Epic World History

Baghdad The Abbasid dynasty founded the city of Baghdad as a new capital in 762, shortly after the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty . Th...

Al-Azhar The Fatimids established al-Azhar, one of the oldest universities in the world, in Cairo in 970. Built around a large mosque w...

Bayezid I Bayezid I was declared sultan following the death of Sultan Murad on the battlefield at Kosovo in 1389. To ensure his uncon...

Tariq ibn al-Ziyad, a berber commander The Berbers are the earliest known inhabitants of northwestern Africa’s Mediterranean coast, pla...

First four caliphs at greatest extent After the prophet Muhammad ’s death in 632, the elder statesman Abu Bakr (r. 632–34) was selected...

Crusades In 1095 Pope Urban II incited the Crusades with a speech urging Christian armies to free the holy sites, especially Jerusalem,...