Geopolitics & Diplomacy in the 6th century BC

31 sourced entries, 594 BCE to 500 BCE, oldest first. Also see Geopolitics & Diplomacy across every century or everything else in the 6th century BC.

• 594 BCE594 BC—The leaders of Athens, facing an economic crisis and popular discontent, appoint the poet–statesman Solon (eponymous archon) to institute democratic reforms and revive the city's constitution, extending citizenship to males of many classes and establishing the Ecclesia.source
• 585 BCE585 BC—Croesus succeeds Alyattes as King of Lydia.source
• 570 BCEThe Satrapy of Armenia is established as a province of the Achaemenid Empire. This is the first polity to bear the name Armenia.source
• 561 BCECroesus becomes king of Lydia (or 560 BC).source
• 559 BCECyrus the Great succeeds his father Cambyses I of Anshan.source
• 559 BCEIn the year of his accession (560–559 BC), the Babylonian king Neriglissar commands the declaration of an intercalendary month, so that his first year of kingship begins on Nisan 1 of 559 BC.source
• 550 BCEMago I begins his rule of Carthage and founds the Magonid dynasty.source
• 550 BCEThe Kingdom of Colchis is established.source
• 546 BCEPeisistratus takes power in Athens.source
• 546 BCEJin and Chu agreed to the truce of Mibing, ending their constant military engagement.source
• 543 BCEGuided by Chinese statesman Zi Chan, the State of Zheng institutes a formal code of law.source
• 535 BCEThe Sungai Batu Civilization in Malaysia begins.source
• 525 BCEThe Twenty-sixth Dynasty ends, and the Twenty-seventh Dynasty begins.source
• 522 BCEDecember – Darius I succeeds Bardiya as ruler of Persia. He is the son of a government official.source
• 522 BCEBardiya succeeds Cambyses II as ruler of Persia.source
• 519 BCEZhou Jing Wang/Ji Gail becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.source
• 514 BCEKing Helü of Wu ascends to the throne of the state of Wu and orders Wu Zixu to build a new capital at what is now Suzhou.source
• 513 BCEWestern India, which includes the Indus Valley, becomes the Persian satrapy Hindush.source
• 513 BCEAmyntas I of Macedon submits to Darius and offers women as concubines to a Persian embassy. His son, Alexander I, objects to this and tricks them by substituting the women with clean-shaven men (or 512 BC).source
• 510 BCEAriston is succeeded as King of Sparta by Demaratus.source
• 509 BCEThe Roman monarchy is overthrown, and the Republican period begins (traditional date).source
• 509 BCEThe first pair of Roman consuls are elected.source
• 509 BCECarthage signs a treaty with Rome, delineating their respective spheres.source
• 508 BCEAthenian democracy in the city of Athens is established under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias.source
• 507 BCECleisthenes takes power in the city-state of Athens and institutes reforms that lead historians to consider him the father of democracy.source
• 501 BCEConfucius is appointed governor of Chung-tu.source
• 501 BCECleisthenes reforms the democracy in Athens.source
• 500 BCEStates in existence include the Kingdom of Pratipalapura (centred on modern Bhattiprolu, in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh).source
• 500 BCEEarly Pandyan Kingdom was ruled by the Pandyas during the second Sangam period.source
• 500 BCEThe first republic in Vaishali, Bihar, India, is founded.source
• 500 BCEDarius I of Persia proclaims that Aramaic will be the official language of the western half of his empire.source