Middle Ages
Almoravids and Ghana (1076): Conquest of Koumbi Saleh Debated
Ghana's rulers and many subjects adopted Islam around 1076-77, but whether this followed a military conquest by the Almoravids is disputed.
Region
Africa
Middle Ages
Mai Hume and Kanem's Conversion to Islam (c. 1085)
Kanem's ruling house became Muslim, and the Sefuwa dynasty ruled Kanem and later Bornu until 1846.
Middle Ages
Gao-Saney Royal Stelae: Early Muslim Kings of Gao (c. 1100)
The stelae proved that Gao had Muslim kings by about 1100 and preserved names of a royal dynasty otherwise missing from later chronicles.
Middle Ages
Gedi Ruins: Lost Swahili Town in the Kenyan Forest
Gedi grew into a prosperous walled Swahili town, was abandoned in the early 17th century, and survives as one of the best-preserved medieval sites of the East African coast.
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.
Middle Ages
Great Zimbabwe: Stone City of a Medieval African Kingdom
Great Zimbabwe became the capital of a wealthy Shona-speaking state trading gold to the Indian Ocean, then declined in the 15th century as power shifted elsewhere.
Middle Ages
Almohad Caliphate (1121-1269): Ibn Tumart's Reform Empire
A Berber religious movement replaced the Almoravids and ruled North Africa and al-Andalus until defeat in Spain and rebellions in Africa broke it up.
Middle Ages
Zagwe Dynasty: Ethiopia's Medieval Kings Before the Solomonids
The Zagwe kings revived the Christian kingdom of the Ethiopian highlands and left major churches, but were overthrown in 1270 by Yekuno Amlak, founder of the Solomonic dynasty.
Middle Ages
Al-Idrisi's Tabula Rogeriana (1154): A World Map for Sicily
Al-Idrisi produced one of the most detailed geographies and world maps of the Middle Ages, combining Greek, Arabic and contemporary travellers' knowledge.
Middle Ages
Saladin: Sultan of Egypt and Syria and Foe of the Crusaders
Saladin united Egypt and Syria under the Ayyubid dynasty, destroyed the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187 and retook Jerusalem, which he held against the Third Crusade.
Middle Ages
Maimonides and the Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190)
Maimonides completed the Guide for the Perplexed around 1190, a landmark of medieval philosophy that shaped Jewish, Islamic and Christian thought.
Middle Ages
Battle of Alarcos (1195): Almohad Victory Over Castile
Decisive Almohad victory; Castile lost its southern frontier fortresses, and the defeat later spurred the Christian coalition that won at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212.