Timeline of Middle Eastern history

This timeline tries to compile dates of important historical events that happened in or that led to the rise of the Middle East. The Middle East is the territory that comprises today's Afghanistan, Egypt, the Persian Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Yemen. The Middle East with its particular characteristics was not to emerge until late second millennium AD. To refer to a concept similar that of today's Middle East but earlier in time, the term Ancient Near East is used.

This list is intended as a timeline of the history of the Middle East. For more detailed information, see articles on the histories of individual countries. See Ancient Near East for ancient history of the Middle Aids.

1 Neolithic period
2 Ancient Near East
3 Classical Antiquity
4 See also

Neolithic period

8th millennium BCE

Circa 8000 BCE – Settlements at Nevali Cori in present-day Turkey are established.
Circa 7500 BCE – Çatalhöyük, a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, is founded.
Settlements at Sagalassos in present-day southwest Turkey are established.
Domestication of sheep in Southwest Asia
Circa 7000 BCE – Jarmo

7th millennium BCE

First pottery in Mesopotamia
Domestication of the cow in the Middle East

6th millennium BCE

5509:September:01 BCE : "day of creation of the world" (according to the Byzantine Empire) and the beginning of their calendar.
5403 BCE : "Date of the Descending of Adam & Eve to earth" (according to the extended Genesis Genealogy).

c 5400 BCE : Irrigation in Mesopotamia.
c 5600 BCE : According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with salt water. Some 3000 cubic miles (12,500 km³) of salt water is added, significantly expanding it and transforming it from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt-water sea.
Agriculture appears in the valley of the Nile
Wheel and plough both invented in ancient Mesopotamia
c 5100 BCE : Temples founded in Mesopotamia

5th millennium BCE

c. 4500 BCE – Civilization of Kish in Mesopotamia
c. 4570 BC–4250 BC – Merimde culture on the Nile
c. 4400 BCE–4000 BCE – Badari culture on the Nile
c. 4000 BCE - first examples of Sumerian writing in Mesopotamia

Ancient Near East

Main articles: Ancient Near East and Timeline of ancient Mesopotamia

4th millennium BCE

4000 BCE : City of Ur in Mesopotamia.
4000–3000 BCE : Naqada culture on the Nile
3761:October:07 BCE : Epoch of the modern Hebrew Calendar
3760:March:29 or September:25 BCE : Some interpretations of Jewish chronology date creation.
3600 BCE : Civilization of Sumer, city-states founded.
First to Fourth dynasty of Kish in Mesopotamia.
3500 BCE : beginning of desertification of Sahara. The shift by the Sahara Desert from a habitable region to a barren desert.
3500 BCE : First cities in Egypt
Beginnings of true urbanisation in Mesopotamia with the Sumerians.
First writings in the Mesopotamian cities of Uruk and Susa (cuneiformwritings).
Hieroglyphs in Egypt.
Potter's wheel used in Mesopotamia.
Sails used in the Nile.
Archaic Period of Ancient Egypt
3400 BCE : Ur-Nina first king of Lagash in Mesopotamia, the earliest historical person known by name.
3100 BCE : King Narmer unifies the Upper and Lower Egyptian Kingdoms, and gives birth to the world's first large nation.The Narmer Palette is believed to be the historical record of this event: Egypt.

(see also Sumer: Ur, Uruk, Kish, Susa)

3rd millennium BCE

First ziggurats built in Sumer (Mesopotamia)
Near East civilizations enter Bronze Age around 3000 BCE
Completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza
Invention of Wheel somewhere in Mesopotamia
Akkadian Empire from 24th century BC in Mesopotamia, the worlds first Empire

2nd millennium BCE

Main article: Short chronology timeline

Middle Kingdom of Egypt
New Kingdom of Egypt
Assyria - 23rd century BC
Babylonia - founded by Amorites 19th century BC
Aleppo
Hittites - 20th century BC
Mitanni - 16th century BC
Hurrians
Luwians
Canaan: Ugarit, Kadesh, Megiddo, Kingdom of Israel
Arzawa, Troy VI-VII
The Cushites drive the original inhabitants from Ethiopia, and establish trade relations with Egypt.
Conquest of Canaan by the Israelites
Middle Kingdom in Egypt (2052–1570 BCE)
Hittites Old Kingdom in Anatolia (1900 BCE)
Civilization in Canaan (1800 BCE)
Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria (1600–1360 BCE)
Assyrian Empire from 1365 - 1076 BC
Bronze Age collapse (1200-1050 BCE)
- Fall of Troy (traditional date 1184 BCE, see Troy VII)
- Sea peoples
late 2nd millennium BCE - begin of the Iron Age discovery of iron smelting and smithing

techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus.

Early Iron Age

Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
1041 BCE: King David captures Jerusalem and designates it the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel.
1004 BCE: King Solomon lays the foundation for the First Temple.
927 BCE: Jerusalem becomes the capital of the (southern) Kingdom of Judah after the split of the United Monarchy.
Neo-Hittite kingdoms (10th-7th centuries BCE)
Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th-7th centuries BCE)- Assyria controls much of the Near East and Egypt
Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt (672-525 BCE)
Median Empire (7th-6th centuries BCE)

Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions

Iron use becomes widespread, particularly among the Hittites and Assyrians
The Phoenicians propagate the Phoenician alphabet in the Mediterranean
Many major religious and philosophical viewpoints are created, further explored or codified

Classical Antiquity

Main article: Classical Antiquity

606 BCE-586 BCE: The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar burns the Solomon's Temple.
Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and created the Persian Empire (6th century BCE)
537 BCE: Cyrus allows the Israelites to return from the Babylonian captivity and rebuild the Temple.
515 BCE: The Second Temple is built.
Sparta and Athens fought the Peloponnesian War
Alexander the Great conquered Persia (330s BCE)
Hellenic Greek culture spread through the Mediterranean
The Roman Republic rose and fell
Beginning of Christianity (1st century CE); Assyrians, Arameans, Armenians, Egyptians and Greeks begin to convert from native religions - (1st to 3rd century CE)
Jewish-Roman Wars and Jewish diaspora. In 135, Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Iudaea Province into Syria Palaestina.
Mesopotamian Religion largely replaced by Christianity (1st to 3rd century CE)
The Olympic Games observed until 393
The Library of Alexandria, largest library in the world, burned
Rise and fall of the Roman Empire

Middle Ages

Rise of Islam & Arab Conquest

Main articles: Islamic Golden Age, Islamic science, and Islamic inventions

Arab Empire founded during the Muslim conquests of the Persian Empire, Roman Syria, Roman Egypt, Roman North Africa, Visigothic Hispania, southern Italy, Khazar Khaganate, Afghanistan, and parts of the northwestern Indian subcontinent and northwestern China
c. 970 - Al-Azhar University, the oldest Islamic institution for higher studies, with its corresponding Al-Azhar Mosque are founded.

Crusaders and Ayubuds

(The dominance of the Arabs came to a sudden end in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks)

c. 1347, a fleet of Genoese trading ships fleeing Caffa (Theodosia) reached the port of Messina and spreads the Black Death

(see also: Seljuk Turks, Crusades, Mongols)

The Ottoman era

Main article: Timeline of Turkish history

(main article: History of the Ottoman Empire)

1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads a campaign in Egypt and Syria.
1869 - Construction of the Suez Canal is completed.
1882 - British troops occupy Cairo - Egypt becomes British protectorate.

Contemporary Middle East

1914 - World War I
1915-18 - Armenian Genocide and Assyrian Genocide, Assyrian War of Independence
1918 - Britain and France occupy former Ottoman Empire lands
1919-21 - Franco-Syrian War
1919-23 - Asia Minor Catastophe, a widescale conflict reshapes Anatolia as continuous fighting incorporates the newly founded Republic of Turkey, Armenia, France, Greece and numerous revolts
1922 - Egypt is granted nominal independence from the United Kingdom.
1922-23 - French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine come into power, Transjordan is an autonomous region within
1925 - Sheikh Said rebellion of Kurds against Turkey
1927-30 Ararat rebellion of Kurds, as Republic of Ararat is declared, but dissolved upon defeat
1932 - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia declared in unification of Najd and Hejaz
1933-36 Tribal revolts in Iraq of Assyrians in Simele of Assyrians, Shia in the south and Kurds in the north
1934 - Saudi-Yemeni War
1935 - Persia becomes Iran
1937 - Dersim rebellion, is the largest uprising of the Kurds against Turkey, massive casualties
1939-1945 - Middle Eastern theatre of World War II, British with Assyrian help put down pro Hitler uprising in Iraq
1946 - Transjordan becomes Kingdom of Jordan
1946 - Kurdish Republic of Mahabad declared along with Azerbaijan People's Government, but defeated by Iranian military forces and dissolved
1947 - UN General Assembly proposes to divide Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state
1948 - Israel declares independence and Arab-Israeli war erupts
petroleum becomes important political factor
1952 - After a revolution in Egypt the monarchy is overthrown
1953 - The coup d'état in Iran
1954 - Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes president of Egypt
1954 - Central Treaty Organization
1956 - Suez Crisis
1961 - First Kurdish-Iraqi War erupts in north Iraq.
1963 - Ba'th Party comes to power in Iraq under the leadership of General Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr and Colonel `Abd as-Salām `Arif and stages the Syria.
1964 - Abdul Rahman Arif stages military coup in Iraq against the Ba'th Party and brings his brother, Abdul Salam Arif, to power
1967 - Six-Day War, Israel occupies Sinai, Golan heights, West Bank and Gaza
1968 - Ba'athists stage second military coup under General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam Hussein is made vice president of Iraq
1970 - Gamal Abdel Nasser dies, Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt
1971 - The Aswan High Dam is completed with Soviet help in finance and construction; independence of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE
1973 - Yom Kippur War
1974 - The PLO is allowed to represent the people of Palestine in the UN
1974-1975 - Second Kurdish-Iraqi War
1975-90 - Lebanese Civil War
1976 - Syria invades Lebanon
1978 - Camp David Accords
1979 - Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq; Iranian Revolution; Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
1980-1989 - Iran–Iraq War results in 1-1.25 million casualties, Iraq uses chemical weapons against Iran and rebel Kurds.
1981 - Murder of Anwar Sadat
1982 - Israel invades Lebanon
1987-1990 - First Intifada
1991 - The Gulf War
1993 - Oslo Accords
1994 - 1994 civil war in Yemen
2000 - Israeli troops leave Lebanon
2003 - The 2003 Iraq War
2004-2010 Sa'dah insurgency in Yemen
2005 - Syrian troops leave Lebanon as a result of the Cedar Revolution
2006 - The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict; Saddam Hussein executed for "crimes against humanity"
2010-2011 - Arab Spring