4. THE ROMAN EMPIRE
-700s BC-100s AD: Rome grew from a tiny village to a huge city.
-509 BC: Rome sets up a Republic.
-27 BC: Roman Republic becomes the Roman Empire.
-1st Century: Christianity appeared in Rome.
-Early 100s: Empire stretched from Britain south to Egypt and
from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Persian
Gulf.
-Late 200s: Diocletian took power + divided the empire.
: Barbarian tribes settled along the empire’s northern
border.
-300s: A Roman emperor became Christian.
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5. THE ROMAN EMPIRE
• Late 300s: Barbarians began raiding deep into the heart of the
empire.
• 400s: Corruption had become widespread in Rome’s gov.
• 408: Romans stopped making payments to the Goths.
• 410: The Goths destroyed Rome.
• early 400s: The Vandals invaded Spain.
• 450s: Military leaders ruled Rome.
• 470: A barbarians general overthrew the last emperor in Rome
+ named himself king of Italy.
• 476: Western Roman Empire falls.
• 480s: Clovis, a Frankish king, built a huge kingdom in Gaul.
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6. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
• 572-565: Justinian ruled eastern Roman Empire.
• 530s: Haga Sophia was built by Justinian.
• 532: Two groups of enemies joined together + tried to
overthrow Justinian.
• 565: Justinian dies.
• 1453: Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople.
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8. ORIGINS OF ISLAM
• 2000 BC: Beginnings of Judaism.
• BC 1 AD: Beginnings of Christianity.
• 570: Muhammad is born.
• 610: An angel tells Muhammad to spread the word of God.
• 613: Muhammad begins to spread His message.
• 622: Muhammad and his followers leave mecca for Medina in
the hegira.
• 632: Muhammad dies.
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10. EARLY EXPANSION
• 635-636: Arabs take Damascus from the Byzantine Empire.
• 637: An Arab army defeats Persian forces at Kadisiya.
• 638: Arabs take Jerusalem.
• 639: An Arab army invades Egypt.
• 642: Arabs control the Nile Valley.
• 711: Muslim Arabs and Berbers invade Spain.
• 732: A Muslim army is defeated at Tours de France.
• 756: Muslims chose Córdoba to be the capital of what is now
Spain.
• 762: Baghdad became the capital of the Islamic Empire.
• Early 900s: Córdoba largest and most advanced city in
Europe.
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11. MUSLIM EMPIRES
• Mid-600s: Islam split into two groups: the Shia and the Sunni.
• Mid-1200s: Ottomans (Muslim Turkish warriors) began to take
lands from the Christian Byzantine Empire.
• 1453: Ottomans led by Mehmed II used huge cannons to
conquer Constantinople.
• 1520-1566: Suleyman I ruled the Ottoman Empire.
• 1501: The Safavid Empire began.
• 1524: Esma’il (Safavid leader) died.
• 1526: Babur established the Mughal Empire.
• 1631-1647: The Taj Mahal is built.
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12. CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS
• 800s: Muslim doctors in Baghdad began to improve medicine.
• Mid-1100s: al-Idrisi (a Muslim geographer) collected info from
Arab travelers
• 1320s: Ibn Battutah traveled to Africa, India, China, and
Spain.
• 1048-1131: Omar Khayyám (Persian
mathematician, astronomer, and poet)
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