“The Book of Roads and Kingdoms” by Richard Fidler
From the Wonders of Imperial Baghdad to the darklands at the ends of the earth
While I am with Richard Fidler, I will just mention this one. He has written two other books that I have not read – “The Golden Maze: A Biography of Prague” (on my shelf) and “Sage Land: The Island Stories at the Edge of the World” co-authored with Kári Gíslason (tales from Iceland, which I do not have).
“The Book of Roads & Kingdoms” is essentially the story of Baghdad and the “Golden Age” of Islam. It is the story of “the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age; an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the 'City of Peace', quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world. Standing atop one of the city's four gates, its founder proclaimed: Here is the Tigris River, and nothing stands between it and China.”
The book is broken up into the relationship of Baghdad with the various points of the compass …
The Table of Contents
Book One The Crossroads of the Universe
Book Two West
Book Three East
Book Four South
Book Five North
Book Six The Summit of the Sky
The book ends with a section featuring tales from “The Thousand and One Nights”
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Fidler sets the scene nicely with this very informative Timeline:
323 B.C.E. Alexander the Great dies in Babylon.
140-87 B.C.E Emperor Wudi constructs the Han Great Wall of China and the Jade Gate near Dunhuang.
226 C.E. Ctesiphon becomes the capital of Sassanid Persia.
330 C.E. Constantine the Great inaugurates Constantinople as the Second Rome.
366 The first of the Thousand Buddha Caves is excavated at Dunhuang.
476 The Western Roman Empire expires with the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in Italy.
541-549 Plague courses through the Eastern Roman and Persian Empires.
c.570 The Prophet MUHAMMAD is born.
602 Persia invades the Roman Empire
610 Muhammad receives the first of his Quranic revelations in the Cave of Hira.
Heraclius becomes emperor in Constantinople.
618 The Tang Dynasty is founded in China by Li Yuan.
622 The Hijra: Muhammad and his followers migrate to Medina.
Muhammad draws up the constitution of the first Islamic State.
624 Muhammad changes the direction of Muslim prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca.
Muhammad's believers win a stunning victory over the Quraysh at the Battle of Badr.
628 Sassanid ruler Khusrau II is deposed and executed in Ctesiphon.
629 The Syriac translation of The Alexander Romance appears in northern Mesopotamia.
The Chinese monk Xuanzang begins a pilgrimage from China to India.
630 Muhammad and his followers enter Mecca.
632 Muhammad dies. ABU BAKR becomes the first of the Rashidun caliphs.
Yazdegerd III, the last of the Sassanid rulers, takes the throne.
634 Abu Bakr dies. UMAR becomes caliph.
The Arabs are defeated by the Persians at the Battle of the Bridge.
635 Arab forces capture Damascus.
636 The Arabs defeat the Roman Army at the Battle of Yarmouk.
637 Arabs forces defeat the Persians at the Battle of al-Qadisiyya in Iraq, then seize the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon.
638 Patriarch Sophronius surrenders Jerusalem to Caliph Umar.
641 Alexandria surrenders to Arab forces.
The Roman Emperor Heraclius dies.
642 The Sassanid Empire collapses.
Alexandria surrenders.
The Romans completely withdraw from Egypt.
644 Umar is assassinated by a slave.
UTHMAN becomes caliph.
645 Xuanzang returns to the Tang capital, Chang An, with Buddhist scriptures.
651 Caliph Uthman summons a commission to prepare the canonical version of the Quran.
Yazdegerd III is killed in Merv, ending the Sassanid Dynasty.
649-55 The Arab navy wins control of the Eastern Mediterranean at the Battle of the Masts.
656 Uthman is assassinated by mutinous Muslim soldiers. ALI becomes caliph.
Muawiya, Governor of Syria, revolts.
The First Fitna (Muslim civil war) begins.
661 Ali is assassinated at Kufa, ending the civil war and the era of the Rashidun caliphs. MUAWIYA becomes the first Umayyad caliph and moves his capital from Medina to Damascus.
674-78 The First Arab siege of Constantinople. takes place.
'Greek fire' is deployed by the Romans against the Arab fleet.
680 Muawiya dies. YAZID becomes the second Umayyad caliph.
The second Muslim civil war begins.
Arab-led forces reach the Atlantic shore of North Africa.
683-92 The Second Arab Civil War erupts. Caliph Yazid puts the holy city of Mecca under siege.
685 After years of chaos, ABD
AL-MALIK emerges as the caliph.
691 The Dome of the Rock is founded in Jerusalem.
697 Berber queen Kahina dies.
700 Abd al-Malik issues new currency and makes Arabic the official language of the caliphate.
711 Arab raiders invade Spain.
712 Arabs capture Samarkand.
715 The second Arab siege of Constantinople takes place.
The Abbasid conspiracy against the Umayyads begins in Khorasan
717 The Arab siege of Constantinople ends
732 The Muslins are defeated in France at the Battle of Poitiers, ending Muslim penetration of Western Europe.
747 Abu Muslim leads the Abbasid insurrection in Khorasan.
749 Marwan II, the last Umayyad caliph, is beheaded. SAFFAH becomes the first Abbasid caliph.
751 The Chinese army is defeated by the Muslims at the Battle of Talas.
Paper-making begins to spread from Central Asia into the Muslim world.
754 Saffah dies. MANSUR becomes the second Abbasid caliph.
755 Mansur orders the execution of Abu Muslim.
The An Lushan Rebellion breaks out in China.
756 In Spain, Abd al-Rahman I becomes the Emir of Cordoba.
762 BAGHDAD IS FOUNDED.
766 Future caliph Harun al-Rashid is born.
771 Charlemagne becomes King of the Franks.
775 Mansur dies while leading a pilgrimage to Mecca. MAHDI becomes caliph.
782 Alcuin of York becomes Master of the Palace School in Aachen.
785 Mahdi dies. HADI begins his brief reign as caliph.
786 Hadi dies. HARUN AL-RASHID becomes caliph.
787 Irene becomes empress regent in Constantinople.
789 Harun al-Rashid's mother Khayzuran dies.
793 Norse raiders attack a monastery on Lindisfarne Island, off the English coast, signalling the start of the Viking invasions.
794 Construction begins on Charlemagne's palace complex at Aachen.
796 Harun al-Rashid moves his court from Baghdad to Raqqa.
Charlemagne's army seizes the Avar's Ring Fortress in modern-day Hungary.
797 Harun al-Rashid marches against the Romans.
Irene deposes her son and proclaims herself 'emperor' in Constantinople.
Charlemagne sends envoys to Harun al-Rashid.
800 Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.
802 Harun al-Rashid draws up his succession plans with his sons in Mecca.
Irene is ousted in Constantinople.
Nicephorus becomes emperor in her place.
Charlemagne's envoys return to Aachen from Baghdad with the gift of an elephant from Harun al-Rashid
803 Harun al-Rashid's administrators, the Barmakids, fall from favour.
809 Harun al Rashid dies. AMIN becomes caliph.
809-13 The Fourth Fitna, Muslim civil war, breaks out between Mamun and his brother Amin.
813 Baghdad is besieged and Amin is killed. MAMUN becomes caliph.
814 Charlemagne dies.
822 Ziryab the musician, composer, and gourmand, arrives in Cordoba.
828 The Shammasiyah Observatory, the first in the Islamic world, is established in Baghdad.
830s The House of Wisdom is founded in Baghdad.
The Banu Musa brothers measure the circumference of the Earth.
831 Harun al-Rashid's wife Zubaydah dies.
The Arabic emirate of Sicily is established.
833 Mamun dies. MUTASIM becomes caliph and brings Turkish slave-soldiers into Baghdad, causing disruption.
835 The Huang Chao Rebellion breaks out in China
836 Mutasim moves with his Turkish troops to a new capital, Samarra.
840 Cordoban diplomat and poet Ghazal arrives in Constantinople.
842 Mutasim dies. WATHIO becomes caliph.
Wathig orders a guide and interpreter named Sallam to lead an expedition in search of the wall of Gog and Magog.
844 Sallam the Interpreter returns to Baghdad.
Viking raiders are defeated by the Emirate of Cordoba.
845 Ghazal allegedly is sent on a diplomatic mission to 'the King of the Vikings'
847-48 Wathiq dies from dropsy.
MUTAWAKKIL becomes caliph.
Mutawakkil commissions the construction of Samara's Great Mosque and Spiral Minaret.
850 Mutawakkil decrees new restrictions on Christians and Jews, bans theological debate.
851-52 Book I of Accounts of China and India is compiled by an unknown author.
858-63 China is devastated by severe drought and famine.
861 Mutawakkil is killed in Samarra.
MUNTASIR becomes caliph, but real power now lies with his Turkish military commanders.
862 Muntasir dies and is replaced by MUSTAIN, triggering the 'Anarchy in Samarra'.
865 Supporters of Mustain's brother Mutazz besiege Baghdad.
866 Mustain abdicates in favour of MUTAZZ.
868 The Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest printed book, is produced in Sichuan Province.
869 Mutazz is deposed and replaced by his cousin MUHTADI.
The Zanj Rebellion begins in Basra.
870 Muhtadi is murdered and replaced by his cousin MUTAMID.
Ibn Khordadbeh compiles The Book of Roads and Kingdoms in Baghdad.
871 Basra is sacked by Zanj rebels.
Arab aristocrat In Wahb boards a ship for China.
878 Huang Chao's bandit army sacks Guangzhou.
The Muslim conquest of Sicily is complete.
883 The Zanj Rebellion is crushed by Mutamid's brother Muwaffaq.
Huang Chao dies in Henan Province.
892 Mutamid dies, allegedly from too much drink and food.
MUTADID takes power.
c. 896 Historian and geographer Masudi is born in Baghdad.
902 Mutadid dies. MUKTAFI becomes caliph.
906 The Chinese Tang Dynasty collapses.
908 Muktafi dies. At thirteen, MUQTADIR becomes the youngest ever Abbasid caliph.
909 The rival Fatimid Caliphate is established in North Africa.
915 Historian Tabari completes his sweeping world chronicle, The History of the Prophets and King, in Baghdad.
917 Roman ambassadors visit Baghdad.
Masudi sails to Africa.
920s Abu Zayd compiles Book 2 of Accounts of India and China in Siraf.
921 Mugtadir sends Ibn Fadlan and company on a mission to the Volga.
929 Qarmatian raiders attack Baghdad.
932 Mugtadir is deposed and killed at the Baghdad city gates. QAHIR becomes caliph.
934 Qahir is deposed, blinded and imprisoned.
943 Geographer In Hawgal begins his global travels.
946 Mustakf is deposed. MUTI is made puppet caliph.
947 Masudi writes Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems.
956 Masudi dies.
c. 960 According to legend, the Sultanate of Kilwa is founded in East Africa.
968 The Fatimids enter Egypt.
972 Ibn Hawgal visits Sicily.
1029 Polymath Biruni writes The Book of India.
1071 The Normans conquer Palermo, Sicily.
1086 Ibn Hawgal writes Configurations of the Earth.
1095 Pope Urban II initiates the Crusades against Muslims in the Holy Land.
1099 Jerusalem is captured by the Crusaders.
1154 Geographer Idrisi completes his world map in Sicily.
1171 The great Muslim general Saladin abolishes the Fatimid Caliphate and realigns Egypt's allegiance to the Abbasid Caliphate.
1180 NASIR becomes caliph and attempts a revival of the Abbasid Caliphate, which now occupies only a sliver of land in Iraq.
1184 Andalusian traveller In Jubayr visits Baghdad.
1204 The Venetian navy and the armies of the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople.
1206 Genghis Khan becomes the ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1211 Mongols conquer Northern China.
1219 The Khwarezmian Shah Muhammad II clashes with Genghis Khan. Mongol armies enter the Muslim lands.
1220-21 Bukhara, Samarkand and Merv fall to the Mongols.
1227 Genghis Khan dies. The Mongol conquests are suspended until a new Great Khan can be elected.
1229 Genghis Khan's son Ogodei is elected Great Khan of the Mongols.
1236 Cordoba falls to the Christian reconquista of Spain.
1242 MUSTASIM, the last of the Abbasid caliphs, assumes the throne in Baghdad.
1258 Mongols, led by Hulagu Khan, take Baghdad.
Mustasim is trampled to death, bringing the Abbasid Caliphate to an end.
1271 Venetian merchant Marco Polo and his father set out for China.
1302 Amir Khusrau writes ‘The Three Princes of Sarandib’.
1375 Philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun begins work on his Mugaddimah while in exile in North Africa.
1453 Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks.
1895 Explorer Sven Hedin launches an expedition to find the lost cities of the Taklamakan Desert.
1900 Chinese monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Library Cave at Dunhuang.
British-Hungarian archaeologist Aurel Stein leads his first expedition into Chinese Turkestan.
The Boxer Rebellion begins in China.
1907 Aurel Stein locates the ruins of the Jade Gate and identifies the Han Great Wall in the Taklamakan Desert.
Stein also gleans a trove of ancient documents from the Library Cave.
1924 American archaeologist Langdon Warner removes Buddhist frescoes from the Thousand Buddha Caves.