Rashidun Caliphate’s Hegemony in the Mediterranean w. Dr Harry Munt

The Rashidun Caliphate is a term used to describe the period of the caliphs in the Muslim community following Muhammad and preceding the Umayyad Caliphate. Dr Harry Munt, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, University of York, joins the show to share the caliphate’s hegemony in the Mediterranean Basin.

Some topics explored

• What the Rashidun Caliphate was
• The number of caliphs during this period of time
• The geographic demarcation of territory by the caliphs in this period
• The caliphate’s hegemony in the Mediterranean Basin
• The caliphate’s interests in spreading their empire past the Arabian Peninsula
• Conflicts they had with the Sasanian Empire and the Sassanids coming to an end
• Their attempt(s) at conquering Constantinople
• Their interactions with Mediterranean islands such as Rhodes and Cyprus
• What’s known about how they operated as seafaring
• The caliphate’s policy towards subjects in conquered territory
• Provinces and governors that were setup
• Currency during the period and shorty after
• How this period ended and the Umayyad Caliphate began

Listen to the episode

The episode can be streamed below and is also available on major podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music.

Show Notes

• Dr Munt is author of the monograph The Holy City of Medina: Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia (Cambridge University Press, 2014)