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Years · 6th century

563

Year of the sheep koñ yıl

3 entries in Eastern steppe, Western steppe and China.

Who ruled

First Göktürk Khaganate Mukan Khan 553–572
Northern Qi Emperor Wucheng of Northern Qi 561–565
Northern Zhou Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou 560–578
Sasanian Persia Khosrow I 531–579
Western Göktürk Khaganate Istemi 552–576

And beyond the steppe

China Northern Zhou Emperor Wu 560–578 · Northern Qi Emperor Wucheng 561–565
Iran Sasanian Khosrow I 531–579
Korea Goguryeo Pyeongwon 559–590
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

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