10th century

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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000.

1 Overview
2 Events
3 Significant people
4 Inventions, discoveries, introductions
5 Decades and years
6 Notes
7 Further reading

Overview

The tenth century is usually regarded as a low point in European history. In China it was also a period of political upheaval. In Islamdom, however, it was a cultural zenith, especially in Spain. Also it was the zenith for the Byzantine Empire.

Medievalist and historian of technology Lynn White said that "to the modern eye, it is very nearly the darkest of the Dark Ages," but concluded that ". . . if it was dark, it was the darkness of the womb."<ref>Quoted in The Tenth Century: How Dark the Dark Ages?, edited by Robert Sabatine Lopez. Holt, Reinhart and Winston: 1959.</ref> Similarly, Helen Waddell wrote that the tenth century was that which "in the textbooks disputes with the seventh the bad eminence, the nadir of the human intellect."<ref>The Wandering Scholars. Constable and Co: London, 1927.</ref> Even in the fifteenth century, Lorenzo Valla described it as the Century of Lead and Iron.

Events

Image:Yogini Goddess from Tamil Nadu.jpg

This statue of a yogini goddess was created in Kaveripakkam in Tamil Nadu, India, during the 10th century.

The beginning of the Medieval Warm Period
Viking groups settle in northern France - Norse become Normans
Foundation of Cluny, first federated monastic order
Incursions of Magyar (Hungarian) cavalry throughout Western Europe (47 expeditions in Germany, Italy and France, 899 - 970)
Mieszko I, first duke of Poland, baptised a Christian in 966
Khazar kingdom is attacked and defeated by Kievan Rus (965)
Vladimir I, Prince of Kievan Rus, baptised a Christian in 988
Collapse of the central lowland Maya civilization. End of Classic Maya period, begin Post-Classic Maya.
Rise of the Toltecs in Mexico.
Collapse of Great Moravia
Buddhist temple construction commences at Bagan, Myanmar
Laguna Copperplate Inscription, Kavi script, inscribed in Luzon, Philippines, dated Saka year 822 (AD 900).
The medieval Croatian state becomes a unified kingdom under Tomislav
Twentieth century Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus asserts that the orbits of all nine planets were within the same 90% arc of the solar system on 1 February, 949. The next time it is thought this will occur is on 6 May, 1492.
Coastal cities on the Malay Peninsula are the seed for the first recorded Malay kingdoms.
The Fatimid dynasty arises in eastern Algeria.
Swedish influence extends to the Black Sea.
The Christian Nubian kingdom reaches its peak of prosperity and military power. (Early history of Sudan)
The Mississippian culture begins in present day Southern USA.
The Byzantine empire reaches the height of its military and economic strength
Baile Átha Cliath (Dublin) was founded (988).
Reindeer become extinct in Scotland.
Lions become extinct in Caucasus.