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Camels were first brought to the Sahara at around 300 C.E. They were well-suited for desert travel and helped traders immensely as they traveled across the dangerous Sahara.
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The Roman Empire fell when the last emperor in the west was driven from the throne. The western half of the empire dissolved into separate kingdoms ruled by different tribes. This marked the beginning of the Middle Ages.
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The Byzantine Empire began when the emperor Constantine moved his empire east from Rome to Byzantium.
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The kingdom of Ghana began from sometime before 500 C.E., arising in the semidry Sahel.
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In 552, Buddhism, an Indian religion, was brought to Japan by way of China.
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The Seventeen Article Constitution was issued by Prince Shotoku in 604, and these guidelines stated that the emperor was the country's supreme ruler.
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Muhammad became a prophet of Islam when he received a visit from the angel Gabriel, in a cave in the mountains. It was there, according to Muslim teachings, he was called to be a prophet of God, or Allah.
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Caliph Uthman established an official edition of the Qu'ran in about 651. He destroyed all other versions, and the Qu'ran read today has remained largely unchanged since then.
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In the eighth century, Trans-Saharan trade brought Islam to West Africa. Over time, Islam began to influence West African life and play a role in West African society. Islam reached West Africa through Muslim traders and missionaries.
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In about 750, Muslim bookmakers began printing the Qu'ran, along with volumes of poetry and prose. This spread Islam and the Arabic language drastically.
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At about 1000, or the High Middle Ages, Europeans had started to develop the system of feudalism. It provided protection and safety by establishing a stable social order.
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Murasaki Shikubu finished the Tale of Genji in its present form in 1000.
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In about 1050, moveable type was invented in China. Moveable type consists of separate blocks for each character and printing them by arranging them in a specific order in an iron frame.
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In 1054, the patriarch of Constantinople and Cardinal Humbert both exocommunicated each other. It showed that the schism between the east and the west was now complete.
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Song Dynasty began civil services exams in 1065. They provided a well-organized government and emphasized moral behavior.
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As the Umayyad caliphate in Cordoba broke up into rival kingdoms. Christians took advantage of the Muslims' weakness. In 1085, they captured Toledo, a key victory in the fight to rid Islam and spread Christianity.
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The first Crusade began when four Christian nobles led 30,000 crusaders south toward Palestine. A year later, the crusaders laid siege to the Syrian city of Antioch.
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The Second Crusade began as Muslims banded together to fight the Crusaders. In 1144, they captured Edessa, and the Crusaders answered by mounting the Second Crusade. However, tmost of he Crusader's efforts ended in failure.
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The Heian Period Ended in 1185 as Japan's government weakened.
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The Third Crusade began as the Muslims, coming under common leadership, renewed fight against the crusaders in the Holy Land. The Muslims took back most of Palestine and fought fiercely with Richard I's army. However, both armies were weakened and Salah al-Din, leader of the Muslims, and Richard I signed a peace treaty over the cities in Palestine and Jerusalem.
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In 1185, Minamoto Yoritomo came to power in Japan. In 1192, he set up a military government with its own capital in Kamakura. The start of Kamakura government marked the beginning of a new era in Japanese history - the era of the samurai.
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Minamoto Yoritomo came to power in 1185, but he was officially pronounced a shogun, or commander-in-chief, in 1192.
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The empire of Ghana came to an end when a rival kingdom finally took over Kumbi, the capital city of the empire.
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Angry barons forced a meeting with King Johns and made him sign the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. It was an agreement between the barons and the kings which said that the king had to observe common law and the traditional rights of barons and the church.
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The disappearance of Ghana opened way to the rise of Mali. In about 1240, a group of West Africans called the Mande conquered Kumbi. They built an empire that reached from the Atlantic Ocean to beyond the Niger River, and from the southern forest to the salt and copper mines of the Sahara.
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In 1258, the Mongols destroyed Baghdad and killed the caliph of the Abbasid dynasty (ending it in the process) as they swept across Asia.
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The Mongol Dynasaty was control of China by foreigers.
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By the mid 1300's, the Mongol Empire was badly weakened. It suffered from fighting among rivals. Local rulers controlled different regions.
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In 1312, Mansa Musa took over Mali. He became the first West Afrtican ruler to devoutly practice Islam. He helped Mali become a major crossroad of the Islamic world.
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The Hundred Years' War was a series of wars over the control of lands in France. It was a long conflict and one of the contributors to the decline of feudalism.
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The Bubonic Plague was a terrifying disease that swept throughout Europe and Asia in the 14th century. It had fierce symptons, and was carried by fleas.
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Timbuktu became a center for Arabic learning, language, and literature in 1350 C.E.
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The Renaissance began in Italy in the mid 1300's.
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The Ming Dynasty was open to foreign influence at the beginning of the Dynasty, but closed down by the end of the Dynasty.
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The Mongols Dynasty Ended as fighting among Mongol leaders weakened the government; officials were often corrupt and the Mongols finally fell because of rebellions from the native Chinese.
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It was around the late 1400's when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella used the Inquisition, a church court, to rid Spain of Muslims and Jews. Ferdinand and Isabella's goals were to unite Spain as a Catholic country.
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Zheng He set off with a fleet of more than 300 ships, which carried more than 27,000 men, on his first voyage in 1405.
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The Byzantine Empire ended when Ottoman Turks conquered them in 1453.
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The Hundred Years' war ended with a French victory. Joan of Arc, a young French girl who fought in the war, had inspired many French citizens to fight in the war. They finally drove the English out and claimed their land.
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The Songhai had settled at Gao as early as 800 C.E., but it broke away as an independent empire from Mali in 1460.
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In 1492, Granada fell to the armies sent by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Muslims lost their last stronghold in Spain.
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In the 1500's, humanism began in Italy.
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The microscope was invented by Dutch lens makers in the late 1500s
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The riches of gold and salt attracted invaders to the kingdom of Songhai. Already weakened by internal political struggles, the Songhai empire went into decline as Gao, the capital city, was attacked by a Morrocan army.
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After being defeated by the Morrocans and falling into an anarchy, the Songhai Empire came to a sudden close in 1591.
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After Mansa Musa's death, the empire could not hold together and the Mali Empire crumbled into little states.
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The Ming Dynasty's bereacracy's inability to adapt to changing conditions contributed to the fall of the Ming.
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The Era of the Samurai ended in 1868 when the emperor was restored power.
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Charlemagne ruled for over an impressive 40 years. He was the most important leader of the Franks.
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The Tang dynasty was a period of economic development and growth and many inventions and disccoveries were made in this dynasty.
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The Tang Dynasty ended when peasant rebellions and battles between generals destroyed the government and broke up China into small, independent kingdoms.
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In 850, Tang alchemists recorded the formula for gunpowder. They warned others to avoid it.
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The Indian religion of Buddhism expanded especially in the Tang Dynasty.
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At first, the Japanese first used Chinese kanji to write Japanese words. Later, as this became difficult, they developed kana or borrowed letters, to stand for syllables.
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When the emperor moved his capital to Heian-Kyo in 194, the Heian period began.
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Prince Shotoku borrowed Confucian ideals and Chinese style of government from China, and created a set of ranks for government officials. In 604, he issued a set of guidelines called the Seventeen Article Constitution.
