Who ruled
- First Göktürk Khaganate Taspar Khan 572–581
- Sasanian Persia Hormizd IV 579–590
- Western Göktürk Khaganate Tardush 576–603
And beyond the steppe
- China Northern Zhou Emperor Jing 579–581
- Iran Sasanian Hormizd IV 579–590
- Korea Goguryeo Pyeongwon 559–590
- Byzantium Justinian Tiberius II 578–582
Eastern steppe
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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
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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)
Western steppe
China
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Economy · 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 (572–581)
