Decades: 550s 560s 570s 580s 590s - 600s - 610s 620s 630s 640s 650s
Years: 595 596 597 598 599 - 600 - 601 602 603 604 605
Events The moldboard plow is invented in eastern Europe Possibly the first reference to chess, in the Persian work Karnamak-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan. The Persians begin to use windmills for irrigation. Pope Gregory I codifies what comes to be known as Gregorian chant. Construction on the monastery of St. Catherine is begun on Mount Sinai. The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people. Smallpox arrives in Europe for the first time. Irish missionaries preach in Scotland and Germany. Chinese-influenced sculptures of Buddha begin to be created in Japan. Sumatra, Java, and the surrounding islands are converted to Buddhism. Augustine of Canterbury converts Ethelbert of Kent to Christianity (approximate date). The Hopewell culture of North America ceases to be the dominant culture. Births Ali Ben Abu Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam Deaths Venance Fortunat, bishop of Poitiers, one of the last representatives of Classical Latin poetry.
