570–632 (life of Muhammad); Arab conquests – 633–711

The rise of Islam and the early Arab conquests

Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570. In 610 he received his first vision and proclaimed himself a prophet of the one God. In 622 came the Hijra – the migration to Medina, marking the start of the Islamic calendar. In 630 he returned to Mecca and destroyed the idols.

After his death in 632, rapid conquests began. The Arabs took Damascus (635), Jerusalem and Antioch (638), and Alexandria (642–643). Three of the five Christian patriarchates thus fell within five years. Then came Egypt (641), and in 698 Carthage, completing the conquest of North Africa.

In 711 a force under Tariq crossed into Spain and quickly crushed the weak Visigothic kingdom. Further advance was halted in 732 by Charles Martel at Poitiers.

This was preceded by a mutually exhausting Byzantine–Persian war. In 606–619 the Persians seized Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. This included the sack of Jerusalem in 614 and the removal of the relic of the Cross. But in 622–629 Emperor Heraclius reversed the war's course and recovered the lost lands.

Islam's spread was aided by internal religious schisms within the Christian East – Monophysitism and Nestorianism. In many conquered regions the churches eventually withered or became isolated minorities. The center of gravity of Christianity shifted to northern Europe.