Within seven years three great eras began on three sides of the world: in 615 twelve-year-old Pakal became king of Maya Palenque, in 618 the Tang dynasty was founded, and in 622 Muhammad made the Hijra.
The events
- Pakal the Great becomes ruler of Palenque615 · Lakamha (Palenque). Twelve-year-old Pakal took the throne of the Maya kingdom centred on Palenque and ruled for 68 years. The city flourished as one of the jewels of the Maya world, and his tomb in the Temple of the Inscriptions is a landmark find of American archaeology.
- Founding of the Tang dynasty618 · Chang'an. Li Yuan founded the Tang dynasty with its capital at Chang'an, one of the largest cities in the world at the time. The Tang era was a golden age of Chinese poetry, Silk Road trade and cultural influence on Korea and Japan.
- Hijra: Muhammad's migration to Medina622 · Yathrib (Medina). The Prophet Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib, which became Medina. There the first Muslim community-state took shape, and the year of the Hijra became the starting point of the Islamic calendar.
More amazing facts
- 589 Toilet paper is first mentioned in 589, the year the Sui reunited China.
- 600 'Checkmate' is Persian shāh māt, 'the king is helpless'. Around 600 chess reached Sasanian Persia from India as chatrang, and spread from there to the Arabs and Europe.
- 607 A Chinese emperor took offence at Japan over the sun. In 607 Prince Shōtoku wrote to him: 'The Son of Heaven where the sun rises, to the Son of Heaven where the sun sets.' Emperor Yang was furious.
- 615 · 683 The Maya king Pakal took the throne at 12 and ruled for 68 years, from 615 to 683.
- 628 · 1202 'Cipher' and 'zero' are the same Arabic word.
- 628 · 1202 Nearly six centuries passed between the first rules for zero and their arrival in Europe.