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China and the Silk Road (6) Song Dynasty, Mongolian Empire & the Ming Dynasty (906 AD - 1644 AD)
A Chronology of the Silk Road
Estimated 500 BC - 14Th Century Emergence Maritime Trading Routes
This page was last updated on: July 8, 2019
The 15Th Century Map of Piri Reis, found at the TopKapi Palace in Istanbul, included much knowledge transmitted on the Silk Road & early Maritime Routes.
China Report - Map Yuan Dynasty Mongol Empire in Time 1206 AD - 1294 AD
A Schematic Map of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (TeMuJin) and descendants through its several stages of conquest in its short but Impressive Existance in History. Timeline depicts the Mongol Conquest starting in the Year 1206 AD, when Genghis Khan first united the Mongol-Turkic Tribes of Mongolia and Lake BayKal becoming Great Khan. The Timeline continues through the year 1219 AD, the year 1223 AD taking Transoxiania, 1227 AD, 1237 AD when the Northern Jin Dynasty of China was annihilated, 1259 AD conquering ancient China above the Jiangste River and 1279 AD when all of China was taken and the Yuan Dynasty Established under the Kublai Khan. Last is the Year 1294 AD when the
Mongol Empire reached its largest geographical size and Zenith, 22% of world land area, but through lack of central leadership and over-expansion fragmented into 4 large parts, then imploded upon itself.
AD 960 - 1279: The Silk Road of the Sung Dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝; pinyin: Sòng cháo) and the initial Rise of the Mongol Empire.
February 2, 1106 AD: While all of civilized Europe lingers in the Dark Ages, and Mohammedans rule much of the Silk Road, a small observatory in Belgium (The Netherlands) discovers a newly emerging star which is visible by daylight (Source: Chronica ; Published: 1111), according to The Belgian historian Sigebertus Gemblacensis "in the third and ninth hours, about a cubit from the sun".
At the same Chinese astronomers of the Song Dynasty and astronomers in Korea and Japan observe the distant object and start recording its trajectory as it brightens and passes along the sky above the earth. As it will turn out, it is one of the most impressive comet passings humanity has ever witnessed. What we know identify as C/1066 V1 would turn out to be a highly unusual sun grazing comet, which due to its close passing of the suns surface became immensily bright, with an enormously elongated tale taking up a 60 degrees angle of the sky, before it was spectacularly observed to break up in parts before making its seemingly final exit.
This object, across the globe registered as the celestial event of the year if not decades, became as the Great Comet of 1106 AD.
As the Chinese Song Dynasty recorded the event; in the reign of Hwuy Tsung, the 5th year of the epoch of Tsung Ning, the 1st moon [February], day Woo Seuh (Feb. 10th), a broomstar (comet) appeared in the west. It was like a great Pei Kow. The luminous envelope was scattered. It appeared like a broken-up star. It was 60 [degrees] in length and was 3 [degrees] in breadth. Its direction was to the north-east. It passed S.D. Kwei (southern Andromeda/northern Pisces). It passed S.D. Lew (Southern Aries), Wei (Pegasus), Maou, and Peih (Taurus). It then entered into the clouds and was no more seen.
(The Chinese texts Wen hsien t'ung k'ao (1308), Sung shih (Dated: 1345), and Hsü Thung Chien Kang Mu (Dated: 1476 of the Ming Dynasty ) said the comet was seen in the west on February 10 and measured about 60° long and 3° wide. The tail was pointing obliquely towards the northeast.).
Although at the time, no such thing as the recurrence (return) of a comet had been conceived of, the Great Comet of 1106, now broken up, would continue its oblong trajectory around the sun and thus was set to return in another time.
(Today it is known that the broken parts of the 1106 AD Comet returned to the inner solar system to be seen by earths inhabitants as the Great Comet of 1843, the Great Comet of 1882, Comet Pereyra, Comet Ikeya–Seki and C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), as well as over 3000 small sungrazing comets observed by the SOHO space telescope).
1206 AD: Mongolian tribes unify and begin to conquer Asia under the rule of Genghis Khan.
1207 AD and 1210 AD: The first Mongolian Invasions against Western Xia (Xi Xia) and Uygur-Turks.
1219: Having been offended by the neighboring Kwarezmian Empire (خوارزمشاهیان Khwārazmshāhiyān)(1077 AD - 1220 Samarkand ; 1231 Tabriz (Persia)), Genghis Khan launches as punitive war against it. In the second year of the offensive the Silk Road City of Tashkent ( Uzbek: Toshkent, Тошкент, تاشكېنت ; Russian: Ташкент ; literally "Stone City") is sacked by invading Mongolian Armies led by Genghis Khan. During and after the event the city notoriously loses most of its inhabitants.
By 1220 A.D. the Mongolian Armies capture Samarkand (Uzbek: Samarqand, Persian: سمرقند) (Today in Uzbekistan ), the Capital of the Kwarezmian Empire while Bukhara (Uzbek: Buxoro; Tajik: Бухоро; Persian: بخارا) and Urganj (Konye-Urgench (Turkmen: Köneürgenç; Russian: Куня Ургенч, Kunya Urgench – from Persian Kohna Gorgānj کهنه گرگانج), also known as Kunya-Urgench, Old Urgench or Urganj)(Today: in northern Turkmenistan ) and Termez (Uzbek: Termiz/Термиз; Russian: Термез; Tajik: Тирмиз; Persian: ترمذ Termez, Tirmiz; Arabic: ترمذ Tirmidh) are also attacked. Termez is destroyed as punishment for hard resistance. After the fall of these cities the Khwarezmid Empire no longer exists in the east (Central Asia). Its territories fall under Mongol Rule laying the foundations for what will later become the Timurid Empire (1370 AD - 1507 AD) In Persia and Central Asia. By 1231 A.D. the Mongols eliminate the last vestiges of the former Kwarezmian Dynasty and Empire by capturing and wrecking Tabriz south of the Caucasus Mountains in north-western Persia (Today: Iran).
1220 AD: Genghis Khan captures Khotan , part of what is known as the Western Xia Empire or Xi Xia (Tangut).
1222 AD: a spectacular reappearance (apparition) of the comet of Halley passes unusually near to earth making its appearance bright and clear, even in the daytime sky. According to some historic legends, the celestial sign created by the bright jets of the passing comet point the rising Mongol Khan Genghis to conquest in the west (as seen from Mongolia) thus pointing his way to Europe. (However, the timing seems off)
1226 AD: The City of Khara-Koto , Capital of the Western Xia (Tangut) Dynasty falls to the Mongol Armies of Genghis Khan.
1245 AD - 1247 AD: John of Pian de Carpine, becomes the First of the three famed European Travelers of the Time to travel Eastwards along the trade roads of Central Asia , ending up at the Mongol Capital Karakoram and Ulaanbataar in Mongolia .
1253 AD - 1255 AD: William of Rubruck travels from West to East along the Silk Road to Karakoram in Mongolia .
1260 AD - The Mongol Tribes capture North China and although battles rage on in the South the Yüan Dynasty is established ( Mongolian ). The First Emperor of this Dynasty is the Mongolian Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.
The Mongol Rulers give high importance to trade on Silk Road pathways, the communications lines of their Empire.
1268 AD: The Cilicia earthquake occurred northeast of the city of Adana. Measuring an estimated 7.0 on the Richter scale the event killed over 60,000 people in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in southern Asia Minor (Turkey).
1271 AD : Pope Gregory meets the Polo Brothers in Jerusalem after their first Journey to Cathay (China).
1272 AD : Marco Polo joins on a papal diplomatic mission to the Court of the Kublai Khan at Khanbalik ( Beijing ) in Cathay, the Far East. The Route in China leads through Kashgar , south around the Taklamakan Desert via Dunhuang into the Hexi Corridor. On his way Marco Polo visits the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and the Big Buddha Temple of Zhangye (and alledgedly Jiuquan ) which are later recorded in his book. Khanbalik is reached in 1274 AD, when Marco Polo meets the Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan at the Court.
1293/1294 AD : Marco Polo and the Brothers are finally allowed to leave the Service of the Kublai Khan, finally arriving back through the fast emerging Maritime Silk Road to Venice. Later Marco Polo will write his memoirs of the travels, his book "Il Millione" while stuck in a Jail.
1312 - 1341 AD: Reign of Uzbeg, Officially Sultan Mohammed Öz Beg (Reign: 1312 - 1341 AD) of the Ulus of Jochi (Зүчийн улс), better known internationally as The Golden Horde (1240s–1502). During which was the longest reigning period of the territory of the Golden Horde at its peak included most of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube River, and extended east deep into Siberia. In the south, the Golden Horde's lands bordered on the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the territories of the Mongol dynasty known as the Ilkhanate.
It was during this Reign Period that the Golden Hore adoptem Islam as State Religion, with as result the subsequent conversion to Islam of most of the peoples within these territories, albeit against considerable opposition from Shamanists and Buddhist, who were eliminated over time. From Öz Beg onwards, the khans of the Golden Horde were all Muslim.
1328 or 1329 AD: The Arch-Bishop of Khanbaliq (Beijing), John of Montecorvino (Life: (1247–1328) dies in Khanbaliq. After his death, his (Roman Catholic) mission in China lived on for some 40 more years until the advent of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD - 1644 AD) when Khanbaliq was destroyed to make way for the city of Beijing .
(Read more in: "History of Beijing, the Ming Dynasty Era" ).
845 AD : Persecution of Buddhists by Muslims begins. Anti-Buddhist movement of the 9th century: 4,600 temples reported to be destroyed, with 260,500 monks and nuns defrocked. Large Scale Vandalism of Buddhist Statues at LongMen Caves, near LuoYang in Henan Province .
906 AD: Fall of T’ang Dynasty ; rise of Five Dynasties (AD 907-960).
2) The Mastering of Silk Cultivation and weaving by European Craftsmen in Italy, spawning a rapidly developing and expanding silk production and industry in Europe itself. In the 13Th Century this knowledge and Wisdom spreads across Europe from Italy to Germany, France, Spain and Britain. By home production of Silk the international demand for Chinese Silks is lowered.
1644 AD - 1860 AD: The Qing Dynasty Interbellum - Regaining the West.
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The End of the Silk Road comes due to a number of factors, among which: 1) the emergence of faster more efficient Trans-Oceanic Routes for Trade, especially facilitated by the transcultural nature of the Mongol Empire and the integration of China into World Culture during the 12Th Century.
15th century AD: Most of Central Asia converted to Islam.
The Landbound Silk Road trading paths become obsolete due to the advent of international shipping during the "European Age of Maritime Discovery". The Maritime Silk Road sees unprecedented traffic and trade.
Silk Road (6) Song Dynasty, Mongol Empire and Ming Dynasty (907 AD - 1644 AD) :
8th century AD: Islamic conversions begin to spread in Central Asia.
1602 AD: Jesuit Missionary Bento De Gois (Life: 1562 AD - 1607 AD) sets out from Goa in India on a top secret mission with the aim of finding out whether or not the Nation named Cathay by Marco Polo is the same nation as China , which by then has been reached by Spanish and Portuguese Ships by overseas route. A secondary reason for the Mission, explaining much of its secrecy, is the intention of contacting the mythical Christian Monks of the Far East, as seem to reported in the writings of Marco Polo the Venetian.
After a 3 year long overland journey, during which the Missionary was disguised as an Armenian Tradesman, De Gois reached the far western end of the Great Wall of China . His arrival had proved that the land of Cathay described by Marco Polo did in fact exist. It was also proven that this was the same Nation already reached by sea-born Traders and a Christian Mission including the now famous Matteo Ricci, which had traveled to Macau and knew it as China .
The Route traveled up to that point had been from Goa to Agra in India, then via the City of Lahore to Peshawar both in current day Pakistan , over the Hindu Kush and through Afghanistan to current day Kabul from where he was to pass over the Tian Shan Mountains and end up in Kashgar (Kashi) , today the westernmost City in China. Kashgar at the time however had fallen out of Chinese Control and was not part of Chinese Territory, thus the mission had to move further West to reach Chinese Civilization. From Kashgar Bento de Gois headed to Yarkant where he waited for a while for the arrival of a large Trade Caravan, which he had heard was to travel further eastward and into Cathay. By joining the Caravan De Gois had chosen to travel along the Northern Route around the Taklamakan Desert which led him through Aksu to Turpan , and then via Hami (Kumul) to the re-unification of the Northern and Southern Routes at the Oasis Town of Dunhuang. From Dunhuang it was only a short desert journey to the missions' primary destination, the Great Wall of China at JiaYuGuan .
Having traveled the treacherous path of the Silk Road to the Chinese Western Border De Gois was unable to travel further on to his secondary goal, the Imperial Court at Beijing.
Just some miles between the Magnificent Westernmost Gate under Heaven, the Jiayuguan Fortress , the Jesuit made a dire mistake which ultimately ended the Mission.
At Jiuquan/Suzhou , the administrative center of this far western district, De Gois inquired rather publicly whether the Nation he had just arrived in was China, Cathay or both. In so doing, he encountered a Trading Mission which had come from Beijing and was traveling West. De Gois got the answers he was searching for from this trading party, and, among things, learned that one of the Beijing Traders was personally befriended with Father Matteo Ricci, who had taken up residence in the Imperial Capital working for the Court.
The entire story however exposed De Gois as a Jesuit, a Christian and a Western Traveler. His fellow travelers in the trading caravan would not respond kindly to this revelation. After being heckled and ridiculed, the fake merchant was robbed and stripped of most of his belongings. Having been thus humiliated, not much thereafter he found himself left stuck in Suzhou (now Jiuquan) as no one would take him further along.
Although De Gois managed to sent a notice of his dire situation by use of Beijing Trader as messenger to the Jesuit Mission now active in far Southern China and the leading Jesuit Matteo Ricci in Peking (1601 AD), communications were to say the least slow. The message arrived after one whole year.
Although the Jesuits in Beijing received his message and swiftly responded by dispatching a 1 servant rescue party to Benito De Gois. When the servant sent found De Góis at Jiuquan the tough old Jesuit traveler was already at the point of death. He expired in 1607 AD at Jiuquan , far away from any Christian Monks, Rome or the Peking Court.
1607 AD: Return of Halley's Comet. On the 21st of September Chinese astronomers are the first to catch sight of a faint broomstar towing a tail of some 3 degrees in length. It was followed in Europe as well, among things by Johannes Kepler. In China the object was tracked until October 12 of that year, after which it joined with the sun not to be observed again (as we know today, the comet did not collide with the sun but disappeared behind it to journey to the outer solar system and return again in 1682 AD).
1610 AD: Death of father Matteo Ricci in Beijing. Having aroused great respect during his carreer in the great Capital City of Beijing, Matteo Ricci is allowed a great funeral ceremony. His body will be interned in a cemetery in the Haidian District in western Beijing until this cemetery is cleared to make way for a party school in the Cultural Revolution Era of the 20th century. The southern Cathedral, Nan Tang , first founded by father Matteo Ricci stands to this day just inside the now demolished Xuanwu Gate (Xuanwu Men).
In hindsight, the arrival of Matteo Ricci and his eventual succesful travel to the Capital Beijing may taken as a milestone, his arrival announcing the final downfall of the ancient landbound silk road. Although the land bound silk road physically remained and its routes still used, its former rich trades were eclipsed by the faster and usually cheaper modes of transportation by sea.
1582 AD: In the year 1582 AD a small Jesuit Mission was sent by Sea from Goa (India), in an attempt to reach the Chinese Court. This Mission first reached Macau a small islands just off the coast of south China, after which the Inner Lands of Guangdong Province were reached the next year. As this route of entry into China is not part of the land-bound Silk Road, the appearance of the first Jesuit Mission exemplifies the growing importance of the Maritime Trade Routes of the Era.
Whereas originally the Maritime Trade Routes had been scouted by Chinese Treasure Fleets heading westward, the Chinese Sea Power had evaporated in the early 15Th Century, and within 80 years European Ships- Portuguese and Dutch would follow their trail back to the Chinese Motherland.
1661 AD: The Jesuits Grueber and D'Orville travel from Beijing via the overland Silk Route to Agra in India.
The early 15Th Century sees a renewed Rising of China under the remarkably ambitious Leadership of Ming Emperor Zhu Di (Yongle Reign), on who's orders the entire Nation embarks on a modernization and internationalization drive, the world has never before seen.
First arise the new Capital and Imperial City of Beijing , to which a renovated and longer Grand Canal is connected to feed the Population of this City.
While the City is being constructed, a large fleet of ships -among which the so-called treasure ships, the largest wooden sea-going vessels in world history- sails from Chinese Ports to explore world seas. On 7 still renowned maritime journeys they navigate the Asian oceans and islands, the Indian ocean, Africa and the middle East and as is speculate possibly beyond to Antarctica and Australia. The fleet is joined by allied Korean and Japanese Ships, diplomatic missions bring other smaller Nations into Tribute to the Chinese Crown and the First transoceanic trade routes are established ultimately leading to the birth of the Maritime Silk Road. At the same time new initiatives are made by the Ming Court to stimulate trade along the landbound Silk Road.
In 1421 AD the new City of Beijing was inaugurated in front of an international audience of rulers from a variety of Nations with whom relations had been established. The Chinese Emperor could claim to be the Central and Most Powerful leader of the Eastern World, however while its culture flourished to a historic highpoint, the nation strained under the weight of the financial and social costs.
1424 AD: Death of Emperor Zhu Di (Yongle). Soon afterwards, an Imperial Decree orders the halting of all Maritime Missions, leaving the unprecedented Chinese Treasure Fleet to rot away. The ships never return to see there-after. Gradually, during the reign of subsequent Ming Emperors all international travel is forbidden. China locks itself way behind its Great Wall.
1453 AD: Not pursued by the Ming Dynasty Armies who have abandoned their strategy of forward defense, the Mongolian Tribes now re-united under the banner of The Northern Yuan Dynasty return to the borders of China and resettle the strategic Ordos Desert (today part of Inner-Mongolia AR ).
1456 AD: The passing of a comet is witnessed along the byroads of the silk road in Kashmir and depicted in great detail by Śrīvara, a Sanskrit poet and biographer to the Sultans of Kashmir. He read the apparition as a cometary portent of doom foreshadowing the imminent fall of Sultan Zayn al-Abidin (AD 1418/1420–1470). No other records of this passing are known to date. (Many centuries later it is identified that it was an apparition of Halley's Comet).
1471-1472 AD: During the reign period of Zhu Jianshen , The XianZong Emperor , New Mongol Raids occur along the border of Ming Dynasty China , raising eye-brows at court in Beijing . As they do so, a very bright comet appears in the skies. First observed on December 25 of 1571, the comet and its tales were visible throughout January and February, last being observed passing the sun on 11 March there after not be seen again. Judging from obersvations and the high speed of travel of 1 degree per hour in the sky in late february, this was probably the closest approach any observed comet has made to the earth (within 10 million kilometers). The heavenly sign occurring together with renewed Mongol Raids is an event that eventually will trigger the rebuilding of The Great Wall of China in western China, Ningxia AR and Shaanxi Province .
1473 AD: A Ming Army stationed at Yinchuan ( Ningxia Hui AR ) seizes opportunity and launches a raid against the Mongol Base camp in the Ordos Desert, annihilating families and there-after the returning Mongol Army. Immediatly there-after Chinese laborers start the construction of the Ming Dynasty Era Great Wall of China along the southern rim of the Ordos Desert and around the Ningxia plain.
1493 AD: Construction of the Tomb of Bibi Jawindi (Urdu: مقبرہ بی بی جیوندی) in the ancient city of Uch (Urdu: اوچ شریف ; "Noble Uch")(Today Uch Sharif, Punjab Province, Pakistan ). It will stand to this day as one of the most ornate historic monuments of that city.
1499 AD: By the year 1499 AD Portuguese Captain Vasco da Gama has made use of trade routes established by the Ming Tribute Fleet under Admiral Zheng He to find its way from the African East Coast directly across the Indian Ocean to India.
10 September 1509: A shallow Earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale strikes the Marmara Sea coast and the city of Istanbul, formerly Constantinople on the Bosporus in Asia Minor (Today in Turkey). On that day and in the 45 subsequent days of aftershocks to rock the regions, a Minaret of the Hagia Sophia Mosque, over a 1000 houses and 109 mosques are destroyed in the city of Istanbul, while claiming countless lives (reportedly some 10 thousand) across the region. The event is later dubbed The Lesser Judgment Day" (Turkish: Küçük Kıyamet or Kıyamet-i Suğra) by contemporary writers and is known today as the 1509 Istanbul Earthquake.
1531: As recorded at Ming Dynasty Observatories at Beijing and Purple Mountain at Nanjing , in the 6th month of the 10th year of the Jiajing Reign period of the Ming Dynasty (Shizong Emperor) , a bright "broom star", a comet, appears in the heavens above the earth. For the 34 days it is visible bright as a star and with a blue and white tail ("over one Chi long"), its trajectory is tracked by Chinese astronomers and other observers around the globe some making use of the first mechanical measuring devices. As an event of significant importance to the worldly affairs of the Emperor, the "Son of Heaven", the heavenly appearance is registered in the annals of the Shizong Emperor (Ming Shizong Shilu) to be preserved for posterity. As humanity will find later, (in 1705) through the works of (Sir) Edmund Halley (Life: 1656 - 1742) who used this Chinese Observation as his first know date of appearance, it is one of passes of the object today known as Halley's Comet (Comet of Halley ; Scientifical name: 1P/Halley).
1532 AD: Yet another Comet appears in the heavens but a year after the spectacular passing of Halleys Comet. Two Chinese text record the passing mentioning a first catch of a glimpse of the incoming comet on 2 September 1532 AD. Not much later, the object is observed in Korea and then Japan. Although with but a short tail span of some 10 degrees it is extraordinarily bright in appearance. The object, which remains visible until the second half of December will be registered as object C/1532 R1.
Link: Satellite Image with Schematic of the Location and path of the Great Wall of China during the Ming Dynasty. Passes on the Great Wall included.
Apart from the Construction of the lavish new Imperial Palace and City, the Grand Canal and the Treasure Fleet (leading to widespread deforestation, among places in Vietnam, Yunnan and Sichuan ), large scale repairs and reinforcements were undertaken on the Great Wall of China . This last project intended to fulfill the vow of the Ming never to see the Mongols return to Rule China.
YouTube Video: Yang guan - Sun Gate; China's Sun Gate Revives (2013).
9th-10th c.: Silk Road traffic and Khotan both decline as Buddism begins to wane. Arabs take over Silk Road trade domains and start acting as middlemen, raising prices. As a result the Maritime Routes, the“Sea Silk Route” to China become more economically attractive.
At some time during the 10Th Century, the once might western Gate of the Tang Dynasty Empire (ultimately established during the Han Dynasty (220 BC - 221 AD) , the Yang Guan (Sun Gate) due south west of Dunhuang (Blazing Beacon) (today in western China's Gansu Province ) already out of function for some time, is abandoned entirely. The Sun Gate Beacon Tower and the mighty Fortress supporting it start a long process of degredation and erosion by the desert winds and sands. What has been to far western border of China for well over a 1000 years disappears. Centuries later the border of China will be reestablished at Jiayuguan 100's of miles eastward during the advent of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD - 1644 AD) .
1006 AD to 1165 AD, the Western Taklamakan Desert City and former Chinese Vasal State, the City of Hotan falls into the hands of the advancing Muslim Kara-Khanid Khanate arising in the West.
The Silk Road southern path along the Taklamakan Desert falls out of control of the Han Chinese and the process of Islamification of the "Xinjiang" region goes through a new stage.
21 August 1042 AD: A very heavy earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale strikes the Silk Road City of Tabriz (--) (today situated in Iranian Azerbaidjan), for some the suspected location of the Biblical Garden of Eden. It is the largest earthquake of the millennium. Some 40 people lose their lives.
This page was last updated on: July 8, 2019
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View of the leaning Small (or Lesser) Goose Pagoda (Xioyan Ta) in the southern district of Xian City in the year 2003. Still clearly visible is the crumpled top and its missing 3 top layers. Today one can climb 13 stories to the top platform.
The quake causes heavy damage to the Lesser Goose Pagoda (Chaoyan Ta) in the former Han and Tang Dynasty Capital of Chang'An (Now Xi'An ) and reduced its height by three stories, to its current of thriteen stories and causing it to lean perceptibly ever since. More than 97 counties in the Chinese Provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected by the massive jolt, with slight damage to buildings in the far away cities of Beijing , Chengdu and Shanghai .
But briefly after the devastating earthquake to strike the main civilization centers of north-central China rearing its people and civilization, an unusually large and bright comet (C/1556 D1) (as we know know an object measuring about half the size of earths moon) appears in the night sky above the Chinese Capital, the Silk Road and all Capitals of the world. By February the first reports of its sighting are logged. As it gained in brightness, it became visible to the naked eye by daylight, thus, together with the stunning earthquake, appearing to many as an supernatural sign from the Heavens. As word of their appearance is transmitted through civilizations along the silk road, they are taken are most ominous signals of impending doom.
In China the twin sign of the earthquake followed by a comet was taken as the sign of the impending death of the Emperor or even the fall of the Dynasty and Civilization. At the observatory at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands, Cornelius (or Cornelio) Gemma (Life: 28 February 1535 – 12 October 1578), physician, astronomer and astrologer (and professor of medicine at Catholic University of Leuven) observed the comets appearance and described its head to have been as large in appearance as the (visible) planet Jupiter while its color resembled that of the planet Mars. In France, when the Emperor for the first time caught sight of the blazing celestial object in the sky he reportedly stood aghast, according to his own words taking the whole as a heavenly sign to retire from his Reign as Charles the Fifth Holy Emperor (of France). While passing to within 15 million kilometers from earth, the gargantuan comet appeared brighter in the night sky than 1st magnitude stars while remaining visible to the naked eye in the daytime sky for some 12 days (although it was tracked by Astronomers until as late as April 22).
On the 5th of March, as the Comet made its track across the sky above, a heavy earthquake struck the city of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) causing heavy damage to the city and erasing life in surrounding coastal villages through subsequent tsunamis. Although this earthquake was not the heaviest ever experienced in Istanbul, nevertheless, the resulting damage to the Great Hagia Sophia Mosque (formerly the Church of the Patriarch of Constantinople), the city walls, gates and large parts of the city quarters appearing in conjunction with the large comet in the sky made it a widely reported event.
Interestingly, The Portuguese Dominican friar Gaspar da Cruz, who traveled the emerging maritime routes between Europe and far East Asia visited Guangzhou (Canton) later in 1556, heard about the deadly Shaanxi earthquake in China. He transmitted the news via Church channels to Rome and later also wrote extensively about it in the last chapter of his book, A Treatise of China (Published in 1569). He viewed the earthquake in connection with the appearance of the comet and combined the two as signs of an impending day of heavenly reckoning, possibly a punishment for people's sins, as well as perhaps the sign of the birth of the Antichrist to the earth.
After its fiery appearance had cast a spell on many among the worlds population, the bright celestial object slowly faded,
Depiction of the 1556 Comet D1 passing in the sky over the city of Istanbul while the earthquake strikes on March 5 of the year 1556. This is wood cut print originating in Germany where word of the catastrophe which befell Istanbul was widely noted. In Europe, in time, far fewer would hear of the massive quake which killed nearly a million people in China.
last being observed on 22 April while passing through the northern portion of the constellation of Pisces at an angle of some 30 degrees to the sun, subsequently not to be seen or otherwise detected by humanity since. To this day, no comet or other body has been identified within the solar system to match the 1556 AD Comet, thus one day it could reappear again.
23 January, 1556: A major earthquake strikes in Central North-Western China in the Wei River (渭河) valley along the border between current day Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces. Also known as 1556 Shaanxi earthquake or Huaxian earthquake (华县大地震) or Jiajing Earthquake (嘉靖大地震) after the Jiajing Emperor and according Reign Period (27 May 1521 – 23 January 1567) of the time, it is the deadliest earthquake on record in world history, which according to current day estimates killed around 830 thousand people. Huaxian, a small hill town in the 20th century made famous by other silk road travelers, was wiped off the map with reportedly not a single building standing (even centuries later, in the 1930s most houses would be cave dwellings). Nearby towns of Weinan and Huayin suffered similar fates. Many inhabitants of traditional loess cave dwellings, the traditional homes of many on the loess plateaux of the Yellow River were buried alive never to be heard of again.
Around 20 July 1402 AD: The Battle of Ankara (at the time better know as Angora or Ancira) was fought at the Çubuk plain near Ankara (Current day Capital of Turkey) in Asia Minor, between the forces of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I and Timur, ruler of the Timurid (Persian) Empire. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and the Ottoman Sultan was captured to die only months later in Prison. The loss of soldiers, allies as well as the Sultan himself, led to a period of crisis and an 11 year civil war within the Ottoman Empire (the Ottoman Interregnum). However, the Timurid Empire went into terminal decline following (Emir) Timur's death just three years after the battle, while the Ottoman Empire made a full recovery, and continued to increase in power for another two to three centuries.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Ankara, Timurid Armies take and sack the city of Sivas (Latin and Greek: Sebastia, Sebastea, Sebasteia, Sebaste, Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή; Armenian: Սեբաստիա)(in current day Central Turkey) from the Ottomans (Thus evicting the Christian Knights Hospitalers).
Between 1402 AD and 1405 AD: Due to verbal hostilities, the closure of the Silk Road due the incessant warring and realistic military estimations, as one of the first acts of the consolidating Ming Dynasty in China, the Jiayuguan Fortress, westernmost gate of the Great Wall of China and according segments of the Great Wall in the west of China were strengthened as a means of defense against an expected Timurid invasion.
18 February 1405: On his way to an invasion of Ming Dynasty Era, China through its western territories, the great conquerer and Emir of Persia and Central Asia, Timur (Persian: تیمور Temūr, Chagatai: Temür)(Persian: تيمور لنگ Temūr(-i) Lang, "Timur the Lame"), dies in the field near the the Syr River (Syr Daria) in territories which in the current day are part of Kazakhstan .
But a month prior, in December of 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. On the way to leading his armies into yet another war of Conquest, the attempt to restore the rule of China (Cathay Khanate) to the Mongol Ancestry, he suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab in southern Kazakhstan near the border with Uzbekistan on February 17, 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. His death also marked the termination of the military threat against China. Timur was buried with full honors at the Gur-e-Amir, which is his mausoleum. today one of the main historic landmarks of the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan.
After the Death of Amir Temur (Tamerlane) the Ming Court in Beijing dispatched envoys such as Fu An and after difficult negotiations, the remaining entourage were released grandson om Amir Temur, Khalil Sultan.
Armies of the ever expanding Timurid (Persian) Empire ((Persian: تیموریان ), self-designated as Gurkani (Persian: گورکانیان , Gūrkāniyān)) ravaged southern Russia and the Ukraine (1395-96), and subsequently attacked and invaded India (1398 AD) among things laying waste to the city of Delhi .
In 1400 AD: Timur, himself a Persianized Muslim, launched a total war against Christian Armenia and (Christian) Georgia with the apparent goal of the total destruction of these states. Although, Timur is held to have generally had good relationship with the Christian Church of Rome (Roman Catholics), no such respect was held for the Armenian Christian Orthodox Church. The inhabitants of whole regions were massacred. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were left depopulated for decades to come.
In 1400–01 AD: Although in prior years of the last decade of the 14th century, the newly arisen Ottoman Empire and Timurid Empire had avoided going to war about their considerable differences and allegiances, at the end of the 14th century this delicate balance came to an end. Having been affronted by the Ottoman Emperor, Timur declared war on the Ottomans, subsequently attacking parts of Syria from the Mamluks who were in alliance with the Ottoman Empire.
Having taken victory in the initial battles, Timurid Armies then pressed into Asia Minor on the way to Europe where the Ottomans had recently conquered substantial territories and their peoples.
During his invasion of Syria, the Timurid Armies notoriously sacked Aleppo and Damascus , not only ruining these important Silk Road cities, as a result of the Timurid Conquests and brutal massacres, the traditional trans-Eurasian trades along what has been dubbed the Silk Road essentially ground to a halt. The silk road, which but a century earlier had been wide open during the Era of the Great Mongolian Empire, was shut down by his greatest descendant, Timur the Lame, by the year 1400 AD. As much as the transcontinental trade routes had flourished again during the period identified in China with the (Mongol) Yuan Dynasty (1271 AD - 1368 AD ), only some 100 years later it would be closed again for centuries to come.
As for the Timurid Conquests and the foundations of his Empire; in the case of Damascus and Aleppo, and many other cities, after doing battle, quite usually the inhabitants were massacred wholesale. However, among those exempt fro the slaughter were such usuful peoples as scribes and scholars, and also artisans, the best of who were deported to the glorious Timurid Capital City of Samarkand (Today in central western Uzbekistan ), which for these reason flourished for a century on the products of their minds and creativity. As silk road travelers will find, many of the great artistic creations and buildings of this era survive to this day as the great monuments of the city of Samarkand, all of which are National and International Cultural heritage.
On his way to rebuild the lost Empire of his ancestral In-Laws, the family of Genghis Khan, Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. Again, in acts reminiscent of the war campaigns of late Genghis Khan and his descendants, after the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were brutally massacred. As historic tales have it, in case of the city of Baghdad, Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. As an illustration of the extreme scale of the massacre, historic accounts state that when the Timurid soldiers ran out of (enemy) men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. In 1402 history more or less repeated when Baghdad was again attacked and sacked.
China Report - Map Yuan Dynasty Mongol Empire in Time 1300 AD - 1405 AD
A Schematic Map of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (TeMuJin) and descendants through its several stages of conquest in its short but Impressive Existance in History. Timeline depicts the Mongol Conquest starting in the Year 1206 AD, when Genghis Khan first united the Mongol-Turkic Tribes of Mongolia and Lake BayKal becoming Great Khan. The Timeline continous through the year 1219 AD, the year 1223 AD taking Transoxiania, 1227 AD, 1237 AD when the Northern Jin Dynasty of China was annihilated, 1259 AD conquering ancient China above the Jiangste River and 1279 AD when all of China was taken and the Yuan Dynasty Established under the Kublai Khan. Last is the Year 1294 AD when the Mongol Empire reached its largest geographical size and Zenith, 22% of world land area, but through lack of central leadership and over-expansion fragmented into 4 large parts, then imploded upon itself.
1329: As a replacement for the deceased Arch-Bishop of Khanbalik, Pope John the 12Th ordains the Franciscan Monk Nicolas, who then sets of to Travel to the Far West and take up office in Khanbaliq. Not much is heard of him afterwards. Records hold it that Arch-Bishop Nicolas reached the town of Almalik, which is located due South of Lake Balkash in current day Kazakhstan . He never reached China however and probably died in 1329 AD.
1334 AD : Moroccan Traveler Ibn Battuta (complete: Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta) travels in East-Asia, South-East Asia and China . Although Battuta does not travel by the land route of the Silk Road into China due to the detail of his recorded observations, he is considered one of the International Explorers to first reveal and transmit the wonders of China to the West, in fact outdoing his near contemporary, Marco Polo the Venetian.
On his travels Ibn Battuta visited Vietnam before entering the Yuan Dynasty Empire of China through the Pacific Port City of Quanzhou (Zaitun) , today located in Fujian Province . From Quanzhou -dubbed the city of donkeys- in the Book of his Travel accounts, Ibn Battuta followed the course of the Grand Canal through Hangzhou ( Zhejiang Province ) which, according to the accounts of Ibn Battuta, was the largest city in the world at that time. As described in the Book "The Journey" (or A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling - تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفاit ر ) took him three days to walk across the city. From Hangzhou , the journey led to Beijing (although there is some discussion on whether Battuta really reached Beijing , in his book he complements the City for its cleanliness).
1336 AD: Having never welcomed Monk Nicolas at Khanbaliq, in the year 1336, a group called the Christian Alanes who form an Imperial Guard in China send a message to Rome urging the Pope to name a substitute for the deceased Arch-Bishop of Khanbaliq John the Montecorvino. The message is received through a Genuese Merchant Andalo of Savignon, who, according to written records, had traveled to Europe on behalf of the Mongol Emperor Toghon Temur (1333 AD - 1368 AD). A copy of a translation of the letter from the Chinese Emperor in Latin survives revealing further that Andolo de Savignon was but one person in
a 15 member delegation sent from Khanbaliq (Beijing). In the letter the Khan asked for western horses and a counter delegation.
March 28, 1339 AD: A Papal delegation including the newly ordained third Arch-Bishop of Khanbaliq leaves from Naples in Italy on mission to Khanbaliq in North-China. Traveling through Almalik in Kazakhstan they hear of the murder of Bishop Nicolas and 6 other Priest by a band of fanatical Muslims 10 years earlier. The mission stayed at Almalik for nearly a year in order to restore the local Monastery established by the 1329 AD Mission Of Bishop Nicolas. After leaving Almalik in 1341 AD, the Papal Mission reaches Hami in current day Xinjiang-Uygur AR of China where they stay to convert the local population which consists mainly of Buddhists. The mission finally reaches the Chinese Court on August 29Th of the year 1342 AD where they are received by Emperor Toghon Temur in person, probably at the Shangdu Summer residence. The Emperor receives the one horse that survived the long journey.
Oddly, the new Bishop, one Nicolas Bonet, a Theologian from Paris in France, returns from Khanbaliq to Europe while the other Priest of the Mission remain in the East. Thus, Khanbaliq remains without its Bishop and is left with the the Legate John of Marignolli as leader of the Papal Mission.
The Europeans are very impressed with the Chinese Culture, science and administration.
26 December 1347 AD: The Papal Mission at Khanbaliq (Beijing) leaves the Capital of a crumbling Yuan Dynasty Empire by ship from the harbor at Quanzhou ( Fujian Province ). Heading for India.
1362 AD: Mongolian Empire begins to decline. In 1368 AD China is finally lost to the crumbling Mongol Empire.
1368 AD: Ming Dynasty forces drive the last loyalist troops of the Yuan Dynasty and Mongol Tribes out of Chinese Territory via the JiaYuGuan Pass. The Ming Dynasty is officially established under the Hong Wu Emperor. In 1372 AD, the JiaYu Pass and Last Gate in the West on the Silk Road sees the beginning of the construction of JiaYuGuan Fortress , a citadel only completed by 1539 AD. Although the Silk Road is protected the Chinese Nation is overwhelmed by a dictatorial Dynasty that decrees an isolationist policy. Eventually the Ming will wind up closing land route to west, ending large scale operations on the Chinese Silk Road.
1372 AD: The City of Khara-Koto (in Inner-Mongolia AR ), former Capital of Western Xia (Tangut Empire), now turned base of remaining Yuan Dynasty troops plotting to reinvade China is layed siege to by a Chinese Army. After a siege during which the Hei River is diverted away from the City and a desperate last Battle, the city is abandoned.
1378 AD: passing of a comet many centuries later identified as having been the Comet of Halley is recorded in the Annales Mediolanenses as well as in East Asian sources.
1380 AD: Timurid Empire armies take Herat (Persian: هرات , Herât; Pashto: هرات ; Ancient Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ ἐν Ἀρίοις, Alexándreia hē en Aríois; Latin: Alexandria Ariorum (Today a city in western Afghanistan ), dealing the death blow to the Kurt Dynasty (Ghurid ; also known as the Kartids)(1244 - 1381 AD) who were former vassals of the Mongol Empire.
Gates and Walls of the famous Jiayuguan Fortress, which represented the westernmost border of China during the years of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD - 1644 AD). During the subsequent Manchu Dynasty, China and then Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet were vanquished and subsequently administered under one rule.
January 12, 1099 AD: Crusaders set fire to Mara, Syria.
July 15, 1099 AD: The Crusaders led by Christian soldiers under Duke of Lower Lorraine Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert II of Flanders, Raymond IV of Toulouse and Tancred take Jerusalem. Afterwards both the Islamic structures situated on the "Temple Mount" were used by Christians. On July 22, The (Christian) Kingdom of Jerusalem is founded in the Middle East. The first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was Godfrey of Bouillon. He refused the title of King, however, as he believed that the true King of Jerusalem was Christ (jesus of Nazareth). The Al-Aqsa mosque (Arabic: ٱلْـمَـسْـجِـد الْاَقْـصَى, translit. Al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, "the Farthest Mosque") was taken into use as a palace and the Dome of the Rock was converted to be used as a church. (The sometimes so-called First (Crusader) Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187. After the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187 AD, both buildings were restored to their Islamic functions)
June 7, 1099 AD: The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
July 8, 1099 AD: Having besieged Jerusalem for a month, 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march around the walls of Jerusalem.
August 12, 1099 AD: Battle of Ascalon: The Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon (French: Godefroy de Bouillon, Dutch: Godfried van Bouillon, German: Gottfried von Bouillon, Latin: Godefridus Bullionensis;)(Life: 18 September 1060 AD - 18 July 1100 AD) defeat the Fatimids (Fatimid Caliphateالخلافة الفاطمية , Al-Khilafah al-Fāṭimiyya). This is often (historically) regarded as the last action of what is known as "The First Crusade".
August 13, 1099 AD: Pope Paschal II succeeds Pope Urban II, as the 160th pope.
July 29, 1099 AD: Death of Pope Urban II (Latin: Urbanus II)(Life: ca. 1035 AD - 29 July 1099 AD), the 159th pope who held his position for 11 years.
1175 AD: At the White Horse Temple (simplified Chinese: 白马寺; traditional Chinese: 白馬寺; pinyin: Báimǎ Sì; Wade–Giles: Pai-ma szu) in Luoyang in the north west of Henan Province, a stone tablet (stele) is erected next to the Qilun Pagoda—a 35 metres (115 ft) tall, multi-eaved square-based tower to the southeast of the White Horse Temple. The inscription on the stone tablet stated that a fire occurred five decades previously and destroyed the temple and the Sakya Tathagata sarira stupa, a predecessor to the pagoda. The same inscription of 1175 stated that a Jin official had the stone Qilun Pagoda erected soon after. The pagoda is built with the design style imitating the square-based pagodas of the Tang Dynasty.
1532 AD: The Temple of Vesta (Latin Aedes Vestae; Italian: Tempio di Vesta), one of the oldest monumental structures in the city of Rome, built between 715 BC and 673 BC and rebuilt several times over since, is finally destroyed. The temple building was completely demolished and its marble reused in the construction of churches and papal palaces.
1439 AD: During the reign period of Yingzong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (明英宗), the Confucian Temple of Zhongwei along the Yellow River (Huang He) in what today is Zhongwei (simplified Chinese: 中卫; traditional Chinese: 中衛; pinyin: Zhōngwèi; Wade–Giles: Chung-wei; literally: "middle guard"), Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China (P.R.C.) is first constructed. Today the temple serves as a Buddhist Temple identified as Gao Miao (高庙) and covers an area of about 4000 m².
1368 AD: Construction of the historically first Mosque in Lanzhou, the (main) crossing point of the silk road over the Yellow River (Huang He) in Gansu Province. The first Mosque was named Xiuheyan (绣河沿清真古寺). The previous period of the Yuan Dynasty (1271 AD - 1368 AD) had been especially prosperous for Muslims, many of whom migrated to these very regions. This was the first time that a need for a Mosque in Lanzhou was felt. Thus, after a change of Dynasty, the first Mosque to be constructed in the city in history became the Xiuheyan mosque which opened during the first year of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD - 1644 AD) in 1368 AD (Hongwu Reign). Not much later, during the ongoing campaigns to get rid of the Mongols and drive them out of China's North-West, a second Mosque was built in Lanzhou to facilitate the needs of Muslim soldiers and workers in the Ming Army that had arrived in the City. The historically second Mosque is identified as the Qiaomen Mosque, which was constructed a few years later in 1372 AD.
1442 AD: Officially the year of the first construction of the famous Id Kah Mosque (Uyghur: ھېيتگاھ مەسچىتى, Хейтгах Месчити Hëytgah Meschiti, Chinese: 艾提尕尔清真寺; pinyin: Àitígǎěr Qīngzhēnsì) (from Persian: عیدگاه Eidgāh, meaning Place of Festivities) in the silk road city of Kashgar (in the west of what is today Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region, China (P.R.C.). The Mosque was built in that year by Saqsiz Mirza although it incorporated structures dating back tops early as the year 996 AD. Today, after an eventful history of nearly 600 years, the Mosque is still in function and is the main and most active Mosque in the city. It is also counted as one of the most famous landmarks of Kashgar.
1640 AD: First date of construction of the Afāq Khoja Mausoleum or Aba Khoja Mausoleum (آفاق خواجه مزار) (Uyghur: Апақ Хоҗа Мазар Apakh Khoja Mazar) in Kashgar (Today: in the west of Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region, China (P.R.C.). The first generation of the Afāqi family (Khoja is a Persian word meaning master or teacher) to be buried there was Yusuf Hoja (Muhammad Yūsuf), a Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi who became a celebrated Islam missionary in the regions (then: Altishahr region). After he died, his eldest son Apak Hoja carried on the missionary work and became the leader of the famous White Cap Sect during the seventeenth century and seized the power of the Yarkent Kingdom for a time. Apaq Hoja was buried in 1693 and was buried in the tomb. His reputation was greater than his father's, so the tomb was renamed "The Apaq Hoja Tomb." Today All , the beautiful tiled mausoleum still stands as one of the major historic landmarks of the city of Kashgar. It contains the tombs of five generations of the Afāqi family, providing resting places for 72 of its members. Although best known as Afāq Khoja Mausoleum, the monument is also known as the "Fragrant Concubine's tomb", as it is the burial place of one of Afaq Khoja's descendants, Iparhan, who is believed to be the legendary Fragrant Concubine (Chinese: 香妃; pinyin: Xiāng Fēi; Uyghur: ئىپارخان / Iparxan / Ипархан). She was the wife of a rogue leader (and/or child of ruler of the Yarkent Khanate) who was captured by the Qianlong Emperor's troops, and was taken to Beijing to be the emperor's imperial concubine. Refusing to serve him, a Uyghur tale said she was forced to commit suicide or was murdered by the Emperor's mother.
Around 1190 AD: Construction of the so called Minaret of Jam, a silk road monument situated aadjacent the Hari River (Dari: هری رود Harī Rōd, i.e. "Herat River") in the remote Shahrak District of Ghor (Pashto/Persian: غور ; also spelled Ghowr or Ghur) Province in Afghanistan. The UNESCO world cultural heritage Minaret of Jam () was likely a part of the Capital of the Ghurid Dynasty (Persian: سلسله غوریان; self-designation: شنسبانی, Shansabānī)(around 879 AD - 1215 AD), Firozkoh, where it was probably a part of the Friday Mosque. Although the origins and even exact date of construction of the Jam Minaret are unclear, the tower made entirely of baked bricks is famous for its intricate brick, stucco and glazed tile decoration, which consists of alternating bands of kufic and naskhi calligraphy, geometric patterns, and verses from the Qur'an. What is clear is that it was constructed to commemorate a Ghurid Victory, either that of the Ghurid sultan Ghiyas ud-Din over the Ghaznevids in 1186 in Lahore or alternatively the victory of Mu'izz ad-Din, Ghiyath ud-Din's brother, over Prithviraj Chauhan. This victory allowed Islam to spread into the northern
YouTube Video: Minaret of Jam in Ghor Province, Afghanistan by NATO (2013).
Indian subcontinent. Although soon after the construction of the Minaret the Ghurid Dynasty and its Capital went into decline, the minaret and some ruins survive to this day. After the demise of the Capital the site was only made known to the outside world in the year 1886 and only became famous after excavations in the year 1957. Since it has been made a world cultural heritage site, but the site remains threatened by conflict and natural erosion.
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1609 AD: Start of the construction of the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii) also nicknamed the "Blue Mosque" in Istanbul, in the Ottoman Empire (Today: Turkey). After the Peace of Zsitvatorok (peace treaty which ended the Fifteen Years' War between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy on 11 November 1606) and the crushing loss in the 1603-18 war with Persia, Sultan Ahmet I (Ottoman Turkish: احمد اول Aḥmed-i evvel; Turkish: I. Ahmed)(Life: April 1590 AD - November 22, 1617 AD)(Reign: 1603 AD - 1617 AD), decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul to reassert Ottoman power. It would be the first imperial mosque for more than forty years. The mosque was built on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors, in front of the basilica Hagia Sophia (at that time, the primary imperial mosque in Istanbul) and the hippodrome (Hippodrome of Constantinople (Greek: Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit. Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs)), a site of significant symbolic meaning as it dominated the city skyline from the south. Big parts of the south shore of the mosque rest on the foundations, the vaults of the old Grand Palace (The Great Palace of Constantinople (Greek: Μέγα
YouTube Video: The "Blue Mosque" in Istanbul, Turkey by Rick Steves.
Παλάτιον, Méga Palátion; Latin: Palatium Magnum, Turkish: Büyük Saray), also known as the Sacred Palace (Greek: Ἱερὸν Παλάτιον, Hieròn Palátion; Latin: Sacrum Palatium). The construction of the Mosque was completed in 1616 AD.
1550 AD: Start of construction of the Süleymaniye Mosque (Turkish: Süleymaniye Camii) situated on the "Third Hill" (all seven hills, are located in the area within the (ancient) city walls) of Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire (Today: Istanbul, Turkey). The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent (Suleiman I ; Ottoman Turkish: سلطان سليمان اول Sultan Süleyman-ı Evvel; Turkish: Birinci Süleyman, Kanunî Sultan Süleyman or Muhteşem Süleyman ; also Kanunî Sultan Süleyman (Ottoman Turkish: قانونى سلطان سليمان; "The Lawgiver Suleiman"))(Life: November 6, 1494 - September 6, 1566)(Reign: 1520 AD - 1566 AD) and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan (Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ (Ottoman Turkish: معمار سينان, "Sinan Agha the Grand Architect"; Modern Turkish: Mimar Sinan, "Sinan the Architect"))(Life: 1488/1490 AD - July 17, 1588 AD). The Süleymaniye, similar in magnificence to the preceding structures, asserts Suleyman's historical importance. The structure is nevertheless smaller in size than its older archetype, the Hagia Sophia. It was inaugurated in the year 1557.
YouTube Video: The "Suleyman Mosque" in Istanbul, Turkey by Beth Harris, C. Zucker.
1505 AD: Babur (Persian: بابر, translit. Bābur, lit. 'tiger')(Life: February 14, 1483 AD - December 26, 1530)(born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad), the ultimate founder and first Emperor of the Mughal Dynasty (Mughal Empire (Persian: گورکانیان, translit. Gūrkāniyān ; Urdu: مغلیہ سلطنت, translit. Mughliyah Saltanat) or Mogul Empire) in the Indian subcontinent and a direct descendant of Emperor Timur (Tamerlane)(from what is current day Uzbekistan) conquered Kabul in east central Afghanistan. Subsequently he stayed there for over twenty years (1504 - 1526) before going on to conquer India. As his residential Palace he selected the 5th century AD Fortress of Bala Hissar, which he greatly enhanced among things starting a garden in the lower parts of the fortress and an irrigation channel between the Kabul River and the Fortress. His successors were anxious to retain a strong presence in Kabul, for it was not only on a vital trading route from Central Asia to India - particularly for the supply of horses from the Central Asian grasslands – but also the gateway back to their ancestral lands, which they retained a hope of one day repossessing. They extended the Bala Hissar fortress further, surrounding the lower part with walls, towers and gatehouses in a Mughal style. The final shape of the Bala Hissar was an irregular polygon about 800 metres east-west and 600 metres north-south.
1112 AD: King David IV (David the Builder)(Georgian: დავით აღმაშენებელი, Davit Aghmashenebeli)(Life: 1073 - January 24, 1125)(Reign: 1089 AD - 1125 AD) of the Bagrationi Dynasty (Georgian: ბაგრატიონი, bagrat’ioni) completely re-built the church on Sioni Street in Tbilisi, Georgia that became the basic design for the existing Sioni Cathedral of the Dormition (Georgian: სიონი (ტაძარი). During an attack by Mongols in 1226, the church was damaged again, with the destruction of the dome being ordered by Jalal Ed Din’s order. As a product of the works of "David the Builder" (better translated as restorer of the Georgian Kingdom and Nation), considered to be the greatest and most successful Georgian ruler in history and an original architect of the Georgian Golden Age, the church was considered Sacro-Sanct within the nation and served as symbol of the Nation and was thus subsequently repaired, but damaged again by Timurthe Lame (Tamerlane) in 1386 AD. Later it was again rebuilt by King Alexander I "the Great" (Georgian: ალექსანდრე I დიდი) (Life: 1386 - between August 26, 1445 and March 7, 1446)(Reign: 1412 AD -1442 AD), in the first half of the 15th Century, during another period of Georgian re-rise.
1380 AD: During an early Timurid Empire invasion of Georgia, an early version of the current day Sioni Cathedral of the Dormition (Georgian: სიონის ღვთისმშობლის მიძინების ტაძარი) on Sioni Street in the Georgian Capital of Tiflis (Tbilisi) is damaged once again. It would not be until the first half of the 15th century that the Cathedral was once again rebuilt and restored to its former glory during the re-rising of the Georgian Nation under King Alexander I the Great (Georgian: ალექსანდრე I დიდი)(Life: 1386 - between August 26, 1445 and March 7, 1446)(Reign: 1412 AD -1442 AD).
March 29, 1516: Establishment of the Jewish Ghetto in the north western parts in of the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice, Italy, the first and oldest Ghetto in the World. The English word "ghetto" (ghèto in the Venetian tongue) is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice (although it was not the first time in history that Jews had been obliged to live in separate segregated parts of a city). All jews in Venice were required to live in the area. While residing in cramped and undesirable conditions, Venetian Jews continued to contribute to the Republic's society and economy. Known and desired for their banking skills, the role Jews played in the city state's commercial activities gave rise to Shakespeare's inspiration for The Merchant of Venice. Although the Jewish Ghetto was abolished in 1797 when a French army led by Napoleon Bonaparte conquered the city, today, the Ghetto is still a center of Jewish life in the city. The Jewish Community of Venice, that counts about 450 people, is still culturally very active, although only a few members live in the Ghetto.
April, 1204 AD: The siege and sack of Constantinople occurred in and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Mutinous Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire (known to the Byzantines as the Frankokratia or the Latin Occupation) was established and Baldwin of Flanders was crowned Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople in the Hagia Sophia. After the city's sacking, most of the Byzantine Empire's territories were divided up among the Crusaders. Byzantine aristocrats also established a number of small independent splinter states, one of them being the Empire of Nicaea, which would eventually recapture Constantinople in 1261 and proclaim the reinstatement of the Empire. However, the restored Empire never managed to reclaim its former territorial or economic strength, and eventually fell to the rising Ottoman Sultanate in the 1453 Siege of Constantinople. The sack of Constantinople is a major turning point in medieval history. The Crusaders' decision to attack the world's largest Christian city was unprecedented and immediately controversial. Reports of Crusader looting and brutality scandalised and horrified the Orthodox world; relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches were catastrophically wounded for many centuries afterwards, and would not be substantially repaired until modern times.The Byzantine Empire was left much poorer, smaller, and ultimately less able to defend itself against the Turkish conquests that followed; the actions of the Crusaders thus directly accelerated the collapse of Christendom in the east, and in the long run facilitated the expansion of Islam into Europe. After the violent take over of the city, the Crusaders and their Venetian allies looted, terrorized, and vandalised Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works were either stolen or destroyed. The famous bronze horses from the Hippodrome were sent back to adorn the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, where they remained until taken in the French conquest of the Republic of Venice in 1997 (to be returned in 1815). As well as being stolen, works of immeasurable artistic value were destroyed merely for their material value. One of the most precious works to suffer such a fate was a large bronze statue of Hercules, created by the legendary Lysippos, court sculptor of Alexander the Great. Like so many other priceless artworks made of bronze, the statue was melted down for its content by the Crusaders. The great Library of Constantinople was destroyed as well.
11th Century AD: During the reign of Bagrat IV (Georgian: ბაგრატ IV)(Life: 1018 - 24 November 1072)(Reign: August 16, 1027 - November 24, 1072), on a site in the so called Valley of the Cross outside Jerusalem (Current day: Israel-Palestine) earlier consecrated by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (The first Christian Roman Emperor) and given away to the Orthodox Christian Church of Georgia in the year 327 AD, later the location of a Christian Monastery from the fifth century to eighth century, the Monastery of the Cross (Hebrew: מנזר המצלבה, Georgian: ჯვრის მონასტერი, jvris monast'eri) is constructed by the Georgian Giorgi-Prokhore of Shavsheti. At the time it was a monastery of the Georgian Orthox Church.
1267 AD: Following the Crusaders' armies loss of Jerusalem (1244) and its return to Muslim control, in 1267, the Mamelukes (Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك Salṭanat al-Mamālīk)(Capital: Cairo)(1250 AD - 1517 AD), who then controlled Jerusalem, Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz Region (of current day Saudi Arabia) removed the monks from the (Georgian) Monastery of the Cross (Hebrew: מנזר המצלבה, Georgian: ჯვრის მონასტერი, jvris monast'eri), demolished the church in the monastery, and built a mosque within the monastery complex. (The Georgian Christian Orthodox monks, however, were permitted to return to the monastery in 1305 as the Mamelukes relented under pressure from Constantinople).
1260 AD: The Mamluks (Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك Salṭanat al-Mamālīk) entered Palestine from Egypt to confront the Mongol army that Hulagu left behind under the command of Kitbuqa (Mongolian: Хитбуха). In September 1260, the two sides met in the Jezreel Valley south of Nazareth in a major confrontation known as the Battle of Ain Jalut (Ayn Jalut, in Arabic: عين جالوت, the "Spring of Goliath", or Harod Spring, in Hebrew: מעין חרוד). Qutuz had some of his cavalry units hide in the hills around Ain Jalut (Goliath's Spring), while directing Baybars's forces to advance past Ain Jalut against Kitbuqa's Mongols. In the ensuing half-hour clash, Baybars' men feigned a retreat and were pursued by Kitbuqa. The latter's forces fell into a Mamluk trap once they reached the springs of Ain Jalut, with Baybars' men turning around to confront the Mongols and Qutuz's units ambushing the Mongols from the hills. The battle ended in a Mongol rout and Kitbuqa's capture and execution. Afterward, the Mamluks proceeded to recapture Damascus and the other Syrian cities taken by the Mongols. Upon Qutuz's triumphant return to Cairo, he was assassinated in a Bahri plot. Baybars subsequently assumed power in Egypt in late 1260, and established the Bahri Mamluk sultanate.
1258 AD: Mongols armies under the command of Hulagu Khan (Mongolian: Хүлэгү/ᠬᠦᠯᠡᠭᠦ, translit. Hu’legu’/Qülegü; Chagatay: ہلاکو; Persian: هولاکو خان, Hulâgu xân; Chinese: 旭烈兀; pinyin: Xùlièwù) laid siege to- and then sacked Baghdad (current day Capital of Iraq), the intellectual and spiritual center of the Islamic world, in 1258. There after the Mongol Armies proceeded westward, capturing Aleppo and Damascus (current day Syria) in 1260. However, following the death of the Mongol Ruler Möngke Khan (Mongolian: ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ Möngke / Мөнх Mönkh; Chinese: 蒙哥; pinyin: Ménggē)(Life: January 11, 1209 - August 11, 1259 AD) in August 1260 the advance was halted, with Halugu Khan returning to Mongolia leading his army in an attempt to claim the Mongol Throne while leaving an army to maintain the occupation of Syria under command of his subordinate lieutenant Kitbuqa.
1244 AD: On flight their flight from Mongol Armies invading their Nation, the Khwarezmian Tatars (Khwarezmiyya)(remnant troops loyal to the fallen Khwarezmian Dynasty of Persia) took Jerusalem, decimated the city's Christian population and drove out the Jews. This triggered a call from Europe for the Seventh Crusade, but the Crusaders would never again be successful in retaking Jerusalem.
1218 AD: In that year Genghis Khan sent a trade mission to the state, but at the town of Otrar the governor, suspecting the Khan's ambassadors to be spies, confiscated their goods and executed them. Genghis Khan demanded reparations, which the Shah refused to pay. Genghis retaliated with a force of 200,000 men, launching a multi-pronged invasion. In February 1220 the Mongolian army crossed the Syr Darya (Oxus River). The Mongols stormed Bukhara, Gurganj and the Khwarezmid capital Samarkand (Current day Uzbekistan). The Shah fled and died some weeks later on an island in the Caspian Sea.
1459 AD: Six years after the conquest of Istanbul (Greek: Ἅλωσις τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit. Halōsis tēs Kōnstantinoupoleōs; Turkish: İstanbul'un Fethi, lit. 'Conquest of Istanbul') which marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, following the transfer of the Ottoman Capital from Edirne (historically known as Adrianople (Hadrianopolis in Latin or Adrianoupolis in Greek) to Istanbul, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثانى, translit. Meḥmed-i sānī; Modern Turkish: II. Mehmet)(Life: March 30, 1432 - May 3, 1481), popularly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (Turkish: Fatih Sultan Mehmet) orders the construction of the Topkapı Palace (Turkish: Topkapı Sarayı or in Ottoman Turkish: طوپقپو سرايى, Ṭopḳapu Sarāyı ; English: Cannon Gate (Palace)), or the Seraglio (after its location on Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu), a promontory overlooking the Golden Horn, where the Bosphorus Strait meets the Marmara Sea) also known as the "The Palace of Felicity" among Ottomans. Topkapı was originally called the "New Palace" (Yeni Saray or Saray-ı Cedîd-i Âmire) to distinguish it from the Old Palace in Beyazıt Square (today the site of Istanbul University) and received its current
YouTube Video: Topkapi Palace Museum - Istanbul Guide (November 2013).
name during Mahmud I's reign (Ottoman Turkish: محمود اول , Turkish: I. Mahmud)(1730 to 1754); when Topkapusu Sâhil Sarâyı, the seaside palace, was destroyed in a fire its name was transferred to the Palace. The Palace served as the Royal Palace of the Ottoman Empire until 1856, when Sultan Abdulmejid I decided to move the court to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace. Following the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, Topkapı was transformed into a museum by a government decree dated April 3, 1924. The Topkapı Palace Museum is administered by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
1150 AD: Around the second half of the 12th century AD, during the Ghaznavid Empire (977 AD - 1186 AD), the monumental Ghazni Minarets were built as part of the larger complex of the Mosque of Bahram Shah. The Ghaznavids (Persian: غزنویان ġaznaviyān) had their Capital at Ghazna (today: Ghazni) from 977 to 1163 AD, which is when the two minartes and the Bahram Shah mosque were built as prominent landmarks of this Capital standing very near the Royal Palace. The Mosque was named after the ruler who ordered its construction, Sultan Bahram Shah (full name: Yamin ad-Dawlah wa Amin al-Milla Abul-Muzaffar Bahram-Shah)(Reign: `officially 1117, factually 1118 - 1157), during a particularly turbulent period for the city and Ghaznavid Empire. Bahram Shah was a vassal and tributary of the neighbouring Great Seljuq Empire (Persian: آل سلجوق, translit. Āl-e Saljuq, lit. 'House of Saljuq')(1037 - 1194). The two minarets, of which at least one is attributed to the rule of Baghram Shah, stand at 600 meters (1968 feet) apart and lie in an open plain, east of Ghazni city (Today: Ghazni (Pashto/Persian: غزنی) historically known as Ghaznin (غزنين) or
YouTube Video: Ghazni, Capital of Islamic Culture (Persian language only version 2014).
Ghazna (غزنه), Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. Both minarets of Ghazni are 20 metres (66 feet) tall and built of fired mud brick. The surface of the towers are decorated beautifully with intricate geometric patterns and Qurunic verses on elaborate terracottatiles. The two minarets are called, Mas'ud III Minaret and Bahram Shah Minaret after the ruler who built them, Masud III (A.D. 1099 - 1115) and Bahram Shah (A.D. 1118 - 1157). The excavated palace of Mas'ud III lies nearby to the towers. Today, both minarets survive but are poorly protected and standing in the open air are subject to weather erosion and vandalims as well as potentially threatened by ongoing war violence in Afghanistan.
1076 AD: Although it is possible but not proven that a similar but lesser structure stood on this place in Damascus during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, historians believe that the current citadel of Damascus was first fortified in 1076 by the Turkman warlord Atsiz bin Uvak (Full name: Atsiz Ibn Uwaq al-Khwarizmi, also known as al-Aqsis, Atsiz ibn Uvaq, Atsiz ibn Oq and Atsiz ibn Abaq)(Life: unknown AD - died 1078 or 1079) after his armies conquered the city. Although Atsiz bin Uvak was imprisoned but two years later by the Seljuq (Persian: آل سلجوق Al-e Saljuq) Emir of Damascus Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I (Turkish: I. Tutuş, Arabic: أبو سعيد تاج الدولة تتش السلجوقي) it was the beginning of a fortress placed inside the city to be expanded over the following decades during the rule of Tutush I. Subseuqently The emirs of the subsequent Burid and Zengid Dynasties carried out modifications and added new structures to the Damascus Citadel. During this period, the citadel and the city were besieged several times by Crusader and Muslim armies. Almost a century after the start of its construction, in 1174, the citadel was captured by Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, who made it his residence and had the defences and residential buildings modified. The original Citadel was dismantled by the Mongolian Army of general Kitbuqa after it captured Damascus in 1260 AD, however following the demise of Mongol Rule it was rebuilt again to be used by subsequent rulers and states. Today, the restored citadel is part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage site of the Old City of Damascus and thus draws in many visitors.
1279 AD - 1368 AD: The Silk Road after the Mongol Conquest of Sung Dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝; pinyin: Sòng cháo) China.
1220 AD: In the later stages of the initial Mongol invasion of the Kwarezmian Empire following the capture of Samarkand and Buchara, troops led personally by Genghis Khan born Temüjin)(Life: c. 1162 - August 18, 1227) enter into northern Afghanistan en route back to the Mongolian plains taking Herat and turning eastward to lay siege to Bamiyan. In the process of the siege and after months, the capture of the fortified city of Bamiyan, the fortified position in- and near the city, the current day Gholghola City (Dari: شهر غلغله ; Shahr-e Gholghola)("City of Screams"), Shar-e-Kakrak (--) and Shar-e-Zuhak (Dari: شهر ضحاک, also known as The Red City), are destroyed by Mongol forces. Today, they remain as ruined sites of archeological interest near the city of Bamiyan, in Bamiyan Province of northern Afghanistan. Notably, the Buddhist Cave site of the Bamiyan Buddha's is spared destruction. Following the conquest of Bamiyan Mongol troops move on to attack Ghazni and Kabul.
AD 1368 - 1644: The Silk Road during the rule of the Ming Dynasty of China.
1218 AD: In Palestine (current day Israel), on a site situated some 50 miles south of Acre (Akko (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ, ʻAko) or Akka (Arabic: عكّا, ʻAkkā)), on a rocky outcrop jutting into the Mediterranean, during the 5th Crusade (1217 AD - 1221 AD), the religious order of the Knights Templar (Established 1119 - disbanded in 1307) start the construction of Chastel Pelerin, by its medieval French name (Latin: Castrum Perigrinorum, French: Château Pèlerin, Italian: Castello Pelegrino), today known also as Atlit fortress, Castle of the Son of God and Pilgrim's Castle. To separate the mainland from the castle, they dug a wide, deep ditch that could be flooded with seawater from either side for defense, and then constructed a 6 meters (nearly 20 foot) thick wall that towered 15 meters (almost 50 feet )high and was studded with watchtowers. An inner wall, twice as thick and reaching twice as high, protected the castle keep, which, according to contemporary sources, could house 4,000 soldiers. By the year 1220 the Castle was able to withstand a siege by the Ayyubids (1171 - 1260 AD), under the command of al-Malik al-Mu'azzam. Over the years the Castle was expanded to include a harbor on its south side and an village, known as Athlete, formed outside of its perimeter. Abandoned in 1291 as the last European Crusaders left the region, the site remained largely intact for centuries there after. Today, damaged in the 1837 Galilee Earthquake and pilfered by locals for available stone, it survives as a ruined site, which is part of an Israeli Commando Base and Harbor. It was until recently off limits to the public but in the last few years (since 2017 following access for an archeological team) has been opened and now serves a tourist destination.
1291 AD: Following the siege and fall of Acre (Akko (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ, ʻAko) or Akka (Arabic: عكّا, ʻAkkā))(April 4 - May 18, 1291) their last strongpoint in the regions, the Last European Crusaders leave the Levant (Palestine and Lebanon) retreating to the island of Cyprus or returning to their homeland. The various Crusader Castles are abandoned, the last of them the Knights Templar Castle of Pelirin on the coast of the mediterranean sea (Chastel Pelerin, by its medieval French name (Latin: Castrum Perigrinorum, French: Château Pèlerin, Italian: Castello Pelegrino), today known also as Atlit fortress, Castle of the Son of God and Pilgrim's Castle). The last Crusader territories and the Pelerin Castle are taken by the Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك Salṭanat al-Mamālīk)(1250–1517).
1228 AD: Start of the construction of the Crusader Castle of Montfort (Hebrew: מבצר מונפור, Mivtzar Monfor; Arabic: Qal'at al-Qurain or Qal'at al-Qarn - "Castle of the Little Horn" or "Castle of the Horn") in what today is the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel. Th Castle is built by the Teutonic Order of Crusader Knights (a monastic military order) and last from 1228 AD to around 1240 AD, with further additions being made in the 1260's. Because the Teutonic Order was formed by Germanic knights, the original name was Starkeberg, meaning strong mountain. Accordingly, the French name "Montfort" currently most used for the castle derives from the two French words mont, mountain, and fort, strong, meaning the "strong mountain". The Castle was built inland at location about 22 kilometres from the Crusader stronghold city of Acre (Akko (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ, ʻAko) or Akka (Arabic: عكّا, ʻAkkā) at a time when the Crusader kingdom was under increasing pressure from Muslim armies and following disputes with the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller, the Teutonic Knights sought to place their own headquarters outside of the city of Acre. Thus, the Castle was designed not to protect the surrounding area, but to serve as a private headquarters, archive, and treasury for the wealthy order. The men of the Teutonic Order had organised in Acre at about the year 1190 AD. The knights set their headquarters, archive, and treasury at the new property in 1229. The Castle was built on land that the Teutonic Order purchased from the French de Milly family in 1220 and is one of the finest examples of fortified building architecture in "Outremer" (I.e. "Foreign") style. Today the castle site is part a national park inside the Nahal Kziv (Hebrew: נחל כזיב) (lit. "Kziv stream") nature reserve, and is an important tourist destination attracting many visitors from inside and outside Israel. The park also includes other Crusader remnants and ruins.
1266 AD: An army led by two emirs of Mamluk sultan Baibars (Arabic: الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī)(also nicknamed Abu al-Futuh or Abu l-Futuhat (Arabic: أبو الفتوح; English: Father of Conquest, referring to his victories)) the fourth Sultan of Egypt of the Mamluk Bahri Dynasty (Arabic: المماليك البحرية, translit. al-Mamalik al-Baḥariyya)(1250 AD - 1382 AD) besieged the castle Starkenberg Castle (Montfort Castle (Hebrew: מבצר מונפור, Mivtzar Monfor; Arabic: Qal'at al-Qurain or Qal'at al-Qarn - "Castle of the Little Horn" or "Castle of the Horn")) in northern Galilee. However, the defenders resisted and eventually compelled the Mamluk invaders to leave.
1271 AD: A fter most of the Crusader strongholds had fallen into Baibars' hands, the Mamluk leader himself besieged the castle using several military engineering battalions. After about three days of siege Baibars' troops took the rabad or faubourg, the next day the bashura or outer bailey fell, and on the fifteenth day the German defenders, which were still resisting in the keep, surrendered. Due to prior negotiations between Baibars and the Crusaders, the latter were allowed to leave the castle with all of their belongings under safe passage and return to Acre. After the fall of that city in 1291, the Teutonic Knights made Venice their headquarters. The Mamluks then took twelve days to thoroughly demolish the castle in order to make sure that the Crusaders could not return to their stronghold in the future.
16 June, 1552: After well over a decade of military and political preparations, a 150,000-strong Russian army led personally by Tzar Ivan IV (The Terrible) advances towards Kazan the Capital of the hostile Khan Khanate (current day Capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation). The Russian siege of the Tatar capital, for which among things an entire wooden Russian fortress of Sviyazhsk had been disassembled an shipped down the Volga river in order to serve as Russian field headquarters and stronghold, commenced on 30 August. Under the supervision of Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky, the Russians used battering rams and a siege tower, undermining tactics and 150 cannons and Cossack armies as mercenaries. The Russians also had the advantage of efficient military engineers. The city's water supply was blocked and the walls were breached. Kazan finally fell on 2 October, its fortifications were razed, and much of the population massacred. About 60,000 – 100,000 Russian prisoners and slaves were released. The Tsar celebrated his victory over Kazan by building several churches with oriental features, most famously Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow.
The siege and fall of Kazan had as its primary effect the outright annexation of the Middle Volga and marked a significant turn around in Russian history. Henceforth, the Russians would expand their territory southward and eastward. The Bashkirs (Bashkir: Башҡорттар ; Russian: Башкиры ; a Turkic ethnic group i.e. inhabitants of Bashkortostan to the west of the Kazan Khanate) accepted Ivan IV's authority two years later in 1554. In 1556 Ivan annexed the Astrakhan Khanate situated on the north-west corner of the Caspian sea, destroyed the largest slave market on the Volga, and had a new fortress built on a steep hill overlooking the river. These conquests complicated the migration of the aggressive nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe through the Volga regions and brought the rising Russian Emoire in direct contact with the ancient silk roads and their peoples. As a result of the Kazan campaigns, Muscovy was transformed into the multinational and multi-faith state of Russia.
1558 AD: Anthony Jenkinson (Life: 1529 AD - 1610/1611 AD) in the dual function of special representative of Queen Mary (I) Tudor of England (Reign: July 1553 – November 17, 1558) and trading representative of the Muscovy Company arrived in Moscow. From Moscow he launches his first expedition into the newly conquered Eastern Russian territories and Central Asia. Having received permission to do so from Tsar Ivan IV in April 1558 Jenkinson initially traveled by boat and with an armed escort south down the Oka and Volga Rivers, passing through the Khanate of Kazan (conquered by Russia in 1552), and arrived at the town of Astrakhan, (conquered 1556). In the Southern Volga basin he engaged with Mongolians for the first time in his life and also witnessed the thriving slave market in Astrakhan. Form Astrakhan his party continued their journey south-east after traveling across the Caspian Sea to Serachik (Serakhs), where they joined a merchant caravan and traveled for several months across the Tatar lands of the Nogai Horde in order to reach Bochara and from there on travel to Cathai (China) if possible. They reached Bokhara after fighting off bandits in the desert, but found that though the routes to China and India were well known, they were impassable due to wars and banditry along the way. The hostility of the local authorities made their stay precarious, and ultimately they were forced to retrace their steps, leaving Bokhara only shortly before the army of Samarkand arrived to besiege it. After many more hardships, including having to completely re-rig the boat they had left on the Caspian (making their own sails, ropes and cables), they arrived back in Moscow in 1559, but could not travel back to England until the spring of 1560 opened the sea passages again. On this journey, however, Jenkinson did manage to make a map of some of the Russian and Tatar territories, though he fell into the common mistake of assuming the Aral Sea was a gulf of the Caspian. His map was incorporated into Ortelius' atlas Theatrum orbis terrarum. Anthony Jenkinson's journey was the first English (British) overland expedition to reach this far east along the Silk Road.
August 1561 AD: Anthony Jenkinson (Life: 1529 AD - 1610/1611 AD) in the dual function of special representative of Queen Elizabeth I of England (and Ireland)(Reign: November 17, 1558 - March 24, 1603) and trading representative of the Muscovy Company arrived back in Moscow planning to start his second expedition planning to lead him southward into Persia. Held up until March of 1562 until having conferred on trade terms with Ivan IV (the Terrible) Jenkinson traveled across Russia, down the Caspian Sea and into Persia, where he reached the court of Shah Tahmasp, then located at Qazvin, where he managed to obtain preferential trading deals on behalf of the Muscovy Company. However, he found that the wider objective of breaking into the Indian Ocean trade was blocked by the Portuguese outpost at Ormuzon (Ormuz) on the Persian Gulf, and the sale of English goods was limited by competition from the Venetians operating via the much shorter route from the Mediterranean through Syria. Also during this expedition, he made a great impression on Tsar Ivan IV who granted a large extension of trading rights to the Muscovy Company. In his travels into Central Asia and Persia, Jenkinson had a relationship of mutual advantage with the Tsar, buying commodities on the Tsar's behalf, but also benefiting from Ivan's letters of credence, which had considerable weight with local powers in the aftermath of Russia's triumphs at Kazan and Astrakhan. In July 1564 Jenkinson returned to London.
From his experiences in Russia Anthony Jenkinson created various maps of the territories he travelled through. Jenkinson's maps of Russia were incorporated into Ortelius' famous atlas "Theatrum orbis terrarum". Also, historians have mined many of Jenkinson's surviving personal letters, in which he describes Russia, its culture, religion and people. Particularly, he makes mention of Ivan's terrible and atrocious form of rule. Also, Jenkinson's travel accounts were used in Richard Hakluyt's compendium of geographic, trade and exploration material "The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation".
1579 AD (or possibly 1581): Under contract with the Stroganov merchant family who in turn where supported by Tsar Ivan IV "The Terribe" , late in the year 1579 an army of Russian Cossacks under leadership of Yermak Timofeyevich (Russian: Ерма́к Тимофе́евич)(Life: born between 1532 and 1542 - August 5 or 6, 1585) leaves the fortress of Perm (on the Chusovaya River) to venture eastward across the Ural Mountains and invade Eastern Asia. After building a fleet of vessels they descend down the Tura River (Russian: Тура́)(also known as Dolgaya River (Long River, Russian: Долгая)) and move into western Siberian regions. It is the beginning of the Russian conquest of Eastern Asia. Having spent the winter in camp while the Trura river remained frozen in the following year the Cossack's continue their advance down the Tura river driving Mongolians before them. In 1582 a battle at the fortress of Qashliq (also known as Isker or Sibir) along the Irtysh River leads to the fall of the Khanate of Sibir (Себер Ханлыҡ ; also historically called the Khanate of Turan) opening the way for the full Russian conquest of all of Siberia as far as the Bering Straits.