Middle Ages
Timbuktu: Medieval City of Trade, Scholarship and Manuscripts
Timbuktu became a leading centre of Saharan trade and Islamic scholarship until the Moroccan conquest of 1591 began its long decline.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Angkor Wat: Suryavarman II and the World's Largest Temple
Angkor Wat became the largest religious monument in the world, a Hindu temple later turned to Buddhist worship and now the national symbol of Cambodia.
Middle Ages
Fengxian Temple at Longmen Grottoes: Tang Colossal Buddha (672)
A colossal open-air group of nine figures centred on the Vairocana Buddha was completed in 675, the high point of Tang sculpture at Longmen.
Middle Ages
Umayyad Mosque of Damascus (705-715): al-Walid's Great Mosque
The Umayyads replaced the Church of St John with a monumental congregational mosque that became a model for mosque architecture across the Islamic world.
Middle Ages
Hildegard of Bingen: Visionary Abbess, Composer and Scholar
Hildegard became one of the best-known writers, composers and religious leaders of the 12th century and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 2012.
Middle Ages
Visigothic Code (654): The Liber Iudiciorum of Recceswinth
A single written law code for all subjects of the Visigothic kingdom, later translated as the Fuero Juzgo and used in Spain for centuries.
Middle Ages
Rus Attack on Constantinople (860): First Clash With Byzantium
The Rus plundered the suburbs and islands around Constantinople and withdrew; the city itself was not taken.
Early Modern
English Bill of Rights (1689): Limits on the Power of the Crown
Parliament declared the illegality of key royal powers, guaranteed parliamentary rights and settled the crown on Protestant heirs.
Early Modern
Kunta Kinteh Island (James Island): Gambia River Fort Since 1651
The island fort became England's main base on the Gambia River and a centre of the slave trade; its ruins are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 2003.
Early Modern
Marquette and Jolliet Expedition (1673): Down the Mississippi
The expedition charted the upper and middle Mississippi and showed that the river flowed to the Gulf of Mexico, not the Pacific, opening the way for French claims in the interior.
Early Modern
Imjin War (1592–1598): Japan's Invasions of Korea
Japan withdrew after Hideyoshi's death without gaining territory, leaving Korea devastated and Ming China financially weakened.
Early Modern
Suleymaniye Mosque: Sinan's Imperial Masterpiece in Istanbul
Completed in 1557, the mosque and its complex became the largest Ottoman foundation in Istanbul and the burial place of Suleiman, Hurrem Sultan and Sinan.