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Landmark Middle East wonder

Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter)

3000 BCE – still standing

Largest contiguous sand desert in the world, spanning Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the UAE

See it on the timeline

Who held this ground

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

Reconstruction

  1. Semites (3000 BCE–2000 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  2. Arabian pastoral nomads (1500 BCE–700 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. No border recorded here in this snapshot (500 BCE–300 BCE)
  4. Arabs (200 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. No border recorded here in this snapshot (100 BCE–700 CE)
  6. Abbasid Caliphate (800 CE–900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  7. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1000 CE–1400 CE)
  8. Arabs (1492 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  9. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1530 CE–1715 CE)
  10. Nejd (1783 CE–1815 CE) Border precision: Defined
  11. Arabia (1880 CE–1900 CE) Border precision: Defined
  12. Arabia (Nejd) (1914 CE) Border precision: Defined
  13. Emirate of Nejd and Hasa (1920 CE) Border precision: Defined
  14. Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (1930 CE) Border precision: Defined
  15. Saudi Arabia (1938 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

Great Pyramid of Giza

2560 BCE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Iran

Founded 1920 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Conflict · Middle East

Eritrean–Ethiopian War

1998 CE – 2000 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Nile River Trade

3000 BCE – 30 BCE

Landmark · Middle East

Petra

300 BCE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Meroe

Attested 500 BCE – 400 CE

Conflict · Middle East

2026 Iran War

2026 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Mesopotamian Trade Network

3000 BCE – 500 BCE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 3000 BCE and 2026 CE.

3000 BCE Byblos 3000 BCE Damascus 3000 BCE Sidon 3000 BCE Dilmun 2750 BCE Tyre 2700 BCE Saqqara

And in the rest of the world

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

Great Wall of China Landmark · East Asia 700 BCE – still standing Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE Harappan Maritime Trade (Indus–Mesopotamia) Trade route · South Asia 2600 BCE – 1900 BCE Sargon of Akkad Figure · Mesopotamia 2334 BCE – 2279 BCE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Colosseum Landmark · Europe 80 CE – still standing
Image credits 5 pictures from Wikimedia Commons