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Muhammad dies in the year 632. A man named Abu Bakr was determined to continue his work in the Islamic faith. Abu Bakr was chosen as the first caliph. At first many refused to follow him because he was not Muhammad, but he soon did reunite the Arabs under the Islamic faith.
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In the year 661, the fourth caliph, Ali, is murdered. The next caliph is then chosen, Mu'awiya. This year is also the start of Umayyad Caliphate.
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In the year 711, Muslim forces invaded the Iberian peninsula. 7 years later it was conquered by them.
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In the year 732, forces under Frankish leader Charles Martel and an invading Islamic army lead by Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi Abd al Rahman fought the Battle of Tours near Tours, France.
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The Umayyad dynasty, that ruled the Islamic world, lasted until this year, 750. In this year, Damascus was captured by Abu al-Abbas, who also killed the already defeated Amayyad family, and then founded the Abbassid dynasty. The Abbassid dynasty helped make Islam a universal religion.
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Starting in the year 850, the Abbassid dynasty's control over the Arab empire began to shatter. Independent dynasties began to rule separate Muslim states, and the caliph's power faded. Civil wars broke out.
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In the 900s the Seljuk Turks moved from Central Asia to the Middle East and adopted Islam. They built a empire across the Fertile Crescent.
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In the year 1055, a Seljuk authority really controlled Baghdad, leaving the Abbassid caliph simply as a figurehead. The Seljuks continue to push into Asia Minor, and threaten the Byzantine Empire.
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In the year 1095, after Christian pilgrims who were traveling to Jerusalem with the Pope were interfered with by the Seljuks, Pope Urban the Second called for the First Crusade.
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After a bloody war, in 1099 Christian crusaders managed to capture Jerusalem. For 150 years, the city was then fought for and passed back and forth between Christians and Muslims.
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In 1187, the Christians were driven out of Jerusalem by the Muslim general Salah al-Din, also known by Saladin.
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In 1216, a man named Genghiz Khan led the Mongols out of Central Asia through Mesopotamia and Persia, but the Mongol armies kept returning.
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In the year 1258, Genghiz's grandson, named Hulagu, looted and burned Baghdad, therefore killing the last Abassid caliph. Later the Mongols then adopted Islam.
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In the late 1300s, Timur the Lame, also known by Tamerlane, a Mongol leader, led his armies into the Middle East. He was a Muslim himself, but he conquered both Muslim and non-Muslim lands, including Mesopotamia and India.
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In the year 1492, Christians seized the last Muslim stronghold, and all Muslims and Jews began to be expelled from Spain.
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Around the year 1520, Suleyman the Magnificent, the tenth and longest-reigning sultan rules the Ottoman empire. The Ottoman empire takes Hungary and Tunisia.
