622 Year one of the Islamic calendar begins, during which the Hijra occurs
630 Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.
1324 Mansa Kankan Musa I, ruler of the Mali Empire arrives in Cairo on his hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. With an entourage numbering in the thousands, and so generous with his gold that the price of gold in that city didn't recover for 20 years, his presence in Cairo is remembered for almost a century.
1337 Mansa Musa makes his pilgrimage to Mecca
1924 Abdul Azis declares himself protector of holy places in Mecca.
1979 259 Muslim radicals occupy Kaaba and the Grand Mosque in Mecca; Saudi Arabian and French security forces go in to expel them.
1979 A group of around 200 militant Sunni Muslims occupy Mecca's Grand Mosque. They are driven out by French commandos (allowed into the city under these special circumstances despite their being non-Muslims) after bloody fighting that leaves 250 people dead and 600 wounded.
1979 After false radio reports from the Ayatollah Khomeini that the Americans had occupied the Great Mosque in Mecca, the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing 4. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
1980 In Saudi Arabia, 63 Muslim fanatics are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November, 1979.
1987 Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.
1990 A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca kills 1,426.
2005 A gunfight on the edge of the Saudi city of Mecca kills 2 militants and 2 members of the security forces.