Islamic Middle East

The Islamic Caliphate and other Islamic states took over the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, and later expanded into the Indian subcontinent and Malay archipelago.

At the beginning of the Medieval Age in 500 CE, the Middle East was separated into small, weak states; the two most prominent were the Sassanid Empire in Persia (modern-day Iran), and the Byzantine Empire in Turkey. In the Arabian peninsula (now Saudi Arabia), the nomadic Bedouin tribes dominated the desert, where they worshipped idols and remained in small clans tied together by kinship.[11] Urbanization and agriculture was very limited, save for a few regions near the coast. Mecca and Medina were two of these cites that were important hubs for trade between Africa and Eurasia. This commerce was central to city-life, where most inhabitants were merchants.