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Anandalus
Anandalus
Anandalus
The Visigoths who ruled Spain were fighting for the throne.
The Moors beat the last Visigoth king along the Guadalete River.
They moved so quickly because they made a pact with the Visigoths: surrender or die.
Al-Andalus in 790
Periods of Al-Andalus
Different groups ruled Al-Andalus at different times: 711-756: Damascus Emirate 756-929: independent Baghdad Emirate 929-1031: Crdoba Caliphate 1031-1212: Taifas & North African kingdoms 1233-1492: Nasrid kingdom of Granada
The Moors crossed the Pyrenees then lost the Battle of Poitiers to Charles Martel & the Franks in 732.
This meant that the Moors couldnt expand further north into Europe.
In 750 the caliph of Damascus was killed and the capital was moved to Baghdad.
Abd al-Rahman I
He was politically independent from Baghdad but recognized the caliphs religious authority.
The Mezquita was started under Abd alRahman I, during a period of economic prosperity.
In 929 Abd al-Rahman III declared himself caliph, leader of the Islamic world.
This was a clean break with Baghdad and made AlAndalus an independent caliphate.
Al-Andalus fell apart into small kingdoms called taifas, each governed by local princes.
Christian kings from the North took advantage of the instability to take territory from the Arabs.
So in 1086 the Arabs had to ask for help from the Almoravids, a Berber tribe from North Africa
The Almoravids united Al-Andalus against the Christians and ruled until 1145.
In 1212 the Almohads were destroyed by the Christian princes of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, & Portugal at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.
The Nasrids rose to power after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, but the kingdom was officially founded in 1232.
The Nasrid kings had to pay huge tributes to the Christian kings in order to stay in power.
The Nasrids built a palace to represent heaven on earth and called it the Alhambra.
In 1492 the last Nasrid king Boabdil gave Granada to the Catholic Monarchs after a long siege.