General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> Ummayya ibn Abdi /sh-Shams/
According to Encyclopaedia of the Orient
(http://i-cias.com/e.o/ummawiyy.htm);
"UMMAWIYYS Caliph dynasty reigning from 661 to 750, located most of the
time to Damascus, Syria.  The Ummawiyys were the descendants of Ummayya
ibn Abdi sh-Shams, a member of the Quraysh family of Mecca.  The first
Caliph was Mu'awiyya , who fought against Caliph Ali, until his murder in
661...The Ummawiyys are most famous for the buildings they erected, like
the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (690s), Aqsa Mosque, also in Jerusalem
(690s) and the Ummawiyy Mosque in Damascus (705).  There are two Ummawiyy
families, from 661 to 684 it was the Sufaynid branch, but from 684 the
Marwanid branch took over the control. The Ummawiyys extended its
territories massively during its Caliphate, at least until the 710s. 
Most of the new land was to the west in Africa and the Iberian peninsula,
but they also reached the borders of China and northern India.  There
were a number of unsuccessful attempts to conquer Constantinope, in
674-78 and 717-18...even with the Ummawiyys out of Damascus, they were
not all cut away from power, as some members of the family moved to
Muslim Spain, where he got the position as emir.  From 756 to 1031
Ummawiyys ruled Spain, and for the last 100 years they carried the title
Caliph over again."