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Middle Ages
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=== Rise of Islam === {{Main|Spread of Islam|Early Muslim conquests}} [[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|upright=1.3|thumb|The [[early Muslim conquests]] {{legend|#a1584e|Expansion under Muhammad, 622β632}} {{legend|#ef9070|Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632β661}} {{legend|#fad07d|Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661β750}}]] Religious beliefs in the Eastern Roman Empire and Iran were in flux during the late sixth and early seventh centuries. [[Judaism]] was an active proselytising faith, and at least one [[Arab]] political leader converted to it.{{efn-ua|[[Dhu Nuwas]], ruler of what is today [[Yemen]], converted in 525, and his subsequent persecution of Christians led to the invasion and conquest of his kingdom by the [[Axumite]]s of [[Ethiopia]].<ref name=Collins138>Collins ''Early Medieval Europe'' pp. 138β139</ref>}} In addition Jewish theologians wrote polemics defending their religion against Christian and Islamic influences.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199730049.001.0001 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion |date=2011-01-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973004-9 |editor-last=Berlin |editor-first=Adele |editor-last2=Grossman |editor-first2=Maxine}}</ref> Christianity had active missions competing with the Persians' [[Zoroastrianism]] in seeking converts, especially among residents of the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. All these strands came together with the emergence of [[Islam]] in Arabia during the lifetime of [[Muhammad]] (d. 632).<ref name=Collins143>Collins ''Early Medieval Europe'' pp. 143β145</ref> After his death, Islamic forces conquered much of the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia, starting with [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|Syria]] in 634β635, continuing with [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Persia]] between 637 and 642, reaching [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|Egypt]] in 640β641, [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|North Africa]] in the later seventh century, and the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Iberian Peninsula]] in 711.<ref name=Collins149>Collins ''Early Medieval Europe'' pp. 149β151</ref> By 714, Islamic forces controlled much of the peninsula in a region they called [[Al-Andalus]].<ref name=Reilly52>Reilly ''Medieval Spains'' pp. 52β53</ref> The Islamic conquests reached their peak in the mid-eighth century. The defeat of Muslim forces at the [[Battle of Tours]] in 732 led to the reconquest of southern France by the Franks, but the main reason for the halt of Islamic growth in Europe was the overthrow of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] and its replacement by the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. The Abbasids moved their capital to [[Baghdad]] and were more concerned with the Middle East than Europe, losing control of sections of the Muslim lands. Umayyad descendants took over the Iberian Peninsula, the [[Aghlabids]] controlled North Africa, and the [[Tulunids]] became rulers of Egypt.<ref name=Brown15>Brown "Transformation of the Roman Mediterranean" ''Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe'' p. 15</ref> By the middle of the 8th century, new trading patterns were emerging in the Mediterranean; trade between the Franks and the Arabs replaced the old [[Roman economy]]. Franks traded timber, furs, swords, and enslaved people in return for silks and other fabrics, spices, and precious metals from the Arabs.<ref name=Cunliffe427>Cunliffe ''Europe Between the Oceans'' pp. 427β428</ref>
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