A Chronology of Arab History

c. 500-630: Classical Age of Arab Poetry.

570-632: Mohammed.

610-632: Revelation of the Koran to Mohammed.

622: Hegira, beginning of Muslim (lunar) calendar. 633-647: Islam conquers the area of present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, and Libya.

653: Codification of the scattered passages of the Koran into a canonical text.

656—661: First civil war and religious schism lead to the establishment of the Umavyad caliphate at the new capital in Damascus.

670: Muslim Empire conquers Northwest Africa. 674-679; First Muslim siege of Constantinople.

711: Muslim conquests of Spain, Sind (part of modern Pakistan), and Central Asia.

732: Charles Martel checks Arab advances into Europe at Battle of Tours, France.

750: Overthrowing the Umavyad caliphate, the Abbasid dynasty becomes the lading caliphate and moves the capital eastward to Iraq, where Baghdad is built.

750-800: Using Aristotelian logic to formalize Arabic language, philologists begin written poetry collections.

759: Arabs in Europe withdraw to Spain, holding it in part till the Christian conquest of Granada in 1492.

845: Poet Abu Tammam dies; collected finest Arabic poetry in the Diwan el-Hamasa or poems of bravery.

800-850: Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek classics translated into Arabic. Advances in mathematics and astronomy.

10th Century: Flowering of Islamic culture in Baghdad,

Cordoba, Cairo, and other far-flung Muslim metropolises. Sufism, Islamic religious mysticism, spreads.

965: Mutanabbi, famous post-Islamic poet, dies.

969: Fatimid dynasty conquers Egypt, founds EIAzhar Mosque-University,

969-1008: Hamdhani originates rhymed prose novelette cycle, Maqamat, an outstanding example of Arabic pure linguistic technique, perfected by Hariri (10541122), and still popular and widely imitated.

c. 1000: First drafts of Arabian Nights from popular, originally Indian, tales.

1003-1071: Ibn Zydun of Cordoba, great SpanishArab poet.

1059-1111: El-Ghazali, Islamic scholastic philosopher. 1099: First crusaders conquer Jerusalem.

1187: Sultan Saladiu reconquers Jerusalem.

1333: Coustruction of Alhambra Palace, masterpiece of Moorish-Islamic architecture, begun in Granada.

1258: Mongol Prince Hulagu of the empire founded by Ghengis Khan in 1203 sacks Baghdad.

16th Century-1918: Arabs form part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, established in the fourteenth century.

1798-1802: Napoleon occupies Egypt. Introduces Arabic printing press and Western scholars.

1805-1848: Melnnet Ali the Great lays foundations for Egyptian state; conquers Sudan, Syria. Arabia. Introduces cotton and modern industry into Egypt.

19th Century: Dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire; French occupy Algeria (1890) and Tunisia (1881), British annex Aden (1899) and conquer Egypt (1882). 1866: Founding of the American University of Beirut. 1890’s: The concept of nationalism, introduced into Arabic by mid-nineteenth-century translations from French, becomes a major element in Egyptian and Syrian thought. Popular press rises in Egypt.

1908: Founding of first Egyptian secular university.

1910-1916: Gradual split between Arabs and Turks in Ottoman Empire politics.

1911: Italians partly conquer Libya.

1912: Morocco becomes a French protectorate.

1914: Ottoman Empire enters World War I on German side; British declare Egypt a protectorate.

1916: British defeated in Iraq and at Gallipoli. Arabs enter war on the British side.

1917: Arab discovery of secret British-French-Russian plans for partition of the Ottoman Empire without consideration of Arab independence leads to British pledges. British capture Baghdad and Palestine; issue Balfour Declaration on Jewish “homeland” in Palestine.

1916: Damascus captured by Anglo-Arab forces; armistice with Ottoman Empire.

1919-1920: Mandates imposed on Iraq, Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, Anti-British revolts in Egypt and Iraq. French conquer Syria.

1920’s: Period of material growth and governmental organization lurthers rapid spread of education and increases antiforeign feeling and revolts in Syria and predominantly Arab Palestine.

1927: Oil production begins in Iraq.

1932: Iraq gains independence and joins the League of Nations. Ibn Saud, who had conquered Arabia in 1926, becomes king of Saudi Arabia.

1936: Anglo-Egyptian treaty officially ends British military occupation of Egypt.

1937: Oil discovered in Kuwait, production begins in Saudi Arabia.

1938: Opposing Jewish immigration, Arabs demand independence and revolt in Palestine; quelled by British army as were previous uprisings in 1929, 1936.

1941-1945: Declaring Syria and Lebanon independent (1941), French refuse to evacuate but permit constitution to be in force (1943). Mounting tension throughout the war leads to French bombardment of Damascus (1945). British intervention causes French withdrawal from Syria. Invading Iraq, which had attempted to sever relations during the war, British force Premier Rashid Ali into exile in Saudi Arabia.

1945: To gain Arab solidarity, Egypt, Iraq, TransJordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen form the Arab League in Cairo.

1947: Oil development begins in Qatar.

1948: Britain ends mandate and withdraws from Palestine. War, still under truce, ensues between Arab states and Israel. Almost a million Arabs flee to surrounding countries.

1952: Major General Mohammed Naguib us titular leader of army junta, dethrones Egypt’s King Farouk. He proclaims Egypt a republic in 1953 and is succeeded by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954.

1953-56; Rapid economic development in eastern Arab lands. Sporadic North African warfare with France. Independence of Morocco and Tunisia.