Who are the Kurds?
The Kurds in the Bronze Age As far back as the Bronze Age, the Kurds seem to have lived in the mountain areas between West Asia (today's Turkey, Syria, and Iraq) and [...]
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10, 2019
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09, 2017
The Mediterranean and West Asia
Map of West Asia One common theme in the history of West Asia has been the conflict between land-oriented people and sea-oriented people. Often there is a group of people living in [...]
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08, 2017
Jews in the Islamic Empire
Jews in the Islamic Empire: The synagogue where Maimonides worked in Cairo, Egypt (1100s AD) Did Jewish people help the Arab conquest? The Arabs first began to attack the Roman Empire in the 630s AD. [...]
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08, 2017
Francis of Assisi – Medieval Europe
Francis of Assisi gives his father back his clothes (Giotto, in Assisi) Who was Francis of Assisi? By 1200 AD, the Catholic Church was very powerful. Bishops and popes were often rich men. They cared more about [...]
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08, 2017
Sixth Crusade – Medieval History
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Soon after the failure of the Fifth Crusade, Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, decided he would try his luck on Crusade, since he hadn't been allowed [...]
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08, 2017
Fourth Crusade – the sack of Constantinople
The Pope calls for another crusade In 1200 AD, Pope Innocent began to ask the rulers of Europe to participate in a fourth crusade, again attempting to take Jerusalem away from the Ayyubids who ruled there. Saladin had died in [...]
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08, 2017
Fifth Crusade – Medieval history
The siege of Damietta: Fifth Crusade Europeans attack Jerusalem In 1216 AD, Pope Honorius III succeeded in getting some more Europeans to agree to try again to conquer Jerusalem from the Ayyubids. The Fourth [...]
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08, 2017
Third Crusade – Medieval history
Saladin (Salah al-din) When the Mamluk general Imad-ed-din Zangi died, he was succeeded by his son Nureddin, who added Damascus to the land his father had gathered together. And after Nureddin died in 1174 AD, [...]
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08, 2017
Eleanor of Aquitaine – Queen of France and England
Eleanor of Aquitaine (Cloisters Museum, New York City) Eleanor of Aquitaine was fifteen years old in 1137 AD, and not yet married, when her father, the Duke of Aquitaine, died suddenly. [...]
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08, 2017
Comneni Dynasty – Byzantine history
Alexios I Comneni, the Byzantine emperor (1081 AD) The Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 was the end of Basil's Armenian Dynasty. The Byzantines had lost Armenia to Alp Arslan [...]
