680 CE - 683 CE: Yazid ibn Mu'awiya reigns over the Umayyad Caliphate.

1100 CE - 1167 CE: Muslim historian 'Abd al-Karim al-Sam'ani first records the Yazidis as a distinct community.

1100 CE - 1162 CE: The Sufi mystic Sheikh 'Adi journeys to the Kurdish mountains in Iraq. His followers eventually call themselves "Yazidis."

1162 CE - 1400 CE: Yazidi culture and ethnic identity coalesce after the death of Sheikh 'Adi in 1162 CE.

1200 CE - 1253 CE: Sheikh Hasan, the grandson of Sheikh 'Adi's nephew, expands Yazidi influence throughout the Muslim world. Yazidis immigrate to large swathes of the Middle East.

1253 CE: Fearing a Kurdish revolt, the provincial governor of Mosul sends his forces to burn Sheikh 'Adi's bones in Lalish. Sheikh Hasan, the leader of the Yazidis, is captured and beheaded.