1026
Mahmud of Ghazni raids Somnath temple
The Ghaznavid sultan led a camel army across the Thar Desert to Gujarat's coast and stormed the fabulously wealthy Shiva temple at Somnath, where his soldiers shattered the great lingam and carried away treasure that staggered even his own chroniclers. The destruction became the most enduring symbol of Ghaznavid iconoclasm and a wound in Hindu collective memory that persists today.
Cnut makes pilgrimage to Rome
The Anglo-Danish king walked barefoot through the Lateran and prostrated himself at St. Peter's tomb. He used the journey to extract trade and toll concessions for English merchants crossing the Alps. It was the first such pilgrimage by a reigning English monarch, and it startled the papal court. His letter home, written with genuine piety, promised to rule more justly upon his return to England.
Song canal system reaches peak extent
Under Emperor Renzong, the Song canal network connecting the Yangtze delta to the northern capital at Kaifeng reached its maximum extent, with thousands of miles of navigable waterways carrying grain, salt, silk, and porcelain. The system sustained the largest urban population on earth and generated tax revenues that dwarfed those of any contemporary European state.
Rajendra Chola builds Gangaikonda Cholapuram
To commemorate his northern expedition to the Ganges, the Tamil emperor founded a new capital and built a great sandstone temple to Shiva. The temple would stand for a thousand years as a monument to one of medieval South Asia's greatest imperial ventures, its sculpted walls still vivid today. Rajendra's military campaigns had carried Chola banners from Sri Lanka to the banks of the Ganges itself.