The Umayyads were a Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled from 661 to 750 after the period of the Four Caliphs. Founded by Muawiya I in Syria, their state expanded across North Africa, into Spain and eastward into Central Asia and Sind. Damascus was their capital for most of this period.
If you are exploring their connection with Turkey, two places matter: Istanbul and Harran. An Umayyad army unsuccessfully besieged Istanbul in 717–718. Harran later became the dynasty’s final capital. These places connect the story of expansion with its troubled closing years.
Who founded the Umayyad Caliphate, and where did it start?
Muawiya I established Umayyad rule in 661 and remained caliph until 680. The dynasty began as a Syria-based power. Its name came from the Banu Umayya, the branch of the Quraysh tribe to which Muawiya belonged.
Muawiya also shaped the succession. He designated his son Yazid as heir, establishing the transfer of the caliphate within the same family. Yazid I took power in 680. This decision made inheritance a central feature of Umayyad government.
The succession was contested. Opponents regarded Muawiya’s choice as a change from consultative leadership to dynastic monarchy. Muawiya defended it as a way to prevent another civil war. The dispute concerned both the next ruler and the basis on which a caliph should govern.
What was the Umayyad Caliphate’s capital?
Damascus served as the capital from 661 to 744. The final caliph, Marwan II, then governed from Harran, which remained the capital until 750. Describing Damascus as the Umayyad capital is therefore correct for most of the dynasty’s rule, but it leaves out its last years.
For a traveler to Turkey, Harran supplies a direct connection to this wider history. It held the central seat of Umayyad government during Marwan II’s reign. Its role belongs to the final phase before the Abbasids took central power.
Umayyad Caliphate map: where did it rule at its peak?
At its widest extent, Umayyad power reached from Spain to Central Asia and the borders of India and China. A map of this empire brings together North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Transoxiana and Sind. These regions show how far its conquests extended west and east.
You should also distinguish conquest from inheritance when reading that map. Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran had already been conquered during the period of the Four Caliphs. The Umayyads inherited those territories. Their own expansion added further regions to an existing state.
Historians have differed over how to explain the conquests. Wellhausen emphasized Arab political power. Della Vida considered explanations that pushed religion into the background historically inadequate. Their disagreement concerns the weight given to political and religious motives within the same expansion.
How did Umayyad conquests reach Africa, Spain and Central Asia?
In 698, forces under Hasan ibn al-Numan captured Carthage. This ended Byzantine rule in North Africa. The capture belongs among the major western advances of the Umayyad period.
Tariq ibn Ziyad attacked the Visigothic Kingdom in 711. Within roughly five years, most of Hispania had been conquered. This expansion brought much of the Iberian Peninsula under Umayyad rule and began the dynasty’s connection with Spain.
Eastern campaigns advanced during the same period. Qutayba ibn Muslim led expeditions between 705 and 715. Bukhara came under Umayyad control in 706–709, followed by Samarkand in 711–712. These conquests extended the dynasty’s authority into Transoxiana.
The conquest of Sind began in 711. Muhammad ibn Qasim’s campaigns expanded Umayyad power in the Indus basin of present-day Pakistan. Spain and Sind therefore share a date in the expansion, even though they lay at widely separated ends of the state.
Expansion also met military limits. Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik began the siege of Istanbul in 717. It lasted about a year and ended unsuccessfully after Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ordered a withdrawal. In 732, Franks under Charles Martel defeated a Muslim army at Poitiers/Tours, stopping that campaign’s advance.
Umayyad Caliphate leaders: the complete list
The 14 caliphs who ruled between 661 and 750 were, in order: Muawiya I, Yazid I, Muawiya II, Marwan I, Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I, Sulayman, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Yazid II, Hisham, al-Walid II, Yazid III, Ibrahim and Marwan II.
Three reigns help anchor the sequence. Muawiya I ruled in 661–680, Abd al-Malik in 685–705, and Hisham in 724–743. Under Abd al-Malik, central government grew stronger and reforms advanced the use of Arabic in state administration.
Abd al-Malik also sponsored a major surviving monument. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was completed under his patronage in 691. His reign connects changes in government with monumental building and changes to coinage.
What did the Umayyad Caliphate flag look like?
Umayyad banners are associated with white. That color later became one of the four pan-Arab colors used in modern Arab flags. For the historical dynasty, white is the central color association to remember.
How do you pronounce Umayyad?
Merriam-Webster gives the English pronunciation of “Umayyad” as ü-ˈmī-əd. The stress mark falls before the middle syllable. The name itself refers to the Banu Umayya branch of Quraysh, linking the dynasty’s familiar English name to Muawiya’s family background.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
A gold dinar of Abd al-Malik dated 695, held by the British Museum, shows a standing caliph. It measures 20 millimeters across and weighs 4.01 grams. You can connect this small object with everyday life through the money in your wallet: a coin carries a public message as well as monetary value.
Abd al-Malik changed that message within a few years. He moved away from coins bearing the standing ruler and introduced coinage arranged around inscriptions, mostly drawn from the Quran. The earlier dinar and the later inscriptions show a concrete change in how his government represented itself.
At Qusayr Amra in Jordan, an eighth-century Umayyad building preserves wall paintings in its reception hall and bathhouse. They include people, animals and hunting scenes. Alongside the dynasty’s coin inscriptions and monumental architecture, these paintings add another form of surviving visual evidence.
The hot room of the Qusayr Amra bathhouse contains a dome decorated with zodiac imagery. It preserves one of the oldest surviving maps of the sky on a dome. The building thus brings bathing spaces, painted scenes and celestial imagery into the same setting.
Why did the Umayyad Caliphate fall?
Unequal treatment helped increase opposition to the dynasty. Non-Arab Muslims did not enjoy the same rights as Arab Muslims. This sharpened social tensions in regions including Iraq and eastern Iran. The state’s difficulties involved relations among its Muslim subjects as well as struggles within the ruling family.
Steven C. Judd explains the collapse through dynastic crises, revenue shortfalls and the limits of an imperial system based on conquest. These pressures provide a broader explanation than the final military defeat alone. The dynasty faced problems of succession, income and continued expansion.
Abu Muslim al-Khurasani launched the Abbasid revolt in Khurasan in 747. The movement received particular support from non-Arab Muslims known as mawali. In January 750, Marwan II was defeated at the Battle of the Great Zab. The Umayyad Caliphate collapsed, and central power passed to the Abbasids.
Umayyad Spain and the Caliphate of Córdoba
Umayyad rule continued in Spain after the eastern caliphate fell. Abd al-Rahman I escaped the Abbasids and established an independent state in al-Andalus. His victory at Musara on 15 May 756 secured control of Córdoba and laid the foundations of that state.
Abd al-Rahman I used the title emir despite ruling independently. The caliphal title came later. Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph in 929, beginning the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, which lasted until 1031.
When you compare the dates, keep these phases distinct. The Syria-based caliphate lasted from 661 to 750. The Spanish state began in 756, while the Córdoba caliphate began in 929. The family connection continued across these changes in place and title.
Timeline
- 661: Muawiya I begins Umayyad dynastic rule.
- 680: Yazid I becomes caliph.
- 691: The Dome of the Rock is completed.
- 698: Umayyad forces capture Carthage.
- 711: Conquests begin in Iberia and Sind.
- 717–718: The siege of Istanbul ends unsuccessfully.
- 732: A Muslim army is defeated at Poitiers/Tours.
- 744: Harran becomes the capital under Marwan II.
- 747: Abu Muslim begins the Abbasid revolt in Khurasan.
- 750: Defeat at the Great Zab brings down the caliphate.
- 756: Abd al-Rahman I establishes Umayyad rule centered on Córdoba.
- 929: Abd al-Rahman III declares himself caliph.
- 1031: The Caliphate of Córdoba ends.
FAQ
Who founded the Umayyad Caliphate?
Muawiya I founded the Syria-based Umayyad dynasty in 661. Its name came from the Banu Umayya branch of the Quraysh tribe.
What was the Umayyad Caliphate’s capital?
Damascus was the capital from 661 to 744. Harran became the capital under Marwan II and held that role from 744 to 750.
Why did the Umayyad Caliphate fall?
Dynastic crises, revenue shortfalls and unequal treatment of non-Arab Muslims weakened Umayyad rule. The Abbasid revolt began in 747, and Marwan II’s defeat at the Great Zab in January 750 brought the caliphate down.
Was the Caliphate of Córdoba the same as the earlier Umayyad Caliphate?
It belonged to a later phase of Umayyad rule in Spain. Abd al-Rahman I established an independent state in 756 as emir, while Abd al-Rahman III declared himself caliph in 929; the Córdoba caliphate lasted until 1031.
Sources
- Vikipedi — Emevîler tr.wikipedia.org
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi — Emevîler islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Wikipedia — Umayyad Caliphate en.wikipedia.org
- Museum With No Frontiers — Umayyads islamicart.museumwnf.org
- Steven C. Judd — Umayyad Caliphate, The Encyclopedia of Empire onlinelibrary.wiley.com
- Andrew Marsham — Umayyad History, Oxford Bibliographies academic.oup.com
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art — The Art of the Umayyad Period metmuseum.org
- British Museum — Gold dinar of Abd al-Malik britishmuseum.org
- Ashmolean Museum — Standing Caliph Dinar ashmolean.org
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Quseir Amra whc.unesco.org
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi — Abdurrahman I islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- German Archaeological Institute — ChronOntology, Caliphate of Córdoba chronontology.dainst.org
- Merriam-Webster — Umayyad merriam-webster.com
Image: Umayyad Caliphate 746.jpg — أبو العباس, CC BY-SA 4.0
