SocietyThe Middle East
The Umayyads
From the Atlantic to the Indus in under a century
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The expansion halted at Poitiers in the west and at Talas in the east, where the Arabs met the Tang Chinese in 751 — a small battle with large consequences, since Chinese prisoners reportedly brought papermaking to the Islamic world. The Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasids, but a surviving prince fled to Spain and founded the emirate of Córdoba.
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The caliphate with its capital at Damascus grew larger than the Roman empire ever was. It made Arabic the language of administration from Spain to Central Asia, and built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org