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Before his death, he converted most of the Arabian Peninsulato his new daith and built a small empire.
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Arab armies conquered Syria. The Muslims then won Iraq from the Perians and, within ten years after Muhammad's death, subdued Persia itself.
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Muawiyah proclaimed himself caliph, made Damascus his capital, and founded the Umayyad Dynasty.
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From 674 to 678, the Umayyad navy held Cyprus, Phodes, and a numder of Aegean islands, which served as bases for annual seaborne attacks on Constantinople. With the aid of Greek fire, Constanstinople was successfully defended, and the Arab advance was checked for the first time.
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The governor of Muslim North Africa sent his general, Tarik, and an army across the Strait into Spain. Seven years later, in 718, the kingdom of Visigoth completely crumbled.
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The muslims advanced across the Pyrenees and gained a strong foothold in Southwest France, where they carried out a major raid to explore the possibility of a further northward advance. However, they were defeated by Charles Martel near Tours, in a battle which proved decisive in halting their northern expansion into Europe.
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Muawiyah's reign as caliph ended.
