622 A.D.: Mohammed (c. 570–632) flees from Mecca to Medina (the Hegira); the first year of the Islamic era.
635–638: Muslim conquest of the Levant.
661–750: Umayyad caliphate, centered in Damascus. In the last decade of the seventh century, the caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
750–969: Abbasid caliphate, centered in Baghdad. The Abbasids continued to exist, though without much power, until the Mongol invasion of 1258.
969–1071: Fatimid dynasty, based in Egypt. The Fatimids created an Islamic power to rival the Abbasids in 909, and they continued to rule in Egypt until united within a new Ayyubid caliphate by Salah al-Din (Saladin) in 1187.
1071–1098: Seljuk Turks briefly controlled the Levant before the arrival of the Crusaders.
1099–1187: European Crusaders created colonies along the Levantine coast, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and erected a chain of fortresses to protect their eastern flank.
1187–1260: Ayyubid dynasty, founded by Salah al-Din (1138–1193), united Syrian and Egyptian Muslims, defeated the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin near the Sea of Galilee, and returned the Levant to Muslim hands.
1229–1244: Treaty between Egyptian Ayyubids and German emperor Frederick II (1194–1250) gave the Crusaders control over Jerusalem (except the Temple Mount), parts of the Galilee and a narrow corridor from Jerusalem to Jaffa.
1258: The Mongols sack Baghdad, officially putting an end to the Abbasids.
1260–1517: The Mamluk dynasty, a warrior class made up largely of Turks and serving both Fatimids and Ayyubids. After taking the holdout Crusader city of Acre in 1291, the Mamluks controlled the Levant—though somewhat sporadically—until the Ottoman Turks arrived in 1517.
1260–1277: The Mamluk sultan Baybars restored and renovated the walls of Subayba (Qalat Nimrud).
