#e <t>period<d>250<e>900<n>Classical Maya Period<c>Central America<info>The Maya civilisation began before 1200 B.C. Numerous pyramids had been built by 600 B.C. The Classical Period is generally considered to have begun in about A.D. 250. Around A.D. 900, the Maya civilisation collapsed.
#e <t>period<n>The Middle Ages<d>476<e>1475(25)<c>Europe<info>The Middle Ages started with the fall of the Roman Empire, and lasted until the Renaissance.
// 6th century
#p <nat>Arab<o>prophet<n>Mohammed<aka>Mahomet<b>570(1)<d>632 Jun 8<info>Mohammed began preaching in 610. He was forced to flee Mecca in 622, but by 630 had returned to conquer it.
#e <t>decree<d>529<n>closure of Plato's Academy<c>Athens<info>Charging that it promoted paganism, Byzantine emporer @Justinian@@ closes @Plato@@'s Academy in Athens. This event is frequently cited by historians as the end of the ancient Greek culture.
#e <t>fire<d>532<n>Constantinople burns<c>Constantinople<info>A library with 120,000 volumes burned.
#e <t>religion<d>538<n>Buddhism spreads to Japan<c>Japan<info>Buddhism spread from China to Japan starting in A.D. 538.
// 7th century
#p <nat>Syrian<o>emperor<n>Leo III<aka>Emperor Leo III<b>685(5)<d>741 Jun 18<ac>717<c>Constantinople<info>Leo III was a military commander in the Byzantine Empire who was brought to the throne by the army, displacing Theodosius III. A few months later, a Muslim Arab force began a year-long siege of Constantinople. Thereafter, Leo fought successfully to repel the Arabs from Anatolia. In 726 he began a policy of @Iconoclasm@@, which marked the beginning of a long and bitter controversy in the empire. He was succeeded by his son Constantine.<ref>Grolier
#e <t>Islam<d>622 Jul 15<n>The Hegira<c>Mecca<info>@Mohammed@@ flees from Mecca to Medina.
#e <t>battle<d>637<n>Sarcens take Jerusalem<c>Jerusalem
// 8th century
#e <t>siege<d>717 Aug<e>718 Aug<n>Arabs besiege Constantinople<c>Constantinople<info>A Muslim Arab army and fleet laid siege to Constantinople. The military ability of @Emperor Leo III@@, and help from Bulgaria, saved the Byzantine capital.<ref>Grolier
#e <t>battle<d>732<n>battle of Tours<c>France<info>Commanded by the Merovingian king @Charles Martel@@, the Franks defeated the Saracens at Tours, France. A Moslems invasion from Spain into France is prevented.
// 9th century
#e <t>building<d>833<n>Bait al-hikma<c>Baghdad<info>The "Bait al-hikma," or house of wisdom, was the greatest library since Alexandria's.
// 10th century
#p <nat>Bohemian<o>prince<n>Vaclav Wenceslas<b>907<d>929<c>Prague<info>Vaclav Wenzel Wenceslas was the Duke of Bohemia from 921 to 929. He was murdered at the instigation of his younger brother Boleslav. He became the patron saint of Czechoslovakia.
#p <nat>Indian<o>ruler<n>Mahmud of Ghazna<sur>Mahmud<b>971<d>1030<c>India
// 11th century
#p <nat><o>emperor<n>Emperor Henry IV<b>1050 Nov 11<ac>1056<depo>1105 Dec<d>1106 Aug 7<c>Germany<info>Henry IV was king of Germany from age six, and became leader of the Holy Roman empire in 1056. During his reign, there was a movement to eliminate lay domination in the church. Since the reign of Otto I, the German kings' power had depended heavily on their control of the church's resources. Henry, therefore, viewed the reformers' program as an assault on his traditional prerogatives. Responding to a warning from Pope @Gregory VII@@, he and his bishops denounced Gregory as a usurper in 1076. Gregory thereupon excommunicated and deposed Henry.¶The German nobles at once took up the pope's cause for their own purposes. By his shrewd but insincere penance before the pope at Canossa in 1077, Henry mollified Gregory. The German princes elected an antiking, Rudolf of Swabia, however, and thus precipitated civil war. Henry, again excommunicated in 1080, made several expeditions to Italy from 1081 to 1084 and backed an antipope, @Clement III@@, who crowned him emperor in 1084. Henry was forced to withdraw by Gregory's Norman allies, led by Robert Guiscard. Gregory, however, died in 1085.¶Because Henry refused to yield his investiture rights, succeeding popes @Urban II@@ and Paschal II continued to denounce him. A second antiking, Hermann of Salm, was killed in 1088, but new opposition in Italy and south Germany appeared, encouraged by Henry's own sons, Conrad and Henry. The latter, the future Henry V, captured his father and forced his abdication in December 1105. Henry IV escaped, but died in 1106.<ref>Grolier
#e <t>migration<d>1000(100)<n>Maori settle New Zealand<c>New Zealand
