In 985 Rajaraja I became king of the Cholas of Tamil Nadu, and in his reign, until 1014, he conquered the Pandya and Chera kingdoms, the northern part of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and built a powerful navy. His son Rajendra I sent an army to the Ganges and a naval expedition against Srivijaya in 1025, and the Cholas dominated the Bay of Bengal, trading with China. Their kingdom was well organised with village assemblies and irrigation works. The Cholas built magnificent temples in stone, such as the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, completed in 1010, and left superb bronzes of Shiva as Nataraja.
Before and after
- 977 CERise of Ghaznavids
- 977 CEConstruction of Imam Ali Mosque
- 10th centuryConstruction of Boyana Church
- 980 CEBirth of Avicenna
- 985 CERajaraja I builds the Chola empire of southern India
- from 987 CE to 1791Kingdom of France
- 990 CEConstruction of Château de Montsoreau
- 994 CEBirth of Cnut the Great
- from 1000 to 1946Kingdom of Hungary
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- 1473Construction of Sistine Chapel
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 10th century.