CHRONOLOGY OF SELJUK EMPIRE 985 - 1243 AD

985

♦ The Turkic-speaking Seljuks (led by Seljuk) invade Transoxania (Ilkhan)
 and convert to Sunnite Islam

995

♦ Gurgandj (Kunya-Urgench, Turkmenistan) becomes the capital of the
 Khorezmshakh state

1038

♦ The Seljuks, led by Toghrul Beg/ Tugrul Bey, defeat the Ghaznavids at
 Dandanaqan (near Merv)

1042

♦ The Seljuks conquer Khorezm

1048

♦ Turk nomads raid the Byzantine empire for the first time

1055

♦ The Seljuks (Sunni), led by Toghrul Beg, defeat the Buyids (Shiite),
 invade Mesopotamia and install themselves in Baghdad under the
 suzerainty of the Abbasids

1064

♦ The Seljuk king Alp Arslan moves the capital to Ray (Tehran)

♦ The Seljuks invade Armenia

1071

♦ The Seljuqs led by sultan Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army at the
 battle of Malazgird, capture Jerusalem and establishing a sultanate in
 central Anatolia with capital in Iznik (Nicaea)

1072

♦ The Seljuks move the capital from Ray (Tehran) to Isfahan but Alp
 Arslan dies, succeeded by his son Maliksah

1073

♦ The Seljuks defeat the Qarakhanids, taking Bukhara and Samarkand

1076

♦ The Seljuks invade Syria and Palestine

1079

♦ The Seljuks take Damascus

1085

♦ The Seljuks take Antioch and Aleppo

1097

♦ The Seljuks move their capital to Konya

1141

♦ The Karakitai defeat the Seljuqs at the battle of Qatwan, thus destroying
 Seljuks power in Central Asia

1153

♦ The Khwarazmis (Turkish mercenaries) conquer Persia from the Seljuks

1157

♦ Seljuks’ sultan Sancar dies

1169

♦ Saladin Ayubbid, a Kurdish general, ends the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt
 and founds the Ayubbid dynasty

1174

♦ Saladin takes Damascus from the Syrian ruler

1175

♦ The Ghaznavid state is absorbed into the Ghurid empire, which is also
 Turkic-speaking

1176

♦ Byzantium is defeated by the Turks of Rum at Myriokephalon

1187

♦ Saladin retakes Palestine and Jerusalem

1192

♦ Saladin signs an armistice with King Richard I of England that grants
 the Christians a small kingdom outside Jerusalem

1193

♦ Saladin's brother Malik Adil becomes sultan of Egypt and Syria

1194

♦ The Seljuks conquer Anatolia

♦ The last Persian Seljuq ruler dies and Seljuq power collapses in Iran

1243

♦ The Mongols conquer the Rum state in Anatolia