Founding of the First Turkic Khaganate
A Turkic empire stretches from Manchuria to the Black Sea
In 552 Bumin, a chief of the Ashina Turks, whose people worked iron for the Rouran, overthrew his overlords and took the title of khagan. Within two decades his son Muqan and his brother Istämi ruled the steppe from Manchuria to the Black Sea and negotiated the silk trade with Byzantium and Iran. The khaganate soon split into eastern and western halves, but it gave its name to the Turkic peoples.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 6th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 536 Volcanic winter of 536 — 16 years earlier
- 537 Hagia Sophia consecrated — 15 years earlier
- 541–549 Plague of Justinian — 11 years earlier
Middle East
- 529–534 Code of Justinian — 23 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Justinian I (aged 70)
- Khosrow I (aged 51)