Armenia annexed
ArmeniaFor most of the second half of the 7th century, Arab presence and control in Armenia was minimal. Armenia was considered conquered land by the Arabs, but enjoyed de facto autonomy, regulated by the treaty signed between Rhstuni and Mu'awiya. The situation changed in the reign of the caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705). Beginning in 700, the Caliph's brother and governor of Arran, Muhammad ibn Marwan, subdued the country in a series of campaigns. Although the Armenians rebelled in 703 and received Byzantine aid, Muhammad ibn Marwan defeated them and sealed the failure of the revolt by executing the rebel princes in 705. Armenia, along with the principalities of Caucasian Albania and Iberia (modern Georgia) was grouped into one vast province called al-Arminiya, with its capital at Dvin, which was rebuilt by the Arabs and served as the seat of the governor (ostikan) and of an Arab garrison. For much of the remaining Umayyad period, Arminiya was usually grouped together with Arran and the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) under a single governor into an ad hoc super-province.