Arabian Empire

Question 1

Which early people were based around Petra in Jordan?

Answer 1

Nabataeans

Question 2

Which early people were based in Yemen?

Answer 2

Himyarites

Question 3

What was the Himyarite capital?

Answer 3

Sana’a

Question 4

What was the Nabataean capital?

Answer 4

Petra

Question 5

Who conquered the Himyarites?

Answer 5

Axum

Question 6

Which early people emigrated from Yemen to the Levant, and converted to Christianity?

Answer 6

Ghassanids

Question 7

Who conquered the Ghassanids, and in which century?

Answer 7

Arab Caliphate, 7th century

Question 8

Why didn’t the Romans conquer the Ghassanids?

Answer 8

They were a buffer between Rome and the raiding Bedouins

Question 9

Which early people were based in southern Iraq?

Answer 9

Lakhmids

Question 10

Through which years were the Lakhmids prominent?

Answer 10

300-602

Question 11

What was the Lakhmid capital, and which major river was it situated on?

Answer 11

al-Hirah, on the Euphrates

Question 12

Who were the Lakhmids conquered by?

Answer 12

Chosroes II, King of the Sassanids

Question 13

How did the Lakhmids help the Arabs to defeat the Sassanids?

Answer 13

They acted as spies

Question 14

When and where was Muhammad born?

Answer 14

c. 570, Mecca

Question 15

What profession did Muhammad likely hold?

Answer 15

Merchant

Question 16

When did Muhammad’s revelations start, and what age was he?

Answer 16

Around 610, 40 yrs old

Question 17

How were his revelations handed down?

Answer 17

Orally

Question 18

What two subjects dominated Muhammad’s revelations?

Answer 18

1. End of the world

2. Transcendence of a unique God

Question 19

When did Muhammad die?

Answer 19

632

Question 20

Detail the expansion of the Arabic Caliphate between 630 and 644

Answer 20

1. 630 Mecca
2. 634 Damascus
3. 642 Alexandria
4. 644 Persian empire

Question 21

What six factors made the Arabic Caliphate so effective?

Answer 21

1. Weak enemies
2. Desert masters
3. Channelling of a warlike people
4. Jihad
5. benign rulers
6. didn’t plunder people

Question 22

Who did the Arab Caliphate tend to plunder?

Answer 22

The Church

Question 23

Who were the four first successors to Muhammad?

Answer 23

Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali

Question 24

Who oversaw the transcription of Muhammad’s messages?

Answer 24

Uthman

Question 25

Why was Uthman assassinated?

Answer 25

Trying to bring the caliphate into his own family

Question 26

What family did Uthman belong to?

Answer 26

Qoraysh

Question 27

What was Ali's relation to Muhammad?

Answer 27

cousin and son-in-law

Question 28

Who killed Ali?

Answer 28

Mu'awiya, governer of Syria

Question 29

Who was the first Umayyad ruler?

Answer 29

Mu'awiya

Question 30

Where did Mu'awiya move the capital to?

Answer 30

Damascus

Question 31

Which faction refused to acknowledge Mu'awiya as Caliph?

Answer 31

Sh'ia

Question 32

Which two decisive losses marked the Umayyad caliphate?

Answer 32

1. Constantinople,717 | 2. Tours, 733

Question 33

Who fought against the Umayyads at Tours, and in what year?

Answer 33

Charles Martel, 733

Question 34

Between what years did the Umayyad dynasty hold the Caliphate?

Answer 34

661-750

Question 35

Name the two major dynasties of the Arab caliphate, and the years they held power

Answer 35

1. Umayyad, 661-750 | 2. Abbasid, 750-1258

Question 36

What happened to the Umayyads after they were deposed in 750?

Answer 36

Fled to Spain where they ruled for 200 years

Question 37

What relation of Muhammad's were the Abbasids descended from?

Answer 37

His uncle

Question 38

Where did the Abbasids move the capital to?

Answer 38

Baghdad, a constructed city

Question 39

What year was Baghdad crippled, and by whom?

Answer 39

1258, Mongols

Question 40

What change in orientation did the Abbasids make?

Answer 40

Away from the Mediterranean, towards Persia, India and Afghanistan

Question 41

What year did the Arab caliphate cease expanding?

Answer 41

750

Question 42

What did the Abbasids do to the Umayyads?

Answer 42

Slaughtered them; leather cloth

Question 43

What financed the Abbasid rule?

Answer 43

Tax, not expansion

Question 44

What 4 factors caused the Abbasid collapse?

Answer 44

1. Overstretching 2. Shi'ism/Sunni strife 3. Dynastic struggles 4. Mongols

Question 45

Why did the Umayyads so easily conquer Iberia?

Answer 45

Iberia ruled but not populated by Visigoths, so population had no reason to fight once Visigoths were defeated