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Years · 6th century

550

Year of the horse yund yıl

3 entries in Eastern steppe, Western steppe and China.

Map of the Sea of Azov around 550: the Kutrigurs west and the Utigurs east of the Don, the Sabirs and Onogurs north of the Caucasus, Bosporos and Cherson in the Crimea, the Kutrigur raids of 551 and 558–559, and the arrival of the Avars in 557 — c. 550: The Kutrigurs live west and the Utigurs east of the Don and the Sea of Azov, the Sabirs and the Onogurs north of the Caucasus. The Kutrigurs raid in 551 and, under Zabergan, reach Constantinople in 558–559. The Avars arrive in 557. Modern map. The roads are drawn.

Who ruled

Rouran Khaganate Anagui 520–552
Sasanian Persia Khosrow I 531–579

And beyond the steppe

China Eastern Wei Emperor Xiaojing 534–550 · Western Wei Emperor Wen 535–551 · Northern Qi Emperor Wenxuan 550–559
Iran Sasanian Khosrow I 531–579
Korea Goguryeo Yangwon 545–559
Byzantium Justinian Justinian I 527–565

Eastern steppe

Environment · Late Antique Little Ice Age: the cold phase the Altai tree rings define from 536 to about 660 (536–660)

Climate and the steppe empires · First Göktürk Khaganate · Avars

The coldest decade in the Altai is the 540s

Western steppe

Culture · Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles (450–600)

Suyab · Sogdians

China

The Northern Qi replace the Eastern Wei in north-eastern China

Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China