Umayyad Caliph

Umayyad Caliphate
الخلافة الأموية Al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawiyyah (Arabic)
661–750
The Umayyad Caliphate at its greatest extent
Capital		Damascus (661–744) Harran (744–750)
Capital-in-exile		Córdoba (756–1031)
Languages		Arabic (official) – Coptic, Greek, Latin, Persian (official in certain regions until the reign of Abd al-Malik) – Aramaic, Armenian, Berber language, African Romance, Mozarabic, Sindhi language, Georgian, Prakrit
Religion		Sunni Islam
Government		Caliphate
Caliph
•	661–680	Muawiya I
•	743–744	Al-Walid II
•	744–750	Marwan II
History
•	Muawiya becomes Caliph	estimated from 660 to 665
•	Defeat and death of Marwan II by the Abbasids	750
Area
•	AD 720	11,100,000 km² (4,285,734 sq mi)
Population
•	750 (132 AH) est.	34,000,000
Currency		Gold dinar and dirham
Preceded by Succeeded by Rashidun Caliphate Byzantine Empire Visigothic Kingdom Exarchate of Africa Abbasid Caliphate Emirate of Córdoba Barghawata Kingdom of Nekor

The Umayyad Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الأموية‎‎, trans. Al-Khilāfah al-ʾumawiyya), also spelled Omayyad, was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. This caliphate was centred on the Umayyad dynasty (Arabic: الأمويون‎‎, al-ʾUmawiyyūn, or بنو أمية, Banū ʾUmayya, "Sons of Umayya"), hailing from Mecca. The Umayyad family had first come to power under the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656), but the Umayyad regime was founded by Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, long-time governor of Syria, after the end of the First Muslim Civil War in AD 661/41 AH. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 11,100,000 km² (4,300,000 sq mi) and 62 million people (29% of the world's population), making it one of the largest empires in history in both area and proportion of the world's population.