By era
Imperial Frontiers: places of Islamic history
Every researched 360° place from the Imperial Frontiers era of Islamic history — each with its date, location, and Sunni-sourced background.
53 places
Ottoman
The Rise of the House of Osman
c. 699 AH / 1299 CE
Sogut, Bithynia, northwestern Anatolia
Mali
Mansa Musa's Caravan Halts at Cairo
724 AH / 1324 CE
Outskirts of Cairo, on the Nile
Mali
The Great Mosque of Djenne
730 AH / c. 1330 CE
Djenne, inland Niger delta
Mali
The Court of Mali
753 AH / c. 1352-1353 CE
The capital of Mali, on the upper Niger (near Niani)
Timurid
The Aq-Saray of Shahrisabz
782-808 AH / c. 1380-1405 CE
Shahrisabz, south of Samarkand, in Transoxiana
Ottoman
The Field of Blackbirds
791 AH / 1389 CE
Kosovo Polje, the Field of Blackbirds, in the Balkans
Timurid
Timur's Sack of Delhi
801 AH / 1398 CE
Delhi, after the sack by Timur, northern India
Timurid
The Building of the Bibi-Khanym Mosque
801 AH / 1399 CE
Samarqand, capital of the Timurid empire in Transoxiana
Malacca Sultanate
The Rise of Malacca
803 AH / c. 1400 CE
Malacca (Melaka), on the strait, in the Malay peninsula
Ottoman
The Battle of Ankara
804 AH / 1402 CE
The plain of Cubuk, near Ankara, central Anatolia
Timurid
Ulugh Beg's Observatory
834 AH / c. 1430 CE
The observatory of Ulugh Beg, Samarqand, Transoxiana
Ottoman
İstanbul'un Fethi
857 AH / 1453 CE
Mesoteichion section of the Theodosian land walls, Constantinople
Ottoman
Hagia Sophia, Mid-Conversion to a Mosque
857 AH / 1453 CE
Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul)
Songhai
The Sankore Mosque and Scholars of Timbuktu
c. 905 AH / 1500 CE
Sankore Mosque, Timbuktu
Safavid
The Safavid Turn of Iran
c. 907 AH / 1501 CE
The shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din at Ardabil, north-western Iran
Malacca Sultanate
The Portuguese Take Malacca
917 AH / 1511 CE
Malacca (Melaka), on the strait, in the Malay peninsula
Ottoman
The Chart of Piri Reis
919 AH / 1513 CE
Gallipoli (Gelibolu), on the Dardanelles
Ottoman
The Battle of Chaldiran
Rajab 920 AH / 1514 CE
The Chaldiran plain, eastern Anatolia
Mughal
The First Battle of Panipat
932 AH / 1526 CE
Battlefield of Panipat, north of Delhi
Ottoman
The First Siege of Vienna
936 AH / 1529 CE
Vienna, on the Danube in Central Europe
Ottoman
The Battle of Preveza
945 AH / 1538 CE
Off Preveza, at the mouth of the Gulf of Arta, western Greece
Safavid
The Royal Book Atelier
c. 957 AH / 1550 CE
A royal kitabkhana at the Safavid court, Tabriz, Persia (representative)
Ottoman
The Suleymaniye Mosque Rising over Istanbul
957-964 AH / 1550-1557 CE
Suleymaniye Mosque, Third Hill, Istanbul
Kazan Khanate
The Fall of Kazan
959 AH / 1552 CE
Kazan, on the middle Volga (modern Tatarstan)
Deccan Sultanates
The Battle of Talikota
972 AH / 1565 CE
Battlefield of Talikota (Rakkasa-Tangadi), on the Krishna, in the Deccan
Ottoman
The Selimiye Mosque at Edirne
976-982 AH / 1568-1574 CE
Selimiye Mosque, Edirne
Ottoman
The Battle of Lepanto
979 AH / 1571 CE
Gulf of Patras, off Lepanto (Naupaktos), western Greece
Mughal
Akbar's House of Worship at Fatehpur Sikri
c. 983 AH / 1575 CE
Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra
Songhai
The Battle of Tondibi
999 AH / 1591 CE
Tondibi, on the Niger north of Gao, in the Songhai heartland (Mali)
Crimean Khanate
The Khan's Palace at Bakhchysarai
16th-17th c. CE
Bakhchysarai, the Khan's Palace, Crimea
Deccan Sultanates
The Fortress of Golconda
1009 AH / c. 1600 CE
Golconda fortress, near Hyderabad, the Deccan, Telangana
Safavid
Naqsh-e Jahan Square Rising in Isfahan
1011 AH / c. 1602 CE
Naqsh-e Jahan Square (Maydan-e Shah), Isfahan
Aceh Sultanate
The Sultanate of Aceh
1029 AH / c. 1620 CE
Banda Aceh, northern Sumatra
Mughal
The Taj Mahal under Construction
1041-1063 AH / 1632-1653 CE
Taj Mahal, on the Yamuna at Agra
Sulu Sultanate
The Sultanates of the Sulu Sea
1060 AH / c. 1650 CE
The Sulu and Mindanao sultanates, the southern Philippine archipelago
Deccan Sultanates
The Gol Gumbaz of Bijapur
1066 AH / c. 1656 CE
Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur (Vijayapura), the Deccan, northern Karnataka
Mughal
The Badshahi Mosque and the Fatawa-i Alamgiri
1084 AH / 1673 CE
Badshahi Mosque, Lahore
Ottoman
The Abandoned Camp before Vienna
1094 AH / 1683 CE
Ottoman siege lines outside Vienna, below the Kahlenberg
Ottoman
The Treaty of Karlowitz
1110 AH / 1699 CE
Karlowitz (Sremski Karlovci), on the Danube
Ottoman
The Hajj Caravan
c. 1112 AH / 1700 CE
The pilgrimage road (Darb al-Hajj) across the desert to the Hijaz
Ottoman
The First Ottoman Printing Press
1141 AH / 1729 CE
Istanbul, by the Bosphorus
Afsharid
Nader Shah's Sack of Delhi
1152 AH / 1739 CE
Delhi, after the sack by Nader Shah, northern India
Diriyyah
The Pact at Diriyyah
1157 AH / 1744 CE
Diriyyah, Wadi Hanifa, Najd
Durrani
The Third Battle of Panipat
1174 AH / 1761 CE
The plain of Panipat, north of Delhi, northern India
Ottoman
The Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca
1188 AH / 1774 CE
Kucuk Kaynarca, near the lower Danube (modern north-eastern Bulgaria)
Ottoman
The Battle of the Pyramids
1213 AH / 1798 CE
Embabeh, the Giza plain near Cairo
Ottoman
The French Savants and al-Azhar
c. 1214 AH / 1799 CE
al-Azhar and the French Institut, Cairo
Sokoto
The Founding of the Sokoto Caliphate
1219 AH / 1804 CE
Hausaland, the Gudu and Sokoto country (northern Nigeria)
Sokoto
The Sokoto Caliphate Consolidated
c. 1230 AH / 1815 CE
Sokoto, Hausaland (northern Nigeria)
Diriyyah
The Fall of Diriyyah
1233 AH / 1818 CE
at-Turaif, Diriyyah, Wadi Hanifa, Najd
Ottoman
The Edict of Gulhane
1255 AH / 1839 CE
Gulhane, by the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul
Ottoman
Abdulhamid II and the Wired Palace
1313 AH / c. 1895 CE
Yildiz Palace, Istanbul
Ottoman
The Hejaz Railway
1326 AH / 1908 CE
A desert station on the Hejaz Railway, northern Arabia