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Umayyad Caliphate 8th century

The Umayyad Caliphate at its height, c. 732

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second Islamic caliphate, ruling from 661 to 750. Founded by Muawiyah I after the murder of Hassan ibn Ali and the fall of his Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyads ruled over a vast empire from the city of Damascus in Syria, with their empire extending from Pakistan to southern France and Spain. The Umayyads gave autonomy to Jews and Christians in their lands, allowing them to answer to their own religious courts, and non-Muslims could practice their beliefs if they paid the jizya tax; many people of other Abrahamic faiths would convert to Islam under the Umayyads. The Umayyads constantly campaigned against both the Christian kingdoms of the west, the Tengri and Hindu states to the east, and the Berbers to the south, and they also fought against rebellious officials and nobles as they tried to carve out their own fiefs within the empire. The Umayyads remained in power for 89 years, gaining power after the First Fitna and losing power in 750 when the Abbasid Revolution toppled the Umayyads and led to the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate.

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