The World 1000 CE

The second millennium dawned with few dominant imperial powers; the last pan-Muslim caliphate, the Abbasids, had long since fragmented into multiple dynasties, from the Zirids of Northwest Africa to the Qarakhanids of Central Asia. In China, the Khitan Empire, with its capital in Beijing, threatened prosperous Song dynasty. In Southeast Asia, an alliance between the Khmer of Indochina and the Cholas of southern India would bring the downfall of the maritime trading empire of the Srivijaya, based in Sumatra. In the Mediterranean, Basil II, the Byzantine emperor, would cause the demise of the Bulgarian empire, while the Muslims of Sicily checked the expansion of the Holy Roman Empire in 982 CE. A ribbon of Christian kingdoms – Makuria, Alodia, Ethiopia – prospered in East Africa, while further south the Swahili settlements grew wealthy from Indian Ocean trade. In Central America the power of the Maya Empire was waning; in South America the city of Cuzco, destined to be the Inca capital, was expanding.