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Death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr chosen as caliph (sub-leader of Islam).
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Imam Ali is killed, bringing to an end the rule of the four "righteous caliphs": Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. This also marks the beginning of the Umayyad rule.
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Muslims cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain and push north into France.
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Muslims were defeated in the at the battle of Tours. Additionally, the Muslim advance into Western Europe was halted.
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From their capital at Damascus in Syria, the Umayyad family directed the spectacular conquests that carried Islam from the Atlantic to the Indus Valley.
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Abbassid control over the Arab empire fragmented. In Spain, Egypt and elsewhere, independent dynasties ruled separate Muslim states. As the caliph's power faded, civil wars erupted, and Shiite rulers took over parts of the empire.
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The Seljuk Turks migrated into the Middle East from Central Asia. They adopted Islam and built a large empire across the Fertile Crescent.
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A Seljuk sultan, or authority, controlled Baghdad, but he left the Abbassid caliph as a figurehead. As the Seljuks pushed into Asia Minor, they threatened the Byzantine empire.
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Reports of Seljuk interference with Christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem led Pope Urban II to call for the First Crusade.
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After a long and bloody siege, Christian crusaders captured Jerusalem.
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The Muslims general Salah al-Din, or Saladin, ousted Christians from Jerusalem.
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Genghiz Khan led the Mongols out of Central Asia across Persia and Mesopotamia.
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Mongols capture Baghdad; city is sacked and caliph is killed. End of Abbasid caliphate.
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Another Mongol leader, Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, led his armies into the Middle East.
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Castile and Aragon capture Granada. All Muslims (and Jews) expelled from Spain.
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Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent; Ottoman Empire reaches its zenith. Hungary and coastlands of Algeria and Tunisia come under Ottoman rule.
