The Abbasid Empire 8th - 13th centuries

This map is part of a series of 9 animated maps showing the history of Origins of Islam and the Arabo-Muslim Empire.

When the Abbasid Caliphs overthrew the Umayyads of Damascus in 750, they took control of almost all of their territory, apart from the Maghreb and al-Andalus, which quickly became autonomous.

The Abbasids swept to power thanks to the support of an army from Khorasan, in eastern Iran. They withdrew from Damascus and Syria, a pro-Umayyad stronghold, to settle in Iraq where, in 762, they founded the Caliphate city of Baghdad on the western bank of the Tigris.

The Empire was divided into provinces, administered from regional capitals by governors nominated by the Caliphs. To remind locals that the ruling power was Abbasid, the Caliph’s name was mentioned in Friday prayers.

Taxes were collected locally and part of the revenues was spent locally. The rest was sent to Baghdad. The Caliph and his administration were kept up to date on events in the provinces through a very effective information network. The Caliph also appointed Qadis in each major city to ensure a judicial network covering the entire Empire.

At their height, the Abbasid territories stretched from Ifriqiya all the way to Central Asia. This was during the reign of Caliph al-Mansur (754-775), the second Caliph of the dynasty and founder of Baghdad. However, from the late 8th century, some regions gained their independence from state power, giving rise to the birth of small, autonomous dynasties.

Initially, governors who had been appointed by the Caliph managed to entrench their power. This led to local dynasties forming, such as the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya (800–909), the Samanids in eastern Iran (819–1005) and, later, the Tulunids in Egypt and Syria (868–905). In other regions, some chiefs who took up arms became so powerful that their authority was recognised by the Caliph. These included the Saffarids of eastern Iran (861–1003) and the Tahirids (821–873). In both cases, these rulers continued to recognise the nominal authority of the Abbasids, but set their own policies, keeping back some of the taxes to fund their own armies and administrations.

The spread of autonomy in the provinces weakened the Abbasid Empire which, by then, only really controlled the central regions of Dar al-Islam. On top of that, Iraq itself became more unstable in the late 9th century with the uprising of Zanj slaves (869-883) and of Ismaili and Qarmatian dissidents.

During the 10th century, some Abbasid regions that had already gained autonomy declared their independence, and not all of them recognised the legitimacy of the Abbasids. In the Maghreb, the Ismaili movement, one of the branches of Shiism, seized power with the support of Berber tribes. Their leader, Ubayd Allah, founded the Fatimid Caliphate in 909.

In 929 a descendent of the Umayyad line in al-Andalus proclaimed himself Caliph of Cordoba. As a result, there were now three caliphs vying for leadership of the Muslim world.

In the 940s, the Buyids, warlords from the south of the Caspian Sea, seized power in Iran and Iraq. They assumed the title of “Great Emir” and imposed political control over the Abbasids, who found themselves deprived of an army and tax income. In Iran, power was divided among several Emirates, each run by a member of the Buyid family. A century later, the Seljuk Turks drove the Buyids out and set up a similar power structure. After recovering both politically and militarily in the 12th century, the Abbasid Caliphate was finally destroyed by the Mongols who captured Baghdad in 1258.