The 7th century

Europe

1. 🇮🇪IRL

   Ireland · Culture & Ideas · 6th–8th c.

   The monastic golden age

   Monasteries such as Clonard, Clonmacnoise and Bangor became renowned centres of learning whose scribes copied Western literature and produced illuminated manuscripts, while Irish missionaries evangelised Europe.

   Gaelic Ireland and the Monastic Golden Age

   Sources: Ireland Converts to Christianity (EBSCO Research Starters)

2. 🇽🇰KOS

   Kosovo · Peoples & Migration · 6th–7th c.

   Slavic settlement of the interior

   As the Danube frontier collapsed, Slavic peoples settled widely across the Balkan interior under and after Byzantine authority, transforming the population of the future Kosovo.

   Ancient Dardania, Rome and Byzantium

   Sources: History of Kosovo (ancient Dardania to the medieval period) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇲🇰MKD

   North Macedonia · Peoples & Migration · 6th–7th c.

   Slavic settlement of the region

   Slavic tribes migrated into the Macedonian interior from the sixth century, transforming the population of the region and laying the basis for its later Slavic-speaking identity.

   Slavic Settlement, Tsar Samuel and the Ohrid Archbishopric

   Sources: Macedonia (region, Europe): Map, History & Facts (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · North Macedonia: History (Ancient, Ottoman, Yugoslav) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Peoples & Migration · 6th–7th c.

   Slavic settlement of the eastern Alps

   Slavic peoples migrated into the eastern Alpine valleys after the fall of Roman authority, becoming the ancestors of the Slovenes and establishing the linguistic foundation of the later nation.

   Carantania and the Slavic Settlement of the Eastern Alps

   Sources: Our past (Slovenia.si (Government Communication Office)) · History of Slovenia (Government of Slovenia (gov.si))

North America

1. 🇸🇻SLV

   El Salvador · Catastrophe · c. AD 600

   Joya de Ceren buried by ash

   An eruption of the Laguna Caldera volcano seals the Maya farming village of Joya de Ceren under volcanic ash, preserving the daily life of ordinary agriculturalists in extraordinary detail.

   The Pipil, the Maya, and the Land of the Jewel

   Sources: Joya de Ceren Archaeological Site (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. 🇬🇹GTM

   Guatemala · Culture & Ideas · c. 600-800 CE

   Tikal at its height

   Tikal reaches its architectural and artistic peak as one of the dominant city-states of the Classic Maya world.

   The Maya Heartland

   Sources: Tikal National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Tikal (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇯🇲JAM

   Jamaica · Peoples & Migration · c. 600 CE

   Taino settlement of Xaymaca

   Arawak-speaking peoples settle the island they call Xaymaca, building villages led by caciques and farming cassava and corn.

   Xaymaca: The Taino Island

   Sources: Columbus and the Taino (Library of Congress) · Jamaica: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇨🇴COL

   Colombia · Culture & Ideas · 6th-10th c. CE

   Tierradentro tombs

   The people of Tierradentro hew vast painted underground burial chambers into the mountains, a unique record of a developed pre-Hispanic Andean society.

   Goldsmiths and Megalith Carvers

   Sources: National Archaeological Park of Tierradentro (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Politics & Power · c. 600-1000 CE

   The Wari state

   From the Ayacucho region the Wari build an expansive state with roads and planned centres, prefiguring the imperial methods later used by the Inca.

   Caral and the Great Andean Civilisations

   Sources: Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇯🇵JPN

   Japan · Politics & Power · 604 CE

   Prince Shotoku's Seventeen-Article Constitution

   As regent, Prince Shotoku promulgates a set of Confucian and Buddhist moral precepts for government and intensifies the adoption of Chinese institutions.

   Yamato and Asuka: The Birth of the State

   Sources: Shotoku, Taishi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Asuka period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Religion · c. 610 CE

   The first revelations

   According to Islamic tradition Muhammad, at about forty, began receiving revelations through the angel Gabriel, proclaiming a strict monotheism that would form the Quran.

   The Birth of Islam: Muhammad, Mecca and Medina

   Sources: Muhammad (Wikipedia) · Hijrah: History, Definition, and Importance (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Culture & Ideas · 618 CE

   Tang dynasty and a cosmopolitan golden age

   The Tang dynasty (618-907) builds a vast, outward-looking empire centered on Chang'an, refining the examination system and producing a flowering of poetry; woodblock printing and gunpowder first appear.

   Division, Reunification, and the Tang-Song Golden Age

   Sources: Tang dynasty, Teaching China with the Smithsonian (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art) · Song Dynasty and the golden age (Asia for Educators) (Columbia University, Asia for Educators)

Asia

1. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Religion · 622 CE

   The Hijra to Medina

   Facing persecution, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina), founding the first Muslim community; the event marks year one of the Islamic calendar.

   The Birth of Islam: Muhammad, Mecca and Medina

   Sources: Hijrah: History, Definition, and Importance (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Muhammad (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Peoples & Migration · 7th century

   Slavic settlement and the coming of the Croats

   Avar and Slavic invasions destroyed the Roman provincial order, including the capital Salona; the Croats settled the former provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia and gradually organised duchies of their own.

   Roman Dalmatia, Pannonia and the Coming of the Croats

   Sources: Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Croatia in Europe through the Ages: Development of the State (Croatia.eu (Miroslav Krleza Institute of Lexicography))

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · War & Rupture · 602–628 CE

   Exhausting wars with Byzantium

   The last great Byzantine–Sasanian war drains both empires militarily and economically, leaving Persia dangerously weakened on the eve of the Arab conquest.

   Hellenistic, Parthian and Sasanian Persia

   Sources: Sasanian Empire (World History Encyclopedia)

2. 🇾🇪YEM

   Yemen · Religion · c. 628–630 CE

   Yemen embraces Islam

   Yemen adopted Islam in the 7th century, within the Prophet Muhammad's lifetime, and Sanaa became a major centre for the spread of the new faith in the 7th and 8th centuries.

   Islam and the Long Zaidi Imamate

   Sources: Yemen: History (ancient kingdoms, Islam, the imamate, unification and war) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Old City of Sana'a (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. 🇴🇲OMN

   Oman · Religion · c. 630 CE

   Oman accepts Islam

   According to tradition, the inhabitants of Oman embraced Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, beginning the country's long Islamic history.

   Islam and the Ibadi Imamate

   Sources: Oman: The early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Oman: History of Oman - The Imamates (Fanack)

2. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Religion · c. 630 CE

   The submission of Mecca

   Muhammad returned to Mecca largely without bloodshed, cleansed the Kaaba of idols, and established Islam across much of the Hejaz.

   The Birth of Islam: Muhammad, Mecca and Medina

   Sources: Muhammad (Wikipedia)

3. 🇦🇪ARE

   United Arab Emirates · Religion · c. 630 CE

   Islam reaches the lower Gulf coast

   Islam spread to southeastern Arabia during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, drawing the coastal communities into the new faith and the trade networks of the Muslim world.

   Islam, Julfar and the Maritime Trade

   Sources: History (Discover UAE) (Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Washington DC) · History of the United Arab Emirates (UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Asia

1. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Religion · 632 CE

   Death of Muhammad

   By the Prophet's death much of the Arabian Peninsula had embraced Islam, leaving Mecca and Medina as the enduring holy cities of the faith.

   The Birth of Islam: Muhammad, Mecca and Medina

   Sources: Muhammad (Wikipedia) · History of Arabia: The Umayyad and Abbasid periods (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Politics & Power · 632 - 661 CE

   Medina as capital of the early caliphate

   Under the first (Rashidun) caliphs, Medina served as the capital of an expanding Muslim empire before power shifted away from Arabia.

   The Caliphates and the Hejaz under Outside Rule

   Sources: History of Arabia: The Umayyad and Abbasid periods (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sharifate of Mecca (Wikipedia)

3. 🇦🇪ARE

   United Arab Emirates · War & Rupture · c. 632 CE

   The Battle of Dibba in the Ridda Wars

   After the Prophet's death, a campaign by the first caliph Abu Bakr against apostate tribes culminated in a battle at Dibba on the east coast, securing the region within the Islamic order.

   Islam, Julfar and the Maritime Trade

   Sources: History (Discover UAE) (Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Washington DC)

Asia

1. 🇮🇶IRQ

   Iraq · War & Rupture · c. 636–637 CE

   Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Arab conquest

   Arab Muslim armies of the Rashidun Caliphate defeat the Sasanians at al-Qadisiyyah near al-Hira and take Ctesiphon, ending Persian rule in Mesopotamia and beginning the region's Islamisation.

   Persians, Greeks and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: Battle of al-Qādisiyyah (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Iraq — History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · War & Rupture · 636 CE

   The Battle of the Yarmuk

   Muslim Arab armies decisively defeated the Byzantines near the Yarmuk River, ending Roman rule over the region and bringing the lands east of the Jordan into the new Islamic world.

   Rome, the Decapolis and Byzantine Christianity

   Sources: Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Jordan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

3. 🇱🇧LBN

   Lebanon · War & Rupture

   Arab Muslim conquest of the Levant

   Arab armies defeat Byzantium and bring the Levant under Muslim rule, while the Christian communities of Mount Lebanon retain their distinct character in the highlands.

   Roman Heliopolis and the Rise of Christianity

   Sources: History of Lebanon (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Lebanon (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇸🇾SYR

   Syria · War & Rupture · 630s CE

   The Muslim conquest of Syria

   Arab Muslim armies defeat the Byzantines and take Damascus and Aleppo within a few years; over time Arabic and Islam spread, though Christian and other communities remain.

   Islam and the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus

   Sources: Syria — history (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Umayyad dynasty — Islamic history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · War & Rupture · 637-638 CE

   Arab Muslim conquest of Jerusalem

   Jerusalem surrendered to the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, beginning nearly a millennium of predominantly Islamic rule and the region's gradual Arabisation.

   Islamic Palestine: Conquest, Caliphates, Crusades, and Mamluks

   Sources: First Muslim conquest of Jerusalem (Wikipedia) · Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · War & Rupture · 639–642 CE

   Arab conquest of Egypt

   Amr ibn al-As leads the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Egypt and founds Fustat, beginning the country's transformation into a Muslim land.

   Islamic Egypt: Caliphs, Fatimids and Mamluks

   Sources: Arab conquest of Egypt (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. 🇱🇾LBY

   Libya · War & Rupture · 642–643 CE

   Arab conquest of Cyrenaica

   Arab forces under Amr ibn al-As take Cyrenaica and advance into Tripolitania, beginning Libya's transformation into a Muslim, Arabic-speaking land.

   The Garamantes and the Arab-Islamic Conquest

   Sources: Libya: The Muslim Conquest (Fanack Chronicle) · Libya (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇦🇫AFG

   Afghanistan · Religion · c. 642 CE

   Arab conquest and the coming of Islam

   Arab Muslim forces take Herat in the wake of the conquest of Persia, beginning the gradual and long-contested Islamisation of the Afghan lands.

   Islam, the Ghaznavids, Ghurids and Timurids

   Sources: Afghanistan — The first Muslim dynasties (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Afghanistan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. 🇦🇿AZE

   Azerbaijan · Religion · 7th century

   Arab conquest and the coming of Islam

   Arab armies brought the eastern Caucasus under Muslim rule, introducing Islam in the seventh century and beginning some four centuries of Arab control over the region.

   Islam, the Seljuks and the Shirvanshahs' Baku

   Sources: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Country Studies (ed. Glenn E. Curtis) (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division) · Baku: location, history and economy (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Azerbaijan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · War & Rupture · 642 CE

   Battle of Nahavand — the 'Victory of Victories'

   Arab Muslim forces crush the Sasanian army at Nahavand, breaking organised Persian resistance; the empire finally collapses with the death of Yazdegerd III in 651 CE.

   Hellenistic, Parthian and Sasanian Persia

   Sources: Battle of Nahāvand (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sasanian Empire (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇬🇪GEO

   Georgia · War & Rupture · 7th century

   Arab conquest and the Emirate of Tbilisi

   Arab armies brought Islam to the Caucasus and established an emirate at Tbilisi, beginning centuries in which Georgian princely houses contested Muslim and Byzantine power.

   The Conversion of Iberia and an Early Christian State

   Sources: History of Georgia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇯🇵JPN

   Japan · Politics & Power · 645 CE

   The Taika Reform

   A court coup destroys Soga dominance and inaugurates reforms reorganizing land and administration along centralized Chinese lines, the basis of the ritsuryo state.

   Yamato and Asuka: The Birth of the State

   Sources: Asuka period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Japan (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇨🇾CYP

   Cyprus · War & Rupture · from 649 CE

   Arab raids and a contested frontier

   From the mid-seventh century Cyprus suffered repeated Arab naval raids and for some three centuries lay as a contested zone between Byzantium and the Caliphate before Byzantine rule was firmly restored in 965.

   Roman and Byzantine Cyprus: An Early Christian Island

   Sources: Cyprus: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇩🇯DJI

   Djibouti · Religion · 7th century CE

   Islam reaches the Red Sea coast

   Islam spreads to the coast of the Horn within the first century of the faith, carried by merchants and migrants from Arabia across the narrow strait.

   Ancient Trade and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: Djibouti (country and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Djibouti (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Religion · 651 CE

   Islamisation of Persia begins

   With the Sasanian state destroyed, Iran is incorporated into the Islamic caliphate; over the following centuries most of its people convert to Islam while retaining the Persian language and much of their culture.

   The Arab Conquest and Islamic Persia — the Golden Age

   Sources: Battle of Nahāvand (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Phases, History, and Legacy of the Arab Conquests (632–750 CE) (TheCollector)

2. 🇹🇲TKM

   Turkmenistan · Religion · c. 651 CE

   Merv under the Arab caliphate

   After the fall of Sasanian Persia, Merv became a key garrison and administrative centre of the Arab caliphate in Khorasan, a base for the spread of Islam and for campaigns further into Central Asia.

   Merv: Silk Road City and Seljuk Capital

   Sources: State Historical and Cultural Park 'Ancient Merv' (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Turkmenistan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇩SDN

   Sudan · Politics & Power · c. 652 CE

   The Baqt treaty

   After repelling an Arab invasion, Makuria and Muslim Egypt agree to the Baqt, a durable pact of non-aggression and regulated trade.

   The Christian Kingdoms of Nubia

   Sources: Baqt (Wikipedia) · Christian Nubia and Muslim Egypt Sign Treaty (EBSCO Research Starters)

Europe

1. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Formation · 7th c.

   Founding of Carantania

   The Slavic principality of Carantania took shape in the eastern Alps, centred north of present-day Slovenia, and is remembered for the enthronement of its dukes in the Slovene language at the Prince's Stone.

   Carantania and the Slavic Settlement of the Eastern Alps

   Sources: Our past (Slovenia.si (Government Communication Office)) · History of Slovenia (Government of Slovenia (gov.si))

Asia

1. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · Religion · 661 - 750 CE

   Umayyad rule and the desert castles

   Governing from Damascus, the Umayyad caliphs built fortified desert residences across the eastern plateau, including Quseir Amra with its celebrated frescoes of early Islamic secular art.

   Islam, the Caliphates and Four Centuries of Ottoman Rule

   Sources: Quseir Amra (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Politics & Power · 661 - 750 CE

   Umayyad and Abbasid rule over the Hejaz

   The Umayyads from Damascus and the Abbasids from Baghdad governed the Hejaz through appointed governors, patronizing Mecca and Medina from afar.

   The Caliphates and the Hejaz under Outside Rule

   Sources: History of Arabia: The Umayyad and Abbasid periods (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇸🇾SYR

   Syria · Politics & Power · 661 CE

   Damascus, capital of the Umayyad Caliphate

   Muawiya founds the Umayyad dynasty and makes Damascus the capital of the first great Islamic empire, ruling from Spain to Central Asia until the Abbasid revolution of 750.

   Islam and the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus

   Sources: Umayyad dynasty — Islamic history (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Syria — history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇱🇾LBY

   Libya · War & Rupture · 660s CE

   Arab expeditions reach the Fezzan

   Campaigns associated with Uqba ibn Nafi extend Arab-Muslim authority into the Saharan Fezzan, ending the autonomy of the Garamantes' heartland.

   The Garamantes and the Arab-Islamic Conquest

   Sources: Garamantes (Wikipedia) · Libya: The Muslim Conquest (Fanack Chronicle)

Asia

1. 🇰🇵PRK

   North Korea · War & Rupture · 668 CE

   Silla unifies the peninsula

   Allied with Tang China, Silla conquers Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, then expels the Tang, achieving the first unification of Korea under native rule.

   Shared Korean Heritage

   Sources: Korea (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Three Kingdoms period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇰🇷KOR

   South Korea · War & Rupture · 668 CE

   Silla unifies the peninsula

   Allied with Tang China, Silla conquers Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, then expels the Tang, achieving the first unification of Korea under native rule.

   Gojoseon and the Three Kingdoms

   Sources: Three Kingdoms period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Unified Silla dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇹🇳TUN

   Tunisia · Religion · 670 CE

   Founding of Kairouan

   Uqba ibn Nafi establishes Kairouan with its Great Mosque, the first Arab-Muslim capital of the Maghreb.

   Islam, Kairouan & the Medieval Dynasties

   Sources: Kairouan — World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · The Great Mosque of Kairouan (Smarthistory)

Asia

1. 🇮🇩IDN

   Indonesia · Formation · c. 671 CE

   Rise of the Srivijaya thalassocracy

   From its base at Palembang in Sumatra, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya comes to dominate maritime trade through the Straits of Malacca and Sunda and becomes a renowned centre of Buddhist scholarship.

   Early Peoples and the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms: Srivijaya and Majapahit

   Sources: Srivijaya empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇲🇾MYS

   Malaysia · Formation · c. 7th century CE

   Rise of the Srivijaya thalassocracy

   Based at Palembang in Sumatra, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya comes to control the Strait of Malacca and the maritime trade between India and China, becoming the dominant commercial power of the Malay world.

   Early Malay Polities and the Srivijaya Maritime Realm

   Sources: Srivijaya empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Srivijaya (Research Starters: History) (EBSCO)

Europe

1. 🇧🇬BGR

   Bulgaria · Formation

   Foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire

   Khan Asparukh defeated the army of Emperor Constantine IV and forced Byzantium to recognise a Bulgar realm south of the Danube, with its capital at Pliska, the act conventionally regarded as the birth of the Bulgarian state.

   Thracians, Asparukh's Khanate and the First Bulgarian Empire

   Sources: Bulgaria: The first Bulgarian empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Bulgaria (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria) · About Bulgaria: History (Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (gov.bg))

Africa

1. 🇩🇿DZA

   Algeria · War & Rupture · c. 683

   Kusaila defeats Uqba ibn Nafi

   The Awraba chief Kusaila ambushes and kills the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi near Biskra, a high point of Amazigh resistance to the Islamic conquest.

   Vandals, Byzantines and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: ʿUqbah ibn Nāfiʿ (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Muslim conquest of the Maghreb (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Religion · c. 690

   Christianisation of the Frisians

   Missionaries such as Willibrord begin converting the Frisians, tying the delta into the Christian, Frankish world of western Europe.

   The Low Countries: Romans, Frisians and Medieval Counties

   Sources: Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · Religion · 691-692 CE

   Building of the Dome of the Rock

   The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, an early masterpiece of Islamic architecture on the Haram al-Sharif.

   Islamic Palestine: Conquest, Caliphates, Crusades, and Mamluks

   Sources: Dome of the Rock (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇩🇿DZA

   Algeria · War & Rupture · c. 698

   The Kahina and the fall of Carthage

   The Amazigh queen known as the Kahina leads resistance from the Aurès before her defeat around 698, the year the Arabs take Carthage and end Byzantine rule in Africa.

   Vandals, Byzantines and the Coming of Islam

   Sources: Kahina (Wikipedia) · Muslim conquest of the Maghreb (Wikipedia)