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 Egypt, the Persian Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Cyprus and Northern Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the State of Palestine, 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 East.

Neolithic period 1
- 8th millennium BCE 1.1
- 7th millennium BCE 1.2
- 6th millennium BCE 1.3
- 5th millennium BCE 1.4
Ancient Near East 2
- 4th millennium BCE 2.1
- 3rd millennium BCE 2.2
- 2nd millennium BCE 2.3
- Early Iron Age 2.4
  - Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions 2.4.1
- See also 2.5
Classical Antiquity 3
- Late Ages 3.1
  - Rise of Islam 3.1.1
  - Crusaders and Ayubuds 3.1.2
  - The Ottoman era 3.1.3
- Contemporary Middle East 3.2
See also 4

Neolithic period

8th millennium BCE

Emmer wheat is domesticated and cultivated in southeast Turkey
Goats are domesticated in Iran from the bezoar ibex
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

Einkorn wheat is domesticated and cultivated in southeast Turkey
Durum wheat is domesticated
First pottery in Mesopotamia
Domestication of the cow in the Middle East

6th millennium BCE

5509, September 1 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 South Mesopotamia

5th millennium BCE

c. 4500 BCE – Civilization of Susa and Kish in Mesopotamia
c. 4570 BC–4250 BC – Merimde culture on the Nile
c. 4400 BCE–4000 BCE – Badari culture on the Nile
c. 3000 BCE - first examples of Sumerian writing in Mesopotamia

Ancient Near East

4th millennium BCE

Overview map of the Ancient Near East

The African wild ass is domesticated in Egypt or Mesopotamia, producing the donkey
4000 BCE : City of Ur in Mesopotamia
4000–3000 BCE : Naqada culture on the Nile
3761, October 7 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
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 urbanisation in Mesopotamia with the Sumerians.
First writings in the cities of Uruk and Susa (cuneiform writings). Hieroglyphs in Egypt
Potter's wheel used in Middle East
Sails used in the Nile
Archaic Period of Ancient Egypt
3200 BCE : Iry-Hor reigns as pharaoh of Upper Egypt, 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 nation: Egypt. The Narmer Palette is believed to be the historical record of this event.

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

3rd millennium BCE

Camels domesticated in Somalia and southern Arabia
First ziggurats built in Sumer
Near East civilizations enter Bronze Age around 3000 BCE
Completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza
2500 BCE : Ur-Nina first king of Lagash
Invention of Wheel somewhere in Mesopotamia
Akkadian Empire

2nd millennium BCE

Spoke-wheel chariots are used in battle for the first time
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
New Kingdom of Egypt
Assyria
Babylonia
Aleppo
Hittites
Mitanni
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 begins (1513 BCE)
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)
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

The Oriental Empires about 600 BCE

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)
Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt (672–525 BCE)
Median Empire (7th–6th centuries BCE)

Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions

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

Classical Antiquity

606–586 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
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus built in Persia (353-350 BCE)
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) and Islam (7th century CE)
Jewish-Roman Wars and Jewish diaspora. In 135, Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Iudaea Province into Syria Palaestina.
The Olympic Games observed until 393
The Library of Alexandria, largest library in the world, burned
Rise and fall of the Roman Empire

Late Ages

Rise of Islam

"The Eighth Progressive Map - Arabic Acendency; showing (a,)The Arabic Empire in its greatest extent. (b,) The world at the beginning of the eighth century (Christianity on the point of being crushed by the Moslems.). (c,)The four Christian empires (Byzantine, Longobardian, Merovingian, and Anglo-Saxon.)."
The map shows the extension of the Caliphate under Al-Walid I, who reigned from 705 to 715

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

Ottoman Empire, 1481–1683

(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

1917 - Lord Balfour, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, in letter to Lord Rothschild, gives British government approval to Zionist's goal of building a "national home" in Palestine
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 Israel come into power, Emirate of Transjordan is an autonomous region under the Mandate for Israel
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, 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 - Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre
1946 - Emirate of Transjordan becomes Kingdom of Jordan (named Transjordan until 1948)
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 Israel 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 Abdul Salam Arif
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 the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza Strip
1967 - Kurds revolt in Western Iran, the revolt is crushed
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; large scale economical devastation and surge in oil prices affect the global world economy
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–present - Shia 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–present - Arab Spring, which culminates in the Syrian Civil War with involvement of many regional powers to either support the Syrian opposition or the ruling Ba'ath party

Timeline of Middle Eastern history