Islamic Spain

Al-Andalus was the Islamic territory in the Iberian Peninsula from 711 to 1492 CE. Over nearly eight centuries it produced major intellectual and architectural achievements, and its mix of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities left a lasting mark on European and Islamic civilization.

Córdoba was the capital of Islamic Spain from the eighth to the eleventh century, growing into one of the largest and most intellectually vibrant cities of the medieval world. Its Great Mosque, vast library, and scholars such as Ibn Rushd and al-Zahrawi made it a center of civilization.

Granada was the capital of the last Islamic kingdom in Iberia, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty from 1238 to 1492 CE. Home to the Alhambra, it was the final chapter of Islamic Al-Andalus, surviving two and a half centuries through diplomacy and culture before falling in 1492.

Musa ibn Nusayr (c. 640-716 CE) was the Umayyad governor of North Africa who completed the conquest of the Maghreb, authorized Tariq ibn Ziyad's crossing into Spain, and personally led the second wave of the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Tariq ibn Ziyad (c. 670-720 CE) was the Berber commander who led the Muslim crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 CE and defeated the Visigothic kingdom of Spain, establishing Al-Andalus and giving his name to Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq).

The Umayyads of Cordoba ruled Al-Andalus from 756 to 1031 CE, turning a distant province into one of medieval Europe's most sophisticated states. Founded by Abd al-Rahman I, survivor of the Abbasid massacre of his family, the dynasty produced the Caliphate of Cordoba before civil war.