Medieval Islamic Dynasties

Question 1

ruled as caliphs from Damascus from 661-750. They came to power in the civil war following the death of Uthman when Mu’awiyah Ibn Abu Sufyan defeated the forces of Ali Ibn Abi Talib after the latter’s assassination. Also ruled from Cordoba, Spain.

Answer 1

Umayyad

Question 2

reigned as caliphs from Baghdad from 750-1258, and later from Cairo from 1261-1517. They rode to power on widespread disaffection with the Umayyads. Their greatest rulers were al-Mansur, Harun ar-Rashid, and al-Mamun the Great.

Answer 2

Abbasid

Question 3

Isma’ili Shi’ite Imams who founded their state in North Africa in 909 under the caliph al-Mahdi. They conquered Egypt in 969 under al-Muizz and built Cairo, becoming the Abbasids’ rivals

Answer 3

Fatimid

Question 4

a family of Ghuzz Turks who invaded the Middle East in the eleventh century and came to control the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. the Central Asian model of “collective sovereignty,” they divided territory among the ruling family, which prevented strong political unity

Answer 4

Seljuq

Question 5

Kurds who took control of Egypt under the Zengids. In 1171 Salah ad-Din (Saladin) abolished the Fatimid caliphate, and later took Damascus as well. He retook Jerusalem from the Crusader kingdoms; however, subsequent Crusades undid some of these gains

Answer 5

Ayyubid

Question 6

were slave soldiers of foreign origin who deposed the Ayyubids in 1250. Baybars, who turned back the Mongols at the Battle of Ayn Jalut, is a popular figure in Arabic heroic literature. In 1291 they drove the last Crusaders from Palestine

Answer 6

Mamluk

Question 7

Turks of uncertain origin who conquered the Balkans and the Middle East and brought the central Islamic lands into the European state system. Their key military victories were the defeat of the Serbs in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the capture of Constantinople in 1453, and the defeat of the Mamluks in 1517

Answer 7

Ottoman

Question 8

ruled most of India from the early 16th until the mid-18th century, and claimed descent from both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. Their empire was founded by Babur and expanded under his grandson Akbar. The Taj Mahal was built under Shah Jahan

Answer 8

Mughal

Question 9

Sunni Sufi (mystic) order under Shah Ismail, and ruled Iran from 1502 until 1736. They forcibly converted Iran to Shi’ism, and later converted themselves.Together with the Ottomans and Mughals, they form the three “Gunpowder Empires” in what Islamicists consider the late medieval period

Answer 9

Safavid