Al-Andalus,[a] also known as Muslim Spain, Muslim Iberia, or Islamic Iberia, was

a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain that in its early period included most of Iberia,
today's Portugal and Spain. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied the northwest of
the Iberian peninsula and a part of present-day southern France, Septimania (8th century), and for
nearly a century (9th–10th centuries) extended its control from Fraxinet over the Alpine passes
which connect Italy with the remainder of Western Europe.[1][2][3] The name more generally describes
the parts of the peninsula governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors) at various times
between 711 and 1492, though the boundaries changed constantly as the
Christian Reconquista progressed,[4][5][6] eventually shrinking to the south around modern-
day Andalusia and then to the Emirate of Granada.
Following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, al-Andalus, then at its greatest extent, was divided
into five administrative units, corresponding roughly to
modern Andalusia, Portugal and Galicia, Castile and León, Navarre, Aragon, the County of
Barcelona, and Septimania.[7] As a political domain, it successively constituted a province of
the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c.
750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor)
kingdoms. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between
Muslims and Christians. Christians and Jews were subject to a special tax called Jizya, to the state,
which in return provided internal autonomy in practicing their religion and offered the same level of
protections by the Muslim rulers. The jizya was not only a tax, however, but also a symbolic
expression of subordination.[8]
Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba, the
largest in Europe, became one of the leading cultural and economic centres throughout
the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Islamic world. Achievements that advanced Islamic and
Western science came from al-Andalus, including major advances in trigonometry (Geber),
astronomy (Arzachel), surgery (Abulcasis), pharmacology (Avenzoar),[9] agronomy (Ibn
Bassal and Abū l-Khayr al-Ishbīlī),[10] and other fields. Al-Andalus became a major educational center
for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for cultural and
scientific exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds.[9]
For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north. After the
fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into minor states and principalities.
Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI. The Almoravid empire
intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim
princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus
became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, both based
in Marrakesh.
Ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim
states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power.
With the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate
of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the
Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, leaving Granada
as the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, on January 2, 1492,[11] Emir Muhammad
XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian
Reconquista of the peninsula. Although al-Andalus ended as a political entity, the nearly eight
centuries of Islamic rule has left a significant effect on culture and language in Andalusia.[12]