istoryworld
Events relating to asia
A warlord, Zhao Kuangyin, establishes a new Chinese dynasty - the Song
The Khitan, a tribe from eastern Mongolia, fortify Beijing and make it their capital city
Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting to the Japanese empress, records her thoughts and impressions in her Pillow Book
Mahmud, a Turk, builds an empire based on Ghazni (in modern Afghanistan)
Turks from Ghazni, raiding into northwest India, renew the pressure of Islam on the subcontinent
Warlike tribal groups, calling themselves Rajput and claiming descent from the Aryan warrior caste, are now in Rajasthan
Buddhist, Hindu and Jain shrines are carved from the rock in the cave temples of Ellora, in India
Japanese author Murasaki Shibubi produces, in The Tale of Genji, a book which can be considered the world's first novel
Firdausi completes his great chronicle of Persian history, the Shah-nama, which becomes established as Iran's national epic
The Persian scholar Avicenna, author of encyclopedic works on philosophy and medicine, spends the last part of his life in Isfahan
Mahmud of Ghazni marches an army across an Indian desert to destroy a great temple at Somnath, killing - it is said - some 50,000 Hindus
A Chinese manual on warfare includes the earliest known description of gunpowder
The Seljuk Turks win a victory at Dandanqan, which gives them a base in the north of Iran and Afghanistan
The concept of movable type for printing is pioneered in China, using fired clay, but it proves impractical
The rulers of Baghdad harness homing pigeons as postmen.
The earliest surviving reference to the principle of the compass occurs in a Chinese manuscript
Astronomers in China and Japan observe the explosion of the supernova which is still visible as the Crab Nebula
Togrul Beg enters Baghdad and is granted by the caliph the title of sultan, which becomes hereditary in his Seljuk dynasty
Su Sung, a Buddhist monk, develops in China the principle of the escapement in his tower clock worked by a water wheel
The campaigns of Alp Arslan, culminating in 1071, give the Seljuk Turks a lasting presence in Anatolia
The Seljuk Turks and the Byzantines meet in battle at Manzikert, with victory going to the Turks
Omar Khayyám, mathematician and astronomer, writes four-line verses, or quatrains, in his spare time
Venice acquires valuable trading privileges from Constantinople, her merchants being excused all dues and customs in the Byzantine empire
After a siege of seven months, the city of Antioch falls to the knights of the first crusade
Konya, in central Turkey, becomes the capital of the Seljuk Turks, who call themselves sultans of Rum
