We explain what Al-Andalus was and how was his story. In addition, what were the characteristics of its society and its cultural legacy.
What was Al-Andalus?
It is called al-Andalus to The territories of the Iberian Peninsula that were under Muslim domination from 711 to the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492 . This period began with the arrival of Arab and Berber populations to the Peninsula and its military victory over the Visigothic kingdom.
The progressive Muslim expansion led to the almost total domination of the Peninsula, with the exception of some northern territories. Over the centuries, Muslim domination crossed various stages while the Christian kingdoms formed in the north were expanding their areas of influence.
This historical period, which from the Christian perspective was called Reconquista, alternated wars and alliances between Muslims and Christians, as well as internal conflicts and culminated after two particularly relevant facts: the Muslim defeat in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), which triggered the reduction of Islamic domain to the small Nasrid kingdom of Granada, and the final capitulation of this kingdom before the forces of the Catholic Monarchs (1492).
Frequent questions
What is Al-Andalus?
It is the name that was used in the Middle Ages to the territory of the Iberian Peninsula dominated by Muslims. For a time he came to cover almost all of the Peninsula, but in his last centuries he extended, so they are today the provinces of Almería, Granada, Malaga and part of Cádiz, Sevilla and Jaén, in Spain.
What important events occurred in Al-Andalus?
In 711 d. C Muslims (Arabs and Berbers). They invaded this territory, motivated by religious and political ideologies and under the motto of “Santa Guerra”. In three years they came to dominate most of the peninsula, which He became a new province of the Muslim Empire and was baptized as Al-Andalus.
How long was the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim domain?
The Muslim domain lasted until 1492 after the reconquest process led by the Catholic Monarchs ended.
The story of Al-Andalus
The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula
The Muslim Arabs, coming from the Arabian Peninsula and inspired by the idea of ”Holy War” (the mandate to subdue the infidels to Islamic sovereignty), began In the seventh century a fast expansion in the Middle East and North Africa and reached the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
Muslim troops composed of Arabs and Berbers (the latter, native to North Africa) crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 And they took advantage of the internal crisis of the Visigothic kingdom, wrapped in constant struggles for monarchical power, to begin the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Directed by Berber Tariq, lieutenant of Musa Ibn Nusayr (governor of North Africa), Muslims They defeated in the battle of Guadalete (711) to the last Visigoth king, Rodrigo who lost his life in combat. Encouraged by this success, the invaders continued the progress by the Hispanic lands, first in the direction of Toledo, later towards Zaragoza.
In just three years Muslims conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula without finding hardly resistance. Only the mountainous regions of the Cantabrian and Pyrenean areas escaped their control .
Several Visigoth nobles decided to agree with the invaders, as was the case of Teodomiro in the Murcia region. The scarce historical sources available suggest that The conquest was mainly carried out through Capitulations and Rendarys agreed between the Visigoth nobles and the Muslim conquerors . Violence could be more the exception than the rule, which would explain the speed of the conquest.
On the other hand, during the first half of the seventh century, There were clashes between different Arab clans (especially between the Qaysíes and Kalbíes tribes), whose enmity manifested at the time of distributing the lands occupied in the Iberian Peninsula. To this were added the inconveniences derived from the rejection of the Islamized Berbers of North Africa to undergo a central authority.
The Emirate of Córdoba (756-929)
After the Muslim invasion, Most of the Iberian Peninsula became a new province of the Islamic Caliphate (Muslim Empire), and received the name of Al-Andalus . At the head of this territory, a Emir or governor who acted as delegate of the Muslim Caliph, then belonging to the Umayya dynasty, with capital in the city of Damascus (in the current Syria).
The Muslims made some incursions through the north of the Peninsula, but were defeated by the Astures in Covadonga (722). They also penetrated frank soil, where they occupied cities like Narbonne, but They suffered a hard blow to the Army of the Franks in the vicinity of Poitiers (732). This battle was the end of the Muslim Arab expansion in Europe.
In the middle of the eighth century a key event took place. The Umayya dynasty was the victim of the Abasí revolution, for which this family took over the caliphate and then established its headquarters in the city of Baghdad (in the current Iraq). A member of the defeated family managed to escape and took refuge in Al-Andalus where, thanks to the support he found, Emir was proclaimed.
It was Abd-Al-Rahman I (756-788), also known as Abderramán I, with whom the period known as “Independent Emirate” began in Al-Andalus because ended the political dependence of the abasi caliphs although he recognized Caliph Abasí as a spiritual leader of the Muslim world.
Abd-Al-Rahman I set its capital in the city of Córdoba and initiated the task of building an independent state in al-Andalus . To do this, he needed an army, ensure economic income and quell the revolts of his enemies. The challenge to the central power of Córdoba was constant among the great Muslim noble families settled in the regions of Al-Andalus.
The Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031)
An important step in strengthening Al-Andalus occurred in 929, when Emir Abd-Al-Rahman III (912-961) decided to proclaim Caliph, a position in which political and religious power converged .
The caliph resided in the Alcazar de Córdoba, located next to the great mosque . A few years after its self-proclamation, Abd-Al-Rahman III ordered to build, west of the capital, the city-palace of Madinat Al-Zahra, converted into a Califal residence and in the center of the political power of Al-Andalus.
In the last decades of the 10th century, Almanzor, who held the position of Hachib, a kind of prime minister, It was done with effective power in al-Andalus . Meanwhile, the caliph of the time, Hisham II (976-1009), lived in the Madinat Al-Zahra Palace, without exercising political power.
Almanzor based his power in the Army, integrated mainly by Berberes, and organized terrifying campaigns against the Christians of the north of the Iberian Peninsula. His death in the year 1002, after suffering a defeat in Calatañazor, began The process of political decomposition and disputes (called in Arabic Fitna) that led to the end of the caliphate In 1031.
Taifas kingdoms
After the dissolution of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, it emerged in Al-Andalus A mosaic of small kingdoms, called taifas (Expression that means “flags”), such as Almería, Murcia, Granada, Toledo, Zaragoza, among others.
In the beginning, the caliphate was fragmented in twenty -seven kingdoms of Taifas, which gradually independently independently independently independently independently independently. Then, the weakest began to disappear and were annexed by the most powerful.
These little kingdoms, much weaker than caliphate, They were submissive to the Christian leaders, to those who delivered taxes called Parias . The Christian threat became more evident after Toledo’s conquest by the troops at the service of Alfonso VI de León, in 1085.
Aquejada for internal conflicts, Al-Andalus was at the mercy of the Christians of the North, who advanced in the occupation of territories but they were sometimes arrested for the reorganization of Muslim forces, especially for those arrivals in North Africa in the twelfth and twelfth centuries.
The North African empires
The advance of Christian troops was interrupted by two North African invasions that allowed to unify again al-Andalus. The first was a reaction to the Muslim loss of Toledo in 1085, which motivated the King of the Taifa of Seville to request the help of the Almoravide Empire that had been formed from Berbres tribes in North Africa.
The Almoravides, known for their rigorous interpretation of Islam, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 1086 they ended with the taifas and unified political power in al-Andalus. Thus, they held the Christian advance south.
However, the lunch domain was ephemeral and, In the mid -twelfth century, a new period of political fragmentation began In al-Andalus, known as the second Taifas kingdoms. Later, the Almohades arrived at the Iberian Peninsula, a beréberes dynasty that had constituted its own empire in the Maghreb.
The pillows They unified again al-Andalus And they got important successes against Christian kingdoms, such as the battle of Alarcos (1195) against Alfonso VIII of Castile. In this period some emblematic buildings of Muslim Spain were built, such as the Giralda de Sevilla.
However, Al-Andalus reunification attempt also failed. After the defeat against Christians in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), The sinking of the Almohade empire took Again to the Fitna . The new taifas could not resist the Christian advance, and Muslim Spain was reduced to the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, which finally surrendered to the troops of the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.
Al-Andalus economy
The Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula introduced important changes in the economy. In agriculture Muslims promoted irrigation with novelties as significant as the Noria, And crops such as citrus, rice, cotton or saffron spread . However, the main crops remained the same as in the Roman-Visigoda era: the cereals, the vine and the olive tree.
In livestock, The Koranic Prohibition of Swine Meat Consumption was compensated with the development of sheep or equine cattle and beekeeping also stood out. Mining production and manufacturing production had a strong impulse, especially The textile production, in which the Cordoba brocades or the tissues of Zaragoza stood out.
As for trade, he was favored by the minting of Two types of coins, gold dinar and silver dirhem, and for the dense road network inherited from Roman times. Internal trade was carried out in the Zoco of the cities, where the bazaar in which high quality products were sold a privileged position. In the souks there were also Alhóndigas, centers that served to store goods, as well as to house the merchants who came from outside.
Al-Andalus also maintained intense foreign trade both with the remaining Islamic countries and with Christian Europe. He exported, above all, agricultural products (oil, sugar, figs, grapes), minerals and fabrics, and imported spices and luxury products from the east, in addition to skins, metals, weapons and slaves of Christian Europe, and gold and slaves from African territories, such as Sudan.
The Al-Andalus Society
Although most of the population of Al-Andalus lived in the rural environment, The cities had great importance something that contrasted strongly with the panorama of Christian Spain during the VIII centuries to XI.
The Andalusian cities developed mostly from those existing in Roman-Visigodos times. But Muslims also created new cities, such as Almería, Madrid or Calatayud. Córdoba came to have more than one hundred thousand inhabitants In the Califal era, very considerable amount at that time.
On the cusp of the Andalusian society was the aristocracy (Jassa) for the most part made up of families of Arab origin, although it also included lineages of Visigothic descent. This social group had great territorial domains and occupied the high positions in the administration. At the other end of society were popular classes (AMMA) formed by modest artisans and farmers. They also existed Average sectors, mainly formed by merchants .
In Al-Andalus there were slaves, from Eastern Europe and the center of Africa. On the other hand, the situation of women was subordination in relation to men, according to a patriarchal family model.
Al-Andalus: the cultural legacy
Andalusian thought and letters
Al-Andalus maintained close contact with the rest of the Muslim world, especially from the ninth century, which allowed him to participate in the broad compilation of literary, philosophical and scientific texts that Islamic scholars collected from the Greek, Persian and Indian worlds.
Literary creation reached great development especially during the 10th century, both in verse and prose. Ibn Hazem (994-1063) was one of the best known poets of Al-Andalus, especially for his work THE PALOMA COLLAR. Ibn Jaldún (1332-1406) was an important historian, whose best known work is Introduction to Universal History (Al-Muqaddimah). The philosopher Ibn Rusd (Averroes) (1126-1198), known for his comments to Aristotle’s work, also highlighted.
Andalusi culture stood out mainly in the scientific field. The contrast to the panorama offered at that time science in the Christian world is overwhelming.
- For example: Al-Andalus was the way through which the rest of European Christianity was spread to the rest of European Christianity Indian origin numbering system (modern decimal system) that ended up replacing Roman numbering. It was also important medical encyclopedia written by Abulcases (936-1013), which was subsequently translated into Latin.
Muslim architecture in Spain
Another very important cultural legacy of Al-Andalus was Hispanic-Muslman art, especially architecture. The Andalusian architecture settled on the Roman-Visigoda tradition, which contributed typical elements of the Islamic world . This resulted in horseshoe arches, windows with lattices or rich ornamentation based on geometric, vegetable and epigraphic motifs (which usually is called the name of Arabesques).
Among the emblematic works of Al-Andalus is counted The great mosque of Córdoba, whose construction began in the seventh century and was subject to numerous extensions . In the time of Caliph al-hakam II a spectacular was built in it Mihrab (A semicircular niche indicating the direction towards Mecca), with marbles and original nerve vaults.
It also highlights the impressive city-palace of Madinat Al-Zahra, built in the time of ABD-Al-Rahman III, for whose construction materials from various places were transported, such as North Africa, and which was destroyed during the internal conflicts that led to the end of the Caliphate of Córdoba.
Other relevant examples of architecture in Al-Andalus are the Aljafía Palace in Zaragoza (of the Almoravide period), the Tower of La Giralda in Seville (of times Almohades) and, above all, The Palace of the Alhambra in Granada, the top work of the Nasrids. The Alhambra stands out for its ornamental fantasy and the conjunction between architecture and natural environment.
References
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2019). Al-Andalus. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
- González Ferrín, E. (2016). General History of Al Ándalus. Almuzara.
- Junta de Andalucía (SF). The Andalusian legacy. Andalusian Public Foundation The Andalusian Legacy. https://www.legadoandalusi.es/
