Timeline of Mecca

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Prior to 20th century

• 100 BCE - "Yemeni tribes of Jurham rule Mecca."^[1]
• 570 CE - Year of the Elephant.
• 613 CE - "Muhammad begins public preaching in Mecca."^[2]
• 622 CE / 0-1 H - Muhammad migrates from Mecca to Medina, with followers (muhajirun).^[3]
• 629
  • Pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca per Treaty of Hudaybiyyah.^[2]
  • 11 December: Occupation of Mecca.
• 683 / 63-64 H - Siege of Mecca (683); Kaaba burnt.^[4]
• 692 - Siege of Mecca (692).^[5]
• 751 - Milestones installed along the Darb Zubaidah (Baghdad-Mecca road).
• 793 - Harun al-Rashid visits city.^[4]
• 810 - Aqueduct built.^[1]
• 930 - City sacked by Qarmatians; Black Stone taken out of Mecca.^[4]
• 951 - Black Stone returned to Mecca.^[4]
• 1184 - Traveller Ibn Jubayr visits city.^[6]
• 1265 - Egyptian Mamluks in power.^[4]
• 1326 - Traveller Ibn Battuta visits Mecca.^[6]
• 1517 - Ottomans in power;^[7] Selim I becomes Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
• 1630 - Flood.^[7]
• 1631 - Kaaba rebuilt.^[8]
• 1802/1803 - Mecca "captured by the Sa'udi-Wahhabi army."^[9]
• 1812/1813 - Wahhabis ousted by Egyptian forces.^[7]
• 1840 - Ottomans in power again.^[7]
• 1880 - 21 March: Sharif assassinated.^[5]
• 1885 - Population: 45,000 (estimate).^[10]
• 1886 - Printing press in use (approximate date).^[11]

20th century

• 1908 / 1325-1326 H
  • September: Hejaz Railway (Damascus-Mecca) begins operating.^[5]
  • Hussein bin Ali becomes sharif.^[1]
  • Al-Hijaz government newspaper begins publication.^[11]
• 1912 - Madrasat al-Falah established.^[11]
• 1916 / 1334-1335 H
  • June–July: Battle of Mecca (1916).^[4]
  • Hashimite al-Qibla government newspaper begins publication.^[11]
• 1921 - Population: 80,000 (approximate estimate).^[12]
• 1924 / 1342-1343 H
  • Battle of Mecca (1924).^[11]
  • 12 December: Umm al-Qura government newspaper begins publication.^[11]
  • Population: 60,000 (approximate estimate).^[13]
  • Ali of Hejaz becomes sharif.
• 1925 - City becomes part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.^[4]
• 1926 - Al Adl cemetery and al-Mahad al-Ilmi Suudi (school)^[11] established.
• 1929 - Amanat al-Asima (municipality) established.^[11]
• 1931 / 1349-1350 H - Public library founded (approximate date).^[11]
• 1932 - Dar al-Hadith (school) established.^[11]
• 1930s - Aziziyya, Faysaliyya, Khayriyya, and Suudiyya schools established (approximate date).^[11]
• 1938 - Maktabat al-Haram (library) active.^[11]
• 1945 - Al-Wehda Club (sport club) formed.
• 1949 / 1368-1369 H - Kulliyyat al-Sharia (college) established.^[11]
• 1951 - College of Education established.^[11]
• 1958 - Al Nadwa newspaper begins publication.^[14]
• 1960 - Police academy established.^[11]
• 1962 - Slavery abolished.^[11]
• 1964 / 1383-1384 H
  • Malcolm X visits city.^[1]
  • Masjid al-Haram expanded.^[1]
• 1966 - Mahad al-Nur (school) established.^[11]
• 1972 - Hajj televised.^[15]
• 1973 - "Master Plan for the Holy City of Mecca" launched.^[1]
• 1975 - Fire in Mina.^[1]
• 1979 - 20 November-4 December: Grand Mosque seizure.^[16]
• 1981 - Umm al-Qura University established.^[11]
• 1986 - King Abdul Aziz Stadium opens.
• 1987 - 31 July: 1987 Mecca incident.
• 1992 - Population: 965,697.^[14]
• 1997 - 16 April: Mecca fire of 1997.

21st century

• 2005 - April: 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games held in city.
• 2006 / 1426-1427 H
  • 5 January: 2006 Mecca hostel collapse.
  • 12 January: 2006 Hajj stampede.^[16]
  • December: Abraj al Bait Mall in business.^[17]
• 2007 - Jamaraat Bridge for pedestrians rebuilt.
• 2010
  • Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro begins operating.
  • Makkah Clock Royal Tower Hotel in business.
• 2012
  • August: Fourth Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held in city.
  • Abraj Al Bait built.
• 2013 - Mishaal bin Abdullah Al Saud becomes governor of Mecca Province.
• 2014 / 1435-1436 H - Raffles Makkah Palace hotel and Swissôtel Makkah in business.
• 2015
  • 13 July: City visible via Snapchat imagery.^[18][19]
  • September: Mecca crane collapse.

See also

• Mecca history
• History of Mecca (in Arabic)
• List of sharifs of Mecca
• Timeline of Muhammad in Mecca
• List of mosques in Mecca
• Timeline of Islamic history

Other cities in Saudi Arabia

• Timeline of Jeddah
• Timeline of Medina
• Timeline of Riyadh

References

1. Ziauddin Sardar (2014). "Chronology". Mecca: The Sacred City. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-62040-266-5.
2. John L. Esposito (2003). "Chronology of Key Events". Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975726-8.
3. Cyril Glassé, ed. (2003). New Encyclopedia of Islam. USA: AltaMira Press. ISBN 978-0-7591-0190-6.
4. Pam Hollister (1996). "Mecca". In Noelle Watson. International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa. UK: Routledge. pp. 483–486. ISBN 1884964036.
5. Benjamin Vincent (1910), "Mecca", Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (25th ed.), London: Ward, Lock & Co. – via Hathi Trust
6. Marina A. Tolmacheva (2000). "Mecca". In John Block Friedman and Kristen Mossler Figg. Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: an Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 387+. ISBN 978-1-135-59094-9.
7. Gabor Agoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009). "Mecca". Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Facts on File. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7.
8. Saudi Arabia: Mecca, ArchNet, archived from the original on September 2008
9. "Saudi Arabia". Political Chronology of the Middle East. Europa Publications. 2003. ISBN 978-1-135-35673-6.
10. "Turkey". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1890.
11. C. Edmund Bosworth, ed. (2007). "Mecca". Historic Cities of the Islamic World. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill.
12. "Arabia: Kingdom of Hejaz". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1921.
13. "Again Holy Mecca Resounds to Arms; City of the Prophet Yields for Second Time in a Century to the Wahabis", New York Times, 2 November 1924
14. "Saudi Arabia". Europa World Year Book. Europa Publications. 2004. ISBN 978-1-85743-255-8.
15. Marwan M. Kraidy; Joe F. Khalil (2009). "Chronology". Arab Television Industries. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 153+. ISBN 978-1-84457-576-3.
16. BBC News. "Saudi Arabia Profile: Timeline". Retrieved April 2015.
17. "Price of Progress: Transforming Islam’s Holiest Site", New York Times, 8 March 2007
18. "Why do thousands want to show off Mecca on a chat app?", BBC News, 11 July 2015
19. "Snapchat opens digital window on Mecca to millions", al-Jazeera, 14 July 2015

Further reading

Published in the 18th-19th century

• Carsten Niebuhr (1792). "Of the City of Mecca". Travels through Arabia. Translated by Robert Heron. Edinburgh: R. Morison and Son – via Hathi Trust.
• Abraham Rees (1819), "Mecca", The Cyclopædia, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown
• Jedidiah Morse; Richard C. Morse (1823), "Mecca", A New Universal Gazetteer (4th ed.), New Haven: S. Converse
• Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1829). "(Mekka)". Travels in Arabia. London: H. Colburn.
• Josiah Conder (1830), "Mekka", Arabia, The Modern Traveller 4, London: J.Duncan
• Richard Francis Burton (1855). Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah. 2 1. Tylston and Edwards., v.2
• "Mecca". American Cyclopedia. D. Appleton & Company. 1879.
• Edward Balfour (1885), "Mecca", Cyclopaedia of India (3rd ed.), London: B. Quaritch
• Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1888). Mekka (in German). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.

Published in the 20th century

• "Mecca", Chambers's Encyclopaedia, London: W. & R. Chambers, 1901
• "Mecca", Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424
• "Mecca". Encyclopædia of Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1934.
• Gerald de Gaury (1954). Rulers of Mecca. New York: Roy Publishers. (fulltext)
• Philip Khuri Hitti (1973). "Mecca". Capital Cities of Arab Islam. University of Minnesota Press. p. 3+. ISBN 978-0-8166-0663-4.
• Francis Edwards Peters (1986). Jerusalem and Mecca: The Typology of the Holy City in the Near East. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-6598-2.
• Patricia Crone (1987). Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam. Princeton University Press.
• Francis Edwards Peters. Mecca: A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-03267-X (1994)

Published in the 21st century

• Stefano Bianca (2000), "Case Study 1: The Holy Cities of Islam – The Impact of Mass Transportation and Rapid Urban Change", Urban Form in the Arab World, Zurich: ETH Zurich, ISBN 3728119725, 0500282056
• Josef W. Meri, ed. (2006). "Mecca". Medieval Islamic Civilization. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-96691-7.
• Michael R.T. Dumper; Bruce E. Stanley, eds. (2008), "Makkah", Cities of the Middle East and North Africa, Santa Barbara, USA: ABC-CLIO

External links

• Map of Mecca, 1946
• "(Mecca)". Qatar Digital Library. Qatar National Library.
• Europeana. Items related to Mecca, various dates
• Digital Public Library of America. Items related to Mecca, various dates
• John Walker. "Calendar Converter". Fourmilab.