Explore by year

756 CE

This year falls in the Early Middle Ages (c. 500–1000 CE). In western Europe new kingdoms replace the western Roman Empire, while the Byzantine Empire continues in the east. Islam begins in Arabia in the seventh century and its caliphates soon reach from Spain to Central Asia, and China is reunited under the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Within fifteen years

Civilization · Early Middle Ages · Abbasid CaliphateAbbasid Caliphate750–1258The Abbasid Caliphate ruled the Muslim world from Baghdad in its golden age. Its House of Wisdom preserved Greek science and advanced mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. The Mongols destroyed Baghdad in 1258.

Ruler · Early Middle Ages · IraqHarun al-Rashidc. 766–809Abbasid caliph from 786 to 809, born about 766, whose reign is remembered as the golden age of Baghdad. His court gathered scholars, poets and translators, and the House of Wisdom began collecting the learning of Greece, Persia and India. He is the caliph of the Thousand and One Nights tales.

Ruler · Early Middle Ages · FranceCharlemagnec. 742–814King of the Franks from 768 and emperor from 800 to his death in 814, born about 742. He conquered the Saxons, Lombards and much of central Europe, reuniting the west under one rule for the first time since Rome. Crowned emperor by the pope on Christmas Day 800, he sponsored the Carolingian Renaissance of learning.