Islam in Spain

The expansion of Arab power spread to North Africa where the Berbers willingly embraced Islam and later joined Musa ibn Nusayr and his general, Tariq ibn Ziyad, when they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain. The Arabs soon defeated the Visigoths, and by 713 had reached Narbonne in France. They continued their forays into France and in 732 reached as far as the Loire Valley, only 170 miles from Paris. There, at the Battle of Tours, or Poitiers, they Arabs were finally turned back by Charles Martel.

The last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan II (reigned 744-750), was defeated at the Battle of the Great Zab River (750). Members his dynasty were hunted down and killed, but one of the survivors, 'Abd al-Rahman, escaped and established himself as a Muslim ruler in Spain (756), founding the dynasty of the Umayyads of Córdoba. By this time, the Arabs from North Africa were already entrenched on the Iberian Peninsula, and particularly, al-Andalus, southern Spain (Andalusia). They improved trade and agriculture, patronized the arts, made valuable contributions to science, and established Córdoba as the most sophisticated city in Europe

By the eleventh century, Christian resistance had begun to grow, and under Alfonso VI Christian forces retook Toledo. It was the beginning of the period the Christians called the Reconquest