Who ruled
- Byzantium Heraclius 610–641
- First Göktürk Khaganate Ilig Khan 620–630 · Töles Khan 620–630
- Western Göktürk Khaganate Tong Yabgu 618–630
And beyond the steppe
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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Environment · Lake Telmen stands 4.8 metres above its present level, a humid phase before the drying that follows (600–700)
China
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Economy · The Tang cavalry grows from five thousand horses to more than seven hundred thousand, supplied by the Göktürks (618–650)
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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)
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Ilig, checked at Yanmen, asks the Tang for peace and sends fish glue so that the two states may be as one
