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786 CE

This year falls in the Early Middle Ages (c. 500–1000 CE). In western Europe new kingdoms replace the western Roman Empire, while the Byzantine Empire continues in the east. Islam begins in Arabia in the seventh century and its caliphates soon reach from Spain to Central Asia, and China is reunited under the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Within fifteen years

Philosopher · Early Middle Ages · IndiaAdi Shankarac. 788–c. 820 (traditional)Indian thinker who consolidated Advaita Vedanta, the nondualist school holding that the self and ultimate reality are one. Tradition credits him with commentaries on the Upanishads and the founding of four monasteries. Dates about 788 to 820 are traditional and debated.

Philosopher · Early Middle Ages · IraqAl Kindic. 801–c. 873Arab thinker of Kufa, in modern Iraq, called the philosopher of the Arabs, the first major Islamic philosopher. He worked in Baghdad's House of Wisdom, translating and commenting on Greek thought. He lived about 801 to 873.