The year 1000 of the Gregorian Calendar was the last year of the 10th century as well as the last year of the first millennium of the Christian era. AD 1000 was a leap year starting on Monday. Overview China In what is today China, the Song Dynasty remained the world's most populous empire and continued to thrive under Emperor Zhenzong of Song China. By the late 11th century, the Song Dynasty had a total population of some 101 million people, an average annual iron output of 125,000 tons produced a year, and bolstered its enormous economy with the world's first known paper-printed money. Europe Speculation that the world would end in the year 1000 was confined largely to Christian monks in France,Cantor, 1993 Europe in 1050 p. 235. as most clerks at the time used regnal years ? i.e. the fourth year of the reign of Robert II of France, etc. The use of the Dionysian "anno domini" calendar era was confined