1001 Mahmud, an Afghani and militant Muslim, has secured his
rule. He vows to take the word of Allah to the Hindu kingdoms of
India every year, by sword and fire. 1002 From Greenland, Leif
Ericson (Erikson) son of the Eric the Red, has led an expedition
with a crew of 34 men to the coast of North America. 1004
China's elite believes that their neighbors should be awed by
China's greatness and by its favor from the heavens. They base
their foreign policy ideas on this and the belief that if the
Chinese nation behaves morally that neighboring kings will give
China the respect it deserves. 1004 Confident of his moral
superiority, China's emperor responds with pacifism to military
incursions from the Khitan of Manchuria. He appeases the
aggressions of the Khitan by ceding permanently to them that
part of China which they occupy, including Beijing, and he
agrees to pay the Khitan annual tribute (taxes). 1008 Sweden's
king, Olof Skötonung, converts to Christianity, and when a king
converts to Christianity, his subj