Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Rashidun Caliphate

  • June 8, 632
    Mohammed, the founder of Islam and unifier of Arabia, dies, and Abu Bakr, his father-in-law, becomes first Caliph during Rashidun Caliphate, the term comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history
  • August 22, 634
    Abu Bakr, successor of Mohammed and first Caliph, dies; Umar, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, becomes the second Caliph
  • 634
    Byzantium city of Damascus is captured by the Muslims
  • August 15, 636
    At the Battle at Yarmuk Islamic forces under Khalid ibn al-Walid beat a Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius and gain control of Syria and Palestine
  • 638
    Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab gives an assurance of safety to the people of Jerusalem
  • 639
    Islamic armies invade Egypt
  • 641
    Founding of Fustat near Cairo, the first capital of Egypt under muslim rule
  • November 8, 641
    After a fourteen month siege Muslims take Alexandria from Byzantine Empire completing the conquests of Egypt
  • 642
    Muslim Arabs invade Armenia and capture Dvin, its principal town, slaughtered 12,000 of its inhabitants
  • 642
    Islamic forces decisively defeat Persians at the battle of Nihawand completing the conquest of the Sassanid Empire
  • 642
    The library at Alexandria, Egypt, disappears completely
  • November 7, 644
    Caliph Umar, one of the most powerful caliphs of the Rashidun Caliphate, dies after being stabbed by Pirouz Nahavandi while the morning prayer three days before
  • December 14, 644
    Uthman ibn Affan, one of the companions of Islamic prophet Muhammad, is appointed the third Caliph by council
  • 650
    Zayd ibn Thabit, the personal scribe of Muhammad, with a group of some scribes complete the compilation of Muhammad's revelations into one work called the Koran
  • 650
    Babylonian Talmud, a compilation of documents compiled over the period of Late Antiquity, is finalized in Mesopotamia
  • 651
    Sassanid king Yazdegerd III is assassinated by local miller while his attempt to flee from Merv, marking end of Sassanid Dynasty in Persia
  • June 20, 656
    Caliph Uthman ibn Affan is assassinated, thus Ali becomes caliph
  • November 7, 656
    Rashidun Caliphate beats rebel forces at the Battle of the Camel, the first battle of First Islamic Civil War
  • July 26, 657
    Battle of Siffin occurs between Governor of Syria Muawiyah I and Rashidun Caliphate during the first Muslim civil war
  • January 31, 661
    Muawiyah I, the governor of Levant, founds Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus, after Ali, the last Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate dies, wounded by poison-coated sword while praying in mosque in Iraq three days before, which marks the split of Islam into Sunni and Shi'a branches

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Seleucus I Nicator

  • 358 BC
    Seleucus I Nicator, one of the Diadochi and the founder of the Seleucid Empire, is born in family of Philip II of Macedon's generals in Europos, the northern part of Macedonia
  • May, 326 BC
    Macedonian army under Alexander the Great defeats Indian king Porus at the battle of The Hydaspes River in Punjab, modern-day Pakistan, expanding Alexandrian Empire to its maximum extent
  • 324 BC, February
    Seleucus marries Apama, the Persian princess Apama, at the great marriage ceremony at Susa, arranged by Alexander of Macedon
  • June 13, 323 BC
    Alexander the Great dies of fever after a feast in Babylon, which causes wars of the Diadochoi, his generals and friends, in the Empire
  • 321 BC
    After assassination of Perdiccas, the regent of Alexander's empire, during The First War of the Diadochi, and partition of the empire between Perdiccas' opponents, Seleucus is appointed Satrap of Babylon under the new regent Antipater
  • 312 BC
    Being forced to flee Babylon by Antigonus, Seleucus I Nicator returns to Babylon with the support of Ptolemy I Soter and formally establishes Seleucid Empire in Mesopotamia
  • 305 BC
    Seleucus I Nicator, the Basileus of the Seleucid Empire, founds the city of Seleucia on the Tigris and makes it new capital of the empire, which eventually depopulates Babylon
  • 305 BC
    Chandragupta Maurya, the first emperor of Mauryan Empire, seizes the satrapies of Paropanisadai, Aria, Arachosia and Gedrosia from Seleucus I Nicator, the Macedonian satrap of Babylonia, in return for 500 elephants
  • 301 BC
    Antigonus I Monophthalmus, a Macedonian general and satrap under Alexander the Great, is defeated and killed by the united forces of Seleucus and Lysimachus at battle of Ipsus, ending the Fourth War of the Diadochi and confirming dissolution of Alexander's empire
  • 281 BC
    Seleucus I Nicator invades Asia Minor and defeats Lysimachus, the King of Macedon and his last rival, in the Battle of Corupedium in Lydia, which leaves him the only living contemporary of Alexander the Great
  • 281 BC
    Seleucus I Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid Empire, is assassinated by the King of Macedon Ptolemy Ceraunus, and is succeeded by his son Antiochus I as ruler of the Seleucid empire

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

  • September 20, 1758
    Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the first ruler of an independent Haiti, is born and named after his owner Jean-Jacques Duclos, in Guinea
  • August 22, 1791
    Haitian Revolution, the only slave revolt which led to the founding of a state, begins in the French colony of Saint-Domingue
  • May 6, 1794
    After the French declared an end to slavery, Toussaint Louverture, Haitian rebel leader, ends his alliance with the Iberian monarchy and embraces the French Republicans
  • 1801
    Dessalines cruelly supresses an insurrection in the north led by Toussaint Louverture's nephew, General Moyse
  • March 22, 1802
    After a 20-day siege Dessalines and his 1,300 men are forced to abandon strategically important Crete-a-Pierrot fort and go into the Cahos Mountains through the enemy lines being largely intact
  • 1802, October
    After the betrayal and capture of Toussaint Louverture and re-establishment slavery in Guadeloupe by France, Dessalines becomes the leader of the revolution
  • November 18, 1803
    Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haitian rebel leader, leads his army to decisive victory over the French at the Battle of Vertieres, the last major battle of the the Haitian Revolution
  • January 1, 1804
    Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares independence from France and proclaims the Republic of Haiti, making it the only nation in the world established as a result of a successful slave revolt
  • April 20, 1804
    Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haitian rebel leader, commands 1804 Haiti Massacre of the French at town of Cape Francois, during which the white Haitians were practically eradicated
  • October 8, 1804
    Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Governor-General of Haiti, crowns himself James I, Emperor of Haiti with the right to name his successor, in the city of Le Cap
  • May 20, 1805
    The Imperial Constitution of Haiti, which names Dessalines emperor for life with the right to name his successor, is released
  • October 17, 1806
    Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Emperor of Haiti, is assassinated by members of his administration after a meeting to negotiate the future of the young nation

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Hussite Wars

  • July 6, 1415

    Jan Hus, Bohemian religious reformer who spoken out against Church corruption, is burned as a heretic at the stake at Constance, Germany
  • September 1, 1415
    The nobles of Bohemia and Moravia send the protestatio Bohemorum to the Council of Constance, which strongly condemns the execution of Hus
  • July 30, 1419
    The group of the followers of Jan Hus threw the judge, the burgomaster, and some thirteen council members out of the window of the New Town Hall in Prague triggering Hussite Wars in central Europe
  • March 1, 1420
    Pope Martin I calls for the first of five crusades against the Hussieten
  • March 25, 1420
    Jan ЕЅiѕka, Czech general and Hussite leader, defeats the Catholic forces at the Battle of Sudomer in southern Bohemia, the first battle of the Hussite wars
  • July 14, 1420
    Hussite forces under command of Jan ЕЅiѕka defeat the forces of Emperor Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor at the Battle of Vi­tkov Hill, a part of the first anti-Hussite crusade, on the edge of the city of Prague
  • 1422
    Vytautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, accepts the crown of Bohemia, offered by Jan ЕЅiѕka, with the condition that the Hussites reunite with the Catholic Church
  • August 14, 1431
    Hussite forces led by Prokop the Great defeat a large army of crusaders under Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, at the Battle of Domaiѕlice during the fifth anti-Hussite crusade
  • May 30, 1434
    An army of Utraquists and Catholics, called the Bohemian League, defeat the radical Taborites and Orphans, led by Prokop the Great and Prokop the Lesser, who both fell in the battle of of Lipany, which marks the end of the Hussite wars
  • July 5, 1436
    An agreement ending the Hussite wars and establishing the Utraquist creed in Bohemia is signed by King Sigismund, by the Hussite delegates, and by the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church at Jihlava, in Moravia

Egyptian Obelisks

  • 1950 BC
    The earliest Egyptian obelisk still in its original position is erected by Senusret I at Al-Matariyyah in Heliopolis, near Cairo
  • 1450 BC
    The largest ancient Egyptian obelisk, weighing nearly 1,200 tons, is abandoned unfinished at the stone quarries in Aswan due to cracks in the granite
  • 1200 BC
    Two red granite monolithic obelisks of different height are erected at the entrance of the Temple of Luxor emphasizing the heights and distance from the wall
  • 10 BC
    Flaminio Obelisk, one of the thirteen ancient obelisks in Rome, is taken from the Temple of Sun in Heliopolis, Egypt, and placed on the spina of the Circus Maximus by command of Augustus
  • 37
    An Egyptian obelisk of red granite, today known as Vatican Obelisk, is moved from the Julian Forum of Alexandria to Rome and placed at the Circus of Nero by order of Emperor Caligula
  • 1586
    An obelisk that has been brought from Egypt to Rome by the emperor Caligula in AD 37 is erected by Italian architect Domenico Fontana at Saint Peter's Square in Rome
  • 1829
    The Obelisk of Luxor, a gift of the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, is transported to the Place de la Concorde in Paris
  • September 21, 1878
    The red granite obelisk of Alexandria, known as Cleopatra's Needle, is erected upright at a public park on the Victoria Embankment, London
  • February 22, 1881
    Cleopatra's Needle, a red granite Egyptian obelisk, made during the reign of pharaoh Thutmose III, is erected in Central Park, New York

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Twenty-seventh Century BC

  • Maize is domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley in Mesoamerica
  • 2700 BC В± 300
    One of the earliest known civilizations in the Aegean world, the Minoan civilization, rise on the island of Crete beginning the period of flourishing
  • 2700 BC
    Minoan Civilization ancient palace city Knossos reach 80,000 inhabitants
  • 2700 BC
    Preservation of fish and poultry by drying and salting is invented in Egypt
  • 2700 BC
    Merit-Ptah, an early physician in ancient Egypt, becomes the world's first named woman in medicine and all of science
  • 2686 BC
    Nebka, an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, begins to rule in Ancient Egypt, starting Third Dynasty of Egypt and the Old Kingdom
  • 2675 BC
    Aga of Kish, the last king in the first Dynasty of Kish, is defeated by Gilgamesh of Uruk, the fifth king of that city, marking start of Uruk hegemony in Sumer
  • 2650 BC
    The first step pyramid in Egypt is built for pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara by his vizier Imhotep, the first known architect
  • 2650 BC
    Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period in China, the first period in history of ancient China, characterized by semi-mythological rulers and considered as demigods and wise characters, begins
  • 2650 BC
    The ancient city of Harappa in modern-day Pakistan, one of the largest metropolises of ancient world with superior urban planning and sewage systems, begins to flourish during urbanization in the Indus Valley civilization
  • 2620 BC
    Seated Scribe, an Egyptian painted limestone realistic statue representing a figure of a seated scribe at work, is made
  • 2613 BC
    Sneferu, builder of three survived pyramids in Egypt, founds the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, following his father pharaoh Huni