See also: List of centuries , Roman numerals

The ^sixth century begins on January ¹ 501 and ends on 31 December 600.

Events

America

• Thule Oldest Alaska (500-1100), with an economy in which well suited the fishing whale plays a leading role (harpoons, spears), with hunting seals , the walrus , the caribou and game birds. It uses sled dogs and kayaks. The pottery is decorated, is in use and the villages are made of permanent winter houses well insulated. Tools on stone slabs.
• Third Period of the weavers ( Basketmaker III, 500-700) in the southwest of the current United States. Villages with up to 50 semi-underground houses are located on terraces, floodplains near where grow the corn , the squash and beans.
• The houses are topped by Basketmaker III attics storage. Bows and arrows were introduced to replace the javelin and thrusters.
• The ceramic is introduced into the villages of Basketmaker III through culture nearby Mogollon (gray ware, sometimes decorated with black designs, finite-coil and smoothing).
• Peak of Teotihuacan. In Mexico , Teotihuacan was the sixth city in the world with approximately 200 000 inhabitants.
• Pinnacle of Civilization Huari and Tiwanaku in Peru ^(VI - IX ^century ).

Black Africa

• The Bantu arrived in South Africa with their iron and domesticated livestock.
• First city in Zimbabwe , probably Bantu , dating from the ^sixth to ^eighth century.
• Advanced cultures in the valley of Senegal.
• The Kingdom of Axum becomes weak ^(VI - ^VII centuries). He loses his possessions in Arabia and the expansion of Islam will require it to turn south.
• After the decline of Meroe , three kingdoms are Christians in Nubia and the Nilotic Sudan, supported by the Byzantines, The kingdom of Nobatia north (capital Ballana) of Makourra Nubia (capital Dongola ) and Alodia (Aloa, capital Soba, south of ^the Sixth Cataract) in Sudan. They persist until the ^XIV - XV ^th centuries.
• Dongola , capital of Makourra, is the starting point of the track from Chad through Darfur.

Central Asia

• Tibetan principalities were united under the king's authority Namri Songtsen ( 601 - 629 ), a leader of the fertile valley of the Yarlung , upper Brahmaputra. His son, Songtsen Gampo , establish relations with the Indian world and the Chinese world, it was at this time is founded Lhasa. At the end of the century the Tibetan King Songtsen Namri pursues a policy of aggressive expansion. Tibetans attacking border populations of India and China, and the caravans which travel the Silk Road.
• The Chinese invented toilet paper
• Buddhas Monastery gigantic rock Bamiyan in Afghanistan, 35 and 53 meters high ^(sixth - ^seventh centuries). The statues were covered with gold and decorated with precious clothing.

India and Southeast Asia

• Dynasties Chalukya reign over the western part of India and the Deccan until 1297. Their founder Pulakeshim ^I. moves the capital to Badami Aihole ( 550 - 760 ). His successors will walk in Gujarat and Andhra countries can impose their supremacy.
• Pushyabhuti founded the dynasty Vardhamana prevailing in Thaneshwar , near Lahore (Punjab). Prabhakar-Vardhana, one of his successors, the son of a princess Gupta, manage to extend his influence after launching raids against the victorious Huns.
• The Mons founded the kingdom Dvaravati in central Thailand and southern Burma.

Far East

• In Korea , Buddhism became a powerful force in the sixth ^century and strongly inspires the intellectual and artistic life of Silla.

Western Europe

• Persistence of Roman economic system in Western Europe.

In the Spanish current

• Union between the indigenous population and Visigoths , was born a strong kingdom and homogeneous, in a period of prosperity.

In today's France

• Synagogues in Paris and Orleans in the sixth ^century. Presence of Jews in Marseille.

In Italy today

• Foundation of the Benedictine order by Benedict of Nursia ( 529 )

In northern Europe today

• Abandoned villages because of flooding. Germanic peoples landless migrate westward and settle in eastern England and partly in Gaul.
• Port activity of Helgo in Sweden during the Vendel.
• Discovery Helgo (island in Lake Mlaren, Sweden), objects from the Indian Ocean , dated ^the sixth century (a small bronze Buddha, shellfish).

In the British Isles

• Resistance against the Angles ^(VI - ^VII centuries) the kingdom Breton of Strathclyde (southern Scotland , northern England ), causing the cycle of legendary King Arthur.
• Poetry Ireland transcribing traditional Celtic epics.
• In the realms of Brittany, north of the island as of Wales and Cornwall, the legend of Arthur is taking shape, driven by relentless narration of the battles against the Angles. The legend also implanted in Brittany, land of immigration for Britons. The cauldron of plenty, wonderful objects, heroes and their adventures are Celtic themes.

In Germany

• Translation of the Bible to Wulfila use of Goths. It is the oldest literary document of the Germanic world.
• First dynasty in the Danish island of Zealand. Skjrdr, first king of the dynasty Skjldungar in Denmark.
• Grauballe man , sacrificed to 500 , found in a state of perfect preservation in a peat bog in Denmark.

Eastern Europe

• Scarcity of labor in the countryside of the Byzantine Empire (c. 500) and then stagnation. The supply of new slaves is less important. Large areas, including those of the Church, are struggling. The small farmer is in a relatively favorable situation, aided by the State which makes it less rigorous attachment to the land of the settlers, and from the middle of the century began to reduce taxes. The category of "lessees" dealers of land for several generations in perpetuity or for a low rent grows at the expense of the Church.
• Appearance of fortified the ramparts of wood and mud from the ^sixth century in Poland (castra).
• Slavic culture archaic Penkovka between Dniester lower Bug and Dnepr ( Antes by Jordanes ).

Significant Figures

Political leader

• Justinian ( 483 - 565 ), Byzantine emperor.

Religious

• Saint Gregory the Great (ca 540 , 604 ), Pope father of the Church
• Saint Benedict of Nursia (ca 480 - ca 547 ), founder of the order of Benedictines , patron of Europe ,
• Saint Gregory of Tours ,
• St. Columban ,
• Dionysius the Little , determined the date of the birth of Jesus Christ (with an error of 4 to 6 years).

Philosophers and theologians

• Isidore of Seville , bishop of the kingdom of the Visigoths (Spain), the most learned man of that era, whose work will be read and studied throughout the Middle Ages.
• Boethius.
• Cassiodorus.

Show: Philosophers and theologians of the ^sixth century

Inventions, discoveries

• Quadrivium , scientific disciplines of liberal arts , as defined by Boethius ,
• Liberal arts structured by Cassiodorus ,
• Trivium defined by Cassiodorus.

Art and culture

• Religion: end of writing the version of the Gemara written in Mesopotamia , forming with the Mishna the Babylonian Talmud.

• Portal History
• Portal of the High Middle Ages

Leave a Reply

Frequently Asked Questions