caucasus with Heraclius against Persia: Derbent and Tiflis — ends (627–628)
Tong Yabgu · Byzantium · Sasanian Persia · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Tiflis · Khazar Khaganate · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629
- Persia
The last war between Rome and Persia, twenty-six years long; both empires come out of it unable to hold their frontiers — ends (602–628)
Sasanian Persia · Byzantium · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629
- Eastern steppe
The Xueyantuo hold the khanship north of the desert, from Ötüken and then from the Tula — begins (628–646)
Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush) · Yinan Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate
Also dated 629: the Jiu Tang Shu dates the proclamation north of the desert to 629; 628 is the year of the Tang patent that made it possible
- Eastern steppe
December: Tang cavalry strike the Göktürks in winter
Ilig Khan · Töles Khan · Tang · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
The Jiu Tang Shu has the decree to Li Jing in 629 and the night attack on Dingxiang in the first month of 630
- Culture · Western steppe
The pilgrim Xuanzang visits Tong Yabgu's court at Suyab
Suyab · Tong Yabgu · Life of Xuanzang · Record of the Western Regions · Xuanzang's visit to Tong Yabgu
Huili's life of the pilgrim sets his departure in the eighth month of 629; the audience fell in the following winter
Also dated 628 by one modern reckoning: Xuanzang set out in the autumn of 627 and met the khan a year before the murder of 628
- Eastern steppe
Töles Khan, flogged by Ilig in 627 and refused troops since, leads his people over to the Tang
Töles Khan · Ilig Khan · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 · Defection of Töles (628)
The Jiu Tang Shu sets the crossing in the twelfth month of the third year of Zhenguan; one reading dates the submission to 21 April 628
- Span
Göktürk Expansion along the Silk Road — ends (553–629)
- Span
The Caucasus campaign, 627–629 — ends (627–629)
- Tarim and Sogdiana
After Ilig's fall the lord of Yiwu comes to the Tang court and gives up his seven towns, which become a prefecture
- Caucasus and Crimea
Čorpan Tarxan's vanguard draws a Persian army of ten thousand into an ambush by Lake Sevan and destroys it
Battle of Lake Sevan (629–630) · The Caucasus campaign, 627–629
- China
Kang Sumi surrenders to the Tang with the last Sui princes from the Göktürks; An Tuhan with 5,000 men; the Sogdian settlement of the Ordos begins
- Eastern steppe
March: Taizong reaches the Iron Mountain; Ilig is handed to the Tang by his own uncle; the eastern khaganate falls
Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 · Ilig Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate · Tang · Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush) · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Night Attack on Dingxiang (630) · Battle of the Iron Mountain (630) · Capture of Ilig Khan (630)
The Jiu Tang Shu has Ilig flee to the Iron Mountain in the second month and taken in the third in the camp of his kinsman Shaboluo by Zhang Baoxiang; the hand-over by an uncle is the literature's account
- Eastern steppe
The Sui princess Yicheng, katun of four khans in turn, is killed when the Tang take Ilig's court
Princess Yicheng · Ilig Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate · Tang
- China
The Tang settle the surrendered Göktürks on the Ordos loop in protectorates after the debate of Wen Yanbo and Wei Zheng
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu is murdered by his uncle, who briefly rules as Mohedu; civil war, and the west dissolves into the Ten Arrows
Tong Yabgu · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Murder of Tong Yabgu (630)
Also dated 627 by Cefu yuangui 974: The death and Taizong's mourning stand under the first year of Zhenguan
Also dated 628 by Zizhi tongjian 193: The murder at the end of the second year of Zhenguan; the Tiele chapter of the Jiu Tang Shu has the same year
- Western steppe
Civil war in the west after the murder of Tong Yabgu; the Ten Arrows emerge — begins (630–634)
- China
Hegemony Wars in Northern China: the wars from the break-up of the Northern Wei to the Tang capture of Ilig — ends (534–630)
- Eastern steppe
The Tang war against Ilig: the risings, the winter offensive, the Iron Mountain — ends (627–630)
Ilig Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate · Tang · Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush) · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
The Göktürks under Tang rule; the fifty years the Kül Tegin inscription calls the loss of realm and khan — begins (630–682)
The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682 · Ashina · Kül Tegin inscription
- Eastern steppe
First Göktürk Khaganate — ends (552–630)
- Eastern steppe
The Göktürk interregnum: fifty-two years with no khan of their own, under Tang protectorates — begins (630–682)
The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682 · Loose-rein prefectures
From the capture of Ilig to the rising of Ilterish; the Kül Tegin inscription counts fifty years
- Eastern steppe
Ilig Khan reigns — ends (620–630)
- Eastern steppe
Töles Khan, Shibi's son, lesser khan of the eastern wing with his camp north of Youzhou — ends (620–630)
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu rules the western Göktürks from Suyab — ends (618–630)
- Death
Baghatur Khan dies
- Span
Bugu — begins (630–840)
- Span
Chumukun — begins (630–659)
- Span
Ediz — begins (630–840)
- Span
Hun (Tiele tribe) — begins (630–840)
- Span
Nushibi — begins (630–659)
- Span
Qibi — begins (630–840)
- Span
Sijie — begins (630–840)
- Span
Tongra — begins (630–840)
- Span
Toquz Oghuz — begins (630–840)
- Span
Göktürk Face-Cutting — ends (550–630)
- Span
Horses in Göktürk Law — ends (550–630)
- China
The Tang redeem with gold and silk the Chinese who had fallen to the Göktürks in the Sui disorders; eighty thousand men and women are counted home
- Death
Töles Khan dies
- Arabia and the caliphate
Muhammad dies; within ten years the armies of the new state hold Syria, Egypt and Iraq
- Death
Si Yabgu Khan dies
- Culture · China
At a feast in the old Han palace of Weiyang the retired emperor Gaozu orders the captive Ilig to dance and hails Hu and Yue as one family
Ilig Khan's Dance at the Weiyang Palace (633) · Ilig Khan · Tang
- China
- Western steppe
Civil war in the west after the murder of Tong Yabgu; the Ten Arrows emerge — ends (630–634)
- Western steppe
Ishbara Tolis Khan, the Shaboluo Dielishi of the Chinese; the Ten Arrows fully manifest as two unions of five tribes, Duolu and Nushibi, each under its own khan — begins (634–639)
Ishbara Tolis Khan · On Oq · Chur · Irkin · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Death
Nishu Bagha Shad dies
- Death
Suni Shi dies
- Death
Tuyuhun Hunye dies
635
- Realm
Old Great Bulgaria — begins (635–660)
- Persia
The Persian field army is broken at Qadisiyya and Ctesiphon falls
- Byzantium
The Roman field army in Syria is destroyed at the Yarmouk; the eastern provinces are lost within five years
- Culture · Source written
Bei Qi Shu (Book of Northern Qi) compiled
- Culture · Source written
Zhou Shu (Book of Zhou) compiled
- Western steppe
Üç Tuğlu Khan, Yukuk Shad, set up by the Duolu tribes as Yipi Duolu Khan; the west divided at the Ili — begins (638–642)
Üç Tuğlu Khan · Ishbara Tolis Khan · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Economy · Tarim and Sogdiana
A Sogdian contract in the bazaar of Gaochang is dated by the year of the Ilteber-king of Gaochang: the Chinese king of Turfan under a Turkic title
- Eastern steppe
Ashina Simo made khan by the Tang and settled north of the Yellow River — begins (639–643)
Ashina Simo · The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682
A hundred thousand crossed with him; in 643 they rebelled and crossed back
- Western steppe
Irbis Ishbara Yabgu Khan, khan of the Nushibi at the Southern Court; killed on Yukuk Shad's orders — begins (639–641)
Irbis Ishbara Yabgu Khan · Üç Tuğlu Khan · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Western steppe
Ishbara Tolis Khan, the Shaboluo Dielishi of the Chinese; the Ten Arrows fully manifest as two unions of five tribes, Duolu and Nushibi, each under its own khan — ends (634–639)
Ishbara Tolis Khan · On Oq · Chur · Irkin · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Tarim and Sogdiana
The Tang take the kingdom of Gaochang and make it the prefecture of Xizhou
Gaochang · Tarim Basin · Tang
The date from the Turfan documents; the Xin Tang Shu measures Helu's seat from Xizhou
- Span
Anxi Protectorate — begins (640–)
- Span
The Tang conquest of the western Khaganate, 640–659 — begins (640–659)
- Span
Farming and Taxes in Gaochang — ends (500–640)
- Tibet
A Tang princess is sent to the Tibetan king; the plateau and the empire are neighbours on terms for the first time
- Western steppe
Irbis Ishbara Yabgu Khan, khan of the Nushibi at the Southern Court; killed on Yukuk Shad's orders — ends (639–641)
Irbis Ishbara Yabgu Khan · Üç Tuğlu Khan · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Economy · China
A leader of the western Göktürks sends thirty-eight thousand marten pelts to the Tang court
- Persia
The last Persian army is destroyed at Nihavand; the Iranian plateau is open
- Caucasus and Crimea
Arab–Khazar wars for the passes of the Caucasus — begins (642–737)
Almost without pause between 642 and 737, by the article's account; ended by Marwan's victory
- Western steppe
Irbis Shegui Khan, chosen with the Tang envoy Wen Wuyin; Yukuk Shad flees to Tokharistan — begins (642–651)
Irbis Shegui Khan · Üç Tuğlu Khan · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Western steppe
Üç Tuğlu Khan, Yukuk Shad, set up by the Duolu tribes as Yipi Duolu Khan; the west divided at the Ili — ends (638–642)
Üç Tuğlu Khan · Ishbara Tolis Khan · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Span
Arab–Khazar Wars (642–737) — begins (642–737)
- Span
Balanjar — begins (642–)
- Economy · China
The Xueyantuo send fifty thousand horses with other animals to the Tang
- Eastern steppe
Ashina Simo made khan by the Tang and settled north of the Yellow River — ends (639–643)
- Korea
- Death
Yinan Khan dies
- Eastern steppe
The Xueyantuo hold the khanship north of the desert, from Ötüken and then from the Tula — ends (628–646)
Xueyantuo Khaganate (Syr Tardush) · Yinan Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate
647
- Event
Banquet of the Wine Fountain (647)
- Event
The Ten Steeds of 647
- Death
Ashina Simo dies
- Span
Anbei Protectorate — begins (647–)
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Ashina Helu, driven from his yabgu's command on the Duoluosi, submits to the Tang with several thousand tents and guides the campaign against Kucha
Ashina Helu · Tarim Basin · Tang
The Xin Tang Shu ties the submission to the Kucha campaign, which the Tang annals date to 648
- China
second month: Shiboqu Azhan, the chief of the Kirghiz, comes in person to Taizong's court and is made governor of the Jiankun command under the Yanran protectorate
Kirghiz embassy of 648 · Yenisei Kirghiz · Shiboqu Azhan
The first contact of the Kirghiz with the Tang court, in the twenty-second year of Zhenguan
Also dated 647 by the Tongdian: the Tongdian puts the coming of the chief in the twenty-first year of Zhenguan
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Khazars emerge at the head of the western steppe after the Göktürks; by the 670s they have beaten the Bulgars
- Western steppe
Khazar Khaganate — begins (650–969)
- Span
Basmïl — begins (650–744)
- Span
Shanyu Protectorate — begins (650–)
- Span
Shiveet Ulaan — begins (650–700)
- Span
The Khazar language — begins (650–965)
- Span
Turkic Tribes in Europe — ends (463–650)
- Western steppe
Ashina Helu goes west, takes the Duolu lands, proclaims himself Shaboluo Khan at the Thousand Springs over the Ten Arrows, and raids Tingzhou
Ashina Helu · On Oq · Suyab · Western Göktürk Khaganate
After Taizong's death in 649; the Tang annals set the raid and the first campaign in 651, a modern reckoning the khanate from 653
Also dated 653 by one modern reckoning: The beginning of Helu's khanate over the Ten Arrows
- Caucasus and Crimea
Irbis Shegui, a defeated khan of the Nushibi, moves to the Khazar lands and founds their ruling house: Artamonov's hypothesis, reported with reservations
- Persia
Yazdegerd III is killed in flight near Merv; the Sasanian empire ends and Khurasan becomes the eastern frontier of the caliphate
- Western steppe
Ashina Helu, self-proclaimed Shaboluo Khan, dominates the Ten Arrows — begins (651–657)
Ashina Helu · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
Also dated 653 by one modern reckoning: It gives Helu's khanate as 653 to 659; the Tang annals have the Tingzhou raid and the first campaign in 651
Also dated 659 by one modern reckoning: The end of the khanate; the Tang annals have the capture in 658 and the death in 659
- Western steppe
Irbis Shegui Khan, chosen with the Tang envoy Wen Wuyin; Yukuk Shad flees to Tokharistan — ends (642–651)
Irbis Shegui Khan · Üç Tuğlu Khan · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate
652
- Event
Battle of Balanjar (652)
- Western steppe
Ashina Helu against the Tang: the last khan of the western Göktürks — begins (653–659)
Ashina Helu · Western Göktürk Khaganate · On Oq · Tang · The Tang conquest of the western Khaganate, 640–659
Helu taken in 657 by one reckoning, 659 by a second
- Western steppe
Cheng Zhijie's campaign against Helu: the Karluks and the Chuyue beaten, the Chumukun city taken, Su Dingfang's first victory at the Yingsuo valley, and the massacre of Dadu city
Ashina Helu · On Oq · Tang
- Western steppe
The Tang capture Ashina Helu, the last independent khan of the western Göktürks; the west is divided into ten prefectures
Western Göktürk Khaganate · First Göktürk Khaganate · Ashina Helu · On Oq · Tang
Also dated 658 by the Tang annals: The campaign in the second year of Xianqing, 657, the capture in the third, 658, and Helu's death in the fourth, 659
Also dated 659 by one modern reckoning: Ashina Helu captured by the Tang in 659; the end is set at 657, and the after-effects run to the 740s
- Western steppe
Ashina Helu, self-proclaimed Shaboluo Khan, dominates the Ten Arrows — ends (651–657)
- China
Ashina Helu dies at Chang'an after his pardon and is buried beside the tomb of Ilig Khan
- Western steppe
Ashina Helu against the Tang: the last khan of the western Göktürks — ends (653–659)
Ashina Helu · Western Göktürk Khaganate · On Oq · Tang · The Tang conquest of the western Khaganate, 640–659
- Western steppe
Western Göktürk Khaganate: Istemi's wing, a state of its own after the civil war, to the capture of Ashina Helu — ends (552–659)
- Culture · Source written
Bei Shi (History of the Northern Dynasties) compiled
- Culture · Source written
Nan Shi compiled
- Span
Chumukun — ends (630–659)
- Span
Nushibi — ends (630–659)
- Environment · China
Dry extremes on the monsoon margin of north-western China peak around 660, in a dry phase running from 346 to 763
Climate and the steppe empires
From the Delingha tree rings
- Realm
Old Great Bulgaria — ends (635–660)
- Culture · Source written
Afrasiab paintings compiled
- Arabia and the caliphate
The Umayyad caliphate, ruled from Damascus; the power that crosses the Oxus and fights the Türgesh and the Khazars for forty years — begins (661–750)
The Umayyad Caliphate · Islam · Sogdiana · Türgesh · Khazar Khaganate
- Tibet
Tibet takes the Four Garrisons of the Tarim from the Tang; the oases change hands repeatedly for thirty years
- Span
Tuyuhun — ends (300–670)
- Byzantium
The first Arab siege of Constantinople — begins (674–678)
- Byzantium
The first Arab siege of Constantinople — ends (674–678)
- Economy · China
The Tang organise the Sogdo-Göktürk settlements of the Ordos as the six hu counties
- Eastern steppe
The rising of the Ashide: Nishufu made khan and twenty-four prefectures with him — begins (679–680)
Nishufu Khan · The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682 · Loose-rein prefectures
The first Tang army beaten with the loss of ten thousand; Nishufu killed by his own men
- Span
Ashide — begins (679–)
- Span
Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 — begins (679–687)
- China
The Ashide chiefs fetch Ashina Funian, a nephew of Ilig, to Xiazhou to make him khan; Pei Xingjian breaks the rising, and Funian is beheaded in Chang'an the next year
- China
The rising of Ashina Funian against the Tang — begins (680–681)
Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Ilterish Khan · Ashina Funian
- Eastern steppe
The rising of the Ashide: Nishufu made khan and twenty-four prefectures with him — ends (679–680)
Nishufu Khan · The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682 · Loose-rein prefectures
- China
The rising of Ashina Funian against the Tang — ends (680–681)
Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Ilterish Khan · Ashina Funian
- Realm
Danube Bulgaria — begins (681–)
- Span
Pliska — begins (681–)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A large sulphate signal in the ice of 682
- Eastern steppe
Kutluk of the Ashina gathers the fugitives of Funian's rising in the Zongcai mountains, makes himself khan as Ilterish and restores the Göktürk state
Ilterish Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tonyukuk · Ashina · Ashide Yuanzhen
Also dated 683 by Jiu Tang Shu 194: The Jiu Tang Shu dates the rising to the second year of Yongchun; the Xin Tang Shu and the literature give the first, 682
- China
Ilterish's yearly war with the Tang: Weizhou, Shuozhou, Daizhou, Xinzhou, Changping — begins (682–687)
Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Ilterish Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tonyukuk
- Eastern steppe
Second Göktürk Khaganate — begins (682–744)
- Eastern steppe
The Göktürks under Tang rule; the fifty years the Kül Tegin inscription calls the loss of realm and khan — ends (630–682)
The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682 · Ashina · Kül Tegin inscription
- Eastern steppe
Ilterish Khan, Kutluk of the Ashina, first khan of the Second Göktürk Khaganate; his brother Mochuo shad, Duoxifu yabgu, Ashide Yuanzhen Apa Tarkan in command of the army — begins (682–691)
- Eastern steppe
The Göktürk interregnum: fifty-two years with no khan of their own, under Tang protectorates — ends (630–682)
- Span
Funeral Games of the Caucasian Huns — begins (682–682)
- Span
Funeral Games of the Caucasian Huns — ends (682–682)
- China
Ilterish raids Weizhou and kills the governor of Fengzhou: the first of the yearly raids on Shanxi and Hebei that continue to 687
- China
A Tang relief force meets Ilterish at Xinzhou and loses more than five thousand men
- China
Heichi Changzhi beats Ilterish at Huanghuadui and drives him north of the desert; Cuan Baobi follows with thirteen thousand picked men and loses them all
- China
Ilterish's yearly war with the Tang: Weizhou, Shuozhou, Daizhou, Xinzhou, Changping — ends (682–687)
Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Ilterish Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tonyukuk
- Eastern steppe
Kapgan Khan, Mochuo, takes the throne over his brother's small sons and rules until his death in 716 — begins (691–716)
Kapgan Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Bilge Khan · Kül Tegin
- Eastern steppe
Ilterish Khan, Kutluk of the Ashina, first khan of the Second Göktürk Khaganate; his brother Mochuo shad, Duoxifu yabgu, Ashide Yuanzhen Apa Tarkan in command of the army — ends (682–691)
- China
Kapgan raids Lingzhou; a Tang army of ten generals under the monk Xue Huaiyi finds no enemy; Kapgan's first embassy brings him a title and five thousand pieces of silk
- Eastern steppe
Kapgan crushes the rebel Khitan for Empress Wu in exchange for the surrendered Göktürk households west of the River, and is invested as Great Shanyu and Ligong Baoguo Khan
- China
Empress Wu hands Kapgan the surrendered households of the six prefectures of the Ordos, forty thousand bushels of seed and three thousand farming tools; the Tang history calls it the source of his strength
- China
Kapgan rejects the Wu bridegroom, leads a hundred thousand men into Hebei, takes Zhaozhou and Dingzhou and withdraws with eighty or ninety thousand captives
- Event
Kapgan's Request for Farm Tools and Iron (698)
- China
Kapgan's war with the Tang: Hebei in 698, Mingsha in 705 — begins (698–706)
Kapgan Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tang · Kapgan's wars with the Tang, 698–716
- Eastern steppe
Kapgan sets a shad of the left and a shad of the right over twenty thousand men each and his son Fuju as Lesser Khan over forty thousand of the Ten Surnames, with the title Khan Who Expands the West
- Western steppe
The Türgesh khans rule the western Göktürk lands from Suyab — begins (699–766)
From Wuzhile's leadership in 699 to the Karluk capture of Suyab in 766; the Türgesh khans proper end in 744
- Realm
Türgesh Khaganate — begins (699–744)
- Western steppe
Kapgan Khan of the east sets his brother and nephew over the two branches of the Ten Arrows; the tribes choose the Türgesh Baga Tarqan Wuzhile as their leader — begins (699–706)
Türgesh · On Oq · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Kapgan Khan · Inel Khan
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Central Mongolia turns drier, by the lake record, and stays so to 1300; the droughts of the Medieval Climate Anomaly
- Span
Abusi — begins (700–840)
- Span
Kül Tegin's Horses — begins (700–732)
- Span
Türgesh and Karluk Coinage — begins (700–825)
- Span
Bronze Mirrors of the Steppe — ends (200 BC–700)
- Span
Shiveet Ulaan — ends (650–700)
- Span
Tashtyk Culture — ends (100 BC–700)
8th century
- China
Kapgan beats the Tang at Mingsha in Lingzhou, more than six thousand Chinese dead, and carries off the Longyou herds; the Tang answer with the three Shouxiang cities beyond the River
Kapgan Khan · Kül Tegin · Tang
- Persia
Qutayba ibn Muslim takes Sogdiana for the caliphate: Paikent, Bukhara, Samarkand, Khwarezm
Qutayba ibn Muslim · Sogdiana · Samarkand · Bukhara · Paikent · Sogdians
- Western steppe
Qutayba takes and sacks Paikent, the merchant town of the Bukhara oasis that had called on the Türgesh; a captive offers five thousand rolls of Chinese silk for his life
Paikent · Bukhara · Türgesh · Sogdians · Qutayba ibn Muslim
- China
Kapgan's war with the Tang: Hebei in 698, Mingsha in 705 — ends (698–706)
Kapgan Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tang · Kapgan's wars with the Tang, 698–716
- Western steppe
Saqal, son of Wuzhile, leads the Türgesh, defeats the Tang in 708 and 709 and declares himself khan; perishes with his rival brother Zhenu — begins (706–711)
- Western steppe
Kapgan Khan of the east sets his brother and nephew over the two branches of the Ten Arrows; the tribes choose the Türgesh Baga Tarqan Wuzhile as their leader — ends (699–706)
Türgesh · On Oq · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Kapgan Khan · Inel Khan
709
- Span
Kapgan's western war, 709–713 — begins (709–713)
- Eastern steppe
Tonyukuk crosses the Kögmen in winter by a single-horse track and kills the Kirghiz khan in his sleep, breaking the northern arm of the coalition of the Tang, the Ten Arrows and the Kirghiz
Tonyukuk · Kül Tegin · Yenisei Kirghiz · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk campaign against the Kirghiz (710)
Also dated 711 by one modern reckoning: Kül Tegin's age of twenty-six gives 710 if he was born in 684; the same reckoning dates the western campaigns about 711
- Western steppe
Kapgan's western war: the Kirghiz in winter, the Türgesh at Bolchu, the Sogdians to the Iron Gate — begins (710–713)
Kapgan Khan · Tonyukuk · Battle of Bolchu · Türgesh · Yenisei Kirghiz · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Sogdiana · Kapgan's western war, 709–713
- Death
Bars Beg dies
- Western steppe
Battle of Bolchu: Tonyukuk, against Kapgan's order, crosses the Altai and the Irtysh by night and destroys the Türgesh army; their khan taken, the Ten Arrows submit
Battle of Bolchu · Tonyukuk · Kapgan Khan · Inel Khan · Bilge Khan · Kül Tegin · Türgesh · On Oq
Also dated 710 by Kül Tegin inscription, by the prince's age: The Tang history gives the Jingyun period, 710 to 711; the literature writes 711
- Western steppe
The Göktürk army, with the Ten Arrows behind it, crosses the Syr Darya and reaches the Iron Gate south of Samarkand; the Sogdians submit to Inel Khan
Tonyukuk · Inel Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Sogdians · Kapgan Khan
- Western steppe
Saqal, son of Wuzhile, leads the Türgesh, defeats the Tang in 708 and 709 and declares himself khan; perishes with his rival brother Zhenu — ends (706–711)
- Span
The Khalaj language — begins (711–)
- Persia
Qutayba ibn Muslim takes Samarkand by a ruse; the treaty of surrender, with its tribute in dirhams, slaves and silk, survives
The capture of Samarkand, 712 · Samarkand · Qutayba ibn Muslim · Sogdians
- Western steppe
Kapgan's western war: the Kirghiz in winter, the Türgesh at Bolchu, the Sogdians to the Iron Gate — ends (710–713)
Kapgan Khan · Tonyukuk · Battle of Bolchu · Türgesh · Yenisei Kirghiz · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Sogdiana · Kapgan's western war, 709–713
- Western steppe
Kapgan's son the Lesser Khan besieges Beiting and fails; a tegin is beheaded under the walls and the khan's brother-in-law defects to the Tang
Kapgan Khan · Inel Khan · Beshbalik · Tang
- Eastern steppe
The subject peoples against Kapgan: Beiting, the Ten Arrows, the Nine Surnames, the Bayirku — begins (714–716)
Kapgan Khan · Bayirku · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Kül Tegin · The revolt of the subject peoples, 714–716
- Span
Chinese Bans on the Export of Iron — ends
- Arabia and the caliphate
Qutayba ibn Muslim is killed by his own troops in Ferghana; the Sogdian cities begin to look north for help
Qutayba ibn Muslim · The Umayyad Caliphate · Sogdiana · Türgesh
- Eastern steppe
The Ten Surnames of the west and more than ten thousand tents go over to the Tang; in the autumn Kapgan beats the Nine Surnames north of the desert and their leader Abusi defects too
Kapgan Khan · On Oq · Toquz Oghuz · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tiele
- Eastern steppe
Five battles against the Nine Oguz in one year, at Togu, Lake Antargu, the head of the Čuš and Ezginti Kadız; afterwards the Oguz leave for China and are brought back
Toquz Oghuz · Kül Tegin · Bilge Khan · Bayirku · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Kül Tegin inscription
The inscription counts the battles without giving a year; they belong to the first years of Bilge Khan's reign.
- Eastern steppe
Kapgan beats the Bayirku on the Tola, rides home carelessly and is beheaded in a willow wood by a Bayirku straggler; his head is carried to Chang'an
Kapgan Khan · Bayirku · Toquz Oghuz · Second Göktürk Khaganate · The coup of 716
- Eastern steppe
Kül Tegin kills the Lesser Khan, Kapgan's brothers and his court, and sets his elder brother on the throne as Bilge Khan; Tonyukuk alone is spared and recalled as chief counsellor
Kül Tegin · Bilge Khan · Inel Khan · Tonyukuk · Second Göktürk Khaganate · The coup of 716
- Eastern steppe
The subject peoples against Kapgan: Beiting, the Ten Arrows, the Nine Surnames, the Bayirku — ends (714–716)
Kapgan Khan · Bayirku · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Kül Tegin · The revolt of the subject peoples, 714–716
- Eastern steppe
Bilge Khan, the Little Shad, khan of the Second Göktürk Khaganate; Kül Tegin commands the army, Tonyukuk advises — begins (716–734)
Bilge Khan · Kül Tegin · Tonyukuk · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Kapgan Khan, Mochuo, takes the throne over his brother's small sons and rules until his death in 716 — ends (691–716)
Kapgan Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Bilge Khan · Kül Tegin
- Span
Old Turkic — begins (716–1300)
- Span
The Turkic languages — begins (716–)
- Span
Kapgan's wars with the Tang, 698–716 — ends (698–716)
- Byzantium
The second Arab siege of Constantinople fails; the Khazars attack the caliphate in the Caucasus in the same years — begins (717–718)
- Western steppe
Sulu takes the Türgesh throne and holds the western steppe for twenty years: victories over the Arabs in 720 and 724, peace with the Tang and an Ashina bride in 722, murder by his own commanders in 738 — begins (717–738)
Sulu Khan · Türgesh · On Oq · Sogdiana · The Umayyad Caliphate · Tang · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Byzantium
The second Arab siege of Constantinople fails; the Khazars attack the caliphate in the Caucasus in the same years — ends (717–718)
719
- Span
Luntai — ends (101 BC–719)
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Tonyukuk inscription is raised at Bain Tsokto on the upper Tola, by its author in his own lifetime
Tonyukuk inscription · Tonyukuk
Also dated 716 by Wilhelm Radloff: Read from the stone's silence about Bilge Khan's reign; Thomsen's later dating of about 720 is preferred
- Eastern steppe
The Tang's three-sided attack on the Göktürk camp and the Basmïl campaign — begins (720–721)
Basmïl · Bilge Khan · Tonyukuk · Beshbalik · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Span
Nezak Shahs — ends (460–720)
- China
Bilge Khan asks the Tang for peace and is accepted as the emperor's son; the bride he asks for is refused, and refused again in 725
- Western steppe
Only the Basmïl arrive for the Tang's three-sided attack on the royal camp; Tonyukuk follows them home, takes Beiting before them, captures them whole and strips Liangzhou of its herds
Tonyukuk · Basmïl · Bilge Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Tang
- China
The six hu counties of the Ordos revolt under leaders with Sogdian names; other Sogdians in Tang service put them down
- Eastern steppe
The Tang's three-sided attack on the Göktürk camp and the Basmïl campaign — ends (720–721)
Basmïl · Bilge Khan · Tonyukuk · Beshbalik · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Persia
Dēwāštīč, lord of Panjikent, who had claimed the kingship of Sogdiana, dies; the Arabs lay waste to Panjikent
- China
Zhang Yue names Bilge Khan, Kül Tegin and Tonyukuk as the three men who make the Göktürk dangerous; a Göktürk minister is summoned to attend Xuanzong at the Mount Tai sacrifice
Bilge Khan · Kül Tegin · Tonyukuk · Tang · Bilge Khan's Tent Banquet (725)
- Culture · Byzantium
The Roman emperor turns against images; the quarrel divides the church for more than a century
- Economy · China
- Economy · China
Bilge Khan sends the Tibetan proposal for a joint invasion to Chang'an; Xuanzong grants a market at the western Shouxiang city, with several hundred thousand bolts of silk a year
- Event
Horse Market at the Western Shouxiang City (727)
- Tibet
The Tibetan court proposes to Bilge Khan that they invade China together; Bilge sends the letter to Chang'an instead
The Tibetan Empire · Bilge Khan · Tang · Second Göktürk Khaganate
730
- Event
Battle of Ardabil (730)
- Death
al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah dies
- Eastern steppe
Kül Tegin dies in the Year of the Sheep at forty-seven; the Tang send a letter of condolence, a stele composed by the emperor and craftsmen for the tomb
- Span
Chinese Craftsmen at the Orkhon Monuments — begins (731–735)
- Byzantium
Constantine, heir of Leo III, marries Čiček, daughter of the Khazar khagan
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Kül Tegin inscription dates itself by the twelve-year animal cycle, the Year of the Sheep for the death and the Year of the Monkey for the finished stone; it is the only dating system the runiform corpus uses
The twelve-year animal cycle · Kül Tegin inscription · Kül Tegin
The two consecutive years, 731 and 732, make the anchor firm, since a single animal year would fit one in every twelve
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Kül Tegin inscription is erected on the Orkhon
Kül Tegin inscription · Kül Tegin · Bilge Khan · Orkhon valley
- Tibet
The Tibetans send a minister to the funeral of Kül Tegin, with the Chinese, the Sogdians and the Kirghiz
- Span
Gold and Silver in the Orkhon Inscriptions — begins (732–735)
- Span
Khöshöö Tsaidam — begins (732–735)
- Span
Roof Tiles of the Uyghur Khaganate — begins (732–840)
- Span
The Bökli question — begins (732–)
- Span
Kül Tegin's Horses — ends (700–732)
- Eastern steppe
Bilge Khan is poisoned by his minister Meilu Chuo, has the minister and his faction destroyed before he dies, and dies in the Year of the Dog; his son Yiran is set up
Bilge Khan · Yiran Khan · Buyruk · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Bilge Khan inscription
Also dated 732 by Jiu Tang Shu 194: The Tang history puts the poisoning under the twentieth year of Kaiyuan, the same heading as Kül Tegin's death; the inscription's Dog year is 734
- Eastern steppe
Tengri Khan, a boy, under the regency of his mother, Tonyukuk's daughter, and her lover; the army under two shads, his father's cousins — begins (734–741)
- Eastern steppe
Yiran Khan, son of Bilge, invested by the Tang and dead of illness within months — begins (734–734)
- Eastern steppe
Bilge Khan, the Little Shad, khan of the Second Göktürk Khaganate; Kül Tegin commands the army, Tonyukuk advises — ends (716–734)
Bilge Khan · Kül Tegin · Tonyukuk · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Yiran Khan, son of Bilge, invested by the Tang and dead of illness within months — ends (734–734)
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Bilge Khan inscription is erected
Bilge Khan inscription · Bilge Khan
Also dated 732 by one modern chronology: The inscription itself dates the funeral to the fifth month of the Pig year, 735 by Thomsen's equation, and most scholarship gives 735
- Span
Chinese Craftsmen at the Orkhon Monuments — ends (731–735)
- Span
Gold and Silver in the Orkhon Inscriptions — ends (732–735)
- Span
Khöshöö Tsaidam — ends (732–735)
- Event
Campaign of Marwan (737)
- Caucasus and Crimea
Marwan defeats the Khazar khagan, who is forced to convert to Islam; the conversion lasts as long as the Arab army stands there
- Persia
- Caucasus and Crimea
Arab–Khazar wars for the passes of the Caucasus — ends (642–737)
- Span
Arab–Khazar Wars (642–737) — ends (642–737)
- Western steppe
Sulu takes the Türgesh throne and holds the western steppe for twenty years: victories over the Arabs in 720 and 724, peace with the Tang and an Ashina bride in 722, murder by his own commanders in 738 — ends (717–738)
Sulu Khan · Türgesh · On Oq · Sogdiana · The Umayyad Caliphate · Tang · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Xuanzong sends Li Zhi with a sealed letter to invest Tengri as khan a second time
- Eastern steppe
Tengri and his mother lure the Right Shad to them and behead him; the Left Shad kills Tengri and sets himself up as Ozmish Khan
Tengri Khan · Right Shad (d. 741) · Ozmish Khan · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Ozmish Khan, the former Left Shad, last Ashina khan on the Orkhon; rejected by the people, beaten by the Basmïl, toppled by 744 — begins (741–744)
- Eastern steppe
Tengri Khan, a boy, under the regency of his mother, Tonyukuk's daughter, and her lover; the army under two shads, his father's cousins — ends (734–741)
- Span
Fall of the Second Khaganate, 741–744 — begins (741–744)
- Eastern steppe
The Basmïl rise against Ozmish and defeat him; the whole country falls into chaos, and in the eighth month the remnant of the Ashina house, princesses and widows and a grandson of Kapgan, is received at Chang'an
- Eastern steppe
Basmïl, Uyghurs and Karluk against the last Göktürk khans — begins (742–745)
Fall of the Second Khaganate, 741–744 · Ozmish Khan · Basmïl · Uyghur Khaganate · Karluk · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Span
Gulun Wugu — begins (742–840)
- Western steppe
Kül Čur of the Türgesh, who had recognised Tang overlordship in 740, perishes; the Ten Arrows begin to fade
- Eastern steppe
The Basmïl kill Ozmish Khan and send his head to Chang'an; his brother Baimei is set up
- Eastern steppe
The Uyghurs and Karluk kill the Basmïl khan and raise the Uyghur Guli Peiluo as Kutluk Bilge Kül Khan
Basmïl · Uyghur Khaganate · Karluk · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
The Uyghurs take the Orkhon from the last Göktürk khan; the Uyghur Khaganate begins
- Eastern steppe
Uyghur Khaganate — begins (744–840)
- Eastern steppe
Second Göktürk Khaganate — ends (682–744)
- Realm
Türgesh Khaganate — ends (699–744)
- Eastern steppe
Kutlug Bilge Kül, first khan of the Uyghurs — begins (744–747)
- Eastern steppe
Ozmish Khan, the former Left Shad, last Ashina khan on the Orkhon; rejected by the people, beaten by the Basmïl, toppled by 744 — ends (741–744)
- Span
Uyghur Farming — begins (744–840)
- Span
Yaglakar — begins (744–795)
- Span
Fall of the Second Khaganate, 741–744 — ends (741–744)
- Span
Lesser Khan — ends (552–744)
- Eastern steppe
Baimei Khan is killed and his head sent to the Tang; Bilge Khan's widow, the Katun Pofu, comes in with her people, and the Göktürk state of the east is no more
Second Göktürk Khaganate · Ozmish Khan · Bilge Khan · Uyghur Khaganate
- Western steppe
The Karluks, pushed out by the Uyghurs, migrate to the lands of the Ten Arrows
Karluk · Türgesh · On Oq · Uyghur Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Basmïl, Uyghurs and Karluk against the last Göktürk khans — ends (742–745)
Fall of the Second Khaganate, 741–744 · Ozmish Khan · Basmïl · Uyghur Khaganate · Karluk · Second Göktürk Khaganate
- Realm
Karluk Yabgu State — begins (745–)
- Span
Xiongnu: Making the First Steppe Empire — ends (209 BC–745)
- Culture · Eastern steppe
Moyanchuo builds the Uyghur capital on the Orkhon and a second city on the Selenga, Bay Balïq, with Sogdian and Chinese labour by the Shine-usu inscription
- Eastern steppe
Bayanchur Khan: the Basmıl and the Karluks held down, the capital on the Orkhon built — begins (747–759)
Bayanchur Khan · Uyghur Khaganate · Šine-Usu inscription · Tariat inscription · Orkhon valley
Also dated 748 by the Tariat inscription, by its own animal year: The stone puts the enthronement at the ancestors' burial ground in the mouse year; the Chinese histories give 747
- Eastern steppe
Kutlug Bilge Kül, first khan of the Uyghurs — ends (744–747)
- Arabia and the caliphate
The Abbasids take the caliphate in a revolution that begins in Khurasan; the centre moves east from Damascus to Iraq
- Arabia and the caliphate
The Umayyad caliphate, ruled from Damascus; the power that crosses the Oxus and fights the Türgesh and the Khazars for forty years — ends (661–750)
The Umayyad Caliphate · Islam · Sogdiana · Türgesh · Khazar Khaganate
- Span
Oghuz — begins (750–1100)
- Span
Apa Tarkan — ends (550–750)
- Span
Chinese transcriptions of Turkic — ends (545–750)
- Span
Sabao — ends (549–750)
- Span
The origin of the Old Turkic script — ends (400–750)
- Western steppe
late July: Battle on the Talas: the Tang army is destroyed when its Karluk allies defect to the Arabs
Karluk · Türgesh · Talas · Tang · The battle of the Talas, 751
- China
December: An Lushan revolts in December
- China
Rebellion of An Lushan — begins (755–763)
- China
An Qingxu murders his father An Lushan in January; the Tang retake Chang'an in November and Luoyang in December with Uyghur help
- Event
Plunder of Luoyang and the Silk Payment (757)
- Span
Bay Balïq — begins (757–)
- Span
Gold and Silver Vessels as Tang Gifts to the Uyghurs — begins (757–813)
- Span
Uyghur Horse-Silk Trade — begins (757–840)
- Eastern steppe
ninth month: The Uyghurs report to the Tang court that they have broken 50,000 Kirghiz, who from then on cannot reach China
Uyghur victory over the Kirghiz (758) · Uyghur Khaganate · Yenisei Kirghiz
The report is dated to the day jiashen of the ninth month; the fight itself is undated
- Span
Are — begins (758–847)
- Realm
Yabgus of Tokharistan — ends (625–759)
- Eastern steppe
Bögü Khan: the height of Uyghur power and the adoption of Manichaeism — begins (759–779)
Bögü Khan · Uyghur Khaganate · Manichaeism · Karabalghasun inscription
- Eastern steppe
Bayanchur Khan: the Basmıl and the Karluks held down, the capital on the Orkhon built — ends (747–759)
Bayanchur Khan · Uyghur Khaganate · Šine-Usu inscription · Tariat inscription · Orkhon valley
- Environment · China
A shift to wetter conditions on the monsoon margin of north-western China
- Culture · Arabia and the caliphate
Baghdad is founded as the seat of the caliphate
- China
Before the tent of the Uyghur khan Bögü at Shanzhou the officers of the Tang prince of Yong refuse the dance of homage for him; two of them die of their beating
The Uyghur Demand for the Prince's Dance (762) · Bögü Khan · Uyghur Khaganate · Tang
- Culture · China
The Uyghur khan is converted to Manichaeism at Luoyang, by the Karabalghasun inscription
Manichaeism · Uyghur Khaganate · Sogdians
762 to 763; the inscription's khan is disputed
- Span
Manichaean Diet of the Uyghurs — begins (762–840)
- Tibet
A Tibetan army enters Chang'an and holds it for a fortnight; the Tang have no armies left in the west
- China
- China
Rebellion of An Lushan — ends (755–763)
- Western steppe
The Karluks take Suyab and are masters of the western Göktürk lands; the Ten Arrows under Karluk authority
Karluk · Suyab · On Oq · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Türgesh
- Western steppe
The Karluks hold Suyab and the lands of the Ten Arrows — begins (766–800)
The beginning, 766, is the Karluk capture of Suyab; the end is about 800
- Western steppe
- Eastern steppe
Dun Mohe kills the khan Mouyu, his kin and the Sogdians who urged an invasion of China, two thousand in all, and takes the throne
- Eastern steppe
Tun Bagha Tarkan kills Bögü and rules ten years against the Sogdian party — begins (779–789)
- Eastern steppe
Bögü Khan: the height of Uyghur power and the adoption of Manichaeism — ends (759–779)
Bögü Khan · Uyghur Khaganate · Manichaeism · Karabalghasun inscription
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Persistent drought in the Orkhon country through the last Uyghur decades, by the tree rings
Climate and the steppe empires · Uyghur Khaganate
From the tree-ring record of the Uyghur period
- Eastern steppe
Tun Bagha Tarkan kills Bögü and rules ten years against the Sogdian party — ends (779–789)
- Tarim and Sogdiana
The Uyghurs lose Beiting to the Tibetans — begins (790–795)
The loss falls between the death of the khan in 790 and the accession of 795, by the article's account
- Tarim and Sogdiana
The Uyghurs lose Beiting to the Tibetans — ends (790–795)
- Span
Yaglakar — ends (744–795)
796
- Span
Avars — ends (557–796)
- Western steppe
- Span
Old Uyghur — begins (800–1300)
- Span
Berel — ends (350 BC–800)
- Span
Stone Figures — ends (550–800)
9th century
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A severe drought begins in central Mongolia, in the drought reconstruction over two thousand years
813
- Span
Gold and Silver Vessels as Tang Gifts to the Uyghurs — ends (757–813)
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The trilingual Karabalghasun inscription is composed, recording the khan's conversion to Manichaeism
Manichaeism · Uyghur Khaganate
First quarter of the ninth century; the khan who commissioned it is disputed
819
- Realm
Samanids — begins (819–999)
820
- Span
Uyghur–Kirghiz War — begins (820–840)
- Culture · Eastern steppe
Tamim ibn Bahr travels the postal road of tents from Semirech'e to the Uyghur capital
- Culture · Tibet
The frontier between Tibet and the Tang is fixed by treaty and cut on a pillar in Lhasa
- Eastern steppe
War of the Uyghurs with the Kirghiz, ending in the fall of Karabalghasun — begins (821–840)
Uyghur–Kirghiz War · Uyghur Khaganate · Yenisei Kirghiz · Are Khan
822
- Span
Avar Craftsmen — ends (567–822)
825
- Span
Türgesh and Karluk Coinage — ends (700–825)
- Arabia and the caliphate
The caliphs raise guard regiments of Turkic soldiers and settle them at Samarra; within two generations the regiments make and unmake caliphs
- Technology · Caucasus and Crimea
Byzantine engineers help the Khazars build the fortress of Sarkel on the Don
- Span
Sarkel — begins (838–965)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Famine, pestilence and heavy snow in the Uyghur lands; many sheep and horses die, the year before the Kirghiz come
- Eastern steppe
Civil war at the Uyghur court: the minister kills the khan, a general brings a hundred thousand Kirghiz — begins (839–840)
- Eastern steppe
The Kirghiz destroy the Uyghur Khaganate
Yenisei Kirghiz · Uyghur Khaganate · Ordu-Balık · The fall of Ordu-Balık, 840
- Eastern steppe
Civil war at the Uyghur court: the minister kills the khan, a general brings a hundred thousand Kirghiz — ends (839–840)
- Eastern steppe
War of the Uyghurs with the Kirghiz, ending in the fall of Karabalghasun — ends (821–840)
Uyghur–Kirghiz War · Uyghur Khaganate · Yenisei Kirghiz · Are Khan
- Realm
Kara-Khanid Khanate — begins (840–1212)
- Eastern steppe
The Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate, from the fall of the Uyghurs to the Khitan on the Orkhon — begins (840–924)
Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate · Yenisei Kirghiz
The Kirghiz stayed with their homeland on the upper Yenisei; 924 is the year Abaoji reached the Orkhon, a conventional end
- Eastern steppe
Uyghur Khaganate — ends (744–840)
- Death
Hesa Khan dies
- Death
Kürabir dies
- Span
Abusi — ends (700–840)
- Span
Archaeogenetics of the Steppe Empires — ends (209 BC–840)
- Span
Army of the Steppe Empires — ends (209 BC–840)
- Span
Bugu — ends (630–840)
- Span
Craftsmen in the Steppe Empires — ends (200 BC–840)
- Span
Ediz — ends (630–840)
- Span
Gulun Wugu — ends (742–840)
- Span
Hun (Tiele tribe) — ends (630–840)
- Span
Livestock Losses in the Annals — ends (105 BC–840)
- Span
Manichaean Diet of the Uyghurs — ends (762–840)
- Span
Ötüken — ends (400–840)
- Span
Post and Communication — ends (545–840)
- Span
Qibi — ends (630–840)
- Span
Roof Tiles of the Uyghur Khaganate — ends (732–840)
- Span
Sijie — ends (630–840)
- Span
Silk in the Steppe — ends (545–840)
- Span
Tongra — ends (630–840)
- Span
Toquz Oghuz — ends (630–840)
- Span
Tribute Missions and Bestowals — ends (200 BC–840)
- Span
Turkic-Sogdian Synthesis — ends (545–840)
- Span
Uyghur Farming — ends (744–840)
- Span
Uyghur Horse-Silk Trade — ends (757–840)
- Span
Uyghurs — ends
- Span
Warfare of the Steppe Empires — ends (209 BC–840)
- Eastern steppe
The first of four Kirghiz envoys reaches the Tang frontier; the exchange of letters and titles runs to 848
Kirghiz Embassies to the Tang (842–848) · Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate · Are Khan · The Kirghiz descent from Li Ling
- Tibet
The Tibetan empire comes apart in a succession quarrel, two years after the Kirghiz destroy the Uyghurs; inner Asia is left without a great power
- Tibet
The empire of the Yarlung kings on the Tibetan plateau, the third great power of inner Asia beside China and the steppe — ends (618–842)
- Span
Livestock Raids — ends (580–842)
- China
February: Tang troops break the camp of the Uyghur khan Ögä at Shahu Mountain and recover the princess Taihe, whom the Kirghiz had taken in 840
Rescue of Princess Taihe (840–843) · Princess Taihe · Shi Xiong · Ögä Khan
The princess enters Chang'an on 29 March 843
- Realm
Turk Shahi of Kabul and Kapisa — ends (625–843)
- Span
Heichezi — begins (843–846)
- Span
Wagons of the Steppe Peoples — ends (380–843)
846
- Death
Emperor Wuzong of Tang dies
- Death
Ögä Khan dies
- Span
Heichezi — ends (843–846)
- China
The Tang court invests the Kirghiz khan with the title Yingwu Chengming Khan, after a court debate had stopped the plan of 845
Tang investiture of the Kirghiz (847) · Kirghiz Embassies to the Tang (842–848) · Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate
- Span
Are — ends (758–847)
- Span
Diplomacy of the Steppe Empires — ends (200 BC–847)
- Span
The Kirghiz descent from Li Ling — ends (99 BC–847)
- Eastern steppe
spring: The Kirghiz minister Apa beats the Shiwei with a force said to number 70,000 and takes the Uyghur remnants among them back north of the desert
Kirghiz campaign against the Shiwei (848) · Apa (Kirghiz Chancellor) · Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate
- Death
Shi Xiong dies
- Realm
Kimek Khaganate — begins (850–1050)
- Realm
Oghuz Yabgu State — begins (850–1042)
- Death
Li Deyu dies
856
- Realm
Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho — begins (856–1209)
- China
A Kirghiz ruler receives imperial appointment from the Tang court under the emperor Yizong
Kirghiz embassies of the Xiantong era (860–873) · Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate
The Xin Tang Shu counts three Kirghiz embassies in the Xiantong period
874
- Span
Bukhar Khuda — ends
890
- Event
Kirghiz and Tibetan troops at Hedong (890)
- Realm
Pecheneg Confederation — begins (890–1091)
- Span
Pechenegs — begins (890–1091)
900
- Realm
Volga Bulgaria — begins (900–1240)
- Span
Livestock in the Hudud al-Alam — begins (900–982)
10th century
902
- Realm
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom — begins (902–1028)
907
- Realm
Tang — ends (618–907)
921
- Span
Farming among the Volga Bulgars — begins (921–922)
- Span
Oghuz Herds in Ibn Fadlan's Account — begins (921–922)
922
- Span
Bride-Price in Livestock — ends (400–922)
- Span
Camels — ends (300 BC–922)
- Span
Envoys and Embassies — ends (200 BC–922)
- Span
Farming among the Volga Bulgars — ends (921–922)
- Span
Oghuz Herds in Ibn Fadlan's Account — ends (921–922)
- Span
Women among the Turkic Peoples — ends
923
- Realm
Later Tang — begins (923–936)
- Eastern steppe
The Khitan ruler Abaoji campaigns into the Orkhon region, the year taken as the conventional end of Kirghiz power on the steppe
Abaoji's campaign to the Orkhon (924) · Abaoji · Khitan · Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate
The year is a convention for the end of the period, not the date of a fight with the Kirghiz
- Eastern steppe
The Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate, from the fall of the Uyghurs to the Khitan on the Orkhon — ends (840–924)
926
- Death
Abaoji dies
930
- Culture · Source written
Irk Bitig compiled
936
- Realm
Later Jin — begins (936–946)
- Realm
Later Tang — ends (923–936)
946
- Realm
Later Jin — ends (936–946)
947
- Realm
Later Han — begins (947–951)
951
- Realm
Later Han — ends (947–951)
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Rus, allied with Oghuz, overrun Atil and probably Sarkel; the Khazar khaganate ends within a few years
- Span
Sarkel — ends (838–965)
- Span
The Khazar language — ends (650–965)
- Western steppe
Khazar Khaganate — ends (650–969)
- Span
Ashina — ends (439–969)
- Span
History of the Turkic peoples — ends (2500 BC–969)
- Span
Khan (Khagan) — ends (400–969)
- Span
Khazar Dual Kingship — ends
- Span
The Great Empires of the Steppe — ends (209 BC–969)
982
- Span
Towns and Villages of the Turks in the Hudud al-ʿĀlam — begins (982–982)
- Span
Captives and the Unfree — ends (200 BC–982)
- Span
Livestock in the Hudud al-Alam — ends (900–982)
- Span
Seasonal Pastures — ends (200 BC–982)
- Span
Sheep — ends (300 BC–982)
- Span
Towns and Villages of the Turks in the Hudud al-ʿĀlam — ends (982–982)
- Span
Wood and Woodworking — ends (200 BC–982)
999
- Realm
Samanids — ends (819–999)
1000
- Span
Kipchak — begins (1000–1250)
- Span
The Old Turkic script — ends (552–1000)
- Span
The Sogdian language — ends (313–1000)
11th century
1013
- Culture · Source written
Cefu yuangui compiled
1028
- Realm
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom — ends (902–1028)
1042
- Realm
Oghuz Yabgu State — ends (850–1042)
1050
- Realm
Kimek Khaganate — ends (850–1050)
1071
- Span
Atabeg — begins (1071–)
1072
- Span
Felt, Cloth, Leather and Wood in Kashgari's Dictionary — begins (1072–1074)
1073
- Span
Oghuz and Kipchak speech in Kashgari — begins (1073–1077)
1074
- Span
Felt, Cloth, Leather and Wood in Kashgari's Dictionary — ends (1072–1074)
1077
- Span
Oghuz and Kipchak speech in Kashgari — ends (1073–1077)
1084
- Culture · Source written
Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance) compiled
1091
- Realm
Pecheneg Confederation — ends (890–1091)
- Span
Pechenegs — ends (890–1091)
1100
- Span
Oghuz — ends (750–1100)
13th century
1209
- Realm
Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho — ends (856–1209)
1212
- Realm
Kara-Khanid Khanate — ends (840–1212)
1240
- Realm
Volga Bulgaria — ends (900–1240)
- Span
Alans — ends (100–1240)
1250
- Span
Kipchak — ends (1000–1250)
1258
- Realm
The Abbasid Caliphate — ends (750–1258)
- Span
Old Turkic — ends (716–1300)
- Span
Old Uyghur — ends (800–1300)
14th century
1400
- Span
Bulgars — ends (480–1400)
15th century
1453
- Realm
Byzantium — ends (330–1453)
18th century
1756
- Span
The origin of the Avars — begins (1756–2026)
19th century
1846
- Span
The making of Tengrism — begins (1846–)
1883
- Span
The Khazar–Ashkenazi hypothesis — begins (1883–)
20th century
1917
- Span
The Khakas name debate — begins (1917–1992)
1926
- Span
The origin of the title Khan — begins (1926–2020)
1949
- Span
The Kirghiz origin debate — begins (1949–2021)
1950
- Span
The Turkish–Korean friendship narrative — begins (1950–)
1961
- Span
The Yenisei Kirghiz and the Kyrgyz — begins (1961–2021)
1992
- Span
The Khakas name debate — ends (1917–1992)
21st century
2020
- Span
The origin of the title Khan — ends (1926–2020)
2021
- Span
The Kirghiz origin debate — ends (1949–2021)
- Span
The Yenisei Kirghiz and the Kyrgyz — ends (1961–2021)
2026
- Span
The origin of the Avars — ends (1756–2026)
