Within a few years of Muhammad's death, armies of the Rashidun Caliphate overran the Byzantine provinces of Syria, Palestine and Lebanon, a region Arabic sources call Bilad al-Sham. Commanders such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah and Amr ibn al-As led the campaigns, which turned on the decisive battle at the Yarmouk river in 636. Damascus fell in 635 and Jerusalem surrendered by agreement with the caliph Umar around 637, followed by Antioch and, after a long siege, Caesarea. The Byzantine emperor Heraclius, weakened by his recent long war with Persia, withdrew to Anatolia. The conquest transformed the eastern Mediterranean, and Damascus later became the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Before and after
- 631 CEOrigins of Islam
- from 632 CE to 633 CERidda Wars
- from June 632 CE to July 661 CERashidun Caliphate
- 8 June 632 CEDeath of Muhammad
- from 633 CE to 640 CEMuslim conquest of the Levant
- from 633 CE to 654 CEMuslim conquest of Persia
- 23 August 634 CEDeath of Abu Bakr
- from December 635 CE to March 636 CESiege of Emesa
- from 16 November 636 CE to 19 November 636 CEBattle of al-Qadisiyyah
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- 7 June 1494Treaty of Tordesillas
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 7th century.