THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ARAB MUSLIM CIVILIZATION

6th Century / Bedouin pastoralists; society = tribes, clans, kin, blood feuds; courage society plagued by warfare
Religious traditions include animism, gods, each tribe had a chief deity; society male oriented
500 CE / Few oasis towns linked by trading caravans to SW Asia; some sedentary agriculture in oases, Yemen
Towns center of Christian, Jewish ideas; Mecca center of polytheistic pilgrimage to Kaaba
595 CE / Muhammad married rich widow; women had economic roles, sat in councils; many female poets
Some evidence of matrilineal inheritance; men paid bride price
610 CE / Muhammad gets message of Islam: Koran, 5 Pillars: preaching not accepted by polytheist Meccans
622 CE / Muhammad flees to Medina, sets up Muslim state; decrees toleration of Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians
630 CE / Conquered Mecca, destroyed Kaaba idols; creates absolutist theocracy backed by Bedouin army
632 CE / Muhammad’s pilgrimage to Mecca set model required of all faithful Muslims
634 CE / 1st Caliph Abu Bakr becomes caliph after Muhammad’s death; conquest of Arabia complete
640 CE / Arabs build garrison towns, cities; establish taxation: Muslims tithe, non-Muslims pay head, land tax
644 CE / 2nd Caliph Omar conquered Persian Empire; conquered Egypt, Syria from Byzantines;
Arabs form ruling, commercial elite; majority of subjects include free farmers, herdsmen, serfs, slaves
650 – 800 CE / Arab maritime trade in Indian Ocean facilitates exchanges of ideas, diseases, people, goods, crops
652 CE / Muslims establish peace treaty with Christian Nubians which lasts 500 years; trade, exchanges arise
655 CE / Rise of Arab navy, maritime skills leads to Muslim conquest of Sicily, Crete, Sardinia, Cyprus
656 CE / 3rd Caliph Uthman moves capital to Damascus; ordered compilation of official Koran
657 CE / Foundation of Kharijis sect of Islam: egalitarian form denouncing ethnic, class differences
661 CE / 4th Calpih Ali assassinated during civil war; new Umayyad Dynasty supports majority Muslims (Sunni)
7th Century / Office of Caliph becomes hereditary; Arab conquest state, small Arab Muslim military aristocracy
Decentralized government, local governors; foreign bureaucrats, non-Arab Muslims denied influence
680 CE / Wars with Byzantine Empire, Armenia reach relative stalemate; diplomatic relations, trade follows
684 CE / Split of Shia, Sunni; Shia rejected traditions not in Quran, await messiah, popular with non-Arabs
685 CE / Arabic official language of the empire, replaces Greek, Aramaic, Coptic; Quran only written in Arabic
692 CE / Dome of the Rock Mosque completed, uses geometry as style; all prayers oriented towards Mecca
697 CE / Gold, silver coins introduced for trade, tax; coins in Arabic, no images allowed on coins, in art
8th Century / Growth of non-Arab Muslims; majority subjects were People of the Book, paid taxes, cultural autonomy
Elites were bureaucrats, merchants, landlords; Quran accepts wealth, merchants if they tithe to poor
8th Century / Cities become manufacturing centers; industry dominated by textiles, leather, metal, glass, pottery
Muslim law based on Quran, teachings of prophet, analogy, consensus of scholars; governs life
711 – 713 CE / Muslim conquest of river valleys of Central Asia, Indus River; no permanent settlement, raid and tribute
715 CE / Grand Mosque in Damascus blended Arab austerity, geometric shapes with Byzantine dome, arches
718 CE / Conquest of North Africa, Spain; Berber nomads convert to Shia Islam; North African merchants
Introduce Islam to West Africa; success leads to rise of Trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, ivory
730 CE / Arab tribes migrate to North Africa, displaced Berbers in Egypt, Libya; Arab administrators settle cities
732 CE / Franks stop Muslim invasion of Europe at Tours; Christian states in Northern Iberia resist Islam
737 CE / War with Turkish Khazars in Southern Russia establish a raid, trade, tribute pattern for 200 years
750 CE / Umayyad princes murdered; Abbasids establish new dynasty, revolution ended Arab caste supremacy
Empire reaches largest extent; extensive trade, commerce link increasingly urban culture
751 CE / Battle of Talas – Muslims acquire paper from Chinese; Arabs establish paper factories, printing, books
754 CE / Caliph al-Mansur centralized bureauracy; used Persians as bureaucrats; Persian is language of elite
756 CE / Muslim rival caliphate in Spain; beginning of breakaway Muslim states in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
786 CE / Harun al Rashid built new capital in Baghdad; government, bureaucracy dominated by Persians
788 CE / Independent Shia caliphate in Morocco supported by Berber pastoralists resisting Bedouin migrations
789 CE / Al-Khayzuran, wife of caliph, mother of two caliphs creates tradition of harem politics, influences state
9th Century / Agriculture flourishes; great variety of crops; large estates; lands increasingly worked by serfs, slaves
830 CE / House of Wisdom founded in Baghdad, translates Greek, Syriac into Arabic; world center of learning
833 CE / Military units of Turks, slaves first used; replace Arab, tribal armies; becomes model in Muslim world
836 CE / Government, caliph dependent on large Turkish bodyguards; government increasingly isolated
847 CE / Al Khwarizmi died; great mathematician who introduced Arabs to Hindu numbers, zero, decimals
850 CE / Hadith or sayings attributed to Muhammad compiled, used as part of Sunni tradition, denied by Shia
868 CE / Independent caliphate in Egypt; Abbasids increasingly limited to rule of Fertile Crescent, Arabia
869 CE / Black slave rebellion in Iraq; slaves labored in domestic, commercial, military occupations
In Quran, slavery permitted, only non-Muslims could be slaves; lucrative slave trade of all races
897 CE / Rebellion of Shia Ismaili Muslims; demand social justice, use violence against other Islamic rulers
10th Century / 50% of population Muslim; class of religious leaders, scholars (ulama) emerged
Great prosperity based on control of trade routes, internal trade; wide exchange of goods, products
New technologies, sugarcane, cotton, rice, citrus: improved farming yields, diets: population increases
912 CE / Cordoba in Spain the intellectual center of Europe, center of Muslim learning, arts, culture
Merchants, scholars, artists, artisans, writers, professionals arise as a large, influential class in cities
925 CE / Death of al-Razi: diagnosed many diseases, based studies on observation; taught women birth control
934 – 940 CE / Caliphate bankrupt; hedonistic lifestyles overtax treasury; breakdown of irrigation in Iraq direct result
940 CE / Semi-independent dynasties of Shia, Berber, Persians, Kurds fragment Arab empire, increase warfare
945 CE / Persian Buyids reduce caliphs to puppets; decline of women in society; use of veil, harem common
950 CE / Development of Sufi orders as centers of prayer, instruction, pilgrimage; worship of saints arises
Emergence of madrasa, Muslim religious college funded by wealthy; studies – religion, law, Arabic
969 CE / Shia Fatimids in Egypt, rivals Abbasids; land prosperous, agriculture flourished; control spice trade
969 CE / Cairo (Egypt) founded as military, government center; becomes commercial, cultural center of Muslims
980 CE / Ibn Sina authority on medicine; cities had dispensaries, apothecaries, hospitals, medical schools
11th Century / Migration of pastoral Turks into SW Asia; flocks ruin farmland, disrupt irrigation; agriculture declines
1050 CE / Travel, trade by caravan, ship – wheeled transport declines; goods, people, ideas move across borders
1055 CE / Muslim Seljuk Turks capture Baghdad, create military sultans as real power behind caliph
1071 CE / Seljuks drive Byzantines out of Anatolia; establish independent Muslim sultanate in modern Turkey
1090 CE / Seljuks pay troops with grants of serfs, land; grants become hereditary, practice spreads in SW Asia
1090 CE / Assassins (Shia Ismaili) sect spread terror through assassinations of leading Muslim leaders
1096 CE / 1st of eight crusades by Christians; crusades revived commerce, exchanges between Europe, SW Asia
1126 CE / Ibn Rush leading philosopher; Muslims translate Greek classics of Aristotle, Plato into Arabic
1180 CE / Caliph al-Nasir supports brotherhoods, guilds organizing craftsmen, city workers around social justice
1204 CE / Death of Maimonides, Jewish scholar, doctor to Sultan of Egypt; Jewish community wealthy, influential
1250 CE / Mameluk slave soldiers come to power in Egypt; soldiers, administrators rule through local Arabs
1258 CE / Baghdad sacked by Mongols; last Abbasid caliph murdered; conquered Iraq, Anatolia, Iran, Caucasus
1260 CE / Mameluks of Egypt halt Mongol advance, seize Syria, Palestine, Holy Cities in Arabia

PERIODIZATION

Based on the Chronology Chart, determine the characteristics of each period as well as the reasons for each of the beginning and ending dates.

Arabia to 622 CE

Arab World 622 to 868 CE

Arab World 868 to 1258 CE

CHANGE OVER TIME BY CHRONOLOGICAL PERIOD

THEME

Patterns, impacts of interaction amongst major societies:
trade, exchanges, diplomacy, war, and international organizations
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

THEME

Changes in functions and structures of states, attitudes towards states, inc. identities,
political parties (the political culture) and emergence of the nation-state
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

CHANGE OVER TIME BY CHRONOLOGICAL PERIOD:

THEME

Impact of demography on people and the environment including migration, population growth and decline, disease, urbanization, environmental degradation, and agriculture
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

THEME

Impact of technology including agricultural techniques, weaponry, manufacturing, transportation and communications systems, and inventions
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

CHANGE OVER TIME BY CHRONOLOGICAL PERIOD

THEME

Religious, intellectual, cultural, and artistic aspects, developments,
interactions among and within societies
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

THEME

Systems of social, economic and gender structure
including inequalities and work or labor systems
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

CHANGE OVER TIME BY CHRONOLOGICAL PERIOD

THEME

The relationship of change and continuity between chronological periods
What led to the changes or continuities between each periods?
EARLY MEDIEVAL
TO 622 CE
HIGH MEDIEVAL
622 to 868 CE
LATE MEDIEVAL
868 to 1258 CE

What would be a good thesis sentence to describe the change over time between the beginning of the Post-Classical (Medieval) Period and the conquest of the Arabs by the Mongols, Turks, and Mameluks? Write one using at least three of the themes.

NAME: ______PERIOD: ______DATE: ______

CHART: CHANGE OVER TIME OF MUSLIM WORLD

Summarize the time period – use SCRIPTED. Do at least three themes

BEGINNING

TIME

PERIOD:

Dates:

Key continuities from

previous period /

Key changes from

previous period

/ Explain why change or continuity occurred

INTERIM

TIME

PERIOD

Dates:

END

TIME

PERIOD

Date: