Exploration & Expansion in the 9th century

57 sourced entries, 800 CE to 899 CE, oldest first. Also see Exploration & Expansion across every century or everything else in the 9th century.

• 800Sijilmasa (in present-day Morocco) is founded as the departure point for caravans between North Africa and the western Sudan (approximate date).source
• 800The first settlers of the Hawaiian Islands arrive (approximate date).source
• 804Kūkai, Japanese Buddhist monk, travels in a government-sponsored expedition to China, in order to learn more about the Mahavairocana Sutra. He brings back texts of Shingon (Esoteric Buddhism).source
• 805The first known mention of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt), founded by Charlemagne, is made.source
• 807An Abbasid fleet under Humayd ibn Ma'yuf al-Hajuri raids the Peloponnese, Rhodes and Myra.source
• 808Jewish merchants in Lombardy open the first bank (or money repository) in Italy (approximate date).source
• 815Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson sets out from the Faroe Islands and discovers Iceland (documented later in the Landnámabók) (approximate date).source
• 825Grímur Kamban becomes the first man to set foot in the Faroe Islands, and settles down in Funningur, on the northwest coast of Eysturoy (beginning the Norwegian Viking era on the islands).source
• 827June 14 – Euphemius, exiled Byzantine admiral, asks for the help of North African Arabs, to retake Sicily and Malta from the Byzantines. Emir Ziyadat Allah I of Ifriqiya promises to return the islands to Euphemius, in exchange for a yearly tribute, and sends an Arab Muslim expeditionary force of 10,000 men under the 70-year-old Asad ibn al-Furat, which lands at Mazara del Vallo in Sicily.source
• 827The Saracens, who found spinach originally in Persia (modern Iran), introduce the plant to Sicily.source
• 830Ansgar, a Frankish missionary, visits the trade city Birka, located at Lake Mälaren in Sweden (approximate date).source
• 834Danish Vikings raid the trading settlement of Dorestad (present-day Wijk bij Duurstede), located in the southeast of the province of Utrecht (modern Netherlands).source
• 834Summer – The Viking ship of Oseberg near Tønsberg (modern Norway) is buried in a mound, during the Viking Age (approximate date).source
• 835Danish Viking raiders ally with the Cornish, against the rule of Ecgberht, King of Wessex (approximate date).source
• 836The oldest known mention is made of the city of Soest (modern Germany).source
• 836Egyptian military commander Abdel Wahid bin Yazid el-Iskandarani is appointed vizier of the Emirate of Córdoba in the Iberian Peninsula, rules until 851.source
• 838The oldest known mention is made of the city of Rheine, on the Ems River (modern Germany).source
• 839Approximate date – Danish Vikings return to ravage the Frisian coast (sacking Dorestad for the second time).source
• 840Vikings from Norway capture Dublin and establish a Norse kingdom in Ireland, and also at about this date make their first overwintering at Lough Neagh in the north of Ireland.source
• 841The town of Dyflin (meaning "Black Pool") or Dublin (modern Ireland) is founded by Norwegian Vikings, on the south bank of the River Liffey. The settlement is fortified with a ditch and an earth rampart, with a wooden palisade on top. The Norsemen establish a wool weaving industry, and there is also a slave trade. An artificial hill is erected, where the nobility meets to make laws and discuss policy.source
• 843Summer – A Byzantine expedition, led by Theoktistos, conquers Crete from the Saracens. After initial success, he is forced to abandon his army, due to political intrigues in Constantinople. The troops are left behind and slaughtered by the Arabs.source
• 846The Mozarabs, Iberian Christians who live under Moorish rule, try to repopulate León in Al-Andalus (modern Spain). The city is recaptured by the Muslim Arabs.source
• 849King Pyinbya of Burma founds the city of Bagan, located in the Mandalay Region, and fortifies it with walls.source
• 850Uxmal becomes the capital of a large state in the Puuk hills region of northern Yucatán (modern Mexico). The city is connected by causeways (sakbe) to other important Puuk sites, such as K'abah, Sayil, and Labna (approximate date).source
• 851Suleiman al-Tajir, Muslim merchant and traveller, visits China during the Tang Dynasty. He observes the manufacturing of Chinese porcelain at Guangzhou, and writes of his admiration for its transparent quality. Suleiman also describes the mosque at Guangzhou, its granaries, its local government administration, some of its written records, and the treatment of travellers, along with the use of ceramics, rice wine, and tea (approximate date).source
• 854King Cyngen of Powys makes the first pilgrimage to Rome of a Welsh ruler.source
• 854Viking chieftain Ubba winters in Milford Haven (Wales) with 23 ships.source
• 854King Æthelwulf of Wessex sends his two youngest sons, Alfred and Æthelred, on a pilgrimage to Rome.source
• 856King Ordoño I of Asturias is said to have begun the repopulation of the town of León in the northwest of Spain (approximate date).source
• 859The Russian city of Novgorod is first mentioned in the Sofia Chronicles.source
• 859Summer – The Viking chieftains Hastein and Björn Ironside (a son of Ragnar Lodbrok) begin an expedition, and sail from the Loire River with a fleet of 62 ships, to raid cities and monasteries in the Mediterranean Sea.source
• 860Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius arrive in Khazaria.source
• 862The Varangians (called Rus'), under the leadership of Rurik, a Viking chieftain, arrive (with his brothers, Sineus and Truvor) at Staraya Ladoga. He builds a trade settlement near Novgorod (modern Russia), and founds the Rurik Dynasty.source
• 863The Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius arrive with a few disciples in Moravia, by request of Prince Rastislav.source
• 863Viking raiders again plunder Dorestad (modern Netherlands), a Frankish port on the mouth of the river Rhine. It thereafter disappears from the chronicles.source
• 863Danish Vikings loot along the Rhine. They settle on an island near Cologne, but are driven off by the combined forces of Lothair II and the Saxons.source
• 863Duan Chengshi, Chinese author and scholar, writes about the Chinese maritime trade and the Arab-run slave trade in East Africa.source
• 866The Great Heathen Army of the Vikings rides north to Northumbria. The Northumbrians are preoccupied with a civil war, and the Danes enter York unopposed.source
• 867Vikings or "Danes" (the two terms were often used interchangeably at the time), comprising the Great Heathen Army, advance northward from bases in the Kingdom of East Anglia, into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria.source
• 867Surviving members of the Northumbrian royal court flee into the northernmost part of the kingdom, Bernicia.source
• 871The Danes sail down the River Thames, to raid the Mercian port of Lundenwic (in the London area). Here, over the winter, they divide their spoils.source
• 871Tønsberg, the oldest surviving town in the Nordic countries, is founded.source
• 871Alfred makes Winchester his residence. The Danish armies colonize areas of north, central and eastern England, which become known as the Danelaw.source
• 872The Danes, led by Halfdan and Guthrum, establish a winter quarter at Torksey in the Kingdom of Lindsey (now part of Lincolnshire). King Burgred pays tribute (Danegeld) in return for 'peace'.source
• 874Ingólfr Arnarson arrives from Norway, as the first permanent Viking settler in Iceland. He builds his homestead and founds Reykjavík. The settlement of Iceland begins (approximate date).source
• 875King Jayavarman III founds a new dynasty at Indrapura (Quảng Nam) in Champa, in the central region of modern-day Vietnam. He initiates a building program in the Dong Duong Style.source
• 875The Samanid Dynasty establishes a court at Bukhara (modern Uzbekistan), which becomes a rival city to Baghdad on the strategic Silk Road.source
• 875Fall – An Arab fleet from Taranto sails up the Adriatic Sea and sacks Comacchio, putting it to flames. They attack Grado (bishopric of the Venetian Republic), but are repelled by the Venetians.source
• 876John VIII travels throughout Campania, in an effort to form an alliance among the southern Italian states (the cities of Salerno, Capua, Naples, Gaeta and Amalfi) against Muslim raids.source
• 879King Alfred the Great establishes a series of fortified villages (or burhs) to protect Wessex against Viking raids. He creates a standing army to defend the strategic ports, and builds a network of well-maintained army roads (known as herepaths).source
• 884March 1 – Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, count of Castile, founds and repopulates (repoblación) Burgos and Ubierna (Northern Spain), under the mandate of King Alfonso III of Asturias.source
• 888Winter – King Arnulf of Carinthia leads an East Frankish expedition into Italy, after he is recognized as overlord of France and Burgundy. Arnulf descends with an army over the Brenner Pass, and meets King Berengar I at a peace conference at Trento. Berengar grants him two counties in the Val d'Adige (Northern Italy), and does homage to Arnulf as overlord. In turn, Arnulf confirms Berengar as king of Lombardia, and returns to Germany.source
• 889A ship carrying about twenty Arab freebooters, from Pechina in Al-Andalus (modern Spain), sets anchor in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in Provence. They establish a fortified base at Fraxinet (modern-day La Garde-Freinet). After raiding the surrounding area, the Muslim colony is bolstered by contingents of Saracen adventurers.source
• 890Ohthere of Hålogaland, a Norse Viking seafarer, narrates the story of his travels to Alfred the Great, who arranges for it to be written down.source
• 890Lord Æthelred II and Lady Æthelflæd (a daughter of Alfred the Great) of the Mercians found the Priory of St. Oswald in Gloucester (probably originally dedicated to St. Peter).source
• 893King Alfonso III repopulates the city of Zamora with Mozarabs (Iberian Christians who have lived under Moorish rule) from Toledo in Al-Andalus (modern Spain).source
• 899The Qarmatians, led by Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, capture Bahrain's capital of Hajr and Al-Hasa (Eastern Arabia). Abu Sa'id makes it his residence and establishes a religious utopian republic.source