1061
Alp Arslan succeeds Tughril Beg
The nephew of the Seljuk founder inherited the sultanate on Tughril's death. A fearsome warrior, Alp Arslan would push Seljuk power into Georgia, crush Byzantine frontier provinces, and within a decade crown his career by capturing the Byzantine emperor on the battlefield of Manzikert in eastern Anatolia. His magnanimous treatment of Romanus IV after capture became legendary in both Islamic and Christian sources.
Pagan Establishes Forty-Three Frontier Forts
By royal order issued in February, King Anawrahta's engineers completed a chain of forty-three fortified posts ringing the Pagan kingdom's expanded borders. The forts guarded against Shan hill raiders and secured the overland routes to China's Yunnan frontier. This defensive infrastructure transformed Pagan from a river-valley kingdom into a territorial state with defined, defended boundaries - a leap in political organization unprecedented in Burmese history.
Pisa raids Palermo
A Pisan fleet attacked the Sicilian capital, penetrating the harbor and burning vessels in a raid that coincided with the Norman attack on the island. The spoils helped fund the beginning of construction on Pisa's magnificent cathedral, whose marble was quarried from ancient ruins the Pisans had just pillaged. The raid demonstrated that Italian maritime republics could project naval power deep into Muslim-controlled waters.
Seljuk Empire Reaches Its Territorial Apex Under Alp Arslan
The new sultan Alp Arslan inherited from his uncle Tughril Beg a domain stretching from Khorasan to Iraq, and immediately began extending it. His campaigns pressed into the Caucasus, Armenia, and the Byzantine frontier, while his vizier Nizam al-Mulk professionalized the bureaucracy behind him. The Seljuk state was becoming what the Abbasid caliphate had once been - the political center of gravity for the entire Islamic east.