Islamic caliphates
632 onward: Rashidun, Umayyad (661–750), Abbasid (750–1258)· Empire, kingdom or state· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
The successive Muslim states led by a caliph, or 'successor' to Muhammad, which built an empire from Spain to Central Asia.
See it on the History map →What happened
After Muhammad died in 632, four 'Rightly Guided' caliphs led the conquest of Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Persia within about 20 years. The Umayyads (661–750) ruled from Damascus and pushed into Spain and Central Asia. The Abbasids (750–1258) overthrew them and built Baghdad as a new capital. Arabic became the language of government and learning, and a shared coinage tied trade together. By the 900s rival caliphs ruled in Cairo and Córdoba, and real power passed to regional sultans.
Why it matters
They created one of history's largest trading and cultural zones, spreading Islam, Arabic and institutions that still shape the Middle East and North Africa.
How we know
Arabic chronicles such as al-Tabari's history; dated coins and inscriptions, like those of the Dome of the Rock (691); tax papyri from Egypt; Byzantine, Syriac and Armenian accounts.
Still debated
Why the early conquests beat two great empires so fast is debated: exhaustion after their long war, religious zeal, or mild terms offered to conquered peoples.
Inside this (1)
Connections (6)
▸Byzantine Empire lost Syria and Egypt to Islamic caliphatesWell documented
The connection
Exhausted by a long war with Persia (602–628), the Byzantine Empire could not stop the new Arab Muslim armies. After defeat at the Yarmuk River in 636, it lost Syria and Palestine, and then Egypt, its richest province and breadbasket. Caliphate forces later besieged Constantinople itself, in 674–678 and 717–718, but failed.
When and how
The Yarmuk River, near today's Syria–Jordan border, 636; Jerusalem surrendered in 637; Alexandria fell by 641–642.
How we know
Byzantine chronicles like that of Theophanes; Arabic conquest histories; Egyptian papyri showing a fairly smooth change of tax collectors.
Debates and open questions
How much local Christians resisted, welcomed or simply tolerated the new rulers is debated; many were at odds with Constantinople over doctrine.
▸Islam spread through Islamic caliphatesWell documented
The connection
Islam gave the Arab tribes a shared faith and leadership under Muhammad. After his death, his successors, the caliphs, led them in conquest. The faith spread with the empire but slowly: conquered Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were mostly not forced to convert, paying a special tax (jizya) instead, and many regions became majority Muslim only centuries later.
When and how
Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Persia from 632; by about 750 the caliphate reached from Spain to Central Asia.
How we know
Arabic chronicles; tax papyri recording the jizya; studies of names in medieval biographical dictionaries that track the pace of conversion.
Debates and open questions
How fast conversion happened is debated; one influential study suggests Muslims became a majority in Iran only after about two centuries, and later still in Egypt and Syria.
▸Islamic caliphates sponsored Islamic Golden Age (Baghdad's House of Wisdom)Well documented
The connection
The Abbasid caliphs built Baghdad in 762 as a planned round city at a crossroads of trade, and their wealth and court culture drew scholars. Caliphs, especially al-Mamun, paid for translations, libraries and observatories. Arabic, the empire's common language, let a scholar from Central Asia write for readers in Spain.
When and how
Baghdad from 762; the House of Wisdom flourished under al-Mamun (813–833); later patrons included the Fatimids in Cairo and the Umayyads of Córdoba.
How we know
Biographies of scholars; dedications to caliphs in surviving books; accounts of al-Mamun's observatories in Baghdad and Damascus.
Debates and open questions
How much credit belongs to caliphs, versus private patrons, merchants and physicians, is debated; much of the learning continued after caliphal power faded.
▸The Crusades were fought against Islamic caliphatesMostly agreed
The connection
The crusaders' main opponents were Muslim rulers in the caliphates' lands: the Seljuk Turks, the Shia Fatimid caliphate of Egypt, which held Jerusalem in 1099, and later Saladin's Ayyubids and the Mamluks, who recognized the Abbasid caliph. The Muslim world was divided at first, which helped the First Crusade succeed.
When and how
Syria, Palestine and Egypt, 1096–1291; Muslim leaders included Zengi, Nur al-Din, Saladin, who retook Jerusalem in 1187, and the Mamluk sultan Baybars.
How sure are we?
Muslim chroniclers like Ibn al-Athir and the memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh; crusader chronicles; treaties and letters between the two sides.
Debates and open questions
How far the crusades united Muslims is debated; real power lay with sultans, not caliphs, and 'holy war' rhetoric may overstate unity.
▸Ghana Empire traded gold with Muslim merchants of Islamic caliphatesMostly agreed
The connection
As caliphate rule spread across North Africa in the 600s–700s, Muslim merchants organized camel caravans across the Sahara. They brought salt, copper, cloth and horses south and carried West African gold north. Ghana's kings taxed this flow, and much of the gold was struck into dinars, the gold coins of the Muslim world.
When and how
Trans-Saharan routes linking Sijilmasa in Morocco to Ghana's capital, from the 700s; Muslim merchants lived in their own town beside the royal one.
How sure are we?
Al-Bakri's 1068 description of Ghana's twin capital; an Arab astronomer calling Ghana 'the land of gold' in the late 700s; North African goods found at Koumbi Saleh.
Debates and open questions
When regular trade across the Sahara began, before or only after the Arab conquest, is debated; camels and some trade predate Islam there.
▸Tang dynasty clashed at Talas (751) with Islamic caliphatesWell documented
The connection
As Tang China expanded into Central Asia and the Abbasids took over the caliphate, their spheres met. In 751 an Abbasid army defeated a Tang force near the Talas River after the Tang's Karluk Turkish allies switched sides. Soon after, the An Lushan Rebellion pulled Tang troops home, leaving Central Asia open to Muslim influence.
When and how
Near the Talas River, in today's Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border region, July 751; Tang general Gao Xianzhi, of Korean (Goguryeo) descent, against Abbasid commander Ziyad ibn Salih.
How we know
Both Chinese and Arabic histories record the battle; Du Huan, a Chinese prisoner, later wrote about his years in the Abbasid world.
Debates and open questions
How decisive Talas was is debated; the Tang retreat owed more to the An Lushan Rebellion (755) than to the battle itself.