ca. 200 CE
| Completion of the redaction of the Mishnah by Rabbi Judah the Patriarch
| | 312 | Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity; later in the fourth century, Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire
| 425
| Completion of the redaction of the Talmud of the Land of Israel (in Tiberias)
| 550
| Completion of the redaction of the Babylonian Talmud
| 570-632
| Life of Muhammed; after his death, the Muslim community of the Arabian peninsula begins conquest of the Middle East and North Africa (see map to the right).
| | 640 | Arab Muslims take Jerusalem from the Byzantine empire.
| | 700s-1000 | Period of the Geonim - leaders of the two rabbinic academies in Baghdad, whose authority made the Babylonian Talmud the basis for Judaism across the world
| | 711 | Conquest of Spain by Muslim armies - Jews of Spain come under Muslim rule, and enjoy a flowering of Jewish cultural life from the 900s to the 1200s.
| from 900s
| Growth of Jewish communities in northern Europe (Ashkenaz - northern France and southern Germany)
| 1096
| First Crusade - begins process of deterioration of Jewish life in Ashkenaz, and brings an end to autonomous Jewish life in the land of Israel
| | 1492 | Reunification of the Iberian peninsula under Christian rule; expulsion of Jews - many go to eastern Mediterreanean, where they are welcomed by the Ottoman Empire
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|  Map of the early Muslim empire with its capital in Baghdad.
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