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Main articles: Al-Andalus, Caliphate of Córdoba, and Taifa


The Arabs, under the command of the Berber General Tarik ibn Ziyad, first began their conquest of southern Spain or al-Andalus in 711. A raiding party led by Tarik was sent to intervene in a civil war in the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania. Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar (named after the General), it 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. Tariq's commander, Musa bin Nusair quickly crossed with substantial reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims dominated most of the peninsula. There are some later Arabic and Christian sources that present an earlier raid by a certain Ṭārif in 710 and also, the Ad Sebastianum recension of the Chronicle of Alfonso III, refers to an Arab attack incited by Erwig during the reign of Wamba (672–80). The two reasonably large armies may have been in the south for a year before the decisive battle was fought.[13]



The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the rank of Emir by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I in Damascus. After the Abbasids came to power in the Middle East, some Umayyads fled to Muslim Spain to establish themselves there. By the end of the 10th century, the ruler Abd al-Rahman III took over the title of Emir of Córdoba(912-961).[14] Soon after, the Umayyads went on developing a strengthened state with its capital as Córdoba. Al-Hakam II succeeded to the Caliphate after the death of his father Abd ar-Rahman III in 961. He secured peace with the Christian kingdoms of northern Iberia,[15] and made use of the stability to develop agriculture through the construction of irrigation works.[16] Economical development was also encouraged through the widening of streets and the building of markets. The rule of the Caliphate is known as the heyday of Muslim presence in the peninsula.[17]



The rule of the Umayyad Caliphate collapsed in 1031 due to political divisions and civil unrest during the rule of Hicham II who was ousted because of his indolence.[18] Al-Andalus then broke up into a number of mostly independent states called taifa kingdoms (Arabic, Muluk al-ṭawā'if; English, Party kingdoms). The decomposition of the Caliphate into those petty kingdoms would then weaken the power of the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula vis-à-vis the Christian kingdoms of the north. Some of the taifas such as that of Seville would consequently be forced to enter into alliances with the Christian princes and pay tributes in money to Castille.[19]