By year
Complete chronology
Every dated statement the work carries, 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.
- War
- Realm
- Span
- Source written
- Reign
- Death
503 entries across 239 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. 20 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
Golden's simplified outline; the chronology of these cultures is, in his words, still much discussed
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
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
- 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
5th century BC
- Culture · Eastern steppe
Equestrian nomadism adopted, possibly, by elements of the Turkic and other Altaic-speaking peoples by the late fifth century BC, in Golden's view; the Scytho-Siberian cultural community takes shape with Scytho-Saka elements in the lead
A dating Golden gives as possible, not established
4th century BC
- 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
Golden gives both datings; the year is a midpoint, not a date
3rd century BC
- Technology · China
The Qin push Touman north from the Ordos and build the fortifications that became the Great Wall
- Technology · Eastern steppe
The Xiongnu appear with the full panoply of the steppe warrior: compound bow, whistling arrows, swords, lances and maces
- Eastern steppe
Modu kills his father Touman 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 editor gives Modu's units 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)
End date by Golden; the editor dates the effective end to the defeat of 89 AD
- Span
Making of the first steppe empire — begins (209 BC–745)
- Span
The language of the Xiongnu — begins (209 BC–311)
- Span
The steppe before the Xiongnu — ends (2500 BC–209 BC)
- Eastern steppe
Modu brings the Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun (Kirghiz) and Xinli under Xiongnu control
2nd century BC
- China
Modu besieges the Han emperor Gaozu at Baideng; the first heqin marriage and yearly gifts follow
The editor gives the siege at length; Golden has Modu nearly capture Gaozu
- 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)
- China
Laoshang invades China; the Han acquiesce for a time in Xiongnu dominance of the nomadic north
- Western steppe
- 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
1st century BC
91 BC
- Culture · Source written
Shiji compiled
- 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
- China
The southern Xiongnu under Huhanye submit to the Han and enter the tributary system
Also dated -58 by The editor, who gives Huhanye's reign as 58 to 31 BC: Accession rather than submission
Also dated -53 by Han Shu 94下: 呼韓邪從其計，引眾南近塞 … 是歲，甘露元年: the decision to submit and the hostage son, first year of Ganlu
Also dated -51 by Han Shu 94下: Audience before the emperor at Ganquan in the first month of the third year of Ganlu, after the arrival at the Wuyuan frontier in 52 BC
- Western steppe
Zhizhi, Chanyu of the northern Xiongnu, is killed by Han forces in Kangju; 1,518 of his three thousand die with him
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 as Minyaev 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)
1st century
- Eastern steppe
A succession struggle divides the Xiongnu into a northern and a southern confederation; the southern falls under Han control
Golden: mid-first century; the editor names Huduershi, 48 to 56, for the northern revival
- 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
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; the editor places the decisive battle in the Altai
- Eastern steppe
Han campaigns with the southern Xiongnu, the Xianbei and the Wuhuan against the northern Xiongnu — ends (87–93)
2nd century
- 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
3rd century
224
- Realm
Sasanian Persia — begins (224–651)
4th century
- China
Former Zhao (Northern Han), a dynasty of Xiongnu origin in northern China — begins (304–329)
311
- 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
- China
Former Zhao (Northern Han), a dynasty of Xiongnu origin in northern China — ends (304–329)
330
- Realm
Byzantium — begins (330–1453)
- 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
370
- Span
Huns — begins (370–469)
- Eastern steppe
Northern Wei — begins (386–534)
- Span
Yujiulü — begins (386–554)
- 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
- Eastern steppe
Shelun gathers a following in the Gobi, defeats the Tiele and takes the title khagan
- Eastern steppe
Rouran Khaganate — begins (400–554)
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 Golden's
- Eastern steppe
Shelun dies on the road in flight before Mingyuan's campaign; his brother Hulü becomes khan
Yavuz 2025: 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)
- 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)
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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; five hundred Ashina families migrate by Gaochang to the Altai as subjects of the Rouran
Ashina · Rouran Khaganate · Gaochang · 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)
445
- Culture · Source written
Hou Han Shu compiled
- 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)
- 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 editor gives 439 or 460 for the clan's founding
- Span
Hephthalites — begins (450–560)
- 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
- 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)
469
- Span
Huns — ends (370–469)
- 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
- Eastern steppe
Yucheng asks the Wei for a marriage and is refused with a lecture in the rites
- 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
- 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
- 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 Golden's date
- Eastern steppe
Tulun Khan reigns over the Rouran — ends (485–492)
6th century
- 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
This work 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
- 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 Emre-E. Yavuz, in the narrative: The same work's index 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
- 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
- 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 editor's name for 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
- Eastern steppe
Northern Wei — ends (386–534)
- 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
Ice cores and tree rings; Sigl 2015, Toohey 2016
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Extreme weather in the eastern steppe, by a tree-ring study the editor cites; he reads the six-year length of Bumin's war as a consequence
The Turkic War of Independence
Ganiev and Kukarskih 2018, as cited by the editor; the same decade is the coldest of two thousand years in Büntgen 2016 and Toohey 2016
- 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
Büntgen 2016; the coldest decade in the Altai is the 540s
- 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 Michael Sigl and others, from the Antarctic ice: The second episode falls in 539 or 540
- Environment · Byzantium
The Justinianic plague breaks out across the eastern Roman empire after the food shortages of the first cold
- 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
- Western steppe
Yuwen Tai sends the Sogdian An Nuopantuo to the Göktürk; Bumin receives the Western Wei embassy
Western Wei embassy of 545 · Bumin Khan · Yuwen Tai · Western Wei · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
Anagui refuses Bumin a princess and calls him his blacksmith slave; Bumin kills the envoy; the War of Independence begins
The Turkic War of Independence · Anagui · Bumin Khan · Rouran Khaganate
This work dates the war 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)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A third, smaller eruption closes the volcanic cluster that opened the cold phase
- China
The Northern Qi replace the Eastern Wei in north-eastern China
- 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 Göktürk appear on the frontier of Koguryŏ and besiege several towns, by a Korean source
- Western steppe
first weeks of the year: A Rouran force sent west is beaten by the Göktürk in Dzungaria
Battle of Dzungaria, 552 · Bumin Khan · Anagui · Dzungaria
Also dated 552 by Modern accounts: The months assigned to the two engagements differ; the sequence does not
- 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 Göktürk 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; his son Issik succeeds him
- 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)
- Culture · Tarim and Sogdiana
The Kizil mural near Kucha showing armoured newcomers received by the city's rulers, dated to this year by the operator
- China
by March at the latest: The main Rouran army is destroyed north of Huaihuang
Battle of Huaihuang, 552 · Bumin Khan · Anagui · Huaihuang · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- 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 Emre-E. Yavuz: Late summer or autumn, because no one campaigned on that frontier in winter
- 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; the editor 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)
- China
September: Anlouchen, khan under Qi patronage, rises against the Qi with fifty thousand men and is beaten
Anluochen · Rouran Khaganate · Anagui · Issik Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
Issik dies, of an illness by the Chinese account; his brother Mukan succeeds
- China
spring: Issik overtakes Dengzhu's Rouran army and destroys it on the Ordos
- Western steppe
spring: Istemi leads an army west from the Altai
Also dated 553 by The older literature gives a hundred thousand men; Emre-E. Yavuz thirty to fifty thousand: Size of the army, not the date
- Western steppe
summer: Istemi reaches the Seven Rivers
- Economy · China
April: The Göktürk send the Western Wei some fifty thousand horses and receive several hundred thousand bolts of silk
- China
February: The Qi emperor forces Dengzhu to march against the Göktürk
Issik Khan · Dengzhu · 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
- China
Three thousand Rouran handed over by the Western Wei are hanged by Mukan along the Yellow River
Mukan Khan · Rouran Khaganate · Issik Khan · Anagui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
Mukan Khan reigns — begins (553–572)
- Eastern steppe
Issik Khan reigns — ends (552–553)
- China
20 January: The last Göktürk victory over the Rouran remnant
- 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
- Tarim and Sogdiana
Istemi and Khosrow destroy the Hephthalite realm — begins (555–563)
Hephthalites · Istemi · Battle of Bukhara · Sasanian Persia · Khosrow I · Sogdiana
The realm fell about 560; Peter B. Golden gives 557 and Aydogdy Kurbanov 563 to 567. The first collision under Mukan fell earlier
- China
The Western Wei give way to the Northern Zhou; Yuwen Tai dies, having handed the last Rouran to the Göktürk
Northern Zhou · Western Wei · Yuwen Tai · Mukan Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Northern Zhou — begins (557–581)
- China
Western Wei — ends (535–557)
- Span
Avars — begins (557–796)
- Technology · Byzantium
The Avars bring the stirrup to Europe, by the editor; he infers that the Göktürk 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 Peter B. Golden: Aydogdy Kurbanov sets the end between 563 and 567; the fall is dated about 560 here
- 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
- China
A Göktürk and Zhou army enters Qi territory and advances on Taiyuan
Mukan Khan · Northern Qi · Northern Zhou · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- China
Göktürk 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
- China
spring: The Qi hold Taiyuan through the winter siege and force the allies back
- Technology · China
Yang Zhong reports to the Zhou emperor that the Göktürk have bad armour, light rewards, many chiefs and no laws
- China
Göktürk 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 second Zhou offensive fails; a Zhou delegation of a hundred and twenty 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
- 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
- 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 the editor, 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
- Byzantium
summer: Maniakh reaches Constantinople; Justin II receives him and the Göktürk and the Romans become allies
- Byzantium
August: Zemarchos leaves Constantinople for the Göktürk
Also dated 569 by Menander, fr. 19 (Müller) = 10,2 (Blockley): circa finem quarti anni imperii Justini … initio mensis Augusti: the fourth year of Justin II ran from November 568, so the departure falls in August 569
- Western steppe
Istemi receives Zemarchos at Ektag on a golden throne and takes him on a raid toward Persia
- 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; Nöldeke dates the raid to 569 or 570, when Zemarchos was with Istemi
- Death
Maniakh dies
- 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
- 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)
- Environment · Eastern steppe
An eruption dated in the ice to 574, and a cold summer after it in the northern tree rings
- Western steppe
Istemi dies; his son Tardush succeeds him as yabgu and moves the western seat to Suyab
- Caucasus and Crimea
The embassy of Valentinos is received; Göktürk forces besiege Bosporus in the Crimea
First Göktürk Khaganate · Succession crisis of 581 · Istemi · Türk-shad · Tardush · Byzantium
- Western steppe
Tardush rules the western wing — begins (576–603)
- Western steppe
Istemi holds the western wing as yabgu — ends (552–576)
- 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
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Chinese monk Huilin converts Taspar, who builds him a pagoda; no other Göktürk follows
Taspar Khan · Buddhism among the Göktürk · Tengrism
Undated in the sources; late 570s
- China
April: The Göktürk enter Youzhou on behalf of the Qi resistance; the Zhou emperor Wu dies
Taspar Khan · Empress Ashina · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- 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
579
- Death
Khosrow I dies
- Eastern steppe
Gao Shaoyi is seized by a ruse and surrendered to the Zhou; peace and the princess Qianjin
- 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
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Extreme weather accompanies the first years of the civil war, by the tree-ring study the editor cites
- Eastern steppe
Taspar dies; the nobility assembles at Ötüken, overrides his wish for Töremen, and elects Amrak
Succession crisis of 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 · Succession crisis of 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)
- Eastern steppe
Amrak abdicates in Ishbara's favour; Töremen, as Apa Khan, goes to war, supported by Tardush
Succession crisis of 581 · Amrak · Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Tardush
- China
Empress Ashina dies at Chang'an, aged thirty-one
- 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 · Civil war, 584–603 · Tardush · Töremen Apa
- Eastern steppe
Ishbara Khan reigns — begins (582–587)
- Eastern steppe
Amrak is khan — ends (581–582)
- China
Ishbara, Apa, Tardush and Bagha invade Sui China; a Tiele rising draws Tardush off; the Sui break the Göktürk near Baidao in June
First Göktürk Khaganate · Tiele · Tardush · Ishbara Khan · Bagha Khan · Sui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- 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 · Succession crisis of 581 · Civil war, 584–603 · Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Tardush · Tulan Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
Golden 1992 dates the beginning of Tardush's revolt to about 582; the operator 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 · Succession crisis of 581 · Civil war, 584–603
- 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 · Civil war, 584–603 · Tardush · Töremen Apa
- Eastern steppe
Ishbara and Apa both die; Tulan succeeds in the east; the khaganate is two
Ishbara Khan · Töremen Apa · Tulan Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate · Succession crisis of 581 · Civil war, 584–603
- Eastern steppe
Tulan Khan reigns — begins (587–603)
- Eastern steppe
Ishbara Khan reigns — ends (582–587)
- Persia
Bagha crosses the Oxus, takes Balkh and Herat, and is beaten and killed by Bahram Chobin at the Hyrcanian rock in April
Bagha Khan · Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Bahram Chobin · Herat · Western Göktürk Khaganate
Also dated 589 by Peter B. Golden: 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 Göktürk; 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 · Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate
- 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 · Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate
- 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
- Western steppe
Tardush has recovered from the defeat in Persia and domestic disturbances, by Golden's account, and moves to take the whole steppe empire
- China
Tulan and Tardush destroy Yami's kin; Yami flees to the Sui with five horsemen and the envoy Changsun Sheng
Yami Khan · Tulan Khan · Tardush · Sui
- China
Yami is made Qimin Khan, 'wise and strong', and given the walled town of Dali and the Yicheng princess
- Eastern steppe
Tardush's war with the Sui and their client Yami for the whole khaganate — begins (599–603)
Tardush · Yami Khan · Sui · Civil war, 584–603 · Tulan Khan
Tardush beats Yami in 602 and is beaten in 603; the Sui Shu dates his flight to 601
- Environment · Eastern steppe
Lake Telmen stands 4.8 metres above its present level, a humid phase before the drying that follows
- 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 · Civil war, 584–603 · First Göktürk Khaganate
Struck 2022, Lake Telmen; the authors link it to the disintegration of about 603
- Eastern steppe
Tardush holds supreme power in the united khaganates, by Golden's account — begins (600–603)
7th century
- 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 · Civil war, 584–603 · Heshana Khan
Golden: Tardush fled to the Tuyuhun and disappeared; the operator: died in exile in northern Tibet
- Eastern steppe
Tulan is killed by his own followers; Yami marches into Ötüken with Göktürk and Chinese troops
Tulan Khan · Yami Khan · Ötüken · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
Civil war among the Ashina princes — ends (584–603)
First Göktürk Khaganate · Succession crisis of 581 · Civil war, 584–603 · 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 · Civil war, 584–603 · Tulan Khan
- Western steppe
Heshana (Chuluo) Khan rules the western Göktürk 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, by Golden's account — ends (600–603)
- Western steppe
Tardush rules the western wing — ends (576–603)
- Eastern steppe
Tulan Khan reigns — ends (587–603)
- 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 Göktürk from Dzungaria to the Ili
Tiele · Dzungaria · Heshana Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- 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 the operator's account
- China
Yangdi at Yulin feasts Qimin and three thousand five hundred chiefs; Qimin asks for Chinese dress and laws and is refused
- Persia
Second Göktürk war with Persia — ends (606–607)
Sasanian Persia · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Heshana Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
Yami dies; his son Shibi succeeds
- Eastern steppe
Shibi Khan reigns — begins (609–619)
- Eastern steppe
Yami Khan reigns as a Sui client — ends (603–609)
- 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
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
- Western steppe
Shegui Khan rules the western Göktürk — begins (611–619)
Shegui Khan · Western Göktürk Khaganate
618 or 619 in Golden 1992
Also dated 618 by Peter B. Golden and Édouard Chavannes: Golden gives 618 or 619; Chavannes has Tong Yabgu on the throne no later than 618
- Western steppe
Heshana (Chuluo) Khan rules the western Göktürk after Tardush — ends (603–611)
- China
September: Shibi besieges the Sui emperor at Yanmen and withdraws on a false report
Shibi Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate · Sui · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- 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
- 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 Göktürk
- China
Sui — ends (581–618)
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu rules the western Göktürk from Suyab — begins (618–630)
Tong Yabgu · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Suyab
The end of the reign is 628 in Yavuz 2025 and 630 in Golden 1992
- 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
- Eastern steppe
Shibi dies on a raid; his brother Chula succeeds
- Western steppe
Shegui Khan rules the western Göktürk — 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
- Economy · Tarim and Sogdiana
- Eastern steppe
Ilig Khan reigns — 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
- 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 plunders Shuozhou with a hundred thousand men and destroys Zhang Jin's army at Taiyuan
- Persia
Tong Yabgu campaigns against the Hephthalites, reaches the Indus and subdues most of Bactria; his son becomes the first yabgu of Tokharistan
- 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
Sigl 2015; Fei 2007 and Di Cosmo 2017 argue 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
- 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
- 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
- Western steppe
The Karluks revolt against Tong Yabgu, by Golden's account
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Göktürk in the Caucasus with Heraclius against Persia: Derbent and Tiflis — begins (627–628)
Tong Yabgu · Byzantium · Sasanian Persia · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Tiflis · Khazar Khaganate
- 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 · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
Töles submits to the Tang on 21 April; the Xueyantuo secede from Ilig as a khaganate of their own
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 Göktürk in the Caucasus with Heraclius against Persia: Derbent and Tiflis — ends (627–628)
Tong Yabgu · Byzantium · Sasanian Persia · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Tiflis · Khazar Khaganate
- Eastern steppe
December: Tang cavalry strike the Göktürk in winter
Ilig 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
- China
Kang Sumi surrenders to the Tang with the last Sui princes from the Göktürk; 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 · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
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
- China
The Tang settle the surrendered Göktürk 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
- 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 editor's name for 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 · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
- Eastern steppe
The Göktürk under Tang rule; the fifty years the Kül Tegin inscription calls the loss of realm and khan — begins (630–682)
- Eastern steppe
The Xueyantuo rule the Orkhon country between the fall of Ilig and their destruction by the Tang — begins (630–646)
- Eastern steppe
First Göktürk Khaganate — ends (552–630)
- Eastern steppe
Ilig Khan reigns — ends (620–630)
- Western steppe
Tong Yabgu rules the western Göktürk from Suyab — ends (618–630)
- China
- Western steppe
Civil war in the west after the murder of Tong Yabgu; the Ten Arrows emerge — ends (630–634)
- Western steppe
Shaboluo Dielishi Khan; the Ten Arrows fully manifest as two unions of five tribes, Duolu and Nushibi, each under its own khan — begins (634–639)
636
- Culture · Source written
Bei Qi Shu (Book of Northern Qi) compiled
- Culture · Source written
Zhou Shu (Book of Zhou) compiled
- 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
- Western steppe
Shaboluo Dielishi Khan; the Ten Arrows fully manifest as two unions of five tribes, Duolu and Nushibi, each under its own khan — ends (634–639)
- Tarim and Sogdiana
The Tang take the kingdom of Gaochang and make it the prefecture of Xizhou
Gaochang · Tarim Basin · Tang
The date from de la Vaissière's account of the Turfan documents; the Xin Tang Shu measures Helu's seat from Xizhou
- Economy · China
A leader of the western Göktürk sends thirty-eight thousand marten pelts to the Tang court
- 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
- Economy · China
The Xueyantuo send fifty thousand horses with other animals to the Tang
- Eastern steppe
The Xueyantuo rule the Orkhon country between the fall of Ilig and their destruction by the Tang — ends (630–646)
- 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
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Khazars emerge at the head of the western steppe after the Göktürk; by the 670s they have beaten the Bulgars
- Western steppe
Khazar Khaganate — begins (650–969)
- 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, Golden the khanate from 653
Also dated 653 by Peter B. Golden: The beginning of Helu's khanate over the Ten Arrows
- Caucasus and Crimea
Yipishekui, a defeated khan of the Nushibi, moves to the Khazar lands and founds their ruling house: Artamonov's hypothesis, reported by Golden with reservations
- Realm
Sasanian Persia — ends (224–651)
- 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 Peter B. Golden: Golden 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 Peter B. Golden: The end of the khanate; the Tang annals have the capture in 658 and the death in 659
- Western steppe
Ashina Helu against the Tang: the last khan of the western Göktürk — begins (653–659)
Ashina Helu · Western Göktürk Khaganate · On Oq · Tang
Helu taken in 657 by the editor's reckoning, 659 by Golden's
- 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 Göktürk; 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, as Chavannes cites them: 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 Peter B. Golden: A-shih-na Ho-lu captured by Tang forces in 659. The end is set at 657; 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 Göktürk — ends (653–659)
- 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
- 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
Yang 2021, Delingha tree rings
- Economy · China
The Tang organise the Sogdo-Göktürk settlements of the Ordos as the six hu counties
- 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
- China
The rising of Ashina Funian against the Tang — ends (680–681)
Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Ilterish Khan
- 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
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 Göktürk under Tang rule; the fifty years the Kül Tegin inscription calls the loss of realm and khan — ends (630–682)
- 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)
- 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
- China
Kapgan's war with the Tang: Hebei in 698, Mingsha in 705 — begins (698–706)
- 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
- 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
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
- 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
- China
Kapgan's war with the Tang: Hebei in 698, Mingsha in 705 — ends (698–706)
- 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
- 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
Also dated 711 by Peter B. Golden: Kül Tegin's age of twenty-six gives 710 if he was born in 684; Golden's dating of the western campaigns is 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
- 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)
- 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
- Western steppe
Kapgan's son the Lesser Khan besieges Beiting and fails; a tegin is beheaded under the walls and the khan's son-in-law defects to the Tang
Kapgan Khan · Inel Khan · 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 720 by Vilhelm Thomsen, in Ross's rendering: Radloff dated the stone to 716 from its silence about Bilge Khan's reign; Thomsen to about 720
- 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
- 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
- Eastern steppe
The Tang's three-sided attack on the Göktürk camp and the Basmïl campaign — begins (720–721)
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Byzantium
Constantine, heir of Leo III, marries Čiček, daughter of the Khazar khagan
- Culture · Eastern steppe
The Kül Tegin inscription is erected on the Orkhon
Kül Tegin inscription · Kül Tegin · Bilge Khan · Orkhon valley
- 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 · 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 Emre-E. Yavuz, in the appendix: The edition's date; the inscription itself dates the funeral to the fifth month of the Pig year, 735 by Thomsen's equation, and most scholarship gives 735
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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)
- 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
Fall of the Second Khaganate, 741–744 — ends (741–744)
- 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
- Span
Making of 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
- 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
- Environment · China
A shift to wetter conditions on the monsoon margin of north-western China
- 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
- 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
- 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
Di Cosmo 2018, as Struck 2022 reports it
- 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)
796
- Span
Avars — ends (557–796)
9th century
- Environment · Eastern steppe
A severe drought begins in central Mongolia, in the drought reconstruction over two thousand years
- 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
- Culture · Eastern steppe
Tamim ibn Bahr travels the postal road of tents from Semirech'e to the Uyghur capital
- Eastern steppe
War of the Uyghurs with the Kirghiz, ending in the fall of Karabalghasun — begins (821–840)
- Technology · Caucasus and Crimea
Byzantine engineers help the Khazars build the fortress of Sarkel on the Don
- 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
- 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)
- Eastern steppe
Kirghiz hegemony in the eastern steppe after the fall of the Uyghurs — begins (840–924)
The age of Kirghiz great power, as this work counts it, from 840 to about 924
- Eastern steppe
Uyghur Khaganate — ends (744–840)
10th century
907
- Realm
Tang — ends (618–907)
- Eastern steppe
Kirghiz hegemony in the eastern steppe after the fall of the Uyghurs — ends (840–924)
- Caucasus and Crimea
The Rus, allied with Oghuz, overrun Atil and probably Sarkel; the Khazar khaganate ends within a few years
- Western steppe
Khazar Khaganate — ends (650–969)
- Span
Ashina — ends (439–969)
- Span
Khan (Khagan) — ends (400–969)
11th century
1071
- Span
Atabeg — begins (1071–)
1074
- Culture · Source written
Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk compiled
1084
- Culture · Source written
Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance) compiled
15th century
1453
- Realm
Byzantium — ends (330–1453)