981

By place

Europe

• Spring - Emperor Otto II leads the imperial court to Rome, making the city his imperial capital, and receives nobles from all parts of Western Europe. Otto makes plans to conquer Byzantine Italy.
• Fall - Otto II departs with an expeditionary force from Rome, and invades Apulia to punish the Saracens. He demands a fleet from Pisa, and imposes a trade embargo against Venice.
• Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers and razes the city of Zamora, as part of his effort to seize the Christian-dominated north of the Iberian Peninsula.

Asia

• Summer - Seongjong ascends the throne of Goryeo after the death of his brother-in-law, king Gyeongjong.
• The first recorded Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony, of the sacred high monolithic statue of Bahubali, is performed.
• The Gommateshwara statue is built by Chavundaraya, minister and commander of the Ganga dynasty, in India.
• Song–Đại Cồ Việt war: Đại Cồ Việt under King Lê Đại Hành defeated the invasion of the Song.

By topic

Exploration

• Erik the Red leaves Norway, to survey west of Iceland in Viking longships, that carry nearly 700 people with cattle, horses, and other necessities for starting a colony on the island. Erik finds land and calls it Greenland.

Religion

• Spring - Pope Benedict VII dissolves the Slavic bishopric of Merseburg, after conferring with Otto II. He issues an encyclical, forbidding the exaction of money for the conferral of any Holy Order.

Commerce

• The first commercially made shaving soap sells for 3 dirhams.