Exploration & Expansion in the 10th century

47 sourced entries, 900 CE to 998 CE, oldest first. Also see Exploration & Expansion across every century or everything else in the 10th century.

• 900Greenland is discovered by the Norseman Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, sailing from Norway to Iceland: he is blown off course by a storm and comes in sight of some islands off the coast (approximate date).source
• 900The east coast of Africa is impacted by trade and Arab, Persian and Indian traders mix with the indigenous Bantu. Many of the coastal Bantu adopt Islam, reaching as far south as Sofala (Mozambique).source
• 900c. 900 –1230 – Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, is built by the Ancestral Pueblo people.source
• 900In Peru the Lambayeque people establish themselves over areas previously developed by the Moche (approximate date).source
• 902Moorish Andalusian merchants set up a trade settlement (so-called emporium) in Oran (modern Algeria).source
• 902Winter – The Norsemen are expelled from Dublin. After a brief foray into Seisyllwg (Wales), a group, under the Viking lord Ingimundr, settle in the Wirral with the agreement of Lady Æthelflæd of the Mercians.source
• 907The short-lived Wu Kingdom is founded by Yang Wo (Prince of Hongnong) in Jiangdu (South Central China). He refuses to acknowledge the rule of Zhu Quanzhong.source
• 911The Fatimids begin the conquest of Sicily, over their Aghlabid archrivals. Fatimid Sicilian governor Ibn al-Khinzir raids the south Italian coast (approximate date).source
• 914Viking raiders establish a settlement near Waterford (Ireland) led by Ottir (the Black). The Dublin Vikings are forced to pay tribute to the Irish kings of Meath and Leinster as the price to keeping their independence.source
• 919The Ancestral Puebloans, living in the Four Corners, begin construction at Pueblo Bonito, in modern-day New Mexico's Chaco Canyon (approximate date).source
• 921The Fatimid Caliphate creates a new capital in Ifriqiya, al-Mahdiya on the Tunisian coast.source
• 924Fall – Bulgarian–Serbian War: Tsar Simeon I sends a punitive expedition force against Serbia, led by Theodore Sigritsa and Marmais, but they are ambushed and defeated. Zaharija, prince of the Serbs, sends their heads and armour later to Constantinople (approximate date).source
• 928Summer – A Fatimid fleet under Sabir al-Fata raids Byzantine southern Italy. It captures a locality named al-Ghiran ('the caves') in Apulia and sacks the cities of Taranto and Otranto. The inhabitants are carried off to North Africa as slaves.source
• 929Summer – The Slavic-Arab leader Sabir defeats a small Byzantine fleet and seizes Termoli (in Molise, on the Adriatic coast). He returns to Africa laden with booty and slaves.source
• 933Spring – Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, launches an expedition to Rome to remove the Roman ruler (princeps) Alberic II and avenge his humiliation (see 932). It fails, however, as Roman civic militias repel the Lombard army. Hugh ravages the Italian countryside, before he withdraws to Pavia.source
• 935Ki no Tsurayuki returns to Kyoto from Tosa Province, a journey that becomes the basis of the earliest surviving Japanese poetic diary, called the Tosa Nikki (Tosa Diary).source
• 935Summer – Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im dispatches a naval expedition under Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Tamimi to raid the coast of Provence and Liguria, sacking Genoa on 16 August and attacking Pisa. Ya'qub also raids Corsica and Sardinia before returning to Mahdia with some 8,000 prisoners.source
• 940The tribe of the Polans begins the construction of the following fortified settlements (Giecz, Bnin, Ląd, Gniezno, Poznań, Grzybowo and Ostrów Lednicki) in Greater Poland. The Piast Dynasty under Duke Siemomysł gains control over other groups of Polans along the Upper Vistula, and establishes their rule around Giecz (approximate date).source
• 941Fall – Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, leads a fourth expedition to Rome to dislodge Alberic II. He proceeds to Lazio, preparing a campaign to capture the papal capital. Again the attacks fail and Hugh retreats to Milan.source
• 943Caspian expeditions of the Rus': The Rus' under the Varangian prince Igor I of Kiev sail up the Kura River, deep into the Caucasus, and defeat the forces of the Sallarid ruler Marzuban ibn Muhammad. They capture the fortress city of Barda (modern Azerbaijan).source
• 944Raymond III (or Pons I), count of Toulouse, travels to Nevers (southeast of Paris) to declare his fidelity to king Louis IV ("d'Outremer"). He is granted the title 'prince of the Aquitanians' by the king.source
• 947Al-Masudi, an Arab historian and geographer, completes his large-scale work The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems, a historical book about the beginning of the world, starting with Adam and Eve.source
• 949A Byzantine expeditionary force under Constantine Gongyles attempts to re-conquer the Emirate of Crete from the Saracens. The expedition ends in a disastrous failure; the Byzantine camp is destroyed in a surprise attack. Gongyles himself barely escapes on his flagship.source
• 950The Tu'i Tonga Empire starts to expand in the Pacific Ocean. The Tu'i Tonga kings establish the capital at Mu'a on the island of Tongatapu (approximate date).source
• 956Liudolf, the eldest son of King Otto I (the Great), reconciles with his father and asks again for installation as duke of Swabia. Otto refuses, but at the instigation of his uncle Bruno I (duke of Lotharingia) allows Liudolf to lead an expedition to Italy to bring the vassal Berengar of Ivrea to heel.source
• 961King Ashot III of Armenia (the Merciful) moves his capital from Kars eastward to Ani (modern Turkey). Located on a major east-west caravan route, Ani will become larger than any European city, with a population of about 100,000 that will rival Baghdad, Cairo, and Constantinople. Ani also becomes the site of the royal mausoleum of the Bagratuni kings.source
• 966Fall – Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor, departs for a third expedition in Italy and fights in Lombardy against the partisans under Adalbert II of Ivrea. In November an imperial counter-coup in Rome takes control of Castel Sant'Angelo.source
• 967The imperial delegation arrives in Macedonia, but goes nowhere with Nikephoros II. Far from offering Byzantine Italy as dowry for Theophano, Nikephoros refuses to accept the claims of Otto I.source
• 969Ibn Hawqal concludes his travels.source
• 970Skagul Toste leads a Viking expedition to England and demands Danegeld.source
• 972John I removes various Bulgarian boyars from their homes, and settles them in Constantinople and Anatolia (modern Turkey), where they are given high titles and lands.source
• 973Cloves, ginger, black pepper, and other Eastern spices are available for purchase in the marketplace at Mainz. The spices are brought to the city by Jewish traveling merchants, known as the Radhanites, who have contacts in the international trade between the Christian and Islamic world (approximate date).source
• 975Emperor Otto II (the Red) leads a punitive expedition against Boleslaus II, duke of Bohemia (approximate date).source
• 976June – Emir Abu'l-Qasim launches a raiding expedition into Byzantine Italy from Sicily. He imposes a tribute on the cities of Cosenza and Cellere. Meanwhile, a Fatimid fleet assaults the Apulian coast and raids the surrounding countryside. Abu'l-Qasim sends an army to Otranto and besieges Gravina, before returning to Sicily – bringing home hundreds of captives and slaves.source
• 980Fall – Otto II sets off on his first expedition to Italy. He leaves the government in the hands of Archchancellor Willigis. Otto is accompanied by his wife, Empress Theophanu.source
• 980The Kilwa Sultanate, centered at Kilwa (an island off modern Tanzania), is founded by Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi, Persian prince of Shiraz.source
• 981Erik the Red leaves Norway, to survey west of Iceland in Viking longships, that carry nearly 700 people with cattle, horses, and other necessities for starting a colony on the island. Erik finds land and calls it Greenland.source
• 982Erik the Red establishes the first Viking colonies in Greenland (see 981).source
• 985Greenland is colonized by the Icelandic Viking Erik the Red (according to legend, but has been established as approximately correct – see History of Greenland).source
• 985Lady Wulfrun, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, is granted land by King Æthelred II (the Unready). She founds Heantune that later becomes the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.source
• 986Bjarni Herjólfsson, a Norse-Icelandic merchant captain and explorer, becomes the first inhabitant of the Old World to discover the mainland of the Americas.source
• 991Pietro II Orseolo becomes the 26th Doge of Venice. Venice establishes a protectorate on the coast of the Dalmatian Islands.source
• 992Approximate date – Norse Viking settlers establish a mint in Dublin (Ireland), to produce silver pennies.source
• 992Spring – Pietro II Orseolo, doge of Venice, concludes a treaty with Emperor Basil II to transport Byzantine troops, in exchange for commercial privileges in Constantinople. Venetian ships are exempted from customs duties at Abydos (mostly foreign goods are carried on Venetian ships). Venetian merchants in Constantinople are placed directly under the Grand Logothetes (Minister of Finance).source
• 996November 1 – Otto III grants the Bavarian bishopric of Freising 30 "royal hides" of land (about 800 hectares, or 2,000 acres - 800 hectares is 2,000 acres) in Neuhofen an der Ybbs (Lower Austria). A document (the oldest known) marks the first use of the name Ostarrîchi, meaning "Eastern Realm" (Austria in Old High German).source
• 996Spring – King Otto III starts his first expedition to Italy from Regensburg, and proceeds over the Brenner Pass. News of Otto's arrival prompts Crescentius II (the Younger), patrician (the de facto ruler) of Rome, to invite Pope John XV (exiled in Tuscany) back to Rome. Otto arrives in Verona, and receives ambassadors of Doge Pietro II Orseolo of Venice.source
• 998Winter – Otto III makes a pilgrimage through middle Italy from Gargano to Benevento. Stopping by Monte Cassino, where he meets the hermit monk Romuald.source