Record · Medieval world · Africa
A gold rhinoceros from Mapungubwe Hill, found in the 1930s
The University of Pretoria Museums calls its gold rhinoceros the only artwork of its kind, found in a royal grave on Mapungubwe Hill in the 1930s.
· 1250Rulers & dynasties
Articles about rulers & dynasties across every continent and era, oldest first.
Record · Medieval world · West Asia
From 800,000 to two million: the dead of Baghdad, February 1258
Baghdad fell to Hülegü on February 13, 1258; the caliph died on February 20. A chronicle counted "more than 800,000" dead; copyists made it two million.
· 1258
Record · Medieval world · East Asia
How big was the Mongol Empire next to Rome and Britain?
Rein Taagepera's estimates give the Mongol Empire 24 million km² around 1300 and Rome 4.4 million in its years on top; only Britain's empire grew larger.
· 1300
Record · Medieval world · Africa
How much gold did Mansa Musa bring to Cairo in 1324?
No record gives a weight; the 100 camels and 12,000 slaves are report, not record. Al-Umari, 12 years on, wrote that the gold mithqal fell from 25 dirhams to 22.
· 1324
Record · Medieval world · South Asia
Fondest of making gifts and of shedding blood: Ibn Battuta's Delhi
Ibn Battuta met Muhammad bin Tughluq on June 8, 1334, and served as qadi at 12,000 dinars a year. In 1342 he left for China and was wrecked at Calicut.
· 1334
Record · Medieval world · East Asia
Why did Zheng He's treasure fleets sail seven times, then stop?
From 1405 to 1433 the Yongle emperor's eunuch admiral led seven fleets from China to East Africa. Why they ended is argued: cost, Mongols, court politics.
· 1405
Record · Medieval world · Central Asia
A forty-meter arc under a Samarkand hill: Ulugh Beg's observatory
Ulugh Beg's observatory at Samarkand held an arc of about 40 m radius. Its star tables were finished by 1440; he was put to death on October 25, 1449.
· 1429
Record · Medieval world · South Asia
'Never seen a place like it': Abdur Razzaq at Vijayanagara, 1443
A Herat envoy reached Vijayanagara in April 1443 and described seven walls, rose bazaars and elephant stables. The city was sacked after January 23, 1565.
· 1443
Record · Medieval world · East Asia
Twenty-eight letters, 1443: Sejong's alphabet in the Sillok
The Sejong Sillok records 28 new letters in 1443 and a finished Hunminjeongeum in 1446, with Choe Malli's 1444 memorial of protest between them.
· 1446
Record · Medieval world · The Americas
Radiocarbon says 1420: Machu Picchu's age and its return from Yale
A 2021 Antiquity study dated Machu Picchu's occupation to about 1420, before Pachacuti's 1438 accession. Yale returned its collection to Peru by 2012.
· 1450
Record · Early modern world · South Asia
Twelve pieces of striped cloth: da Gama's gift to the Zamorin, 1498
Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on May 20, 1498, with cloth, hats, sugar and honey; the Zamorin's officers laughed and he left with a letter asking for gold.
· 1498
Record · Early modern world · Central Asia
Babur's memoir: from losing Samarkand to taking Delhi, 1497–1526
Babur lost Samarkand three times, took Kabul in October 1504 without a fight, and beat Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat on April 20, 1526, with 700 roped carts.
· 1504
Record · Early modern world · Central Asia
Merv, December 2, 1510: Shah Ismail's feint against Shaybani Khan
Shah Ismail's Safavid army feigned a retreat outside Merv on December 2, 1510, then cut a bridge and killed Shaybani Khan, founder of the Uzbek state.
· 1510
Record · Early modern world · West Asia
Chaldiran, August 23, 1514: guns behind gun-carriages, 40,000 horsemen
On August 23, 1514, Selim I's janissaries fired from behind gun-carriages at Shah Ismail's cavalry near Khoy. Tabriz fell and was lost; peace came in 1555.
· 1514
Record · Early modern world · Africa
Kongo's king writes to Lisbon, 1526: no slave trade in these kingdoms
In three letters of 1526, Afonso I of Kongo asked João III of Portugal for priests, physicians and an end to the slave trade. The originals are in Lisbon.
· 1526
Record · Early modern world · West Asia
Why did Suleiman turn back from Vienna in 1529, and what came next?
Suleiman camped at Vienna in September 1529 and quit after three weeks as winter came early. He then took Baghdad, wrote law and built the Süleymaniye.
· 1529
Record · Early modern world · The Americas
Why did an empire of millions fall to 168 men at Cajamarca?
Pizarro seized Atahualpa at Cajamarca on November 16, 1532, after plague and civil war had split the Inca; the conquest itself took until 1572.
· 1532
Record · Early modern world · Africa
Four hundred men and one witness: Castanhoso in Ethiopia, 1541–1543
Castanhoso marched with Cristóvão da Gama's 400 Portuguese in 1541. His memoir, in Whiteway's 1902 translation, is the record of Wofla and Wayna Daga.
· 1542
Record · Early modern world · South Asia
How did Akbar hold together an empire of many faiths?
Akbar ruled Mughal India from 1556 to 1605 by ranking Hindu and Muslim officers in one service, ending the jizya tax in 1564 and outranking his clerics.
· 1575
Record · Early modern world · East Asia
Sixty-three ships in the Veritable Records: Hansan Island, 1592
The Seonjo sillok records 63 Japanese ships burned at Hansan Island; the Korean History Chronology counts 59 lost and 14 escaping. Both are given here.
· 1592
Record · Early modern world · East Asia
How did one morning at Sekigahara settle Japan for 250 years?
Tokugawa Ieyasu broke Ishida Mitsunari's western army in a few foggy hours on October 21, 1600, redistributed a third of Japan and became shogun in 1603.
· 1600
Record · Early modern world · East Asia
January 24, 1601: a clock and a world map arrive at the Ming court
What the Ming History says Ricci offered the Wanli court in 1601, the six-panel world map of 1602, the Chinese Euclid of 1607, the grave granted in 1610.
· 1601
Record · Early modern world · West Asia
October 21 to November 19, 1604: Julfa emptied, New Julfa built
Arakel of Tabriz dated the Julfa deportation to October 21 to November 19, 1604. Its merchants rebuilt across from Isfahan in 1605; a press came in 1636.
· 1605
Record · Early modern world · West Asia
Naqsh-e Jahan: the 524-meter square of Shah Abbas's Isfahan
Shah Abbas laid out a 524-by-158-meter square at Isfahan and began the Masjed-e Shah there in 1611; deported Julfa Armenians carried his silk.
· 1611