Ibn al-Haytham composes the Book of Optics, explaining vision as light entering the eye and emphasising experimental method.
Approximate date.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) completes The Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia used as a standard text in the Islamic world and Europe for centuries.
The Shia Fatimid Caliphate takes Egypt and builds Cairo as its new capital, along with the al-Azhar mosque.
Papal legates lay a bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia, marking the split between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
The Seljuks defeat and capture Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV, opening Anatolia to Turkish settlement.
The First Crusade takes Jerusalem after a siege, followed by a massacre of its inhabitants.
Launched after the fall of Edessa and led by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, the crusade ends in failure before Damascus.