Umayyads built one of history’s largest land empires
From 661 to 750 the Umayyad Caliphate, Islam’s second caliphal house, ruled from Damascus after the Rashidun caliphs. At its widest it covered an estimated 13 to 15 million square kilometres, from the Maghreb and Iberia to Central Asia and Sindh, while Christians still made up most of its subjects.
Before Islam, the Banu Umayya dominated the Meccan Quraysh’s caravan trade into Syria. When Muhammad died in 632, the Medinan Ansar, who had sheltered him after 622, debated backing their own leader before Abu Bakr prevailed. His successor Umar (634–644) curbed the old Qurayshi elite yet let the sons of Abu Sufyan entrench themselves in Syria, conquered almost entirely by 638.
Next came Uthman, a wealthy Umayyad convert chosen by a council of senior companions: Ali, Talha, Zubayr, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, and Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas. His nepotism angered the Ansar and the council: in 645 or 646 he added Upper Mesopotamia to Mu’awiya’s Syrian command and let him take Byzantine crown lands to pay his troops.
After Uthman was assassinated, Ali was recognised in Medina with backing from the Ansar and Iraqis, while most of the Quraysh held back. Zubayr and Talha challenged him first. Ali replaced governors in Egypt and Iraq without much trouble, but Mu’awiya held Syria with tribal troops hardened by wars against Byzantium and refused to submit.
Mu’awiya became caliph in 661 after winning the First Fitna and made Syria, with Damascus as capital, the heart of the state. His Sufyanid line gave way during the Second Fitna; Marwan I founded the Marwanid branch in 684, and Abd al-Malik restored order by defeating the Zubayrids in 692, then centralised power and Arabised the bureaucracy. Christians and Jews paid the jizya poll tax, while Muslims paid zakat. The Abbasid Revolution overthrew the dynasty in 750.
Source: Umayyad Caliphate
