6th—8th centuries

6th—8th centuries

1. "General Mileposts"

2. 6th

   • —500 A.D.: Scriptures translated into more than 500 languages
   • —521 A.D.: Boëthius introduces Greek musical letter notation to the West
   • —525 A.D.: Dionysius Exiguus creates the “Anno Domini” system, inspired by the birth of Jesus
   • —552 A.D.: Emperor Justinian begins Europe’s silk industry; sends missionaries to smuggle silkworms out of China and Ceylon
   • —556 A.D.: First written record of the Loch Ness monster
   • —577 A.D.: China, under the Chen Dynasty, invents matches
   • —587 A.D.: First Japanese Buddhist monastery established
   • —589 A.D.: Yan Zhitui, Chinese scholar-official, mentions first use of toilet paper (in China)
   • —6th century (unknown year): Borzuya Persian physician known for his translation of the Indian “Panchatantra” from Sanskrit into Pahlavi (Middle Persian), dies

3. 7th

   • —601 A.D.: The earliest dated English words are “town,” and “priest,” in the Laws of Ethelbert.
   • —630 A.D.: Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas brings first Qu’ran to China; establishes first Islamic mosque in Guangzhou
   • —636 A.D.: Xumi Pagoda, in Zhengding, China, built
   • —644 A.D.: New religion, “Tokoyonomushi,” introduced to Japan; promotes worshipping a worm, drinking sake, dancing in the streets and giving away money
   • —650 A.D.: Khazars, mid-eastern people of mixed race, expand westward and capture and sell people, mainly Slavs (origin of the word ‘slave’)
   • —650 A.D.: First Chinese paper money issued
   • —660 A.D.: Qu’ran published for first time as completed book
   • —660 A.D.: Wu Zetian becomes the only Chinese woman emperor in history
   • —672 A.D.: “Greek fire” invented in Constantinople
   • —699 A.D.: Anglo-Saxon epic poem “Beowulf,” (oldest English epic) completed
   • —7th-8th centuries: Pattadakal, Chalukya architecture

4. 8th

   • —700 A.D.: Fingerprinting used in China to identify people
   • —725 A.D.: Yi Xing, Chinese Buddhist monk, mathematician, astronomer, mechanical engineer, creates an astronomical celestial globe using a clockwork escapement mechanism
   • —732 A.D.: The word “Europe” is first mentioned
   • —735 A.D.: Smallpox epidemic in Japan (over two years), wipes out one third of population
   • —748 A.D.: First printed newspaper appears in Peking, China
   • —750 A.D.: Teotihuacán is destroyed in Mexico
   • —770 A.D.: Iron horseshoes came into general common use
   • —780 A.D.: Musa al-Kwarizmi born in Baghdad; his contributions to mathematics, geography, astronomy and cartography are the basis for algebra and trigonometry; his book Kitab al-jabr wa al-mugabalah (Calculation with Hindu Numerals [825 A.D.]), is responsible for introducing the Hindu-Arabic numerals system throughout the Middle East and Europe
   • —787 A.D.: Charlemagne learns to read and reprimands ecclesiastics for their uncultured language and “unlettered tongues”; orders monasteries to establish reading schools for clergy and laity
   • —788 A.D.: Shankara, Indian philosopher, theorizes a system that equates human soul with God
   • —795 A.D.: Vikings invade Ireland
   • —797 A.D.: Irene becomes first Byzantine empress; it appears that she was involved in the plot to have her son, Emperor Constantine VI, blinded in order to gain power