She was long in duration and quick in conquest. The Moors needed less than a decade to dominate the region – which would remain under their control for almost eight centuries. The invasion began in 711 and three years later it already dominated most of the territory of the Iberian peninsula, only to end definitively in 1492. The curious thing is that this occupation was encouraged by the same people who inhabited the region. The Visigoths, as they were called, had a Germanic origin, but had converted to Christianity and were involved in internal disputes. Because of this rivalry, a faction of Visigoths decided to ask for help from the Arab leader Musa ibn Nusayr, who dominated North Africa. Musa not only complied with the request, but took the opportunity to capture the entire peninsula. For more than 20 years, the Moorish advance faced little resistance and was only stopped by the Franks, a Christian people who inhabited French territory, less than 300 kilometers from where Paris is today.
The attempt to dominate the rest of Europe was stopped, but the occupation of the Iberian peninsula was not. But who, after all, were the Moors? They were an African people who lived in what is now Morocco and western Algeria. The term comes from the Latin maures, which means “black”, in reference to the dark skin of the population that had been dominated by the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC In the beginning of the 8th century AD, the Moors converted to Islam after contact with Arabs from from the Middle East to spread the commandments of the prophet Mohammed. The religion that the Moors took with them when invading the Iberian peninsula would, however, contribute to their expulsion from Europe. It was the anti-Muslim sentiment that made resistance to the invaders grow in the occupied Christian territories from the 11th century onwards, mainly in northern Spain. There was the kingdom of Castile, where the military leader El Cid emerged, consecrated hero in the struggle for the liberation of his people.
The “reconquista” – as historians christened the offensive against the Moors – gained strength over the next two centuries and, around 1250, the Christians managed to recover most of the peninsula. Some Moors still resisted in the city of Granada, Spain, until 1492, the date that marks the end of Muslim rule in the region. Even so, the Moors left a strong cultural heritage there – and not by chance, as the Arabs were, at the time, the scientific vanguard of the planet. Architecture and naval engineering are just two examples of the fertile contribution of the invaders to the future world empires established by Spanish and Portuguese navigators. In addition, musical styles such as flamenco and fado were born influenced by Moorish rhythms and instruments – the guitar, for example, derives from ancient Arab instruments.
In addition, their translations of classical Greek and Latin texts made it possible to recover these works for Renaissance Europe, after many of them were lost in the Middle Ages.
READ TOO:
– What was the Inquisition?
– What is the Basque Country?
– Who are the gypsies and where do they come from?
– What was the Ottoman Empire?
decisive influence
Arab invasion enriched European culture
Master Navigators
It was the Moors who perfected the astrolabe, an instrument of Greek origin that allows orientation on the high seas by observing the stars. His nautical science had a great influence on the School of Sagres, in Portugal, from which the officers and sailors of the Age of Discoveries sailed.
Gateway
In 711, the Moorish general Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the sea between Morocco and Spain, landing on a rocky headland. The place was named Jabal Tariq (“Mount Tariq”, in Arabic) – a name that would later become Gibraltar. It was from here that the Moors left to invade the peninsula.
The invasion routes
After landing in Gibraltar, the Moors took southern Spain and marched on Toledo. From there they advanced towards the northeast and north. Soon they also invaded the central region of Portugal and, in 714, most of the peninsula was already occupied.
Christian reaction
The Battle of Covadonga in 720 brought the first major Moorish defeat. Its main character was the Spaniard Pelayo, founder of the Christian kingdom of Asturias, which managed to resist strong attacks from the Muslim armies, far superior numerically.
architectural landmark
The last city to remain under Moorish rule fell to the Spaniards in 1492. The Alhambra palace-fortress remained, however, as the greatest heritage of sophisticated Moorish architecture on the Iberian peninsula – its fountains, internal gardens and halls with walls decorated by poems written in Arabic and praising Allah are still today one of the biggest tourist attractions in Spain
The greatest Moorish domain
This French city marked the maximum limit of Moorish expansion on the European continent. In 732, the Franks, led by Charles Martel, defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours. Martel’s victory was decisive for the history of Europe, preventing its total Islamic occupation.