Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah
How dynasties rise and fall: a forerunner of sociology
Taking refuge in a fortress on the edge of the desert, the Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun wrote the Introduction to his world history. In it he explained how group solidarity (asabiyya) brings nomads to power and city life wears it away, so that dynasties turn over in three or four generations. He is seen as a forerunner of sociology and economics.
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Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1385 Union of Krewo — 8 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1380 Battle of Kulikovo — 3 years later
Middle East
- 1402 Battle of Ankara — 25 years later
Asia
- 1368 Founding of the Ming dynasty — 9 years earlier
- 1370 Timur makes Samarkand his capital — 7 years earlier
- 1377 Jikji, printed with movable metal type — same year
- 1392 Founding of Joseon — 15 years later
- c. 1400 Founding of Malacca — 23 years later
Alive at the time
- Timur (aged 41)
- Edward III (aged 65)
- Sergius of Radonezh (aged 63)
- Charles IV (aged 61)
- Murad I (aged 51)
- Ibn Khaldun (aged 45)
- Dmitry Donskoy (aged 27)
- Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (aged 19)
- Andrei Rublev (aged 17)
- Bayezid I the Thunderbolt (aged 17)