The Islamic Caliphates PDF

Notebook Page 3 The Islamic Caliphates AP World History: Modern – Period 1  The Umayyad Caliphate Despite its military successes, and its conquest of the Persian Sassanid Empire and roughly half of the Byzantine Empire, the Rashidun Caliphate was not internally stable Most of the initial...

Notebook Page 3 The Islamic Caliphates AP World History: Modern – Period 1  The Umayyad Caliphate Despite its military successes, and its conquest of the Persian Sassanid Empire and roughly half of the Byzantine Empire, the Rashidun Caliphate was not internally stable Most of the initial caliphs did not enjoy natural deaths, and were instead assassinated or poisoned due to factional disputes within the Arab population A period of civil war within the Rashidun Caliphate led to the victory of the faction led by the Umayyad clan; having won the civil war, the Umayyad clan established control The Umayyad Caliphate itself continued from 661-750 CE, holding its capital in Damascus, Syria for the majority of existence, and warred intermittently with the Byzantine Empire The caliphate continued territorial expansion, reaching its zenith by expanding to the borders of France and Morocco in the West and India and China in the East While the caliphate continued most state practices, such as the dhimmi status and jizya tax, their popularity waned amongst the conquered peoples—particularly their preferential treatment of Muslim Arabs over others As time passed, however, Arabs increasingly depended on non-Arab warriors known as Mamluks; this became an increasingly popular practice and, after 1258, they would inherit the title of caliphate in Egypt  The Abbasid Caliphate While the Umayyad Caliphate had managed to expand Muslim territory, their attitudes towards non-Arab Muslims, which were perceived and treated as inferiors, caught up to them in 750 CE Known as the Abbasid Revolution, a faction of Arabs, with the support of many non-Arab Muslims were able to successfully revolted against the Umayyad, creating the Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasids were not able to further territorial expansion, but they were successful in enriching and reforming the caliphate’s state administration—mostly along the Persian centralized model Under the Abbasids, and their capital city of Baghdad, Islam experienced a Golden Age of cultural, religious, scientific, astrological, mathematically, and literary accomplishments. During this time, the House of Wisdom was created – a library (research and educational center) constructed in Baghdad. They successfully crossed the Saharan desert through the use of camels and caravans, thus connecting the Islamic world with the kingdoms of West Africa, as well as their gold, copper, salt, and large-scale slave trade Economically, the caliphate sat at the center of the Afro-Eurasia world, benefiting tremendously from the knowledge, goods, and wealth exchanged through the Old World Islam itself, by the 9 th-century BCE, had reached far into Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, parts of Europe, converting several key ethnic groups to the Islamic faith in its wake  Division in the Muslim World Disputes over the rightful caliph had plagued the Muslim world since Muhammad’s death, even resulting in a violent religious split between the Sunni and Shi’a Muslims Along with theological disputes, civil and political disputes across such a vast empire [caliphate] made it extremely difficult to maintain military and administrative hegemony (influence) across a multitude of ethnic groups As such, faction splits and regional conflicts resulted in the Abbasid caliphate losing direct control over most of the Muslim world by the 10th century, but claimed and maintained religious authority through its caliph Even after the loss of territories east of Egypt by the 10 th century, and despite the destruction of Abbasid military power in the 11th century by Seljuk Turks, and the destruction of its capital in Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, the Abbasid caliph continued his religious rule from the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt until 1517 Following 1517, the primary military and religious force for Islam would come from the Turkish Ottoman Empire, ruling as a Sunni Islamic State, and the later Persian Shi’a state known as the Safavid Dynasty Despite the loss of its caliphate, and the primacy of Arabs in Muslim areas, Islam continued to expand across the trade routes of the Indian Ocean to West Africa, East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia by trade and diasporic migration, thus setting the foundations for what is today the Muslim world