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Seljuk Empire

Middle East & Central AsiaHeartland today: Iran and Türkiye

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A Turkic dynasty that rose in Khorasan and took Baghdad in 1055, ruling Iran and Iraq as sultans under the Abbasid caliph. The victory at Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement. The empire split after 1092 and ended in 1194.

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Key events

  1. Tughril and his brother Chaghri take Nishapur from the GhaznavidsDisputed

    Encyclopedia.com's survey dates the Seljuk takeover of Nishapur, Merv and Herat to 1037 and Tughril's seizure of Nishapur itself to 1038; EBSCO gives 1038.

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  2. Seljuk forces defeat the Ghaznavid army of Mas'ud I at Dandanaqan, near Merv, and take Khorasan

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  3. Tughril enters Baghdad and ends Buyid rule there, with the caliph kept as head of state in name

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  4. Sultan Alp Arslan defeats the Byzantine army at Manzikert and captures Emperor Romanos IV

    Historians disagree on how decisive the battle was. The World History Encyclopedia notes that most of the Byzantine army survived and that the Byzantine civil war after it did much of the damage; Turkish settlement of Anatolia was gradual.

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  5. Sultan Malik-Shah adopts the Jalali solar calendar, drawn up by a committee of astronomers that included Omar KhayyamDisputed

    Work on the calendar began around 1074. Wikipedia gives 15 March 1079 for its adoption; other sources date the reform slightly differently.

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  6. The vizier Nizam al-Mulk is killed in October and Sultan Malik-Shah dies in November; rival heirs and governors divide the empire

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  7. Sultan Sanjar is defeated by the Qara Khitai at the Battle of Qatwan, near Samarkand, and loses his eastern lands

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  8. Sultan Toghrul III is killed in battle against the Khwarazm Shah Tekish near Rayy, the last of the Great Seljuk line

    The sultan fell on 19 March 1194. Wikipedia names Qutlugh Inanj, an Ildeguzid commander fighting on Tekish's side, as the man who beheaded him; Blue Domes likewise says an Ildeguzid killed him.

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