Al-Andalus: Muslim Conquest and Caliphate History
The Muslim Invasion of the Iberian Peninsula
The so-called "holy war" began during the first expansion of the Arabs and Muslims in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Atlantic coasts. Taking advantage of the Visigothic crisis, Muslim Arabs and Berbers crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711, starting the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Berber leader Tariq ibn Ziyad defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Guadalete (711), where the last Visigothic king, Roderic, lost his life in combat. Following this success, the invaders continued their advance into Hispanic lands, reaching Zaragoza. Within three years, the Muslims had conquered most of the land without encountering significant resistance. Only some mountainous regions of the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian coast remained outside Arab control.
Tribal structures (Qaysis and Kalbis) that had long been hostile to each other were soon at odds over how to divide the occupied lands. The Arabs, moreover, had provoked the Berbers to convert to Islam in North Africa. Thanks to central authority, the situation was calmer in the first half of the eighth century. However, the period was marked by internal struggles, rivalries among various Arab clans, and conflicts between Arabs and Berbers.
Most of the Visigothic nobility, including various magnates, agreed to surrender to the Muslim conquerors. The case of Murcia is one example. The available sources suggest that the conquest was carried out mainly through capitulations, with agreed terms between the Visigothic lords and the Muslim conquistadors.
Al-Andalus and the Umayyad Emirate
After the Muslim invasion, most of the Iberian Peninsula became a new province of the Islamic Caliphate, known as al-Andalus. Its first governor, appointed by the Muslim caliph, acted as a delegate of the caliph. Eventually, the Umayyad dynasty established its capital in Córdoba.
Muslim incursions into the north of the peninsula met with defeat at the hands of the Asturians at Covadonga (722). The Muslims also pushed into what is now southern France, occupying cities such as Narbonne, but suffered a decisive blow from the Frankish army near Poitiers (732). This battle is considered to have ended the Muslim Arab expansion in Europe.
The Umayyad dynasty fell victim to the revolution of the Abbasid family, which seized the Caliphate. One member of the defeated Umayyad family, Abd al-Rahman I, escaped to al-Andalus, where, thanks to the support of local allies, he was proclaimed emir. He began the period known as the Independent Emirate, and the political dependence on the Abbasid caliphs, who had established their seat in Baghdad, ended. Al-Andalus, however, continued to recognize the Abbasid caliph as the spiritual leader of the Muslim world.
Abd al-Rahman I established Córdoba as his capital and home of the independent emirate. His rule depended fundamentally on three things: an army, economic revenues, and the ability to suppress possible revolts by enemies. The constant challenge to the central power of Córdoba came from the great noble Muslim families settled in various regions of al-Andalus.
The Caliphate of Córdoba
An important step in strengthening al-Andalus took place in 929, when the emir Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) decided to proclaim himself Caliph, assuming both political and religious power. "We are, in al-Andalus, what is called the Prince of the Believers," he wrote in a letter sent to his governors. The caliph resided in the Alcázar of Córdoba, next to the Great Mosque.
Years after his self-proclamation, Abd al-Rahman III ordered the construction, on the outskirts of the capital, of the impressive city-palace Madinat al-Zahra, which became the residence of the Caliphate and the political center of al-Andalus.
Almanzor and the Decline of the Caliphate
In the late tenth century, Almanzor took effective power in al-Andalus. He held the military command and the post of chief minister. Meanwhile, Caliph Hisham II (976-1009) lived secluded in the palace of Madinat al-Zahra with minimal political power. Almanzor, relying on the army, especially made up of Berber soldiers, organized ferocious campaigns against the Christians of the northern peninsula. His death in 1002 led to the disintegration of political power, and the collapse of the Caliphate was finally sealed in 1031 by a civil conflict known as the Fitna.