1,200 Years Ago in Northeasten Asia
The lost city of Itil was once the capital of the mighty Khazar empire of southern Russia. Although little known today, Khazaria was considered one of the four great empires of the time, the others being Rome, Persia and China. Itil was near the modern city of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, but due to changes in water level, the old city is now under the sea.
The Khazar empire, faced with Christian enemies one side and Islamic enemies on the other, adopted Judaism as the state religion. The ancestors of most Jewish people in eastern Europe were from Khazaria. The Khazar empire was conquered by the Varangians (Swedish vikings) in 969 AD.
Chinese expansion to the west was defeated by an Arab army at the battle of the battle of the Talas River in 751 AD (in modern Kyrgyzstan).
In 1037, the Seljuk Turks, a force of mercenaries employed by the Afghan kingdom of Ghazna, revolts. By 1055, the Seljuk Sultanate (sultan is a Turkish word meaning king or commander) has taken over the old Ghazna kingdom and has occupied Persia.
The Magyar people, among the last group of mounted Asian nomads, arrived in eastern Europe in 896. What the vikings were to coastal areas of the continent, the Magyars were to central Europe. The Magyars raided throughout Germany and even into France, one campaign reaching up to the Spanish border. Decisively defeated at the battle of Augsburg in Germany in 955, and shortly after converting to Christianity, they settled down and founded the Magyar kingdom of Hungary.
www.edunetconnect.com/cat/timemachine/1200nea.html