[...]... N TA KIS Indus PA E NI A Mo MA a gad A L IA shu asa I N D I A N Lu sak n mb IA LA Li A ra b ia Sea n A Mo i ob i t a M SO YA O M A Ade pala K A DJ TH E M E N MO ZAM B Arid Zone 2 Map of the Islamic world 4 TA J ISTA AFGHAN N LI ya Herat lf Gu cca BA IS T SamAN a ka ara nd Buch N KU WA IT D din Me A n rsia Pe U I R h EK E uD Am A AQ M AN ST NI IR T Sy rD Ara Sea l Urg B UZ RD BA IJ AN R Da ma I A sc... I A NI ME AR Amida 640 635 Hama M 634 Duma E Fazzan M P Hormuz Mecca MAKURI Dongola BornuDa ma K a n e m Ghana 3 63 ALWA Soba Sennar AXUM Darfur Ba n tu he rds me n Ife 3 The Early Islamic Conquests 12 R I Yamama 633 Medina Berenice Islamic History Sa A Rayy 643 Hamadan Ctesiphon 639 Ahwaz Istakhr Damascus Kufa Alexandria 642 Heliopolis 640 E R I P M E VISIGOTH KINGDOM Hadhramau t Mukha Aden N o r... a s t e r n ) Mo-ho T u r k s W e s t e r n T u r k i s h Kua-chou Khujand Tlai-yüan Tangut Ching-chao Shanesswara I IL L A Yang-chou A Multan A Ho-nan Taxin Herat 650 -H S Ping-lu Su-chou marqand Chia-sha Merv Balkh (Kashgar) 650 652 Yu-t’ien (Khotan) O P ’ K h a n a t e Agia N G Cheng-tu Tüpüt E M P I R E Fi -chou Alor Kausambi Daybul Pata i Gaya Kuang Kuang Malwa Pagan Hamsavati Vatapi CHAMPA Kansipura... hot (Saharan) air from the south and west combined over time to create an inhospitably dry interior Much of the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Iran, and elsewhere is desert and the Great Arid Zone as a whole is predominantly arid or semi-arid ST ig T R LA TH LI a Vo ga ER AN Mo Ta su Ba enc bri l gh z TU RK da d a H QT R A N a A I B Riy ad h I A R UA C Y E UG T Ad IO DA A NK am EN Na N ZA dis Ab PI ab B... N a Se of tsk ho kk O na Le en s se R U S A I S Amu r I A O L M O N G Beijin gH Hu an Kashgar AN A A RE S KO llow Ye ea S Introduction IKIS T ng J g ZIA e GHI A RE KO so Kae P a Se f o n a Jap korum Kara N KIR A N h tys HST AN ng Kaife st Ea ina Ch ea S ang Luoy C H I NE De hi PA L G an ges I N D I A Cha ng J Lhasa A N ng ia er anc pic of C Tro N IWA BHU TA n Canto BANGLA DESH Bay of Bengal BURMA (MYANMAR)... having accumulated various grievances over centuries of religiously and economically unpopular policies That the first lands conquered were inhabited by Semitic monotheists (Aramaic-speaking Christians and Jews in Byzantine Syria and Palestine, and in Sasanid Iraq) must also have been significant in this context And third, the Arabs had military advantages over the Byzantine and Sasanid armies, and managed... west as Spain and Morocco, and as far east as Pakistan and Central Asia The caliph’s control over his provinces was tightened – with decentralized, tribal traditions giving way to better-organized imperial ones – and a consciously Arabic and Islamic identity was developed and imposed on caliphal institutions Islamic coins were minted, Arabic replaced Greek, Persian, and Coptic in administrative bureaus... fragmentation was probably only a matter of time In fact, in the case of Andalusia, it was not even that: already during the Abbasid takeover, an Umayyad prince fled to the Iberian Peninsula and established an independent state there, which – under ‘Abd al-Rahman III (r 912–61) and his successors – would become a ‘caliphate’, and a magnificent centre of high culture When the Abbasids transferred power and attention... message about God, past prophets, 9 Islamic History the end of days, fasting, charity, and the like, was familiar and unthreatening He was welcomed in the town where he served as an adjudicator for some disputes that had been dividing the population This emigration (hijra) is the starting point of both Muhammad’s career as a statesman and of the Muslim calendar From his base in Medina, Muhammad set about... northern Iran, Zaydis in Yemen, and the Taliban in Afghanistan) It is not for nothing that Moroccan political authorities referred to their mountainous regions as ‘siba’, [the lands of ] rebellion Soviet and latterly American troops in Afghanistan learned these facts the hard way; local Muslims have known them all along Not all camels are deterred by mountains, however: two-humped Bactrian camels are hardier . ngham rgh Oslo Stock olm Lusaka Mombasa Nai obi Kampala Addis Ababa Mogad shu Aden Khar oum Mecca Medina Cairo Bengazi Ma akesh Beirut Damascus Jerusalem Alexandria Riyadh Muscat L i K P O R T U G A N O R W S W E D E N F R A N C E S P A I N M O R O C C O E R N N I G E R C H A D S U D A N Z A I R E E T H I O P I A T A N Z A N I A K E N Y A S A U D I I R A N A R A B I A Z A M B I A M O Z A M B L I B Y A E G Y P T A L G E R I A C E N T R A L A F R I C A N R E P U B L I C T U N I S I A I T A L Y N E R L A N D S D E N M R K G E R M A N Y S W I T Z . A U S T R I A H U N G . A L B . R O M A N I A B U L G A R I A B E L A R U S G R E E C S Y R I A I R A Q L E B A N O N I S R A E L J O R D A N T U R K E Y Y E M E N O M A N A F G H A N I S T A N P A K I S T A N F I N L A N D P O L A N D U K R A I N E M LITH. CZ. SLK. B-H. CR. SL. YUGO. MA. BEL. LAT. ST. S O M A L I A U G A N D A M A L A B R DJB UAE QTR BAH KUWAIT I N D I A N T U R K M E N I S T A N U Z B E K I S T A N T A J K A Z A K GE AR AZERB AIJAN Arid. world Black Sea Aral Sea Arabian Sea C a s p a i n S e a P e r s i a n G u l f E u p h r a t e s A m u D a y a S y r D a r y a V o g a I n d u s Wa saw Odessa Istanbul K ev Moscow Tabriz Baghdad Mosul Herat Urgench Buchara Sama. of Cancer N Bay of Bengal East China Sea Yellow Sea Sea of Japan Sea of Okkhotsk t y s h e n s s e L e n a A m u r C h a n g J i a n g H u a n g H e G a n g e s Kashgar Lhasa Hanoi Canton Kaifeng Luoyang Beijing Karakorum Kaesong De