slug: antwerp

label: Antwerp

description: city and municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium; capital and largest city of Antwerp Province; third-largest municipality in Belgium by area

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Maximilian I, Duke of Burgundy, orders foreign merchants to leave Bruges. Most merchants move to Antwerp, greatly contributing to its growth as an international trading center.

title: 1484

date: February 27

text: February 27 – George Joye publishes his Apologye in Antwerp, to clear his name from the accusations of William Tyndale.

title: 1535

date: May 20

text: May 20 – William Tyndale is arrested in Antwerp for heresy, in relation to his Bible translation, and imprisoned in Vilvoorde.

title: 1535

date: October 4

text: October 4 – The first complete English-language Bible is printed in Antwerp, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.

title: 1535

text: Publication is made of two complete Bible translations into English, both based on Tyndale's. Myles Coverdale's 1535 text is the first to be printed in England (by James Nicholson in Southwark, London) The Matthew Bible, edited by John Rogers under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew" and printed in Antwerp.

title: 1537

section: Conflict & Security

date: July 24

text: July 24 – Guelders Wars: Maarten van Rossum leaves Antwerp, having failed to take it by siege.

title: 1542

text: Orlande de Lassus' first book of madrigals is published, in Antwerp.

title: 1555

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Battle of Oosterweel: A Spanish mercenary army surprises and kills a band of rebels near Antwerp in the Habsburg Netherlands, beginning the Eighty Years' War.

title: 1567

section: Science & Discovery

text: May 20 – Abraham Ortelius publishes the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, in Antwerp.

title: 1570

date: April 22

text: April 22 – Eighty Years' War: The Battle of Borsele is fought as a fleet of Spanish ships is intercepted by Dutch Calvinist rebels (the Geuzen). While some of the ships are able to complete their mission of supplying the Spanish-governed Netherlands cities of Middelburg and Arnemuiden, most are forced to retreat to Amberes in the Spanish Netherlands, now Antwerp in Belgium.

title: 1573

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Eighty Years' War – Sack of Antwerp: In the Low Countries, mutinous Spanish soldiers sack Antwerp; after three days the city is nearly destroyed.

title: 1576

date: February 13

text: February 13 – Two days after the Battle of Gembloux, Spanish troops capture the city of Leuven, forcing Willem, Prince of Orange, to flee Brussels and relocate to Antwerp.Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (Cornell University Press, 1977) p.186

title: 1578

date: July 31

text: July 31 – At the Battle of Rijmenam, fought near Antwerp in what is now Belgium, a combined Dutch and English force under the command of the Count of Boussu and England's John Norreys defeats Spanish troops commanded by Don Juan de Austria.

title: 1578

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: July 26

text: July 26 – The Act of Abjuration is signed at The Hague by representatives of eight Dutch provinces as a declaration of independence from Spanish rule and a secession from the Union of Utrecht. The signing confirms a decision made in a July 22 meeting of the States General in Antwerp. King Philip II of Spain refuses to acknowledge the Abjuration.

title: 1581

date: January 18

text: January 18 – Francis, Duke of Anjou, attacks Antwerp.

title: 1583

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Peter Paul Rubens begins work on classical tapestries, when a contract is signed in Antwerp with cloth dyers Jan Raes and Frans Sweerts in Brussels, and the Genoese merchant Franco Cattaneo.

title: 1616

section: Events › November-December

date: June 20

text: June 20 – Eighty Years' War: Battle of Kallo – Spanish troops under Ferdinand of Austria defeat a much larger Dutch force, near Antwerp.

title: 1638

section: Economy & Finance

date: August 11

text: August 11 – The Ostend Company is chartered by merchants and shipowners to establish trade for the Austrian Netherlands in the East Indies and West Indies. Over the next two days, 54 major investors in Antwerp purchase the shares of stock in the company.

title: 1723

text: November 29 – War of the First Coalition: The Siege of Antwerp ends with the surrender of the Austrian garrison

title: 1792

date: January 14

text: January 14 – War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Antwerp: Allied forces besiege French Antwerp.

title: 1814

section: Events › January

date: February 5

text: February 5 – Dutch naval lieutenant Jan van Speyk blows up his own gunboat in Antwerp rather than strike his colours on the demand of supporters of the Belgian Revolution.

title: 1831

date: October 9

text: October 9 – World War I: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp (Belgium) falls to German troops.

title: 1914

section: Events › October

date: August 14

text: August 14–September 12 – Main events of the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium (there have been ceremonies and outlying events since April). The Olympic symbols of five interlocking rings and the associated flag are first displayed at the games.

title: 1920

section: Events › August

date: November 8

text: November 8 – WWII: A German surrender of Middelburg, Zeeland, to Allied forces ends the Battle of the Scheldt after five weeks, opening the Belgian port of Antwerp to Allied shipping. The bulk of the fighting has been by Canadians, with over 6,000 casualties.

title: 1944

section: Events › November

date: October

text: The first V-2 rocket attack on Antwerp takes place.

title: 1944


slug: apartheid

label: Apartheid

description: system of racial segregation in South Africa, introduced in 1948 by D.F. Malan and dismantled between 1990 and 1994 by F.W. de Klerk

section: Culture & Society

date: May 31

text: May 31 – South Africa adopts a new national flag, based upon the Van Riebeeck flag or Prinsevlag (originally the Dutch flag), to replace the Red Ensign. It later became infamously known as the "apartheid flag" for being the flag of South Africa under Apartheid from 1948 to 1994.

title: 1928

section: Events › May

section: Health & Medicine

date: June 29

text: June 29 – Apartheid: The South African Citizenship Act suspends the granting of citizenship to Commonwealth of Nations immigrants after 5 years, and imposes a ban on mixed marriages.

title: 1949

section: Events › June

date: April 27

text: April 27 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating the races.

title: 1950

section: Events › April

date: November 6

text: November 6 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

title: 1962

date: June 10

text: June 10 – Apartheid: The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a statement by their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.

title: 1980

date: December 16

text: December 16 – The United Freedom Front bombs an office of South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an IBM office in Harrison, NY. Two police officers suffer hearing damage. In March 1984, the UFF claims responsibility for the IBM building bombing, stating that the company was targeted because of its business in South Africa under Apartheid.

title: 1982

section: Events › December

date: April 15

text: April 15 – South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriages.

title: 1985

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Apartheid: State President of South Africa, P. W. Botha, declares a state of emergency in 36 magisterial districts of South Africa amid growing civil unrest in black townships.

title: 1985

section: Events › July

date: August 21

text: August 21 – Former State President of South Africa, F. W. de Klerk, makes an official apology for crimes committed under Apartheid to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town.

title: 1996


slug: apollo-program

label: Apollo program

description: 1961–1972 American human spaceflight program

date: May 25

text: May 25 – Apollo program: U.S. President Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of Congress, that the United States "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth".

title: 1961

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: February 20

text: February 20 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

title: 1965

section: Events › January–February

date: January 27

text: January 27 – Apollo 1: U.S. astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed when fire breaks out in their Apollo spacecraft during a launch pad test.

title: 1967

date: November 9

text: November 9 – Apollo program: NASA launches the first Saturn V rocket, successfully carrying the Apollo 4 test spacecraft from Cape Kennedy into Earth orbit.

title: 1967

date: April 4

text: April 4 – Apollo program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched, as the second and last uncrewed test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

title: 1968

section: Events › March–April

date: December 24

text: December 24 – Apollo program: The crewed U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole, as well as having traveled further away from Earth than any people in history. Anders photographs Earthrise. The crew also give a reading from the Book of Genesis.

title: 1968

section: Events › November–December

date: October 11

text: October 11 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and simulating lunar module rendezvous and docking, using the S-IVB rocket stage as a test target.

title: 1968

section: Events › September–October

date: July 16

text: July 16 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 (Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins) lifts off from Cape Kennedy in Florida towards the first crewed landing on the Moon.

title: 1969

text: July 20 – Apollo program Moon landing: At 3:17 pm ET (20:17 UTC) Apollo 11's Lunar Module Eagle lands on the Moon's surface. At 10:56 pm ET (02:56 UTC July 21), an estimated 650 million people worldwide, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at this time, watch in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his first historic steps on the surface.

title: 1969

date: July 24

text: July 24 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 returns from the first successful Moon landing and the astronauts are placed in biological isolation for several days in case they may have brought back lunar germs. The airless lunar environment is later determined to rule out microscopic life.

title: 1969

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

title: 1969

section: Events › March

date: March 3

text: March 3 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 (James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart, David Scott) to test the lunar module.

title: 1969

date: May 18

text: May 18 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 (Gene Cernan, Tom Stafford, John Young) is launched. It is to be a full rehearsal for the Moon landing, stopping 15 kilometers short of actually reaching the lunar surface.

title: 1969

date: November 14

text: November 14 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, Alan Bean), the second crewed mission to the Moon.

title: 1969

date: November 19

text: November 19 – Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"), becoming the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

title: 1969

date: November 24

text: November 24 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second crewed mission to the Moon.

title: 1969

date: April 11

text: April 11 – Apollo program: Apollo 13 (Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert) is launched from the United States toward the Moon.

title: 1970

date: February 9

text: February 9 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.

title: 1971

section: Events › February

date: January 31

text: January 31 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 (carrying astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell) lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission.

title: 1971

date: December 14

text: December 14 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan becomes the last person to walk on the Moon until 2028 at the earliest, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 17.

title: 1972

date: December 19

text: December 19 – Apollo program: Apollo 17 returns to Earth, concluding the program of lunar exploration.

title: 1972

date: September 12

text: September 12 – The first commercial spacewalk is conducted by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman as part of the Polaris Dawn mission, which also includes the highest altitude orbit by a human crew since the Apollo program.

title: 2024

section: Events › September


slug: apollonia-illyria

label: Apollonia (Illyria)

description: ancient city in modern Albania

year_label: 313 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: Cassander, hearing of Aristodemus' success with the Aetolians, marches south in force, persuades the Acarnanians to ally with him, and campaigns successfully along the Adriatic coast; capturing Apollonia and defeating the Illyrian king Glaucius. At the end of the year Cassander returns to Macedon.

title: 313 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 312 BCE

text: Cassander marches on Apollonia, which people had driven out his garrison with the help of the Illyrians, but the Appolonians and Illyrians defeat him in battle, driving him out of western Greece for the time being.

title: 312 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece/Macedon/Thrace

text: The Corcyraeans come to the aid of Apollonia and Epidamus and help the Apollonians and the people of Epidamus to remove the garrisons Cassander put there. They free Apollonia, but give the city of Epidamus to the Illyrian king Glaucias.

title: 312 BC

year_label: 229 BCE

text: The First Illyrian War started when the Roman Senate dispatched an army under the command of the consuls Lucius Postumius Albinus and Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus to Illyria. Rome forced the withdrawal of Illyrian garrisons in the Greek cities of Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra and Pharos and establishes a protectorate over these Greek towns.

title: 229 BC

section: Events › By place › Illyria

year_label: 228 BCE

text: The Illyrian queen Teuta's governor, Demetrius of Pharos has little alternative but to surrender to the overwhelming Roman force. In return, the Romans award him a considerable part of Teuta's holdings to counter-balance the power of Teuta. Meanwhile, the Roman army lands further north at Apollonia. The combined Roman army and fleet proceed northward together, subduing one town after another and besieging Shkodra, the Illyrian capital.

title: 228 BC

year_label: 215 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Philip V of Macedon and Hannibal negotiate an alliance under which they pledge mutual support and defence. Specifically, they agree to support each other against Rome, and that Hannibal shall have the right to make peace with Rome, but that any peace would include Philip and that Rome would be forced to give up control of Corcyra, Apollonia, Epidamnus, Pharos, Dimale, Parthini and Atintania and to restore to Demetrius of Pharos all his lands currently controlled by Rome.

title: 215 BC

year_label: 214 BCE

text: Philip V of Macedon attempts an invasion of Illyria by sea with a fleet of 120 craft. He captures Oricum and, sailing up the Aous (modern Vjosë) river, he besieges Apollonia.

title: 214 BC

text: Laevinus sends 2,000 men under the command of Quintus Naevius Crista, to Apollonia. Catching Philip's forces by surprise, Quintus Naevius Crista attacks and routs their camp. Philip V is able to escape back to Macedonia, after burning his fleet and leaving many thousands of his men dead or as prisoners of the Romans.

title: 214 BC

year_label: 210 BCE

text: After allying with Hannibal, Philip V of Macedon attacks the Roman positions in Illyria, but fails to take Corcyra or Apollonia, which are protected by the Roman fleet. Rome's command of the sea prevents his lending any effective aid to his Carthaginian ally in Italy. The Aetolians, Sparta and King Attalus of Pergamum join the Romans in the war against Philip V. This coalition is so strong that Philip V has to stop attacking Roman territory.

title: 210 BC

year_label: 44 BCE

date: April

text: April – Octavian returns from Apollonia in Dalmatia to Rome to take up Caesar's inheritance, against advice from Atia (his mother and Caesar's niece) and consul Antony.

title: 44 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic


slug: april

label: April

description: fourth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

year_label: 46 BCE

text: April – Caesar defeats Pompey loyalists at Thapsus.

title: 46 BC

text: April: In Rome, Emperor Maximian attempts to depose his son Maxentius, but the soldiers in Rome side with Maxentius and force Maximian to flee to the court of Constantine I.

title: 308

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: April – Julian crosses the Euphrates near Hierapolis, using 50 pontoon ships, and moves eastwards to Carrhae. He destroys Perisapora and overruns Persian forts along the desert frontier (Limes Arabicus).

title: 363

text: April – Battle of Thyatira: Emperor Valens defeats the troops of Procopius, bringing an end to his revolt; Serenianus and Marcellus are killed. Procopius flees the battlefield, but is executed by Valens.

title: 366

text: April – Massacre of Thessalonica: Resentment among the citizens of Thessalonica (Macedonia) breaks out into violence after the arrest of a popular charioteer. Butheric, military commander of Illyricum, is murdered. Emperor Theodosius I orders vengeance, despite the pleas for mercy by Ambrose, bishop of Milan; more than 7,000 inhabitants are massacred by the Roman army.

title: 390

text: April - Aetius defeats the Juthungi during his campaign in the Alps.

title: 430

text: April – Belisarius leaves a small force in Africa under the Byzantine general Solomon, to continue the subjugation of the province. He is appointed governor (Exarch) and pacifies the Moorish tribes with success. Malta becomes a Byzantine province (until 870).

title: 534

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: March

text: March – April – Belisarius sails to Carthage with 1,000 men, to suppress a mutiny against Solomon. Meanwhile, Carthage is besieged by 9,000 rebels, including many Vandals, under Stotzas.

title: 536

section: Events › By place › Africa

text: April – The Goths capture the Portus Claudii at Ostia; the harbor is left unguarded by the Romans. Belisarius is forced to unload his supplies at Antium; he sends urgent messages for reinforcements to Constantinople.

title: 537

text: April – Belisarius secures Liguria, Mediolanum (modern Milan) and Ariminum, but disagreements, especially with Narses, leads to disunity in the Byzantine army.

title: 538

text: April – Battle of Chains (Kuwait) and Battle of River (Iraq): A Muslim army (18,000 men) under Khalid ibn al-Walid invades Mesopotamia, and wins decisive victories.

title: 633

section: Events › By place › Arabia

text: April – Siege of Jerusalem: The Rashidun army (20,000 men), led by 'Amr ibn al-'As, conquers Jerusalem after a six-month siege. The Byzantine garrison surrenders to Caliph Umar I, who is invited by Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Umar declines, fearing that accepting the invitation might endanger the church's status, and turn the Christian holy site into a mosque.

title: 637

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: April: Amr ibn al-As and Abu Musa al-Ashari conclude the arbitration agreement that ended the Battle of Siffin the previous year, declaring Caliph Ali deposed and declaring Muawiyah as the legitimate Caliph. This badly damages Ali's standing among the Caliphate, and paves the way for the end of the First Fitna.

title: 658

section: Events › By place › Rashiduin Caliphate

text: April – A Muslim expeditionary force disembarks on the Thracian shore (near Hebdomon), and lays siege to the massive Theodosian Walls, on the landward side to the west.

title: 674

section: Deaths

text: April – Athanasius III becomes the new Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, six months after the death of Elias I.

title: 724

section: Events › By date

text: April – Tang forces retake the protectorate of Annan from rebelling Annamese chieftains Đỗ Anh Hàn, Phùng Hưng and Phùng An.

title: 791

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: April – Al-Mu'tadid, the de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate, removes his cousin Al-Mufawwad from succession. He becomes caliph himself, after the death of Al-Mu'tamid, returning the capital from Samarra to Baghdad.

title: 892

text: April - May – The Byzantines refuse to pay the yearly tribute. A Hungarian army, led by Apor, invades Macedonia and Thrace. He plunders its territories until reaching Constantinople. On his way back, Apor is defeated during a night attack by Byzantine forces.

title: 959

section: Culture & Society

text: April – Imperial Prince Tomohira receives the title nihon (second rank prince).

title: 1007

section: Events › By place › Japan

text: April – King Æthelred the Unready resumes the payment of Danegeld (48,000 pounds of silver) in an attempt to buy off Viking raiders.

title: 1012

section: Events › By place › England

section: Climate & Environment

text: April – Conrad II punishes the citizens of Pavia with starvation, with the help of Milanese troops, for burning down the Royal Palace. He appoints Aribert as his viceroy ("imperial vicar") in Italy and charges him to ensure that the order is complied with.

title: 1026

section: Events › Asia › Europe

text: April – Harold Godwinson succeeds his father Godwin as earl of Wessex. He invites the exiled Edward the Exile, son of Edmund II, to return in the hope that he can claim the English throne from King Edward the Confessor.

title: 1053

section: Religion & Belief

text: April – Council of Winchester.

title: 1070

section: Events

text: April – The Dictatus papae (a compilation of 27 statements of powers) are included in the registry of Gregory VII, in which he asserts papal authority over earthly as well as spiritual rulers.

title: 1075

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: April – Second Council of the Lateran: The Anacletus schism is settled, and priestly celibacy is made mandatory within the Catholic Church.

title: 1139

text: April – King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine sail homeward in separate Sicilian ships. While the fleet rounds the Peloponnese (southern Greece) it is attacked by ships of the Byzantine navy. Louis gives orders to raise the French flag and is allowed to sail on. But the ships containing many of his followers and his possessions are captured and taken as a war-prize to Constantinople.

title: 1149

section: Events › By place › Levant

text: March / April (traditional date) – The first stone of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is set by Pope Alexander III during the reign of Louis VII of France.

title: 1163

text: April – Massacre of the Latins: The Eastern Orthodox inhabitants of Constantinople massacre the Venetian, Genoan, and other Latin officials and traders who rule as agents of Empress Maria of Antioch. She is the mother and regent of 12-year-old Emperor Alexios II.

title: 1182

text: April – King Guy of Lusignan summons his vassals and marches north to Nazareth, to reduce Galilee to submission.

title: 1187

text: April – After a long siege Muslim forces under Saladin capture Beaufort Castle from Reginald of Sidon who has offered to hand over the castle to Saladin on the condition that he has three months to remove his family to a place of safety. At the end of the three months, Saladin expects the castle to be handed over but finds that Reginald has used the time to strengthen the castle against a siege. He is imprisoned at Damascus – the castle's garrison finally surrenders in return for Reginald's release.

title: 1190

section: Events › By place › Third Crusade

text: April–May – The bulk of the Crusader army gathers at Venice, although with far smaller numbers than expected: about 12,000 men (4–5,000 knights and 8,000 soldiers) instead of 33,500 men. Several contingents decide to make their own way to the Holy Land by different routes. A Crusader fleet, sailing from Flanders, carrying supplies for the Counts Baldwin IX and his brother Henry of Flanders, winters in Marseille, but is slowed by adverse weather. Later it sails on to the Middle East, along with other contingents from southern France.

title: 1202

section: Events › By place › Fourth Crusade

text: Late April – The Russian and Polovtsian armies march down the west bank of the Dnieper River. Within a few days of the march beginning, a second group of Mongol ambassadors appear in the Russian camp and again offer peace. When their offers are rebuffed, the ambassadors are allowed to leave unharmed. Meanwhile, Russian forces from Galicia arrive by boat or cart-loads of equipment and food, along the Black Sea coast and up the Dnieper River, screened by Mongol forces on the east bank.

title: 1223

section: Events › Other events, by place › Mongol Empire

text: April – The Russian princes lead their separate armies from different parts of Russia, to assemble 60 kilometres downriver from Kiev. There are three main groups of princes taking part in the campaign; the Kievan army is represented by Grand Prince Mstislav Romanovich (the Old). The second group are the Chernigov and Smolensk armies under Prince Mstislav II. The third group is the Galician-Volhynian army under Mstislav Mstislavich with his son-in-law Daniel of Galicia, leaving from northern Ukraine.

title: 1223

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: April – A Russian force led by Alexander Nevsky crosses the frontier between Novgorod and Livonian Crusader territory, to raid into Catholic Estonia. After that, Alexander breaks his army off into contingents to ravage the countryside. He is forced to turn back, when a local Crusader force under Bishop Hermann von Buxhövden defeats Alexander's advance guard at Mooste bridge south of Tartu.

title: 1242

text: April – Egyptian forces under As-Salih Ayyub besiege the city of Damascus. After six months, As-Salih Ismail, ruler of Damascus, surrenders to Ayyub in return for a vassal-principality, consisting of Baalbek and the Hauran. Ayyub is awarded the title of sultan by Caliph Al-Musta'sim in Baghdad.

title: 1245

text: April – The first Shepherds' Crusade, a domestic French uprising in response to events in Egypt during the Seventh Crusade, occurs.

title: 1251

text: April – Battle of Glen Trool: Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeat the English army at Glen Trool, Galloway. During the battle, Robert gives the order to push down several boulders to ambush the English, who are approaching through a narrow glen (called the "Steps of Trool"). Scottish forces charge down an extremely steep 700-meter sloop, the narrowness of the defile prevents support from either the front or the rear. Without any room to maneuver, many of the English are killed and routed.

title: 1307

text: April – After his ascent to the throne, the Emir Nasr ad-Din Muhammad of Granada sends envoys to the Marinid court at Fez, in Morocco.

title: 1309

text: April – Antipope Nicholas V is excommunicated by Pope John XXII.

title: 1329

text: April–July – Trapezuntine Civil War: An abortive uprising occurs against Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond, the first of a number of coups, revolts, and succession disputes.

title: 1340

text: April – Edward III of England offers "defiance" of Philip VI of France.

title: 1345

text: April – The Knights Hospitaller defeat a Turkish fleet, and sink 100 ships off Imbros.

title: 1347

text: April – Philip II, Prince of Taranto, marries Maria of Calabria, daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria, and Marie of Valois.

title: 1355

text: April – Sultan Muhammad V of Granada, returns to the throne after the murder of the usurper Muhammed VI.

title: 1362

text: April – (Muharram 783 AH) In what is now Afghanistan, the Siege of Herat by the Mongol conqueror Timur ends with the Persian city surrendering to the Mongols, in return for the populace being spared.

title: 1381

text: April – King Swa Saw Ke, of Ava, the largest kingdom in Burma, dies after a reign of 33 years and is succeeded by his son, King Tarabya, who reigns less than seven months before being assassinated.

title: 1400

text: April – Balša III succeeds his father Đurađ II as ruler of the Principality of Zeta (now Montenegro).

title: 1403

text: April – Đurađ II Stracimirović, Serbian nobleman from the House of Balšić in Zeta

title: 1403

text: April or May – Battle of Blackpool Sands: Local English forces defeat an attempted raid from Saint-Malo on the port of Dartmouth, Devon; the French commander, William du Chastel, is killed.

title: 1404

text: April – Miran Shah, son of Timur the Lame (b. 1366)

title: 1408

text: April – Ottoman Sultan Murad II begins the siege of Belgrade, at this time part of the Kingdom of Hungary following the conquest of Serbia. The fortress is heavily damaged, but the defenders' use of artillery prevents the Turks from capturing the city, and the siege ends after six months.

title: 1440

text: April – Vittoria Colonna, Italian poet (d. 1547)

title: 1490

text: March or April – 1490 Qingyang event, a presumed meteor shower or air burst over Qingyang in the Gansu province in Ming dynasty China. Some later accounts lists casualties of more than 10,000 people. The only date given for the Qingyang event is that it was in "the third lunar month" on the Chinese lunar calendar coinciding with a period beginning on March 12 and ending on April 19, 1490.

title: 1490

text: April or May – Battle of Tunmen in Tuen Mun (present-day Hong Kong): The Ming Dynasty navy defeats the Portuguese navy (arguably the first Sino-European battle in world history).

title: 1521

text: April – Queen Eleni of Ethiopia

title: 1522

text: April – Battle of Puná: Francisco Pizarro defeats the native inhabitants of the island of Puná, off of the coast of what is now the South American nation of Ecuador.

title: 1531

text: April – Battle of Quipaipan in Peru: Atahualpa wins the civil war in the Inca Empire, defeating his brother Huáscar.

title: 1532

text: April – An Acte for Laws & Justice to be ministred in Wales in like fourme as it is in this Realme further incorporates the legal system of Wales into that of England.

title: 1536

text: April or May – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch composer (d. 1621)

title: 1562

text: April – Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632)

title: 1564

text: April – The fort of Narnala in the Deccan falls to the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, and with it the Berar sultanate is annexed by Ahmadnagar.

title: 1574

text: April – Lucas David, Prussian historian (b. 1503)

title: 1583

text: April – William Lawes, English composer and musician (d. 1645)

title: 1602

text: April/May – William Larkin, English court portrait painter (b. early 1580s)

title: 1619

text: April – Following the Battle of Chemnitz Swedish forces under command of Johan Banér invades Bohemia with great success

title: 1639

text: April – Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, apostolic nuncio to Paris and adviser to Cardinal Richelieu, is naturalized French by letters patent; in December, he leaves the service of Rome to enter that of King Louis XIII of France.

title: 1639

text: April – Hannibal Sehested is appointed Governor-General of Norway.

title: 1642

text: April – Ahom King Swargadeo Chakradhwaj Singha or Supangmung of Assam, India

title: 1670

text: April – English merchant Anthony de la Roché, blown off course after rounding Cape Horn eastabout, makes the first discovery of land south of the Antarctic Convergence, landing on South Georgia and (probably) Gough Island.

title: 1675

text: April – Adriaen van Ostade, Dutch painter and engraver (b. 1610)

title: 1685

text: April – Tituba, a slave who had been convicted at the Salem witch trials of practicing witchcraft after making a confession, is released from jail in Boston after 13 months when an unknown purchaser pays her jail fees.

title: 1693

text: April – A fire destroys the Gra Bet (Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia. The fire starts "in the house of a prostitute" and destroys many buildings, including the churches of St. George, Takla Haymanot and Iyasu.

title: 1696

text: April – Fire destroys many buildings in Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia, including two in the palace complex.

title: 1700

text: April – Mary Read, English-born pirate

title: 1721

text: April – Elsa Beata Bunge, Swedish botanist (d. 1819)

title: 1734

text: April – The Genbun era begins in Japan. The era of Kyōhō Reforms ends.

title: 1736

text: April – Etta Palm d'Aelders, Dutch-French feminist (d. 1799)

title: 1743

text: April – The Female Spectator (a monthly) is founded by Eliza Haywood in England, the first periodical written for women by a woman.

title: 1744

text: April – Joanna Southcott, British religious fanatic (d. 1814)

title: 1750

text: April – General George Washington sends a letter to the 13 governors of the Confederation of the United States, regarding the needs of the nation.

title: 1783

text: March–April – The franc germinal is introduced in France.

title: 1803

text: April – The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is completed from Raleigh to near Weldon, North Carolina.

title: 1840

text: April – The Xhosa cattle-killing movement and famine begins in Cape Colony.

title: 1856

text: April – Richard Rushall, British sea captain and businessman (d. 1953)

title: 1865

text: April – The Stockholms Handelsbank is founded.

title: 1871

text: April – Japan introduces its first modern paper currency (designed by Italian engraver Edoardo Chiossone) in the form of Meiji Tsuho notes. These are initially worth up to 1 yen before higher denominations are printed/released in June and August.

title: 1872

text: April – Postman Ferdinand Cheval begins to build his Palais Idéal at Hauterives in France.

title: 1879

text: April – The government of Cape Colony sets a deadline for the Basuto people to surrender their weapons; non-compliance leads to the Basuto Gun War.

title: 1880

text: April – The Swedish Dress Reform Society is established.

title: 1886

text: April – The Johnson County War breaks out between small farmers and large ranchers in Wyoming.

title: 1892

text: April – Svante Arrhenius first publishes the "greenhouse law", becoming the first person to predict that emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and other combustion processes are large enough to cause global warming through the greenhouse effect.

title: 1896

text: March 3–April – Russian Civil War: Beginning of the Chapan War as peasants of the provinces of Samara and Simbirsk rebel against Soviet rule.

title: 1919

text: July – Hyperinflation in Germany means that 563 marks are now needed to buy a single American dollar – more than double the 263 needed eight months before, dwarfing the mere 12 needed in April 1919, and even the 47 needed in December of that year.

title: 1922

text: April – The Valley of Geysers is discovered on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, by Tatyana Ustinova.

title: 1941

text: April – The previous discovery of the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' in the Qumran Caves (above the northwest shore of the Dead Sea) by Bedouin shepherds, becomes known.

title: 1947

text: April – Children's Bargain Town, a predecessor of toy and child-related retailer Toys "R" Us, is founded in Washington, D.C., United States.

title: 1948

text: April – IBM sells the first compiler for the Fortran scientific programming language.

title: 1957

text: March–April – Drilling for Project Mohole is undertaken off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico.

title: 1961


slug: apulia

label: Apulia

description: region of Italy

year_label: 466 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Greek colony of Taras, in Magna Graecia, is defeated by the native population of Apulia. As a result, the Tarentine monarchy falls, with the installation of a democracy.

title: 466 BC

section: Events › By place › Italy

year_label: 326 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: Following their defeat by the Roman forces in Naples, the Samnites declare war on Rome starting the Second Samnite War. To help defeat the Samnites, the Romans make alliances with the peoples of Central Italy to the north of Samnium and with the Apulians to the southeast.

title: 326 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 316 BCE

text: The Romans, with an eye to capturing Apulia, send an army (led by dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus) to seize the town of Lucera from the Samnites. They are badly beaten in the Battle of Lautulae and the Samnites go on to reach within 32 kilometres of Rome.

title: 316 BC

year_label: 279 BCE

text: Pyrrhus realizes that he cannot capture Rome and suggests peace terms to the Romans. Pyrrhus sends his chief advisor, Cineas, to Rome to negotiate a peace. Cineas demands that the Romans halt their aggression against the Greeks of southern Italy and restore the lands the Romans have taken from the Bruttii, the Apulians, and the Samnites. The Romans reject his demands, largely at the instigation of the former Roman censor, Appius Claudius Caecus.

title: 279 BC

year_label: 217 BCE

text: Hannibal ravages Apulia and Campania; meanwhile the delaying tactics of Quintus Fabius Maximus' army allows only skirmishes to occur between the two armies.

title: 217 BC

year_label: 216 BCE

text: Following Hannibal's victory, many regions begin to defect from Rome, while others are conquered by Hannibal's forces. In Apulia, Lucania, Samnium and in Bruttium, Hannibal finds many supporters.

title: 216 BC

year_label: 212 BCE

text: The Battle of Herdonia is fought between Hannibal's Carthaginian army and Roman forces who are laying siege to Herdonia led by praetor Gnaeus Fulvius Flaccus, brother of the consul, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. The Roman army is destroyed, leaving Apulia free of Romans for the year.

title: 212 BC

text: The Carthaginian general Hannibal proves his superiority in tactics by inflicting a severe defeat at Herdonia in Apulia upon a proconsular army, slaying the consul Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus Maximus.

title: 210 BC

text: The Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus is elected consul for the fourth time and takes Salapia in Apulia, which has revolted and joined forces with Hannibal.

title: 210 BC

year_label: 208 BCE

text: The Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus is killed in battle while fighting Hannibal near Venusia, Apulia.

title: 208 BC

date: May 8

text: May 8 – Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.

title: 413

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: March – Totila bypasses Rome and begins his expedition in Southern Italy. He captures Beneventum and receives the submission of the provinces of Apulia, Lucania and Bruttium.

title: 542

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: December 17

text: December 17 – Sack of Rome: After almost a year's siege, the capture of a grain fleet sent by the exiled Pope Vigilius near the mouth of the Tiber, and failure of troops of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius to relieve the city, the Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome and destroy its fortifications. He then withdraws to Apulia (Southern Italy).

title: 546

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Landulf I, prince of Benevento, supports an anti-Greek Apulian rebellion, ravaging several Byzantine strongpoints as far as Ascoli. The Apulian nobility, professing loyalty to the Byzantine Empire, appoints Landulf as stratego of the Theme of Longobardia.

title: 921

section: Crime & Justice

date: July 4

text: July 4 — At the age of 12, Shabbethai Donnolo, who will become one of the most prominent physicians in Italy and the doctor to the Byzantine court, is kidnapped by Arab slavers as a Fatimid expeditionary force, led by Jafar ibn Obeid, lands in Abruzzo in southern Italy and overruns Apulia and the city of Otranto. After defeating the Byzantine garrisons, the Arabs lay siege to the castle of Oria and destroy it, killing the defenders and taking the women and children as slaves back to North Africa. Donnolo's family pays a ransom and the Fatimid Amir Abu Ahmad Ja'far ibn 'Ubaid sets him free.

title: 925

section: Events › By date › July – December

text: Summer – A Fatimid fleet under Sabir al-Fata raids Byzantine southern Italy. It captures a locality named al-Ghiran ('the caves') in Apulia and sacks the cities of Taranto and Otranto. The inhabitants are carried off to North Africa as slaves.

title: 928

text: Summer – A Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony campaigns in Italy, heading southwards on the eastern shore of the peninsula. It besieges Larino and reaches Otranto, plundering Apulia for three months. Berengar of Ivrea negotiates a truce and offers them a massive tribute (for which he imposes a special tax).

title: 947

text: Otto I 'the Great', Holy Roman Emperor, assembles a large expeditionary force at Pavia, joined by Spoletan troops. He counter-attacks, relieves the siege of Capua and devastates the area around Naples. Otto enters Benevento, where he is received as 'liberator' by Landulf IV and in the cities of Apulia (Southern Italy).

title: 969

date: June

text: June – Emir Abu'l-Qasim launches a raiding expedition into Byzantine Italy from Sicily. He imposes a tribute on the cities of Cosenza and Cellere. Meanwhile, a Fatimid fleet assaults the Apulian coast and raids the surrounding countryside. Abu'l-Qasim sends an army to Otranto and besieges Gravina, before returning to Sicily – bringing home hundreds of captives and slaves.

title: 976

text: Fall – Otto II departs with an expeditionary force from Rome, and invades Apulia (Southern Italy) to punish the Saracens. He demands a fleet from Pisa, and imposes a trade embargo against Venice.

title: 981

text: Summer – Melus of Bari, a Lombard nobleman, revolts and is supported by Norman mercenaries at Capua. He marches into Apulia to catch the Byzantine army off-guard. Melus defeats the Byzantines on the banks of the Fortore River and ravages the territory in Apulia.

title: 1017

section: Events › Europe

date: March 17

text: March 17 – Battle of Olivento: Norman troops and their Lombard allies, led by William Iron Arm, are victorious against the Byzantines at the feet of the Monte Vulture, near the River Olivento in Apulia.

title: 1041

text: Zoë recalls Synodianos, governor of the Catepanate of Italy, and replaces him with George Maniakes (the disgraced head of the Sicilian campaign). All of Apulia is in the hands of the Lombard rebels.

title: 1042

text: Summer – Norman forces under Duke Robert Guiscard invade Apulia, and capture the cities of Taranto and Brindisi (under control of the Byzantine Empire). Guiscard prepares a Sicilian expedition against the Saracens and returns to Calabria (Southern Italy), where his brother Roger Bosso waits with siege engines.

title: 1060

text: Spring – Romanos IV sends a Byzantine fleet (supported with an army) to relieve the siege of Bari. The Normans under Robert Guiscard defeat the Byzantines, and occupy the cities of Gravina and Obbiano in Apulia.

title: 1069

text: Bohemond I, Norman prince of Antioch, arrives in Apulia (Southern Italy) after an absence of 9 years. He travels to Rome and meets Pope Paschal II. His cousin, Roger II becomes count of Sicily.

title: 1105

text: Autumn – Bohemond I returns to Apulia (Southern Italy) with an expeditionary force to prepare an offensive against the Byzantines. He is accompanied by his newlywed wife Constance (who is pregnant by him) and followers.

title: 1106

date: May 28

text: May 28 – King William I (the Bad) lands with a Sicilian expeditionary force in Apulia. He defeats the Byzantine army at Brindisi and recaptures Bari.

title: 1156

date: April 15

text: April 15 – Henry VI, son of the late Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), is crowned as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, together with his wife Constance by Pope Celestine III, on Easter Monday at Rome. Henry marches south and begins a campaign in Apulia. He besieges Naples, but encounters the resistance of Sicilian forces under Margaritus of Brindisi, who come to support the city's defense. Tusculum is destroyed by the rebel army of the Commune of Rome, on April 17.

title: 1191

date: November 18

text: November 18 – Emperor Otto IV is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III after he occupies Apulia in southern Italy. Otto annuls the Concordat of Worms and demands from Innocent recognition of the imperial crown's right. A German civil war breaks out, and Otto prepares an invasion against Frederick II, king of Sicily.

title: 1210

section: Health & Medicine

date: August

text: August – Emperor Frederick II musters a German expeditionary force in Apulia. The crowded conditions and high heat contribute to discontent and disease among the assembled troops. On September 24, an epidemic of malaria enfeebles the army at Brindisi. Several thousand Crusaders led by Henry IV, duke of Limburg, and French and English mercenaries under the bishops Peter des Roches and William Briwere, arrive at Acre.

title: 1227

date: November 2

text: November 2 – German forces under Manfred start an anti-papal revolt against Innocent IV and seize Lucera in the Tavoliere Plains. He defeats the papal army at Foggia and gains the loyalty of Apulia, on December 2.

title: 1254

date: July 10

text: July 10 – Ladislaus regains the throne of the Kingdom of Naples, after King Louis II of Anjou and his army have left the city to suppress a rebllion in Apulia.

title: 1399

section: Events › July–September

text: May 28 – In Italy, King Ferdinand of Naples is forced to abandon the city of Venosa, the Albanian general Skanderbeg leads his cavalry in an attack on Venosa after an attack by the former king, Rene of Anjou and by General Jacopo Piccinino. Fleeing to Apulia, Ferdinand learns that the Albanian General Skanderbeg will soon arrive to fight the House of Anjou.

title: 1461

section: Events › April–June

date: May 17

text: May 17 – The Ottoman Empire invaded southern Italy, attacking the cities of Apulia, Otranto and Brindisi, in a campaign that would last until November 22.

title: 1537


slug: aq-qoyunlu

label: Aq Qoyunlu

description: Historical state that ruled Eastern Anatolia, Azerbaijan, and Iran (1378–1503)

text: Uthman Beg establishes the Aq Qoyunlu (Turkomans of the White Sheep) dynasty at Diyarbakır, in modern-day southeast Turkey.

title: 1378

section: Events › Date unknown

text: The Aq Qoyunlu ("White Sheep Turkmen") tribal confederation, in modern-day northern Iraq and Iran, moves its capital from Amida to Diyarbakır.

title: 1402

section: Births

text: Sultan-Khalil, Sultan of the Aq Qoyunlu

title: 1453

section: Births › Date unknown

date: November 11

text: November 11 – At the Battle of Chapakchur, in what is now the Bingöl Province of Turkey, the tribal confederation of Aq Qoyunlu, with 12,000 cavalry and infantry led by Uzun Hasan, makes a surprise attack against 6,000 troops of the Qara Qoyunlu nation, commanded by the Sultan Jahan Shah. The Sultan is decapitated in the battle while trying to flee.

title: 1467

section: Events › October–December

date: February 4

text: February 4 – (22 Rajab 873 AH) At the Battle of Qarabagh, in what is now Azerbaijan, troops led by Uzun Hasan, ruler of Aq Qoyunlu, decisively defeat the Timurids of Samrkand, ruled by Abu Sa'id Mirza. Mirza is taken a prisoner of war and is executed four days later on February 8.

title: 1469

section: Events › January–March

section: Deaths

date: January 6

text: January 6 – At Tabriz, Khalil Mirza is proclaimed the Sultan of Aq Qoyunlu (now in Iran) after the death of his father, Uzun Hasan. Khalil is overthrown by his brother Ya'qub in July.

title: 1478

date: November 7

text: November 7 – Ismail I founds the Safavid dynasty and proclaims himself the Shah of Iran after defeating tribes of the Aq Qoyunlu confederation.

title: 1502

date: June 21

text: June 21 – Murad, the last Sultan of Aq Qoyunlu in modern-day eastern Turkey fights the Safavid King of Persia, Ismail I in a battle near the city of Hamadan, and suffers 10,000 casualties, including his commander Güzel Ahmad.

title: 1503


slug: aquileia

label: Aquileia

description: Italian comune based on the ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons

year_label: 181 BCE

text: Rome founds a colony at Aquileia, on the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the lagoons, as a frontier fortress to check the advance of the Illyrians.

title: 181 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 148 BCE

text: Construction of the Via Postumia, linking Aquileia and Genua.

title: 148 BC

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Marcomanni tribe wages war against the Romans at Aquileia. They destroy aqueducts and irrigation conduits. Marcus Aurelius repels the invaders, ending the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) that has kept the Roman Empire free of conflict since the days of Emperor Augustus.

title: AD 167

text: Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his adopted brother Lucius Verus leave Rome, and establish their headquarters at Aquileia.

title: AD 168

text: The Marcomanni plunder Opitergium (modern Oderzo) and besiege Aquileia. This is the first time hostile forces have entered Italy since 101 BC.

title: AD 170

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Emperor Marcus Aurelius forms a new military command, the praetentura Italiae et Alpium. Aquileia is relieved, and the Marcomanni are evicted from Roman territory.

title: AD 171

section: Climate & Environment

text: Maximinus advances to the town Aquileia in northern Italy; his army suffers from famine and disease, while the city is besieged. Soldiers of Legio II Parthica kill him in his tent, along with his son Maximinus (who is appointed co-emperor). Their corpses are decapitated and their heads carried to Rome.

title: 238

text: Constantine II, emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire (Britain, Gaul, the Rhine provinces and Iberia), crosses the Alps and attacks the army of his brother Constans I, emperor of the central part of the Roman Empire (Upper Danube, Italy and middle Africa). They clash at Aquileia in northern Italy. Constantine is killed in a skirmish by an ambush of Constans' troops.

title: 340

text: Winter – Magnentius flees to Aquileia in northern Italy and fortifies the mountain passes in the Alps.

title: 351

text: May 17 – Pope Julius I dies after a 15-year reign in which he has made himself the chief opponent of Arianism. He is succeeded by Pope Liberius as the 36th pope, who immediately writes to Constantius II requesting a council at Aquileia to discuss the former Alexandrian patriarch Athanasius, who opposes the Arian belief to which the emperor subscribes.

title: 352

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: August 28

text: August 28 – Magnus Maximus surrenders at Aquileia, and is executed. Theodosius I devotes himself to gluttony and voluptuous living. Maximus' son Flavius Victor is executed at Trier, by Valentinian's magister militum Arbogast.

title: 388

text: Winter – A Roman army under the command of Ardaburius leaves Thessalonica (modern Central Macedonia) and marches for Northern Italy, where they make their base at Aquileia.

title: 424

text: Roman civil war: Summer – Joannes, Roman usurper, is defeated at the fortified city of Ravenna and brought to Aquileia. After a humiliating parade on a donkey and the insults of the populace, he is executed.

title: 425

text: The Huns under Attila invade Northern Italy. Emperor Valentinian III flees from Ravenna to Rome, and sends Pope Leo I to persuade Attila to return to the Hungarian Plain. The cities of Aquileia, Padua and Verona are destroyed by the Huns. Milan is saved because Attila is offered a huge amount of gold. Flavius Aetius (magister militum) is unable to raise a new army against him.

title: 452

text: August 28 – After crossing the Julian Alps, the Ostrogoths defeat the overwhelming forces of Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo (near Roman Aquileia or modern Soča) and enter Italy. This date is subsequently used by Theodoric to establish a 30-year statute of limitations (tricennium) ending on 28 August 519, after which any unlawful seizure of land during this period can no longer be contested.

title: 489

section: Religion & Belief

text: Paulinus I, patriarch of Aquileia, flees with the treasures of his church and transfers them to the island of Grado.

title: 568

text: Maxentius, patriarch of Aquileia

title: 837


slug: aquitaine

label: Aquitaine

description: former administrative region of France

text: The Council of Saragossa is held; Spanish and Aquitanian bishops condemn the teachings of Priscillianism.

title: 380

text: The Visigoths are granted Aquitaine, and become allies (foederati) of the Western Roman Empire. King Wallia establishes his capital at Toulouse.

title: 417

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Emperor Majorian gathers an expeditionary force (Alans and other barbarians) in Liguria, and enters Aquitaine after a long march, where he visits King Theodoric II at Toulouse.

title: 460

text: King Charibert I dies without an heir; his realm (region Neustria and Aquitaine) is divided between his brothers Guntram, Sigebert I and Chilperic I.

title: 567

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: September

text: September – King Chilperic I is stabbed to death while returning from a hunt near Chelles, after a 23-year reign over a territory extending from Aquitaine, to the northern seacoast of what later will be France. His wife Fredegund, who has paid for his assassination, seizes his wealth, flees to Paris with her son Chlothar II, and persuades the nobles to accept him as legitimate heir while she serves as regent, continuing her power struggles with Guntram, king of Burgundy, and her sister Brunhilda, queen mother of Austrasia.

title: 584

date: April 8

text: April 8 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde), (possibly on orders of his half-brother Dagobert I), along with his infant son. Dagobert I claims Aquitaine and Gascony, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in the West.

title: 632

text: April 8 – Charibert II, king of Aquitaine

title: 632

text: Duke Eudes proclaims himself the independent prince of Aquitaine (located north-east of the Garonne River), thereby asserting legal as well as practical independence from the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 714

text: Umayyad conquest of Gaul: Governor Al-Samh continues his campaign; he makes Narbonne the capital city of Muslim Septimania (Southern France), and uses it as a base for razzias. King Ardo is killed, and becomes the last ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania. Some Visigoths refuse to adopt the Muslim faith, and flee north to Aquitaine. This marks the end of the Visigothic Kingdom.

title: 720

text: Summer – Charles Martel restores the authority of the Austrasian palace throughout the Frankish Kingdom, including against Frankish-claimed Aquitaine and Provence (Southern France). He exiles Rigobert, bishop of Reims, to Gascony.

title: 721

text: Duke Eudes of Aquitaine seeks an alliance with Munuza, governor of Cerdagne (eastern Pyrenees), currently in rebellion against the central Umayyad government at Córdoba in Andalusia (probably not cemented until 729).

title: 725

text: Duke Eudes of Aquitaine, aged almost 80, abdicates and retires to a monastery. His lands are divided between his sons Hunald I and Hatton, who continue the conflict with Charles Martel, mayor of the palace of Neustria and Austrasia. In battles at Benest in Charente and La Rochefoucauld (near Angoulême), Charles probably defeats the Aquitainians. He also campaigns against the Burgundians.

title: 733

text: Eudes, duke of Aquitaine (approximate date)

title: 735

text: Frankish King Pepin III ("the Short") begins his expedition to Septimania and Aquitaine. He conquers the cities of Carcassonne, Toulouse, Rodez and Albi. Duke Waifer of Aquitaine confiscates the Church lands, and plunders Burgundy. Pepin invades Aquitanian-held Berry and the Auvergne, capturing the fortresses of Bourbon and Clermont. Waifer's Basque troops are defeated by the Franks, and deported into northern France with their children and wives.

title: 760

text: The Franks, under King Pepin III ("the Short"), destroy resistance in central Aquitaine. They conquer the capital of Bordeaux, and devastate the whole region.

title: AD 767

date: September 24

text: September 24 – King Pepin III (the Short) dies at Saint-Denis, Neustria. The Frankish Kingdom is divided between his two sons: Charlemagne and Carloman I. According to Salic law Charlemagne receives the outer parts of the kingdom bordering on the sea, namely Neustria, western Aquitaine, and the northern parts of Austrasia; while Carloman is awarded his uncle's former share, the inner parts: southern Austrasia, Septimania, eastern Aquitaine, Burgundy, Provence, Swabia, and the lands bordering Italy.

title: 768

section: Events › By place › Frankish Kingdom

text: King Charlemagne (Charles "the Great") begins a military campaign against the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Gascony. He leads a Frankish army to the city of Bordeaux, where he sets up a fort at Fronsac. His younger brother Carloman I refuses to help his brother fight the rebels, and returns to Burgundy. Hunald, duke of Aquitaine, is forced to flee to the court of Gascony. Lupus II, fearing Charlemagne, turns Hunald over in exchange for peace, and is put in a monastery. Aquitaine and Gascony are subdued into the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 769

text: King Charlemagne has his son Carloman (renamed Pepin) anointed "King of Italy", and he is crowned by Pope Adrian I with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. His younger brother Charles I is anointed king of Aquitaine, and Louis the Pious (only 3-years old) is appointed sub-king of Italy and Aquitaine, following the conversion of Aquitaine from a Duchy to a sub-kingdom.

title: 781

text: King Charles the Younger, son of Charlemagne and ruler of Aquitaine, visits Monte Cassino and Capua, both in Beneventan territory. Prince Arechis II, feeling threatened by the Franks, decides that he needs to stop quarrelling with the Byzantine Duchy of Naples so he can focus on the Frankish foe. Prince Arechis II therefore signs a peace agreement, or 'pactum', with the Duchy of Naples.

title: 786

text: Council of Frankfurt: King Charlemagne calls for a church meeting of the Frankish realm. Bishops and priests from Francia, Aquitaine, Italy, and Provence are gathered in Franconofurd (modern-day Frankfurt am Main).

title: 794

text: Pepin I of Aquitaine, king of Aquitaine (d. 838)

title: 797

date: September 11

text: September 11 — Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine (and only surviving legitimate son), is crowned co-emperor of the Franks, with his father Charlemagne.

title: 813

text: Summer – Emperor Louis I issues an Ordinatio Imperii, an imperial decree that lays out plans for an orderly succession. He divides the Frankish Empire among his three sons: Lothair, the eldest, is proclaimed co-emperor in Aachen, and becomes the overlord of his brothers. He receives the dominion of Burgundy (including German and Gallic parts). Pepin, the second son, is proclaimed king of Aquitaine, and receives Gascony (including the marche around Toulouse and parts of Septimania); Louis (the youngest son) is proclaimed king of Bavaria, and receives the dominions of East Francia.

title: 817

text: Emperor Louis the Pious returns from a campaign in Brittany, and is captured by his son Pepin I, king of Aquitaine. He is put under house arrest at Compiegne, and his wife Judith is incarcerated at Poitiers.

title: 830

section: Crime & Justice

text: Summer – Viking raiders attack Nantes, located on the River Loire; they kill the town's bishop along with many of the clergy, and murder men, women and children. They plunder the western parts of Aquitaine and reach an island north of the mouth of the River Garonne, near what later will be La Rochelle. There the Vikings bring materials from the mainland and build houses to spend the winter.

title: 843

text: Summer – King Charles the Bald struggles against the repeated rebellions in Aquitaine, and against the Bretons in West Francia. He besieges Bernard I at the Battle of Toulouse, while Duke Nominoe raids into Maine, and plunders other Frankish territory.

title: 844

text: Summer – Bordeaux, capital of Aquitaine, falls into the hands of Viking raiders. King Charles the Bald sends a Frankish fleet to lift the siege. Despite destroying some Viking longships on the Dordogne River, they fail to save the city. The Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Brantôme is sacked.

title: 848

text: Frankish forces under King Charles the Bald invade southern France, and conquer the territory of Toulouse. He appoints Fredelo as count (comté) of Toulouse, who founds the Rouergue dynasty. Aquitaine is submitted to the West Frankish Kingdom.

title: 849

text: Robert the Strong, margrave of Neustria, attacks the Loire Vikings in a successful campaign. Other Viking raiders plunder the cities of Limoges and Clermont, in Aquitaine.

title: 864

date: December 12

text: December 12, William II, duke of Aquitaine

title: 926

text: William IV, duke of Aquitaine (d. 994)

title: 937

section: Culture & Society

date: March 20

text: March 20 (Easter Sunday) – Shepherds' Crusade (Le Pastoureaux): In France, a large group of common people band together in Normandy to begin a crusade, after a teenage shepherd says he was visited by the Holy Spirit. They march south to Aquitaine, attacking castles, royal officials, priests and lepers along the way. Jewish communes are attacked at Saintes, Cahors, Verdun-sur-Garonne, Albi and Toulouse. When they finally cross into Spain, Aragonese forces under Prince Alfonso halt their advance.

title: 1320

section: Events › January – March

date: June 6

text: June 6 – Edward III of England pays homage to Philip VI of France for Aquitaine.

title: 1329

section: Events › January–December

date: January 25

text: January 25 – King Charles of France sends a summons to Edward the Black Prince, who is residing at Bordeaux, demanding that Edward appear before the King in Paris to answer for Edward's assessment of taxes on the people of Aquitaine. The Black Prince reportedly responds with the threat "We will willingly attend at Paris on the day appointed since the King of France sends for us, but it shall be with our helmet on our head and 60,000 men in our company".

title: 1369

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Hundred Years' War: Charles V of France recaptures most of Aquitaine from the English.

title: 1369

date: January

text: January – Edward the Black Prince, gives up the administration of Aquitaine and returns to England, because of his poor health and heavy debts.

title: 1371

date: May 18

text: May 18 – The Treaty of Bourges is signed between King Henry IV of England and Charles, Duke of Orléans, as the Armagnacs offer England full sovereignty over Aquitaine and Gascony in return for 4,000 troops and military aid against the Burgundians and John the Fearless.

title: 1412


slug: arab-muslims

label: Arab Muslims

description: adherents of Islam who identify ethnically, linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs

section: Health & Medicine

text: Plague of Emmaus: An epidemic disease which has broken out in Emmaus (Imwas) in Palestine strikes the city and the military camps of the Muslim Arabs, killing most of its population (estimated at 25,000 people) until it subsides in October.

title: 639

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

date: July 6

text: July 6 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army (15,000 men) under Amr ibn al-As defeats the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). Amr divides his troops into three parts, surrounding the Byzantines.

title: 640

section: Events › By place › Africa

text: Arab-Byzantine War: Alexandria is recaptured by the Muslim Arabs, after a Byzantine attempt (see 645) to retake Egypt fails, ending nearly 1,000 years of rule by Greco-Roman states in the city.

title: 646

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: December 8

text: December 8 – Battle of the Camel: Rebel Arabs under Aisha (widow of Muhammad) begin a revolt against Ali. They are defeated at Basra, and Aisha is exiled to Medina. During the battle 10,000 people lose their lives, with each party bearing equal loss.

title: 656

text: Spring – Arab forces that have taken Chalcedon, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, threaten the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The Muslim-Arabs are decimated by famine and disease. Yazid, the Arab commander, retreats to the island of Cyzicus (modern Turkey).

title: 669

text: A Muslim Arab army led by Uqba ibn Nafi reaches Morocco, before being forced back into Cyrene by the Berbers.

title: 681

text: Battle of Sebastopolis: The Byzantine army under Leontius is defeated at Sebastopolis, (modern Turkey) by Arab forces led by Muhammad ibn Marwan. During the battle, a "special military corps" (some 20,000 Slavs) under Neboulos deserts the Byzantine lines, and goes over to the Muslim Arabs.

title: 692

text: Musa ibn Nusayr defeats the Berber forces in Algeria, ending resistance against the Arabs (approximate date).

title: 700

text: Arab conquest of Armenia: The Muslim Arabs under Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik (a son of caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan) invade Armenia and subdue the anti-Arab revolt along with his uncle Muhammad ibn Marwan.

title: 704

text: The Muslim-Arabs conquer the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea (approximate date).

title: AD 707

text: Umayyad conquest of Transoxiana: The first Turgesh attack on Muslim-Arabs in Transoxiana leads to the siege and relief of the Umayyad garrison at the fortress of Qasr al-Bahili, near Samarkand (or 721).

title: 720

text: A Muslim fleet raids the Byzantine-ruled Balearic Islands, as well as Byzantine Sardinia and Lombard Corsica.

title: 724

text: Arab–Khazar War: The Khazars drive back the Muslim invasion, led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, into Mesopotamia. Reinforced with Syrian troops, Maslama counterattacks and takes Georgia, establishing the northern frontier on the Caucasus.

title: AD 727

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: Battle of the Defile: An Umayyad relief army (28,000 men) is sent to Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan), which is besieged by the Turgesh. The Muslims are ambushed near the Zarafshan Range, at the Tashtakaracha Pass. The battle results in a Pyrrhic victory, with heavy casualties for the Umayyad army, halting Muslim expansion in Central Asia for almost two decades.

title: 731

text: Arab–Byzantine Wars: Taking advantage of discontent among the Muslim Arabs, Emperor Constantine V invades Syria, and captures Germanikeia (modern Turkey). He organises the resettlement of part of the local Christian population in Thrace.

title: 746

date: December 9

text: December 9 – Nasr ibn Sayyar, Arab governor of Khorasan, dies after a 10-year administration in which he has fought vigorously against dissident tribes, Turgesh neighbors, and the Abbasids. Nasr had imposed poll taxes (jizya) on non-Muslims, and introduced a system of land taxation for Muslim Arabs.

title: 748

text: Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri launches an assault on the island of Sardinia, perhaps the beginning of the occupation of the island by the Muslim Arabs that lasts until 1005. He also attempts to invade Sicily, but finds the defenses too strong.

title: 752

text: Siege of Narbonne: Pepin III lays siege to the fortress city of Narbonne, occupied by Gothic-Muslim forces. The garrison and residents are able to withstand the attacks, thanks to the supplies provided by sea by the Arab fleet.

title: 752

date: September 14

text: September 14 – Emperor Constantine V dies while on a campaign in Bulgaria. In his 34-year reign he has suppressed monasticism and image worship, restored aqueducts, revived commerce, and repopulated Constantinople. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old son Leo IV ("the Khazar"), who continues Constantine's campaigns against the Bulgars and Muslim Arabs.

title: 775

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Leo IV ("the Khazar") repulses an Abbasid invasion in Anatolia. A Byzantine expeditionary force under Michael Lachanodrakon, military governor (strategos) of the Thracesian Theme, defeats the Muslim-Arabs at the fortress city of Germanikeia in Cilicia (modern Turkey). He plunders the region and takes many captives, mostly Jacobites, who are resettled in Thrace.

title: 778

section: Events › By place › Arab Caliphate and Byzantine Empire

text: Arab traders make Baghdad a financial center of the Silk Road between China and Europe. Caravans carry little or no money on their long journeys; Chinese traders use what they call fei qian (zh) ("flying money") to avoid robbery. The Arabs have adopted a similar banking system known as hawala to transmit funds (approximate date).

title: 793

section: Events › By topic › Commerce

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: A paper mill begins production at Baghdad during the Abbasid era, as the Arabs spread the techniques developed by Chinese papermakers. Baghdad becomes a great seat of learning, with Christian and Jewish scholars as well as Muslims, while Europe remains largely unlettered. The Arabs will become the world's most proficient papermakers.

title: 794

section: Events › By topic › Communication

text: King Alfonso II of Asturias campaigns against the Arab Muslims in Al-Andalus. With Frankish military support, he raids into Andalusia and sacks Lisbon (modern Portugal).

title: 798

section: Events › By place › Iberia

text: Battle of Krasos: Emperor Nikephoros I refuses to pay the tribute imposed by Caliph Harun al-Rashid of the Abbasid Caliphate. A Muslim-Arab expeditionary force invades Asia Minor. During a surprise attack, Nikephoros suffers a major defeat against the Saracens at Krasos in Phrygia. According to Arabian sources, the Byzantines lose 40,700 men and 4,000 pack animals, while Nikephoros himself is almost killed, but saved by the bravery of his officers.

title: 804

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate

text: Ziyadat Allah I becomes the third Aghlabid emir of Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia). During his rule, the relationship between the Aghlabid Dynasty and the Arab troops remains strained.

title: 817

section: Events › By place › North Africa

text: Summer – Muslim Arabs under Caliph Al-Ma'mun launch an invasion into Anatolia (modern Turkey), and capture a number of Byzantine forts. Heraclea Cybistra and Tyana fall to the Arabs.

title: 831

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Empire and Byzantine Empire

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Emperor Theophilos dies of dysentery at Constantinople, after a 12-year reign in which he expended much effort defending the eastern frontier against the invading Muslim Arabs. Theophilos is succeeded by his 2-year-old son Michael III, with his mother Theodora as regent and the 'temporary' sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

title: 842

text: Summer – A Byzantine expedition, led by Theoktistos, conquers Crete from the Saracens. After initial success, he is forced to abandon his army, due to political intrigues in Constantinople. The troops are left behind and slaughtered by the Arabs.

title: 843

text: Spring – Battle of Mauropotamos: A Byzantine expedition under Theoktistos is sent to Anatolia (modern Turkey), against the Muslim Arabs of the Abbasid Caliphate, who have raided the Byzantine themes of Cappadocia, Anatolikon, Boukellarion, and Opsikion. The Byzantines are defeated, and many of the officers defect to the Arabs.

title: 844

text: The Mozarabs, Iberian Christians who live under Moorish rule, try to repopulate León in Al-Andalus (modern Spain). The city is recaptured by the Muslim Arabs.

title: 846

text: Muslim Arab forces under Muhammad II, emir of the Aghlabid Dynasty (modern Tunisia), conquer the island of Malta and raid into the mainland of Italy.

title: 868

text: Summer – Emperor Basil I allies with the Frankish emperor Louis II against the Saracens. He sends a Byzantine fleet of 400 ships (according to the Annales Bertiniani), under the command of Admiral Niketas Ooryphas, to support Louis (who is besieging the city port of Bari) and to clear the south of the Adriatic Sea of Muslim raiders.

title: 869

text: Byzantine–Arab War: A Muslim expeditionary force, led by Halaf al-Hadim, Arab governor of Sicily, conquers Malta. He is welcomed by the local Christian inhabitants as liberator of the agonizing Byzantine yoke. The Muslims sign a treaty with the Christians to live in peace after liberating the island from the Byzantines.

title: 870

text: Constantine VII concludes a Rus'–Byzantine treaty in which Rus' merchants are to conduct their trade in Constantinople. While many Rus' make their fortunes in trade with the Arab Muslims, the Rurik Dynasty of Kiev grows rich from Byzantine commerce.

title: 945

text: The Byzantine general George Maniakes captures Edessa from the Arab Muslims and stabilizes the eastern frontier.

title: 1031

section: Events › By place › Middle East


slug: arab-people

label: Arab people

year_label: 656 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: King Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon forms a secret alliance with Arabs, Aramaeans, Elamites, Persians, and Egyptians against his half brother Ashurbanipal.

title: 656 BC

section: Events › By place › Assyria

section: Religion & Belief

text: Ridda Wars: Abu Bakr, caliph (khalifa) of the Rashidun Caliphate, launches a military campaign against the Arab tribe of Kinda, which inhabits the region of Najran (Yemen).

title: 633

section: Events › By place › Arabia

text: Alexandria revolts against Arab rule, at the appearance of a Byzantine fleet of 300 ships, and Byzantine forces recapture the city. Abdullah ibn Sa'ad, Arab governor of Egypt, mounts an assault and retakes it. He begins building a Muslim fleet.

title: 645

section: Crime & Justice

text: King Yazdegerd III of Persia is murdered in a miller's hut near Merv by his followers, ending both Persian resistance to Arab conquest, and the Sassanid Empire.

title: 651

section: Events › By place › Persia

text: Emperor Constans II voluntarily surrenders Armenia to the Arabs, following a truce with Muawiyah, governor of Syria. Muawiyah grants the Armenians virtual autonomy, and appoints the nakharar Theodor Rshtuni as ruler of Armenia.

title: 653

text: Muslim Conquest: An Arab army (40,000 men) advances through the desert, and captures the Byzantine city of Barca (Libya).

title: 665

text: Arab forces conquer the Garamantes in the Sahara desert (Libya).

title: 668

text: Arab conquest of Armenia: Umayyad prince Muhammad ibn Marwan invades the Byzantine Armenian provinces east of the Euphrates; local commander Baanes surrenders before a large Arab army, and the population accepts a Muslim governor.

title: 701

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Arab forces gain power in Central Asia, as Qutayba ibn Muslim becomes governor of Khorasan. The region has grown rich from trade with China and Eastern Europe, its merchants dealing in silk, furs, amber, honey, and walrus ivory. During his rule, Qutayba subjugates the mercantile cities of Bukhara and Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan), as well as the Oxus delta area of Khwarezm, south of the Aral Sea.

title: 705

text: After two years of failed efforts, Qutayba ibn Muslim captures Bukhara (Uzbekistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. The Hephthalite princes of Tokharistan rebel against the Arabs, but are swiftly subdued by Qutayba.

title: 709

text: An Arab army is invited into Ceuta by its governor, Julian, who is an opponent of Roderick. He encourages them to invade the Iberian Peninsula. Tariq ibn Ziyad is appointed governor of Tangier (Morocco), and establishes a Moorish garrison of 1,700 men.

title: 710

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Arab–Byzantine wars: The Umayyad Arabs under al-Abbas ibn al-Walid, son of caliph al-Walid I, sack Antioch in Pisidia (modern Turkey), which never recovers.

title: 713

text: Umayyad conquest of Gaul (first major Muslim attack upon Visigothic Septimania, in southern France): Governor Al-Samh takes or re-takes Narbonne (Arbouna for the Arabs), before raiding the Toulouse area. Many town defenders and inhabitants are killed in the aftermath by the Umayyad forces.

title: 719

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: November 19

text: November 19 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel, when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

title: 1977

section: Events › November


slug: arabbyzantine-wars

label: Arab–Byzantine wars

description: series of wars between the 7th and 11th centuries

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Heraclius, ill, infirm, and unpopular with the Eastern Orthodox Church, is unable to personally lead the Byzantine army to resist the Muslim conquest of the Levant. He sends his brother Theodore to assemble forces to retake the newly won Muslim territories. Monophysites and Jews throughout Syria welcome the Arab invaders, as they are discontented with Byzantine rule.

title: 634

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Heraclius assembles a large army consisting of contingents of Byzantines, Slavs, Franks, Georgians, Armenians, and Christian Arabs. He establishes a base at Yaqusah (near Gadara), close to the edge of the Golan Heights, protecting the vital main road from Egypt to Damascus. The base is protected by deep valleys and precipitous cliffs, well supplied with water and grazing.

title: 636

text: Arab-Byzantine War: The invading Rashidun army under Khalid ibn al-Walid moves into Anatolia, conquering (without strong Byzantine resistance) the cities of Kahramanmaraş, Caesarea Cappadociae, Sebastia, and Malatya (west of the Taurus Mountains). Arab forces march into Armenia, where they capture the cities Edessa and Amida up to the Ararat plain.

title: 638

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: The Rashidun army (4,000 men), under the command of 'Amr ibn al-'As, invades Byzantine Egypt. They capture the strategic town of Pelusium (Nile Delta) after a two-month siege. Arab reinforcements led by Zubayr ibn al-Awwam are sent from Medina to assist Amr's army. The losses incurred by the Muslims are ameliorated by Sinai Bedouins, tribes of Rashida and Lakhm; they join the invaders in conquering Egypt.

title: 639

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Arab armies continue their military expansion into North Africa and lay siege to Tripoli. The city is captured after one month.

title: 643

section: Events › By place › Africa

text: Arab-Byzantine War: Alexandria is recaptured by the Muslim Arabs, after a Byzantine attempt (see 645) to retake Egypt fails, ending nearly 1,000 years of rule by Greco-Roman states in the city.

title: 646

text: Arab–Byzantine War: An Arab army (20,000 men) under Abdullah ibn Sa'ad invades the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa. It conquers Tripolitania and the city of Sufetula, 150 miles (240 km) south of Carthage.

title: 647

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Arab naval forces under Abdullah ibn Saad conquer Cyprus, sacking the capital Constantia after a short siege, and looting the rest of the island. The Cypriots agree to pay the same revenue as they have done to Emperor Constans II.

title: 649

text: Arab–Byzantine War: An Arab fleet under Abdullah ibn Sa'ad defeats the Byzantine fleet (500 ships) off the coast of Alexandria.

title: 652

section: Events › By place › Arab Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Constans II signs a peace treaty with the Rashidun Caliphate. He uses the pause to strengthen his defences, and consolidates Byzantine control over Armenia. Constans establishes the themata, dividing territorial command in Anatolia.

title: 659

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Caliph Muawiyah I launches a series of attacks against Byzantine holdings in Africa, Sicily and the East.

title: 667

text: Arab-Byzantine War: The Arab fleet dominates the Aegean Sea and conquers the strategic islands, Rhodes, Cos and Chios. The shore on the southern part of Sea of Marmara is taken, providing an excellent base at Cyzicus to begin the blockade of Constantinople by sea.

title: 670

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Muslims conquer Armenia, Iberia and Colchis, the last remaining Byzantine holdings east of the Taurus Mountains. Emperor Justinian II is forced to agree to joint Byzantine-Arab control of Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (approximate date).

title: 692

text: Arab–Byzantine War: The Umayyad army under Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik captures Mopsuestia in Cilicia from the Byzantines, and refortifies it, making it the first major Muslim stronghold in the area that will later become the Thughur.

title: 703

text: Arab–Byzantine War: A Byzantine expeditionary force under Heraclius (brother of Tiberios III) defeats and destroys an Umayyad army (10,000 men) at Sisium (modern Turkey) under Yazid ibn Hunayn, killing most and leading the others off in chains to Constantinople.

title: 704

text: Arab–Byzantine War: An Umayyad army under Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik invades Asia Minor, and lays siege to Tyana (Cappadocia). The fortress city resists, dragging the siege through the winter and into 708.

title: AD 707

text: Arab–Byzantine War: The Umayyads under Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik capture and sack the Byzantine city of Tyana (Cappadocia) after a prolonged siege, and following a victory over a Byzantine relief army. Maslamah also leads another expedition in the summer, raiding and conquering Amorium (modern Turkey).

title: 708

text: Arab–Byzantine War: An Umayyad army under Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik raids Isauria (modern Turkey). He is appointed military governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan, succeeding his uncle Muhammad ibn Marwan.

title: 709

title: 713

text: Arab-Byzantine Wars: Umayyad Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd Al-Malik begins the preparations for his campaign on Constantinople; he orders new ships be built in the port-cities in Palestine, Egypt & Ifriqiya. General Umar ibn Hubayra raids southern Anatolia by sea and conquers Lycia, where another Arab fleet joins him, and they spend winter. As the navy advances, Sulayman sends land armies into Anatolia, which settle at Caesarea.

title: 716

section: Events › Byzantine Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Muslim general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik leads his army of 80,000 men from Pergamum to Abydos, where he crosses the Hellespont. To prevent interference by the Bulgars, or by any Byzantine forces in Thrace, he sends part of his army to a covering position near Adrianople; with his main body, Maslama builds siege lines to blockade Constantinople, which is protected by the massive Theodosian Walls.

title: 717

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Muslim forces under Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik resume their expedition against Anatolia (modern Turkey). In a large-scale raid they plunder the fortress city of Caesarea.

title: 726

date: September

text: September–October – Umayyad forces sack the Byzantine fortress of Charsianon in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), which remains a contested stronghold during the next century of Byzantine–Arab warfare.

title: 730

text: Arab-Byzantine Wars: Arab forces under Mu’awiya ibn Hisham penetrate deep into Anatolia and conquer the cities of Antalya, Doralyum and Afyonkarahisar. These conquests differ from previous ones, as Arab military settling occurs in them, making them a base to raid Byzantium.

title: 733

text: Arab-Byzantine Wars: Arab forces under Sulayman ibn Hisham invade Anatolia, reaching as far as Herakleia, and return with much wealth and livestock.

title: 742

text: Arab–Byzantine Wars – Battle of Keramaia: The Byzantine navy scores a crushing victory over the Umayyad Egyptian fleet.

title: 746

text: Arab–Byzantine Wars: Taking advantage of discontent among the Muslim Arabs, Emperor Constantine V invades Syria, and captures Germanikeia (modern Turkey). He organises the resettlement of part of the local Christian population in Thrace.

title: 746

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Constantine V destroys the Arab fleet off Cyprus, with the aid of ships from the Italian city-states, breaking the naval power of the Umayyad Caliphate.

title: AD 747

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Leo IV ("the Khazar") repulses an Abbasid invasion in Anatolia. A Byzantine expeditionary force under Michael Lachanodrakon, military governor (strategos) of the Thracesian Theme, defeats the Muslim-Arabs at the fortress city of Germanikeia in Cilicia (modern Turkey). He plunders the region and takes many captives, mostly Jacobites, who are resettled in Thrace.

title: 778

section: Events › By place › Arab Caliphate and Byzantine Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine wars: An Abbasid fleet under Humayd ibn Ma'yuf al-Hajuri raids Cyprus, carrying off 16,000 inhabitants as slaves.

title: 806

text: Arab–Byzantine wars: Caliph Harun al-Rashid leads a huge military expedition, assembling men from Syria, Palestine, Persia, and Egypt. The invasion army (reportedly 135,000 men) departs from Raqqa, residence of Harun, and enters Cappadocia through the Cilician Gates, sacking several Byzantine fortresses and cities. Heraclea is captured after a month-long siege (August/September). The city is plundered and razed; its inhabitants are enslaved and deported to the Abbasid Caliphate.

title: 806

section: Health & Medicine

text: Byzantine–Arab War: Muslim reinforcements from Ifriqiya and Al-Andalus (modern Spain) defeat Byzantine forces under Theodotus in Sicily, but a plague once again compels them to retreat to Mazara del Vallo, and evacuate to North Africa.

title: 830

text: Byzantine-Arab War: Emperor Theophilos signs an armistice for peace with the Abbasid Caliphate. He offers Caliph Al-Ma'mun 100,000 gold dinars, in return for 7,000 Byzantine prisoners.

title: 833

text: Byzantine–Arab War: A prisoner exchange occurs between the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate, at the River Lamos in Cilicia (modern Turkey). The exchanges last for 10 days, and the Byzantines recover 4,600 prisoners.

title: 845

text: Byzantine–Arab War: A Muslim expeditionary force, led by Halaf al-Hadim, Arab governor of Sicily, conquers Malta. He is welcomed by the local Christian inhabitants as liberator of the agonizing Byzantine yoke. The Muslims sign a treaty with the Christians to live in peace after liberating the island from the Byzantines.

title: 870

text: Arab–Byzantine wars: Emperor Leo VI ("the Wise") begins an offensive against the Abbasid army in Cilicia, Upper Mesopotamia and Armenia. He also continues the war against the Muslims in Sicily and southern Italy.

title: 900

text: Arab–Byzantine War: The Byzantines under Andronikos Doukas, along with Eustathios Argyros, campaign against the Abbasids and defeat the Muslim garrisons of Mopsuestia and Tarsus, near Marash (modern Turkey).

title: 904

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Byzantine forces are defeated by Sayf al-Dawla. He captures the city of Aleppo, and extends his control over the Al-Jazira–Upper Mesopotamia region. Al-Dawla's rule is recognized by the Ikhshidids. With the recovery of Edessa, the Greeks also obtain the fabled Image of Edessa.

title: 944

text: Arab–Byzantine War: A Hamdanid army (30,000 men) led by Sayf al-Dawla raids into Byzantine theme Anatolia. He defeats Bardas Phokas, but is then ambushed on his return and heavily defeated by Leo Phokas.

title: 950

date: December

text: December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine expeditionary force under General Nikephoros Phokas invades northern Syria, and sacks Aleppo, capital of the Hamdanid emir Sayf al-Dawla. In late December Aleppo is taken by storm, with the population killed or enslaved; the city is razed. The Byzantine army takes possession of 390,000 silver dinars, 2,000 camels and 1,400 mules.

title: 962

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II continues the reconquest of south-eastern Anatolia (modern Turkey). He recaptured Cyprus through Niketas Chalkoutzes, and reorganizes the conquered lands into new themes. In the summer, they take the fortress cities of Anazarbus and Adana. Byzantine troops under General John Tzimiskes besiege Mopsuestia, but with the coming of winter he is forced to retreat to Caesarea.

title: 964

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II conquers the fortress cities of Tarsus and Mopsuestia. The Muslim residents abandon the defense and flee into Syria. Nikephoros completes the conquest of Cilicia; Muslim raids into Anatolia (modern Turkey) permanently cease. Byzantine troops under General Niketas Chalkoutzes occupy Cyprus, liberating the Greek population from Muslim domination.

title: 965

date: June 23

text: June 23 - Arab–Byzantine wars: A prisoner exchange occurs at the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Emirate of Aleppo at Samosata, headed by Emperor Nikephoros II and Sayf al-Dawla, the Emir of Aleppo. The Emirate receives 3,000 captured prisoners from the region of Cilicia, after its conquest by the Byzantine Emperor, as well as the poet Abu Firas al-Hamdani, who has previously been held prisoner by the Byzantines.

title: 966

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor John I raids Mesopotamia and invades Syria, using the Byzantine base at Antioch to press southwards to Tripoli. He conquers the cities of Baalbek, Damascus, Sidon, Tiberias and Caesarea, but fails to take Jerusalem.

title: 975

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Basil II launches a counter-campaign against the Fatimid Caliphate. He leads a Byzantine expeditionary army (13,000 men) to aid the Hamdanid emir Sa'id al-Dawla, and crosses Asia Minor in only sixteen days. Basil lifts the siege of Aleppo, and takes over the Orontes Valley. He incorporates Syria into the Byzantine Empire (including the larger city of Antioch) which is the seat of its eponymous Patriarch.

title: 995

section: Events › Asia › Byzantine Empire

text: Byzantine–Arab War: The Byzantines reconquer the fortress city of Edessa (modern Turkey), returning it to Christian hands, after 400 years of Islamic rule (approximate date).

title: 1042


slug: arabian-peninsula

label: Arabian Peninsula

description: peninsula in Western Asia

year_label: 26 BCE

section: Climate & Environment

text: Disastrous campaign of Aelius Gallus in the Arabian Peninsula, then known as "Arabia Felix".

title: 26 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Emperor Anastasius I concludes treaties with a number of nomad tribes in northern Arabia. In return for tribute to the Byzantine Empire and military defense of these eastern territories, such tribes are permitted to settle and farm agricultural lands in Arabia (approximate date).

title: AD 500

text: Traders from southern Arabia settle in northern Ethiopia.

title: AD 500

section: Conflict & Security

text: Roman–Persian Wars: King Kavad I, assisted by his Arabian vassal, Al-Mundhir III, begins a campaign in the Transcaucasus region and Upper Mesopotamia.

title: 526

text: Spring – Battle of Dara: Belisarius and Hermogenes (magister officiorum) defeat a combined Persian-Arab army of 50,000 men at Dara (modern Turkey), by entrenching his infantry in a refused position in the centre line, then carrying out a cavalry envelopment to culminate a classic defensive-offensive battleplan.

title: 530

text: Abraha, Christian ruler of coastal Yemen, who was acting as a general for the Christian kingdom in Abyssinia, begins a military expedition in Arabia against the predominantly pagan Quraysh of Mecca, known as the Year of the Elephant.

title: 570

text: The Persian Empire overthrows the Axumite- and Byzantine-affiliated regimes in Yemen (Arabian Peninsula).

title: 574

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: As a result of a quarrel between the Lakhmid kingdom (Southern Iraq) and King Khosrau II, the Persian frontier with Arabia is no longer guarded (approximate date).

title: 605

text: The Persians destroy the Ghassanid Kingdom (Arabia), a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire (approximate date).

title: 614

text: Summer – Muhammad, Islamic unifies all nomadic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, converts them to Islam and prepares an expedition against the Jews.

title: 629

date: March 18

text: March 18 – The Arabian Peninsula is united under the central authority of Abu Bakr. This sets the stage for the Islamic conquest of Persia and the fall of the Sassanid dynasty.

title: 633

text: The city of Basra (modern Iraq) is founded on the Shatt al-Arab, at the head of the Persian Gulf. The port will become a major trading center for commodities from Arabia, India, and Persia.

title: 636

text: Abu Musa al-Asha'ari, companion (sahabah) of Muhammad, establishes Hafar al-Batin, located in the northeastern region of the Arabian Peninsula. He orders the digging for new wells, along this desert route that Muslims travel from Iraq to Mecca for the Hajj (pilgrimage).

title: 638

text: Battle of Maskin: An Umayyad army under caliph Abd al-Malik defeats the rebel forces in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). He reconquers the Arabian Peninsula, taking the holy city of Medina.

title: 691

text: Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula destroy the then-Axum-controlled port of Adulis, thus causing the decline of Ethiopian Christianity on the African Red Sea coast (approximate date).

title: 701

text: Summer – Eudes of Aquitaine heads for the Frankish city of Reims, to warn Charles Martel, Merovingian mayor of the palace, of the Umayyad invasion in Gaul, and ask for his support against the invaders. The two leaders meet near Paris; Charles issues a 'general ban' to raise an army, which includes large numbers of Austrasians, Neustrians, and Burgundians. Meanwhile, Arabians ravage the cities of Périgueux, Saintes, and Angoulême, then sack the basilica of Saint-Hilaire outside Poitiers.

title: 732

text: Berke–Hulagu war: Mongol forces under Berke Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde, raid territory in the Caucasus belonging to his cousin Hulagu Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate. Berke supports the Georgian rebels and allies with the Mamluks. He defeats the Ilkhanate forces on the Terek River, together with the Mamluk army led by Baibars (or Abu al-Futuh), saving Palestine and Arabia from Ilkhanate occupation.

title: 1262

section: Events › By place › Mongol Empire

date: February 25

text: February 25 – Battle of al-Shihr on the Arabian Peninsula (in what is now Yemen): Troops from Portugal fight against the Kathiri Sultanate, ruled by the Emir Mutran bin Mansur. After a battle of one day, the Portuguese sack the capital, Al-Shihr, and establish a port on the Indian Ocean.

title: 1523

section: Events › January–March

date: January 8

text: January 8 – The General Maritime Treaty of 1820 is signed between the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah (later constituents of the Trucial States) in the Arabian Peninsula and the United Kingdom.

title: 1820

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: September 9

text: September 9 – The Dubai Metro, the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula, officials opens.

title: 2009

section: Events › September

date: February 3

text: February 3 – Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.

title: 2019

section: Events › February


slug: arabic-poetry

label: Arabic poetry

description: poetry produced in the Arabic language

section: Births

text: Al-Khansa, Arabic poet (d. 645)

title: 575

section: Religion & Belief

text: Muhammad meets Al-Khansa', Arabic poet, and converts her to Islam.

title: 629

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Deaths

text: Al-Khansa, Arabic poet (b. 575)

title: 645

text: Abu Tammam, Muslim poet (d. 845)

title: 788

text: Ibn al-Rumi, Muslim poet (d. 896)

title: 836

text: Abu Tammam, Muslim poet (b. 788)

title: 845

text: Ibn Abd Rabbih, Moorish writer and poet (d. 940)

title: 860

text: Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz, Muslim poet (d. 908)

title: 861

date: April 4

text: April 4 – Abu Firas al-Hamdani, Arab prince and poet (b. 932)

title: 968

text: Al-Sharif al-Radi, Persian Shi'ite scholar and poet (d. 1015)

title: 970

text: Ibn Abi Hasina, Arab poet and panegyrist (d. 1065)

title: 998

text: Ibn Hayyus, Syrian poet and panegyrist (d. 1081)

title: 1003

date: July 22

text: July 22 – Ibn Abi Hasina, Arab poet and panegyrist (b. 998)

title: 1065

text: January/February – Ibn Hayyus, Syrian poet and panegyrist (b. 1003)

title: 1081