The Abbasid capital, Baghdad, became a center in which Islamic learning combined with influences from Persia, India and even China. And while it did not last long, one of its offshoots established itself in today’s Spain and Portugal, known as al-Andalus, and made Córdoba into a thriving, multicultural center.ġ The third caliphate, the Abbasids, 750–1258, presided over what is often referred to as the “Islamic Golden Age,” when science, technology, philosophy, and the arts flourished. The second caliphate, the Umayyads, 661–750, moved the capital to Damascus in Syria. The first, the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661, was led by the sahabah, the “companions” who were the family and friends of the Prophet and who were all drawn from Muhammad’s own Quraysh tribe. Thus, the first caliphate was soon replaced by a second, a third and a fourth, each one controlled by rival factions. This was known as the “caliphate,” from khalifah, meaning “succession.” Yet it was difficult to keep such a large political entity together and there were conflicts regarding who should be regarded as the rightful heir to the Prophet. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina in 632, his followers on the Arabian Peninsula quickly moved in all directions, creating an empire which only one hundred years later came to include not only all of the Middle East and much of Central Asia, but North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula as well.
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