| Umayyad Caliphate الخلافة الأموية | |||||
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 Flag | |||||
 The Umayyad Caliphate at its greatest extent.
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| Capital | Damascus (661–744) Harran(744–750) | ||||
| Languages | Arabic (official) – Coptic, Greek, Persian (official in certain regions until the reign of Abd al-Malik) – Aramaic, Armenian, Berber, African Romance, Georgian, Turkic, Kurdish, Sanskrit | ||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||
| Government | Caliphate | ||||
| Caliph | |||||
| - | 661–680 | Muawiya I | |||
| - | 744–750 | Marwan II | |||
| History | |||||
| - | Muawiya becomes Caliph | 661 | |||
| - | Defeat and death of Marwan II by the Abbasids | 747 | |||
| Area | |||||
| - | 747 CE (129 AH) | 13,400,000 km² (5,173,769 sq mi) | |||
| Population | |||||
| - | 747 CE (129 AH) est. | 70,000,000 | |||
| Currency | Gold dinar | ||||
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was centered on the Umayyad dynasty , hailing from Mecca. The Umayyad family had first come to power under the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656), but the Umayyad regime was founded by Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, long-time governor of Syria, after the end of the First Muslim Civil War in 661 CE/41 AH. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Hind, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 5.17 million square miles (13,400,000 km2), making it the largest empire the world had yet seen. However, as a direct result of their conquest of Hind, the caliphate came to an end.
History
Conquest of Hind
In the Battle of Rajasthan, the Muslims won only because of numbers. Rajasthan fell to the Muslims while a massive invasion force of 200,000 was used in the Conquest of Hind. 50,000 soldiers were killed. Persia was easily overrun by the Muslims, while the united might of people from Persia to Iberia was barely enough to conquer a region of Hind. Using defected Hindu soldiers, the Arabs learned the Hindu tactics and weaknesses and, the following year, the advance of the Muslims continued. Gurjara-Pratihara was overrun, now the Pala had to be beat. By 741, all of northern Hind was conquered, while in the south, the Chalukya Empire were determined to be too powerful.
Overthrow
However, by this time, the Umayyad were racist and their costly invasion of Hind was ruining the empire. The Abbasids came to the stage and, in 745, began the Muslim Civil War. By 747, the Umayyad fled to Cordoba, where Muslim Spain remained under their control. The First Emirate Of Cordoba was created.