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The 620s

224 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 7th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

620 CE15 entries

  • The Angles under King Edwin of Northumbria invade Rheged ("Old North") in Northern England, and expel King Llywarch Hen. He flees to Powys, and becomes a famous bard. Edwin's armies fight against Gododdin and Strathclyde.
  • King Pulakeshin II defeats the Harsha army on the banks of the Narmada River. Harsha loses a major part of his elephant force and retreats. A truce establishes Narmada as the northern boundary of the Chalukya Kingdom (India).
  • The town of Cholula is founded in central Mexico (later said to be the oldest continuously occupied town in all of North America).

621 CE18 entries

  • May 28 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin defeats the numerically superior army of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass.
  • June 4 – Wang Shichong, self-declared emperor, surrenders to Li Shimin at Luoyang following Dou Jiande's defeat. Gaozu spares his life, but he is later assassinated.
  • The Chinese establish an imperial bureau for the manufacture of porcelain. Their technology will advance further under the Tang dynasty (approximate date).

622 CE23 entries

  • September 9 or June 17 – The Islamic prophet Muhammad secretly leaves his home in Mecca to make the Hijrah (emigrate) to Yathrib (later renamed by him Medina), along with his companion Abu Bakr. They take refuge in the Cave of Thawr south of Mecca for three days, departing on September 13 or June 21.
  • September 20 or June 28 – Muhammad does not enter Yathrib directly, but stops at its outlying environs of Quba. He establishes the Quba Mosque here, the first mosque of Islam. On July 2 (or September 24) he makes his first visit to Yathrib for Friday prayers.
  • October 4 or July 13 – After a fourteen days' stay in Quba, Muhammad finally moves from Quba to Yathrib, and is greeted cordially by its people. Here he drafts the Constitution of Medina, an agreement between the various Muslim, Jewish, Christian and pagan tribal communities in the city, forming the basis of a multi-religious Islamic state, and begins construction of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque. Later during the caliphate of Umar in 638, the lunar year during which the emigration to Medina occurred (Friday 16 July 622 – 4 July 623) is designated "Year One" of the new Hijri era (Anno Hegirae – AH).

623 CE13 entries

  • The Jewish community in Medina (Saudi Arabia) rejects the idea of Muhammad being a leader of Judaism. He and his followers stop bowing toward Jerusalem and start bowing toward Makkah.
  • King Clothar II gives Austrasia to his son Dagobert I, age 20, effectively granting the kingdom semi-autonomy in repayment for the support of its nobles, most notably Pepin of Landen (Mayor of the Palace), and in recognition of calls from the Austrasians for a king of their own. Arnulf, bishop of Metz, becomes advisor to Dagobert.
  • Samo, reputedly a Frankish merchant, is elected king of the Slavs in Moravia, Slovakia and Lower Austria. A string of victories over the Avars proves his utilitas (usefulness) to his subjects, and he secures the throne to establish his own kingdom, which stretches from the upper Elbe to the Danube.

624 CE37 entries

  • February 11 – While praying in the Masjid al-Qiblatayn in Medina, the Islamic prophet Muhammad receives revelations from God on the qibla, the direction of prayer, that he should be facing Mecca rather than Jerusalem during prayer, beginning an Islamic tradition.
  • March 13 – (17 Ramadah 2 AH) The Battle of Badr takes place in what is now Saudi Arabia as Muhammad and some 300 of his followers from Medina surprise a reinforced Meccan caravan at Badr (modern-day Saudi Arabia) returning from Syria, and defeat about 1,000 Quraysh from Mecca. After having heard that clan leader Abu Sufyan is escorting a rich trade caravan, Muhammad has the wells along its route (southwest of Medina) filled with sand in order to lure him into battle.
  • March 25 – Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium, departs from his capital at Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey) with his wife, the Empress Martina, and two of his children, and does not return for more than four years.

625 CE15 entries

  • March 19 – Battle of Uhud: Muhammad retreats against the inhabitants of Mecca (Saudi Arabia), which they consider a victory.
  • October 25 – Pope Boniface V dies at Rome after a 6-year reign. He is succeeded by Honorius I as the 70th pope.
  • Byzantine–Sassanid War: Emperor Heraclius marches with his forces westward, through the mountains of Corduene. The Persians go into winter quarters nearby, but Heraclius attacks them at Tigranakert (Kingdom of Armenia), routing the forces of the generals Shahin Vahmanzadegan and Shahraplakan. In less than seven days, he bypasses Mount Ararat and captures the strategic fortresses of Amida along the Arsanias River, and Martyropolis on the upper Tigris. The Persian army in northern Mesopotamia withdraws westward across the Euphrates. Heraclius pursues into Cilicia, accompanied by a great train of booty.

626 CE33 entries

  • April 19 – Eanflæd, daughter of Edwin of Northumbria, is born at a royal residence by the River Derwent. She is baptised by Paulinus, bishop of York.
  • July 2 – Li Shimin travels to the Tang capital Chang'an to bid farewell to his younger brother Li Yuanji, who has been given command of a Chinese expedition against the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Hearing of a plot to murder him, he and a few supporters seize the northern entrance to the emperor's palace. Li Shimin ambushes and eliminates his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng, in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.
  • August 7 – In the waters of the Golden Horn, the Persian fleet is destroyed while ferrying reinforcements. The Avars, having suffered terrible losses, running short of food and supplies, burn their siege engines. They abandon the siege and retreat to the Balkan Peninsula. The Byzantines achieve a decisive victory at Blachernae, under the protection of the Church of the Virgin Mary.

627 CE21 entries

  • March 31 – Battle of the Trench: Muhammad successfully withstands a siege for 27 days at Medina, by Meccan forces (10,000 men) under Abu Sufyan, whose allies, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, ultimately surrender to Muhammad.
  • December 12 – Battle of Nineveh: Heraclius crosses the Great Zab river and, in a feigned retreat, defeats the Persian army (12,000 men) under Rhahzadh, near the ruins of Nineveh (Iraq). Although wounded, Heraclius refuses to leave the battlefield, and in a final cavalry charge personally kills the Persian general.
  • Winter – Heraclius plunders the city palace of Dastgerd (Iran) and gains tremendous riches (also recovering 300 captured Byzantine flags). He turns northeastward to Caucasian Albania to rest his army. Khosrau II flees to the mountains of Susiana, to rally support for the defense of the Persian capital Ctesiphon.

628 CE25 entries

  • February 25 – Khosrau II, the last great king of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
  • Brahmagupta writes the Brāmasphuțasiddhānta, an early, yet very advanced, math book.
  • The Shariah enjoins women as well as men to obtain secular and religious educations. It forbids eating pork, domesticated donkey, and other flesh denied to Jews by Mosaic law (approximate date).

629 CE24 entries

  • April 27 – Shahrbaraz usurps the throne of the Sasanian Empire from Ardashir III, but is himself deposed forty days later by nobility in favour of Borandukht. Khosrow III briefly rules Khorasan in the confusion, until he is assassinated by the governor of the province.
  • May–June – Battle of Khaybar: Muhammad and his followers defeat the Jews living in the fortified oasis at Khaybar, located 150 kilometers from Medina.
  • September – Battle of Mu'tah: The Muslims fail to take the lands east of the Jordan River, and are pushed back near Mu'tah by the Ghassanids.