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Landmark Middle East trade

Cairo (Fustat)

641 CE – still standing

Medieval Islamic world's greatest commercial center, connecting Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Nile trade at the crossroads of three continents

See it on the timeline

Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–600 CE)
  2. Umayyad Caliphate (700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Abbasid Caliphate (800 CE–900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. Fatimid Caliphate (1000 CE–1100 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Ayyubid Sultanate (1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. Mamluk Sultanate (1279 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  7. Ottoman Empire (1530 CE–1700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  8. Egypt (1715 CE) Border precision: Defined
  9. Ottoman Empire (1783 CE–1800 CE) Border precision: Defined
  10. Egypt (1815 CE–1945 CE) Border precision: Defined
  11. United Arab Republic (1960 CE) Border precision: Defined
  12. Egypt (1994 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Elsewhere in Middle East at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Middle East

Lighthouse of Alexandria

280 BCE – 1323 CE

Polity · Middle East

Iran

Founded 1920 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Mediterranean Southern Route

331 BCE – 1500 CE

Conflict · Middle East

Eritrean–Ethiopian War

1998 CE – 2000 CE

Landmark · Middle East

Darvaza Gas Crater

1971 CE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Persia

Attested 400 CE – 1914 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Maritime Silk Road – Red Sea Branch

200 BCE – 1500 CE

Conflict · Middle East

2026 Iran War

2026 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 641 CE and 2026 CE.

642 CE Khazar-Arab Wars 647 CE Jeddah 656 CE First Fitna (Islamic Civil War) 680 CE Second Fitna 680 CE Imam Husayn Shrine

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Machu Picchu Landmark · Americas 1450 CE – still standing Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE Mesoamerican Trade Network Trade route · Americas 1200 BCE – 1521 CE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Charlemagne Figure · Frankish Empire 742 CE – 814 CE Taj Mahal Landmark · South Asia 1632 CE – still standing
Image credits 4 pictures from Wikimedia Commons