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Years · 7th century

657

Year of the snake yılan yıl

3 entries in Eastern steppe and Western steppe.

Map of Asia in 657: the land of the western Göktürks as ten prefectures under the Tang, the Yanran protectorate in the steppe, the Tarim oases, Tibet and the Rashidun Caliphate up to the Oxus — 657: The Tang take Ashina Helu, the last khan of the western Göktürks. Their land becomes ten prefectures under the Tang. Modern map; the bounds of the prefectures are drawn, not recorded.

Who ruled

Western Göktürk Khaganate Ashina Helu 651–657

And beyond the steppe

China Tang Gaozong 649–683
Iran Rashidun Ali 656–661
Korea Goguryeo Bojang 642–668
Byzantium Heraclian Constans II 641–668

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
Environment · Lake Telmen stands 4.8 metres above its present level, a humid phase before the drying that follows (600–700)

Climate and the steppe empires · Orkhon valley

Western steppe

The Tang capture Ashina Helu, the last independent khan of the western Göktürks; the west is divided into ten prefectures

Western Göktürk Khaganate · First Göktürk Khaganate · Ashina Helu · On Oq · Tang

Also dated 658 (the Tang annals): 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 (one modern reckoning): Ashina Helu captured by the Tang in 659; the end is set at 657, and the after-effects run to the 740s.