In 711 AD an Islamic Berber raiding party, led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, was sent by his commander, Musa bin Nusayr, from Morocco to the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, to intervene in a civil war there. Tariq’s army contained about 7,000 Berber horsemen. Tariq won a decisive victory in the summer of 711 when the Visigothic King Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete.
Musa bin Nusayr quickly crossed with Arab reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims were in control of nearly the whole Iberian Peninsula. The Muslim advance into Western Europe was only stopped in what is now north-central France by the West Germanic Franks under Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732. The events of 711 - 718 AD are often known as the Moorish invasion of Iberia although, strictly speaking, it was a Muslim invasion, the invaders being a mix of Arabs, Berbers and Moors with a common faith, Muslim.
The following 781 years is often hailed as a period of enlightenment, a period when people of all religions and racial ethnicity lived together in harmony, a period that saw the introduction of new and exciting advances in medicine, agriculture, art and other sciences, overseen by a benevolent series of caliphs. As ever, some of that is true, some is propaganda inspired by politicians of the time and later politicians ‘spinning’ for their own ends, and some is just downright wrong. Our journey, from 711 AD to 1492 AD, attempts to give a balanced view.
In 711 AD Tariq ibn Ziyad with a Berber army landed in Hispania, an event known as the Moorish Invasion ... Read the complete article >>
Muslim Occupation of al-Andalus from 711 AD to 756 AD also known as the dependent emirate ... Read the complete article >>
Following the Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and the first occupation of what became known as al-Andalus, there follow ... Read the complete article >>
The Vikings’ first attack on the coast of Spain was in 844 AD during the reign of King Ramiro I of Asturias ... Read the complete article >>
Caliphate of Cordoba during the Umayyad Dynasty in al-Andalus 929 - 1031 AD ... Read the complete article >>
The United Caliphate of Córdoba splintered into independent kingdoms called taifas. Each competed with its neighbours for land, ... Read the complete article >>
The taifa period came to an end with the Almoravid invasion of al-Andalus in 1091 ... Read the complete article >>
The Almoravids soon succumbed to a pleasure loving lifestyle and found it difficult to resist Christian incursions into al-Andalu ... Read the complete article >>
The Battle of Navas de Tolosa is seen as the turning point in the reconquest. Christian forces established themselves south of th ... Read the complete article >>
The Emirate of Granada, founded by Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar, took 24 years to stabilise and endured for two and a half centuries ... Read the complete article >>
Emirate of Granada 1272 - 1482 AD was a tributary state of the Christian kingdoms of Spain ... Read the complete article >>
The Granada War 1482 - 1492 AD and the end the Emirate of Granada and al-andalus ... Read the complete article >>
The Alhambra in Granada has a history spanning 2000 years from the Romans to the present day. ... Read the complete article >>
The wealth and opulence of al-Andalus was remarked upon as early as the 10th century. It was most advanced civilisation in Europe ... Read the complete article >>
An explanation of Muslim, Arabs, Moors, Mozarabs, Conversos, Mudéjars and Moriscos in Andalucia ... Read the complete article >>
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