9th century

This earthenware dish was made in 9th century Iraq. It is housed in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Events

• An unknown event causes the decline of the Maya Classical Era
• Beowulf might have been written down in this century, though it could also have been in the 8th century
• Reign of Charlemagne, and concurrent (and controversially labeled) Carolingian Renaissance in western Europe
• Viking attacks on Europe begin
• Oseberg ship burial
• The Magyars arrive in what is now Hungary, forcing the Serbs and Bulgars south of the Danube.
• The Tukolor settle in the Senegal river valley.
• Muslim traders settle in the north-west and south-east of Madagascar.
• around 813-around 915 - period of serious Arab naval raids on shores of Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas
• 800-909 - rule of Aghlabids as independent dynasty in North Africa
• 850-875 - The first Norse settlers arrive on Iceland.
• 863-879 - period of schism between eastern and western churches
• Late 9th century: Bulgaria stretches from the mouth of the Danube to Epirus and Bosnia.

Significant people

• Alfred the Great
• Arnulf of Carinthia
• Charlemagne
• Louis the Pious
• Adi Sankara
• Anup von Kelkar

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• Vulgar Latin begins to devolve into various Romance languages
• First image of a rotary grindstone in a European source - illustration shows crank, first known use of a crank in the West (Utrecht Psalter, A.D. 843)
• Invention of gunpowder by Chinese Taoist Alchemists

Decades and years