Skip to main content How did Islam expand so fast? > >
Universal Encyclopedia

How did Islam expand so fast?

From a desert peninsula to Spain and India in a single century — the fastest empire-building in history, and the cosmopolitan civilization it left behind.

The short answer

No empire in history grew faster. Within a hundred years of the Prophet’s death, the caliphs ruled from the Atlantic to the Indus — and built, almost as an afterthought, a civilization.

The full file

Encyclopedia

Read the full file

From a desert peninsula to Spain and India in a single century — the fastest empire-building in history, and the cosmopolitan civilization it left behind.…

Related questions

More from the Bureau

All questionsFactbookRankings

Across the Bureau

The first storytellers: Aboriginal Australia — HistoryAda Lovelace: the first programmerSeeds of power: the Neolithic Revolution — HistoryAfghanistan — Country ProfileAlbania — Country ProfileAlgeria — Country ProfileHistory of Afghanistan — TimelineHistory of Albania — Timeline