600

By place

Europe

• King Chlothar II of Neustria is defeated by his nephews, Theudebert II and Theuderic II, at Dormelles.
• Germanic and Slavic peoples have tremendous population growth, with the Slavs colonizing the Balkan Peninsula.
• Rome continues as part of the Byzantine Empire. The Italian mainland is divided into independent cities and duchies.
• Venice continues as an independent realm, having been built up from fishing villages and settled by fugitives.
• Dorestad, lying in a fork between two branches of the Rhine, is established by the Franks as a trade center.
• King Agilulf of the Lombards and Queen Theodelinda build a palace complex at Monza, northeast of Milan.
• Moravians gain independence, by holding off the attacks from the Avars and the Franks who try to invade.
• According to the Ynglinga saga, king Ingvar Harra of Sweden invades Adalsysla, but is killed by the locals.
• Smallpox arrives in Western Europe for the first time.

  Britain

• The Welsh bard, Prince Aneirin of the Pennines, writes the poem, "Y Gododdin", recording the events of the Battle of Catraeth.
• The Britons of Strathclyde, Wales and Cornwall are all separated by the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

  Asia

• The first of the Japanese embassies to Imperial China is sent.
• The Persians begin to use windmills for irrigation.
• Namri Songtsen becomes the new king of Tibet.
• Chaturanga is played in its current form in India.
• Yangdi, a Sui emperor, extends the Grand Canal. He reportedly assumes power by poisoning his father. Ma Shu-mou, aka Mahu, was one of the canal overseers and was said to have eaten a steamed 2-year-old child each day he worked on the canal. On completion the canal extended for 1,100 miles. 5.5 million people were pressed into service to complete the 1,550 mile canal.
• Quill pens, made from the outer feathers of crows and other large birds, became popular. The first books are printed in China.
• The oldest inscription in Mon language dated from 600 AD. later found at Wat Phorang, Thailand.
• Mu becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Baekje.

  Meso- and South America

• Loma Caldera erupts, burying the Maya village of Joya de Cerén.
• The Hopewell tradition ceases to be the dominant culture.
• The city of Teotihuacan begins to grow unstable, as they exhaust their resources until their inevitable collapse circa 700.
• Moche culture ends in the Andes.
• Nazca culture ends in the Andes.
• The Wari Empire is established in The Andes
• The Middle Horizon period starts in the Andes.

  Pacific Ocean

• Early settlers from the Marquesas build the Alakoko fishpond and taro fields on Kauai, Hawaii.

  By topic

Arts and sciences

• The Germanic peoples, due to the more abundant food supply available, use the "moldboard" plow, introduced by the Slavs in Eastern Europe. The plow works the land with horses and oxen.
• Possibly the first reference to chess is made in the Persian work Karnamak-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan.
• 600-750 - Maguey Bloodletting Ritual, fragment of a fresco from Teotihuacan, Mexico, is made. Teotihuacan culture. It is now kept at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
• 600-900 - Palace and Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico, are built. Maya culture.
• 600-900 - Cylindrical vessel is made. Maya culture. It is now kept at the Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey.
• The Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis recounts a 7-year trip to a land across the sea by the Irish saint and a band of acolytes about this time.

  Religion

• Feb 16 - Pope Gregory the Great decrees "God bless You" as the religiously correct response to a sneeze.
• Pope Gregory I codifies what comes to be known as the Gregorian chant.
• Construction on the monastery of St. Catherine is begun on Mount Sinai.
• 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 Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity.
• Nubian rulers become Christian.

  World

• The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people.