A timeline of events leading up to WWII that provide information and context around the land and its people.
Palestine has been the crossroads for religion and therefore politics. Palestine is the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, and home to the third holiest place for Muslims after Mecca and Medina.
Throughout time, Palestine has been controlled by many kingdoms and powers, including Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel and Judah, the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great and his successors, the Hasmoneans, the Roman Empire, several Muslim caliphates, and the crusaders and finally the Ottoman Empire. throughout these different reigns and the conflicts that marked handover from one to the other, the Palestinian people (comprised of Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs and Jews) have all suffered.
This is in spite of the fact that Palestine was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization.
- 1.5 million years ago – The earliest human remains found in the region are dated to the Pleistocene, c. 1.5 million years ago. These are traces of the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa.
- Iron Age – two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast.
- 8th century BCE – The Assyrians conquered the region
- 601 BCE – the Babylonians held control
- 539 BCE – the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire
- 330s BCE – Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire beginning a long period of Hellenization
- 2nd century BCE – the Hasmonean Kingdom conquered most of Palestine a
- 63 BCE – Rome annexed the area after being troubled by large-scale Jewish revolts
- 4th century – as the Roman Empire christened, Palestine became a center of Christianity
- 636–641 – several Muslim ruling dynasties succeeded each other: the Rashiduns; the Umayyads, the Abbasids; the semi-independent Tulunids and the Ikhshidids; the Fatimids; and the Seljuks.
- 1099 – the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem in Palestine
- 1187 – the Ayyubid Sultanate reconquered Palestine
- 1516 – the Ottoman Empire conquered the region and ruled it as Ottoman Syria largely undisrupted through to the 20th century.
While the list above is by no means exhaustive (see wikipedia for more depth and detail), the point of the timeline is to show that throughout history people of various races and religions have co-existed in this region. Despite conflicts and violence for political and social gain, the history of the region and its religious significance was respected by all. for e.g., the mosques, churches and synagogues in the region are some of the oldest in the world and were largely untouched during the myriads of conflicts the region saw.
… until the British came along…
Next in the series – Palestine – sold without consent
Surreal Soliloquies 