Geopolitics & Diplomacy in the 7th century

98 sourced entries, 600 CE to 698 CE, oldest first. Also see Geopolitics & Diplomacy across every century or everything else in the 7th century.

• 600The first of the Japanese embassies to Imperial China is sent (approximate date).source
• 600The Britons of Strathclyde (Scotland), Wales, and Cornwall are all separated by the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.source
• 600Namri Songtsen becomes the new king of Tibet (approximate date).source
• 600Rome continues as part of the Byzantine Empire. The Italian mainland is divided into independent cities and duchies.source
• 601The Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians successively control most of Europe, while strong feudal lords rise in power to gain the allegiance of the people.source
• 602Third Chinese domination of Vietnam: The Early Lý dynasty ends; Hậu Lý Nam Đế, last ruler of Vąn Xuân (North Vietnam), abdicates the throne and becomes a vassal of the Sui dynasty.source
• 603Heshana Khan succeeds his father Tardu as ruler of the Göktürks, and levies heavy taxes on the Tiele people.source
• 603Prince Shōtoku of Japan establishes a twelve level cap and rank system, and is said to have authored a seventeen-article constitution.source
• 603The last mention of the Roman Senate on the Italian mainland is made (according to the Gregorian register). It mentions that the Senate has acclaimed new statues of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia.source
• 604Prince Shotoku, imperial regent of Empress Suiko, issues a Seventeen-article constitution, based on both Confucian and Buddhist principles in Japan.source
• 605King Æthelfrith annexes the neighboring kingdom of Deira (Northern England). The region between the Forth and Humber rivers will hereafter be known as Northumbria, the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.source
• 605Yángdi introduces an imperial examination, designed to select the best administrative officials (after they receive the jinshi) for the state; this begins a long bureaucratic tradition of scholar-officialdom in China.source
• 606Shashanka is the first recorded independent king of Bengal. He establishes his capital in modern-day Murshidabad (approximate date).source
• 606King Harsha of Thanesar establishes a northern Indian Empire, and unites the small monarchical states, from Punjab to the Indus Valley (modern Pakistan).source
• 607August 1 – Empress Suiko appoints Ono no Imoko as official envoy to the Sui Court (Japanese missions to Imperial China). She sends him to pay tribute to Emperor Yángdi, and let him deliver the famous letter from prince-regent Shōtoku which begins: "The Son of Heaven where the sun rises (Japan), to the Son of Heaven where the sun sets (China), may good health be with you." (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).source
• 608Heraclius proclaims himself and his son as consuls, claiming the imperial title—and mint coins with the two wearing the consular robes. Syria and Palaestina Prima revolt.source
• 608Eochaid Buide succeeds his father Áedán mac Gabráin as king of Dál Riata (modern Scotland).source
• 610Selyf ap Cynan succeeds his father Cynan Garwyn as king of Powys (Wales).source
• 612October 22 – Sak Kʼukʼ succeeds her father Ajen Yohl Mat, as queen of the Maya state of Palenque (modern Mexico).source
• 613Isanapura becomes the capital of the Cambodian kingdom of Chenla (approximate date).source
• 615July 29 – Queen Sak Kʼukʼ is succeeded by her son Pacal the Great, as ruler of the Maya city state Palenque (Mexico). He begins a building program at his capital, that produces some of Maya civilization's finest art and architecture.source
• 616Cadfan ap Iago succeeds his father Iago ap Beli, as king of Gwynedd (Wales) (approximate date).source
• 616Rædwald installs Edwin as king of Northumbria, effectively confirming him as bretwalda. He takes power in his native Deira and in Bernicia. His reign marks the domination of Northumbria as leading Anglo-Saxon state of the British Isles.source
• 618Yeongnyu becomes ruler of the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo.source
• 618Tong Yabghu Qaghan becomes the new ruler (khagan) of the Western Turkic Khaganate, founding the Khazar Khaganate. He maintains close relations with the Tang dynasty, and possibly marries into the imperial family.source
• 623Samo, 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.source
• 624The Visigoths under King Suintila recapture the Byzantine territories of Spania (Andalusia), after 70 years of occupation. Only the Balearic Islands stay a part of the Byzantine Empire.source
• 624Eorpwald succeeds his father Rædwald, as king (bretwalda) of the independent Kingdom of East Anglia (approximate date). Raedwald is regarded as the most likely occupant of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial which contains the Sutton Hoo helmet.source
• 625Judicaël becomes high king of Domnonée (northern Brittany).source
• 626September 4 – Emperor Gao Zu abdicates in favor of his son Li Shimin after an 8-year reign. He passes the throne to him (as Emperor Tai Zong).source
• 626Penda becomes king of Mercia (approximate date).source
• 628Muhammad, Islamic prophet, leads about 1,400 men on a pilgrimage to Mecca where their passage is blocked. The Quraysh tribe and the Muslim community in Medina sign a 10 year truce (Treaty of Hudaybiyyah).source
• 629Emperor Jomei succeeds his great aunt, empress Suiko, and ascends to the throne of Japan.source
• 629Heraclius styles himself as Basileus, Greek word for "sovereign", and takes the ancient title of "King of Kings", after his victory over Persia.source
• 631King Suintila is overthrown after a 10-year reign by his son Sisenand, with the aid of Dagobert I. The Visigothic nobles offer him a 500-pound plate made of pure gold. Sisenand becomes new king of the Visigothic Kingdom and declares his father a tyrant for his many crimes.source
• 631Hormizd VI proclaims himself king in Nisibis (Turkey). He seizes the throne and will reign until 632.source
• 632Kubrat, ruler of the Dulo clan, takes power from the Pannonian Avars and establishes Old Great Bulgaria in the area of Black Cumania. Kubrat's rule stretches from Dacia to Poltava.source
• 633Introduction of elective monarchy in The Visigothic Kingdom.source
• 633Osric succeeds his uncle Edwin as king of Deira. Prince Eanfrith returns from Pictland to claim his rightful crown of Bernicia (Northern England). Both revert to paganism.source
• 634King Dagobert I is forced by the Austrasian nobles to put his 3-year-old son Sigebert III on the throne, ceding royal power in Austrasia. He frees himself from dependence on Pepin of Landen, and extends his rule over the Bretons (approximate date).source
• 635Emperor Heraclius makes an alliance with Kubrat, ruler (khagan) of Great Bulgaria, to break the power of the Avars on the Balkan Peninsula.source
• 641The Lombards under King Rothari conquer Genoa (Liguria), and all remaining Byzantine territories in the lower Po Valley, including Oderzo (Opitergium).source
• 643Taizong commissions artist Yan Liben to paint the life-size portraits of 24 government officials in the Lingyan Pavilion, to commemorate their service and contributions to the founding of the Tang dynasty.source
• 643Maurikios names himself dux of Rome, and revolts against exarch Isaac (Exarchate of Ravenna). He declares Rome's independence from the Exarchate and from the Byzantine Empire.source
• 643Chinese prefectural government officials travel to the capital of Chang'an, to give the annual report of the affairs in their districts. Emperor Taizong discovers that many have no proper quarters to rest in, and are renting rooms with merchants. Therefore, Taizong orders the government agencies in charge of municipal construction to build every visiting official his own private mansion in the capital.source
• 645October 13 – Emperor Taizong is compelled to order a withdrawal from Goguryeo.source
• 645Empress Kōgyoku is forced to abdicate the throne in favor of her younger brother Kōtoku, age 49, who becomes the 36th emperor of Japan.source
• 645Kōtoku creates a new city at Naniwa, and moves the capital from Yamato Province. The capital has a sea port, establishing foreign trade and diplomatic relations.source
• 645King Cenwalh of Wessex is driven from his kingdom by his brother-in-law, King Penda of Mercia (according to Bede). He flees to the court of king Anna of East Anglia, and is baptised while in exile. Penda overruns Wessex.source
• 645Naka-no-Ōe becomes crown prince and prime minister. Supporters of the semi-legendary regent Prince Shōtoku gain supremacy in Japan.source
• 645Emperor Kōtoku establishes the Taika Reform: a land reform based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China (approximate date)source
• 646A Great Reform edict changes Japan's political order. It will lead to the establishment of a centralized government with Kōtoku ruling from his palace, Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace, in Osaka.source
• 647Taizong establishes a Chinese military government to pacify the former territory of Xueyantuo, which extends to the Altai Mountains in the west.source
• 648Dos Pilas breaks away from Tikal and becomes a vassal state of Calakmul.source
• 648King Cenwalh of Wessex returns from a 3-year exile in East Anglia, to reclaim his kingdom. He gives 3,000 hides of land around Ashdown to his nephew Cuthred, possibly sub-king of Berkshire (England).source
• 650Emperor Kōtoku is presented a white pheasant; he is pleased and begins a new Japanese era name (nengō) to be called Hakuchi, meaning 'The White Pheasant'.source
• 652Uthman ibn Affan establishes a treaty (the Baqt) between the Christian Nubians and the Muslims in Egypt, that lasts for six centuries, including the tribute of 400 slaves annually.source
• 653King Penda of Mercia secures dominance over the area of Middle Anglia, where he establishes his son Peada as ruler.source
• 654Muyeol becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Silla.source
• 655Oswiu becomes overlord (bretwalda) over much of Great Britain. He establishes himself as king of Mercia, setting up his son-in-law, Penda's son Peada, as a subject king over Middle Anglia.source
• 655Empress Kōgyoku re-ascends to the throne of Japan, beginning a new reign as Saimei-tennō.source
• 658A revolt led by three Mercian noblemen (Immin, Eata, and Eadberht) installs Wulfhere (son of king Penda) as ruler of Mercia, and drives out the supporters of King Oswiu of Northumbria.source
• 658The confederation of Slavic tribes falls apart after the death of King Samo. A Slav principality is formed from the kingdom's remnants in Carinthia (modern Austria), and the Avars capture most of its territory in Hungary (approximate date).source
• 659A Japanese embassy is sent to the Chinese Empire, and received in an audience by Emperor Gao Zong. The Tang dynasty is determined in the next year to take administrative measures in regard to Japan. The envoys are detained.source
• 659Constans II elevates his son Heraclius to the rank of co-emperor (Augustus), alongside his brother Tiberius.source
• 659Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Constans II signs a peace treaty with the Rashidun Caliphate. He uses the pause to strengthen his defences, and consolidates Byzantine control over Armenia. Constans establishes the themata, dividing territorial command in Anatolia.source
• 660The capital of Japan moves from Asuka, Yamato (Okamoto Palace or Nochi no Asuka-Okamoto-no-miya) to Asakura, Fukuokasource
• 660Felix, patrician of Toulouse, assumes the titles of Duke of Vasconia and Aquitaine. He is formally a vassal of the Franks, but rules "de facto" independently.source
• 661Wulfhere appoints Æthelwealh as king of Sussex, and Æthelwealh is baptized in Mercia. He receives the recently-conquered territories in modern-day Hampshire.source
• 661Perctarit and Godepert become co-rulers of the Lombards, following the death of their father Aripert I. They split the kingdom, and establish their capitals in Milan and Pavia (northern Italy).source
• 668Ebroin, mayor of the palace, becomes de facto ruler of Neustria and (in theory) "of the Franks". According to Bede, he runs the nation's foreign policy and internal security.source
• 670Tarumanagara (modern Indonesia) is divided into two kingdoms (Sunda Kingdom and Galuh Kingdom), with the Citarum River as the boundary (approximate date).source
• 675April 1 – King Hlothhere of Kent re-establishes Kentish supremacy in London.source
• 675Theuderic III retakes the throne of his elder brother Childeric II. He inherits the Frankish kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy.source
• 677Tang China declares the deposed Bojang of Goguryeo "King of Joseon", placing him in charge of the Liaodong area under the Protectorate General to Pacify the East.source
• 680King Perctarit makes his son Cunipert co-ruler of the Lombard Kingdom. He signs a formal peace treaty with Constantine IV.source
• 681Sinmun becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Silla.source
• 682Gistemar becomes mayor of the palace in Neustria and Burgundy, after he deposes his father Waratto. He reverses the peace treaty with Austrasia, signed with Pepin of Herstal at Namur.source
• 682Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I starts to rule in Tikal (modern Guatemala) during the Late Classic period.source
• 684January 3 – Zhong Zong succeeds his father Gao Zong, and becomes emperor of the Tang dynasty. His mother Wu Zetian remains the power behind the throne in China.source
• 684February 10 – Kʼinich Kan Bahlam II accedes to the rulership of the Maya polity of Palenque (modern Mexico).source
• 685Aldfrith, illegitimate half-brother of Ecgfrith, becomes (possibly with Irish and Scottish help) king of Northumbria. He is brought from Iona (Inner Hebrides), where he is studying for a career in the church.source
• 685Empress Wu Zetian sends a pair of giant pandas to the Japanese court of Emperor Tenmu, as a diplomatic gift (approximate date).source
• 687Ilterish Qaghan leads the Göktürks northward from Inner Mongolia and occupies the Mongolian Plateau, marking the restoration of the Turkic Khaganate.source
• 688King Caedwalla of Wessex abdicates the throne and departs on a pilgrimage to Rome, possibly because of the wounds he suffered while fighting on the Isle of Wight. The power vacuum is filled by Ine, son of his second cousin, sub-king Coenred of Dorset.source
• 689The Asuka Kiyomihara Code, a collection of governing rules commenced in 681 under Emperor Tenmu, is promulgated in Japan.source
• 692Empress Wu Zetian regains control of the Kingdom of Khotan in the Tarim Basin (Northwest China).source
• 693King Ine of Wessex establishes his West Saxon "Law of Codes", to regain authority in his kingdom. He consolidates Wessex's territory in the western peninsula (approximate date).source
• 694King Sæbbi of Essex abdicates the throne, and is succeeded by his sons Sigeheard and Swæfred (approximate date).source
• 695June 15 – Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil ("Eighteen Rabbit") becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Copán in Honduras upon the death of Chan Imix K'awiil, and rules until his death in 736.source
• 695September 6 – King Wihtred of Kent, who maintains Kentish independence against the growing expansion of Mercia, issues one of the earliest known law codes of Britain.source
• 695The population of Byzantium revolts under Leontios, the strategos (military governor) of the Anatolic Theme, and proclaims him emperor. Justinian II is deposed and his nose is cut off (leading to his subsequent nickname of "the Slit-nosed"). He is exiled to Cherson (Crimea), and begins to plot an attempt to retake the throne.source
• 695Childebert III succeeds Clovis IV as sole king of the Franks. He is the son of Theuderic III and becomes a puppet—a roi fainéant—of Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia.source
• 697Empress Jitō abdicates the throne in favor of the 14-year-old Monmu (grandson of late emperor Tenmu). During her 11-year reign she has established the foundations of law in Japan.source
• 698March 24 – Itzamnaaj K'awiil becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state at Dos Pilas in Guatemala and reigns until 726.source
• 698Fiannamail ua Dúnchado becomes king of Dál Riata (Scotland), until his death around 700 (approximate date).source
• 698Wittiza, son of King Ergica, becomes co-ruler of the Visigoth Kingdom in Hispania (approximate date).source
• 698Dae Jo-young establishes the kingdom of Balhae in Manchuria (approximate date).source