Umayyad conquest of Hispania

war resulting in the destruction of the Visigothic Kingdom and the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate (711–718)

The Umayyad conquest of Hispania was the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania, from 711 to 788.[1]

Issue of the Emirate of Cordova, 807
Al-Andalus under the Umayyads
The Caliphate of Cordova c. 1000 at its peak, under Al-Mansur

The conquest destroyed the Visigothic Kingdom and set up the Emirate of Cordova under Abd ar-Rahman I. This completed al-Andalus, the unification of Muslim-ruled Iberia (756–788). The conquest was the westernmost expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate and Muslim rule into Europe. Charles Martel defeated them in the Battle of Tours, so they did not conquer France.

The conquering army was made up mainly of Berbers (north-western Africa). They had only recently come under Muslim influence. They arrived in early 711 at Gibraltar.[2]

The Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus was overthrown around 750 AD, but continued in al-Andalus until 1031.

The period from 710 to the fall of the last Islamic state in the Battle of Granada in 1492 is called the Reconquista.

References

change
  1. Collins, Roger 1989. The Arab conquest of Spain 710-797. Oxford, UK / Cambridge, USA: Blackwell. p. 97. ISBN 0-631-19405-3
  2. Andalusí, Fundación El Legado. Maroc et Espagne: une histoire commune publié par Fundación El Legado Andalusí. ISBN 9788496395046. Retrieved 26 May 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)