In the proleptic Gregorian calendar, it was a non-leap century year starting on Wednesday (like 1800). The year falls well into the period of Old World history known as the Middle Ages; in Europe, it is sometimes and by convention considered the boundary date between the Early Middle Ages and the High Middle Ages. The Muslim world was in its Islamic Golden Age. China was in its Song dynasty, Korea was in its Goryeo dynasty, Japan was in its classical Heian period. India was divided into a number of lesser empires, such as the Eastern Chalukyas, Pala Empire (Kamboja Pala dynasty; Mahipala), Chola dynasty (Rajaraja I), Yadava dynasty, etc. Sub-Saharan Africa was still in the prehistoric period, although Trans-Saharan slave trade was beginning to be an important factor in the formation of the Sahelian kingdoms. The pre-Columbian New World was in a time of general transition in many regions. Wari and Tiwanaku cultures receded in power and influence while Chachapoya and Chimú cultures rose to prominence in South America. In Mesoamerica, the Maya Terminal Classic period saw the decline of many grand polities of the Petén like Palenque and Tikal yet a renewed vigor and greater construction phases of sites in the Yucatán Peninsula like Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Mitla, with Mixtec influence, became the more important site of the Zapotec, overshadowing the waning Monte Albán. Cholula flourished in central Mexico, as did Tula, the center of Toltec culture. World population is estimated to have been between c. 250 and 310 million.

Events

Japan

Americas

Christendom

Islamic world

The Muslim world was in its Golden Age; still organised in caliphates, it continued to be dominated by the Abbasid Caliphate, with the Caliphate of Córdoba to the west, the Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa, and experienced ongoing campaigns in Africa and in India. At the time, Persia was in a period of instability, with various polities seceding from Abbasid rule, among whom the Ghaznavids would emerge as the most powerful. The Islamic world was reaching the peak of its historical scientific achievements. Important scholars and scientists who flourished in AD 1000 include Al-Zahrawi (Abcasis), Ibn Yunus (publishes his astronomical treatise Al-Zij al-Hakimi al-Kabir in Cairo in c. 1000), Abu Sahl al-Quhi (Kuhi), Abu-Mahmud Khujandi, Abu Nasr Mansur, Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, Ali Ibn Isa, Al-Karaji (al-Karkhi), Ibn al-Haytham (Book of Optics), Avicenna, Averroes, and Al-Biruni. By this time, the Turkic migration from the Eurasian Steppe had reached Eastern Europe, and most of the Turkic tribes (Khazars, Bulgars, Pechenegs etc.) had been Islamized.

Babylon abandoned

Babylon was abandoned around this year.

Largest cities

World population

Births

Deaths