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This timeline tries to compile dates of important historical events that happened in or that lead to the rise of the Middle East. The Middle East is the territory that comprises today's Egypt, the Persian Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Yemen. The Middle East with its particular characteristics was not to emerge until late second millennium AD. To refer to a concept similar that of today's Middle East but earlier in time, the term Ancient Near East is used.
This list is intended as a timeline of the history of the Middle East. For more detailed information, see articles on the histories of individual countries. See Ancient Near East for ancient history of the Middle East. The middle east is a place of conflict.
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Contents |
Neolithic period
8th millennium B.C.E.
- Circa 8000 BCE – Settlements at Nevali Cori in present-day Turkey are established.
- Circa 7500 BCE – Çatalhöyük, a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, is founded.
- Settlements at Sagalassos in present-day southwest Turkey are established.
- Domestication of sheep in Southwest Asia
- Circa 7000 BCE – Jarmo
7th millennium BCE
- First pottery in Mesopotamia
- Domestication of the cow in the Middle East
6th millennium BCE
- September 1, 5509 BCE – "day of creation of the world" (according to the Byzantine Empire) and the beginning of their calendar.
- 5403 BCE – "Date of the Descending of Adam & Eve to earth" (according to the extended Genesis Genealogy).
- Around 5400 BCE – Irrigation in Mesopotamia.
- circa 5600 BCE – According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with salt water. Some 3000 cubic miles (12,500 km³) of salt water is added, significantly expanding it and transforming it from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt-water sea.
- Agriculture appears in the valley of the Nile
- Wheel and plough both invented in ancient Mesopotamia
- Around 5100 BCE – Temples founded in South Mesopotamia
5th millennium BCE
- c. 4500 BCE – Civilization of Susa and Kish in Mesopotamia
- c. Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
70 BCE–4250 BCE – Merimde culture on the Nile
- c. 4400 BCE–4000 BCE – Badari culture on the Nile
- c. 4000 BCE - first examples of Sumerian writing in Mesopotamia
Ancient Near East
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It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Timeline of the Ancient Near East, accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss) |
4th millennium BCE
- City of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BCE).
- Naqada culture on the Nile, 4000 BCE–3000 BCE.
- Epoch of the modern Hebrew Calendar occurred on 7 October 3761 BCE.
- Some interpretations of Jewish chronology date creation to 25 September or March 29 3760 BCE.
- Civilization of Sumer, city-states (36th century BCE).
- First to Fourth dynasty of Kish in Mesopotamia.
- c. 3100 BCE - King Narmer unifies the Upper and Lower Egyptian Kingdoms, and gives birth to the world's first nation.The Narmer Palette is believed to be the historical record of this event: Egypt.
- 35th century BCE - beginning of desertification of Sahara. The shift by the Sahara Desert from a habitable region to a barren desert.
- Ur-Nina first king of Lagash (ca. 34th century), the earliest historical person known by name.
- Beginnings of urbanisation in Mesopotamia with the Sumerians.
- First cities in Egypt (35th century BCE).
- First writings in the cities of Uruk and Susa (cuneiform writings). Hieroglyphs in Egypt.
- Potter's wheel used in Middle East.
- Sails used in the Nile.
- Archaic Period of Ancient Egypt
(see also Sumer: Ur, Uruk, Kish, Susa)
3rd millennium BCE
- First ziggurats built in Sumer
- Near East civilizations enter Bronze Age around 3000 BCE
- Completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza
- Invention of Wheel somewhere in Mesopotamia
2nd millennium BCE
- Middle Kingdom of Egypt
- New Kingdom of Egypt
- Babylonia, second dynasty of Babylon
- Assyria
- Aleppo
- Hittites
- Mitanni
- Hurrians
- Luwians
- Canaan: Ugarit, Kadesh, Megiddo, Kingdom of Israel
- Arzawa, Troy VI-VII
- The Cushites drive the original inhabitants from Ethiopia, and establish trade relations with Egypt.
- Conquest of Canaan by the Israelites
- Middle Kingdom in Egypt (2052–1570 BCE)
- Hittites Old Kingdom in Anatolia (1900 BCE)
- Civilization in Canaan (1800 BCE)
- Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria (1600–1360 BCE)
- Bronze Age collapse (1200-1050 BCE)
- Fall of Troy (traditional date 1184 BCE, see Troy VII)
- Sea peoples
- late 2nd millennium BCE - begin of the Iron Age discovery of iron smelting and smithing
techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus.
Early Iron Age
- Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
- 993 BCE: King David captures Jerusalem and designates it the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel.
- c. 960 BCE: King Solomon builds the First Temple.
- 922 BCE: Jerusalem becomes the capital of the (southern) Kingdom of Judah after the split of the United Monarchy.
- Neo-Hittite kingdoms (10th-7th centuries BCE)
- Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th-7th centuries BCE)
- Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt (672-525 BCE)
- Median Empire (7th-6th centuries BCE)
Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions
- Iron use becomes widespread
- The Phoenicians propagate the Phoenician alphabet in the Mediterranean
- Many major religious and philosophical viewpoints are created, further explored or codified
(see also: Roman Republic, David,Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great,Parthian Empire, Homer, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Lydia, Median Empire, Chaldean Empire)
See also
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Classical Antiquity
- 606 BCE-586 BCE: The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar burns the Solomon's Temple.
- Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and created the Persian Empire (6th century BCE)
- 537 BCE: Cyrus allows the Israelites to return from the Babylonian captivity and rebuild the Temple.
- 515 BCE: The Second Temple is built.
- Sparta and Athens fought the Peloponnesian War
- Alexander the Great conquered Persia (330s BCE)
- Hellenic Greek culture spread through the Mediterranean
- The Roman Republic rose and fell
- Beginning of Christianity (1st Century CE) and Islam (7th Century CE)
- Jewish-Roman Wars and Jewish diaspora. In 135, Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Iudaea Province into Syria Palaestina.
- The Olympic Games observed until 393
- The Library of Alexandria, largest library in the world, burned
- Rise and fall of the Roman Empire
Middle Ages
Rise of Islam
The map shows the extension of the Caliphate under Al-Walid I, who reigned from 705 - 715
- Arab Empire founded during the Muslim conquests of the Persian Empire, Roman Syria, Roman Egypt, Roman North Africa, Visigothic Hispania, southern Italy, Khazar Khaganate, Afghanistan, and parts of the northwestern Indian subcontinent and northwestern China
- c. 970 - Al-Azhar University, the oldest Islamic institution for higher studies, with its corresponding mosque of Al-Azhar are founded.
Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
(The dominance of the Arabs came to a sudden end in the mid 11th century with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks)
- c. 1347, a fleet of Genoese trading ships fleeing Caffa (Theodosia) reached the port of Messina and spreads the Black Death
(see also: Seljuk Turks, Crusades, Mongols)
The Ottoman era
(main article: History of the Ottoman Empire)
- 1869 - Construction of the Suez Canal is completed.
Modern period
European domination of the Arabic and Turkish regions (especially since World War I)
- 1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads a campaign in Egypt and Syria.
- 1882 - British troops occupy Cairo - Egypt becomes British protectorate.
- 1922 - Egypt is granted independence from British occupation.
Contemporary Middle East
- 1916-1918 - The Arab Revolt
- 1947 - UN General Assembly proposes to divide Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state.
- 1948 - Israel declares independence
- 1948 - The first Arab-Israeli war
- Israeli and Palestinian nationalism
- petroleum becomes important political factor
- 1952 - After a revolution in Egypt the monarchy is overthrown
- 1954 - Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes president of Egypt
- 1954 - Central Treaty Organization
- 1956 - Suez Crisis
- 1963 - Ba'th Party comes to power in Syria and stages military coup in Iraq under the leadership of General Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr and Colonel `Abd as-Salām `Arif
- 1964 - Abdul Rahman Arif stages military coup in Iraq against the Ba'th Party and brings his brother, Abdul Salam Arif, to power
- 1967 - Six-Day War, Israel occupies large Arab territories
- 1968 - Ba'athists stage second military coup under General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam Hussein is made vice president of Iraq
- 1970 - Gamal Abdel Nasser dies, Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt
- 1971 - The Aswan High Dam is completed with Soviet help in finance and construction; independence of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE
- 1973 - Yom Kippur War
- 1974 - The PLO is allowed to represent the people of Palestine in the UN
- 1975-1990 - Lebanese Civil War
- 1978 - Camp David Accords
- 1979 - Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq; Iranian Revolution; Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
- 1980-1989 - Iran–Iraq War
- 1981 - Murder of Anwar Sadat
- 1987-1990 - First Intifada
- 1991 - The Gulf War
- 1993 - Oslo Accords
- 2003 - The 2003 Iraq War
- 2006 - The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict; Saddam Hussein executed for "crimes against humanity"
See also
- Empires
- Mesopotamia
- Anatolia
- Canaan
- Egypt
- Ancient Egypt: 3000 BC to 332 BC
- Ptolemaic Egypt: 332 BC to 30 BC
- Roman Egypt: 30 BC to 639 AD
- History of Arab Egypt: 639 to 1517
- History of Ottoman Egypt: 1517 to 1805
- Egypt under Mehemet Ali and his successors: 1805 to 1882
- History of Modern Egypt: since 1882
- Iran
- Arabia
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