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Chronology of the Arab World - Part 1

Chronology of the Arab World - Part 1
The Rise & Fall of the Islamic Empire

Main Events:

AD	Event
571	Birth of the Prophet Muhammad
622	The Hijra: Muhammad leaves Mecca for Medina; the Islamic calendar is dated from this year.
630	Muhammad conquers Mecca.
632	Death of the Prophet Muhammad; Abu Bakr becomes the first Caliph.
633-37	Byzantine Empire defeated by the Arab armies under the Caliph Omar; Syria captured.
636-51	Arab armies conquer the Persian Empire
638	Jerusalem surrenders to Caliph Omar.
639-41	Arab general Amr ibn al-As conquers Egypt.
644	Caliph Omar assassinated by Persian slave.
661	Mu'awiya of the Umayyad family becomes Caliph after revolting against Caliph Ali, the Prophet's first cousin and son-in-law.
715	Arab armies reach France, having swept across Africa to the Atlantic, Spain and Portugal and eastward to Samarkand and India; the Empire is ruled from Damascus.
750	The Umayyads are overthrown and replaced as Caliphs by the Abbasids, who found a new capital at Baghdad; the dynasty reaches the peak of its power under the fourth Abbasid Caliph, Haroun al-Rashid (786-809) and his son al-Mamun (813-833).
751	Arabs capture Chinese paper-makers in Central Asia; knowledge of paper making spreads west across Islamic Empire.
788-986	Independent Idrisid dynasty in Morocco.
800-909	Independent Aghlabid dynasty in Tunisia.
969	The Shi'ite descendants of the Prophet's daughter Fatima (the wife of Ali), known as the Fatamids, advance from Tunisia, conquer Egypt, and found Cairo.
970	Seljuk Turks enter the Caliphate's territories from the east.
1055	The Seljuks conquer Iraq.
1061	Normans take Messina and begin conquest of Sicily from Arabs.
1070	Seljuks occupy Palestine.
1085	Christians capture Toledo in Spain.
1096-99	First Crusade results in European Christian capture of Jerusalem (1099) and establishment of four Crusader states in the Middle East.
1144	Zangi, founder of an independent state based at Mosul, destroys Crusader County of Edessa.
1159	Zangi's son, Nureddin, captures Damascus and confronts the Crusaders.
1171	Nureddin's agent, Salah al-Din (Saladin) al-Ayyubi, makes himself ruler of Egypt, ending the Fatimid caliphate and establishing a new dynasty.
1174	On Nureddin's death, Salah al-Din takes control over Syria.
1187	Salah al-Din defeats the Crusaders at the Battle of Hittin and retakes Jerusalem.
1250	Mamluks take power in Egypt during Crusader attack; last Ayyubid ruler in Cairo deposed in 1252.
1258	Mongols capture Baghdad and end line of Abbasid Caliphs there.
1260	Mamluks defeat Mongols at Ain Jalut in Palestine.
1291	Mamluks conquer Acre, the last city held by the Crusaders.
1453	Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople and bring the Byzantine Empire to an end.
1492	Christians capture Granada, capital of last of the Muslim states in Spain.
1517	Ottoman Turks conquer Syria and Egypt and end Mamluk Sultanate.
1520-66	Reign of Sultan Suleiman "the Magnificent"; Ottoman rule extended along the coast of North Africa; by the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire included present-day Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Yugoslavia and parts of Hungary and the Ukraine.
1639	Ottomans take Iraq (from Persia).
1798	Napoleon Bonaparte launches an Egyptian expedition and brings Egypt under French rule.
1805	The Ottomans appoint an Albanian officer, Mohammed Ali, as viceroy or pasha of Egypt; he finally breaks the power of the Mamluks.
1820	Britain signs treaty with Gulf shaikhs to protect its shipping.
1830	France begins the conquest of Algeria.
1839	The British take the port of Aden.
1858	Maronite peasant uprising in Lebanon is followed by inter-community strife. French intervene in 1860.
1861	Creation of autonomous Lebanon within the Ottoman Empire.
1881	France occupies Tunisia.
1882	British forces occupy Egypt; by 1898, Britain also controls Sudan.

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