The Arab Empire (632-1258) was an Islamic feudal military empire established by the Arabs in West Asia during the Middle Ages. Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese history books, such as the General Dictionary, the Old Tang Book, the New Tang Book, the Tang Huiyao, the History of the Song Dynasty, the History of Liao, and the Zizhi Tongjian, have all been called the Great Food Country, while Western Europe is accustomed to calling it the Saracen Empire. The empire lasted for more than 600 years, mainly during the four caliphates (632-661) and the Umayyad dynasty (661-750) and the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258). At its peak, the empire stretched from the Indus River in the east and the western border of China (the Pamir Plateau) to the Atlantic coast in the west (the coasts of Morocco, Spain and Portugal), the Caspian Sea in the north and the south of France, and the Arabian Sea in the south. Due to its unique geographical location, the rise of the Arab Empire changed the course of development of many surrounding peoples and had a very important impact on the history of the Middle Ages. In 1055, the Seljuk Turks captured Baghdad. In 1258, it was destroyed by Hulegu, the commander of the Mongol Empire's invasion of the west.