Introduction > Muslim-Christian Relations
c.638 Muslim troops conquered the Byzantine city Jerusalem
711 The fall of the last Visigothic kingdom marked the beginning of Muslim rule on the Spanish peninsula
1072 The first Turkish principality was established in Anatolia
1099 The First Crusade conquered Jerusalem
1144 The fall of Edessa triggered the Second Crusade
1212 The first decisive victory of Christian armies in Spain
1244 The Crusaders lost finally control of Jerusalem when the city was again reconquered by the Ayyubids
1453 The fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine empire
1492 The fall of Granada, the last Muslim principality on the Spanish peninsula, led to the expulsion of both Jews and Muslims
1492 The first voyage of Christopher Columbus led to the discovery of the Americas
1498 Vasco da Gama’s fleet reached Kozhikode (Calicut) in the Malibar region of Kerala (India)
1501 The Safavid dynasty established the first Twelver-Shiʿite state in Iran
1517 The Ottoman conquest of Syria and Egypt made the central Arab lands Ottoman provinces, and Ottomans and Safavids shared henceforth a common border in southern Iraq
1529 The first Ottoman siege of Vienna, the Habsburg capital
1536 The French obtained trading privileges from the Ottoman Empire
1581 The British obtained trading privileges from the Ottoman Empire
1601 The British East India Company commenced its activities in India
1612 The Dutch obtained trading privileges from the Ottoman Empire
1699 The peace treaty between the Ottoman and the Hapsburg empires, Poland, and Venice, signed at Sremski Karlovci (Karlowitz), following the Ottoman defeat in 1697, marked the beginning of the political disintegration of the Ottoman Empire
1798 The French army occupied the Ottoman province Egypt in order to protect French trade interests in the Mediterranean against their British rivals