Chapter 13

Delhi Sultanate founded in India

Jan 1, 1206

Having long ago lost the defensive unity of the Gupta Empire, the divided states of northwest India fell prey to raids by Afghan warlords beginning in the early eleventh century. In the last decades of the twelfth century, a Turkish dynasty armed with powerful crossbows captured the northern Indian cities of Lahore and Delhi. The sultanate converted to Islam and gradually went from being a warlike state to being a more peaceful sultanate.

Mali Empire Founded

Jan 1, 1230

Takrur expanded under King Sumanguru, only
to suffer a major defeat some thirty years later at the hands of Sundiata, the upstart leader of the Malinke people. This victory was followed by others that created Sundiata’s Mali Empire.

Solomonic dynasty in Ethiopia founded

Jan 1, 1270

Ethiopia was a Christian kingdom in Africa. It's rulers calimed descent from the biblical King Solomon and the South Arabian princess Sheba. Solomonic Ethiopia’s consolidation accompanied a great increase in trade through the Red Sea port of Zeila, including slaves, amber, and animal pelts, which went to Aden and on to other destinations.

Delhi Sultanate annexes Gujarat

Jan 1, 1298

After a half-century of stagnation and rebellion, the ruthless but efficient policies of Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji increased control over the empire’s outlying provinces. When a Mongol threat from Central Asia eased, Ala-ud-din’s forces extended the sultanate’s southern flank, seizing the rich trading state of Gujarat in 1298, and then drove southward, briefly seizing the southern tip of the Indian peninsula.

Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca

Jan 1, 1324

Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali kingdom, was a devout Muslim. So, he went on a pillgramage to Mecca, as all Muslims are required to do. He also took this as an oppurtunity to show off his wealth to the rest of the world. He took tons of gold hundreds of slaves with him on his pillgramage and impressed the rest of Africa with his wealth.

Timur sacks Delhi; Delhi Sultanate declines

Jan 1, 1398

By 1351, when all of south India had cast off Delhi’s rule, much of north India rose in rebellion. The weakening of Delhi’s central authority tempted fresh Mongol interest in the area. In 1398, the
Turko-Mongol leader Timur captured the city of Delhi. When his armies withdrew the next year with vast quantities of loot and tens of thousands of captives, the largest city in southern Asia lay empty and in ruins. The Delhi Sultanate never recovered.

Great Zimbabwe at its peak

Jan 1, 1400

A trading center and great city in modern-day Zimbabwe. Mixed farming and cattle herding provided the economic basis of the Great Zimbabwe state, but long-distance trade brought added wealth. Trade began regionally with copper ingots from the upper Zambezi Valley, salt, and local manufactures. Gold exports to the coast expanded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and brought Zimbabwe to its peak.

Tuareg retake Timbuktu; Mali declines

Jan 1, 1433

Two centuries after its founding, Mali began to disintegrate. Mansa Suleiman’s successors could not prevent rebellions breaking out among the diverse peoples subjected to Malinke
rule. Other groups attacked from without. The desert Tuareg retook their city of Timbuktu (which they had originally built) in 1433. By 1500, the rulers of Mali had dominion over little more than the Malinke heartland.

the rulers of several Hausa city-states adopt Islam

Jan 1, 1450

The Hausa states were between Songhai and Bornu. After the fall of Mali, some trade and intellectual life moved east to the central Sudan. Shortly after 1450, the rulers of several Hausa city-states officially adopted Islam. These states took on importance as manufacturing and trading centers, becoming famous for cotton textiles and leatherworking.

Port of Malacca at its peak

Jan 1, 1500

Malacca was a port city in the modern Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, founded about 1400 as a trading center on the Strait of Malacca. Malacca served not just as a meeting point but
also as an emporium for Southeast Asian products: rubies and musk from Burma, tin from Malaya, gold from Sumatra, cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccas. Over 184 languages were spoken there. Malacca’s wealth and its cosmopolitan
residents set the standard for luxury in Malaya
for centuries to come.