Middle Ages
Uxmal: The Puuc Maya City of the Pyramid of the Magician
Uxmal became the dominant city of the Puuc region and produced some of the finest architecture of the Maya world before it declined in the 10th century.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Trans-Saharan Trade: Gold, Salt and Camel Caravans Across Africa
The caravan trade made West African gold a mainstay of Mediterranean economies and carried Islam, Arabic literacy and new states into the Sahel.
Middle Ages
Ghana Empire (Wagadu): West Africa's First Great Gold Empire
Ghana dominated the West African end of the trans-Saharan gold trade for centuries before declining after the 11th century and being absorbed into the Mali Empire.
Middle Ages
Shore Temple and Mahabalipuram: Masterpieces of Pallava Art
The Pallavas created one of the earliest groups of stone temples in southern India, setting patterns for later Dravidian temple architecture.
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
Faras Cathedral Frescoes: Christian Art of Medieval Nubia
More than a hundred medieval Nubian wall paintings were removed from the cathedral and are preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw and the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum.
Middle Ages
Heijo-kyo (710): Nara Becomes Japan's Imperial Capital
Heijo-kyo served as the seat of the Japanese court for most of the years 710-784, giving its name to the Nara period.
Middle Ages
Umayyad Conquest of Hispania (711): The Birth of al-Andalus
The Visigothic kingdom collapsed and most of the Iberian Peninsula became al-Andalus, a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, except for small Christian territories in the north.
Middle Ages
Arab Conquest of Sindh (712): Muhammad bin Qasim and Raja Dahir
Sindh and Multan became a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, the first lasting Muslim rule in South Asia.
Middle Ages
Leshan Giant Buddha: Carving the World's Largest Stone Buddha
After about ninety years of work, a 71-metre seated Maitreya Buddha was completed in 803; it remains the largest premodern stone statue in the world.
Middle Ages
Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 715): Masterpiece of Insular Art
The manuscript survived Viking raids and the Reformation and is now one of the British Library's greatest treasures.
Middle Ages
Arab Siege of Constantinople (717-718): Leo III Holds the City
Decisive Byzantine victory; the Umayyad army and fleet suffered heavy losses and the caliphate abandoned attempts to conquer Constantinople.