Fatimid Caliphate

State · 911–1176 CE · at its largest around 980 CE

An Isma'ili Shia caliphate that rose in Ifriqiya and conquered Egypt, founding Cairo in 969 and al-Azhar. Saladin abolished it in 1171.

On its lands while it lasted

Palmyra (c. 261–1929 CE): Capital of Palmyrene Empire (261–269).
Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE): The Abbasid dynasty, descended from Muhammad's uncle, took the caliphate from the Umayyads and ruled from Iraq, presiding over the Islamic Golden Age.
Algiers (944 CE): Capital of Regency of Algiers (1706–1830), Free French (1940–1943), People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (1963–today).
Ibn al-Haytham (c. 965 CE – 1040 CE): An Arab mathematician, astronomer and physicist in Cairo, often credited as a pioneer of the scientific method through his experimental work on light and vision.
Cairo (969 CE): The Fatimid general Jawhar founded al-Qahira beside Fustat after conquering Egypt; it grew into the largest city of the Arab world.
Al-Azhar Mosque (970 CE): Founded by the Fatimids in Cairo, al-Azhar developed into one of the oldest continuously operating universities and a leading centre of Sunni scholarship.
Book of Optics (c. 1011 CE): Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics showed that vision occurs when light enters the eye and described experiments with the camera obscura; it deeply influenced later European optics.
Béjaïa (c. 1018 CE): Capital of Hammadid Dynasty (1018–1151).
First Crusade (1096–1099 CE): Answering Pope Urban II’s call, armies of western knights marched to Constantinople, crossed Anatolia, took Antioch after a long siege and captured Jerusalem in July 1099, founding the crusader states.
Tarsus (c. 1099 CE): Capital of Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1099–1374).
Crusader capture of Jerusalem (1099 CE): Crusaders stormed Jerusalem, killing many of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Tripoli (c. 1111 CE): Capital of County of Tripoli (1111–1289).
Knights Templar (c. 1119–1312 CE): Hugues de Payens and fellow knights founded this military order in Jerusalem around 1119 to protect pilgrims, with headquarters on the Temple Mount. It grew rich and powerful until Pope Clement V dissolved it in 1312 under pressure from Philip IV of France.
Saladin (c. 1137 CE – 1193 CE): Kurdish founder of the Ayyubid dynasty who became sultan of Egypt and Syria, defeated the crusaders at Hattin and retook Jerusalem in 1187.
Maimonides (c. 1138 CE – 1204 CE): A Jewish philosopher, legal scholar and physician from Córdoba who settled in Fustat, author of the Mishneh Torah and The Guide for the Perplexed.