Nettles said:
LurkerJ said:
Insidb said:
732 AD: Charles "The Hammer" Martel drove the Moors out in the Battle of Tours and triggered the regression of the Muslim forces.
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I am not into history at all, but I did some casual reading on wikipedia thanks to the photo that was posted in this very thread, from wiki:
For a time, the area that is today Spain and Portugal was one of the great Muslim civilizations, reaching its summit with the Umayyad Caliphate in the 10th century. Muslim Spain had the following chronological phases:
The Emirate directly dependent on the Caliph in Damascus (711–756)
The Independent Emirate (756–929)
The Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031)
The first Taifas (1031–c. 1091)
The Almoravid rule (c. 1091–c. 1145)
The second Taifas (c. 1145–c. 1151)
The Almohad rule (c. 1151–1212)
The Kingdom of Granada (1212–1492)
The late Alpujarras revolt (1568–1571), with two monarchs appointed successively by the Morisco rebels (Note: the dates when the different taifa kingdoms were annexed by Almoravids and Almohads vary)
It was only by the end of the 14th century after Tariq's conquest that a majority of the population practiced Islam (mostly descendants of native Hispanic converts).
The Madrasah of Granada was the first university in Granada, Andalusia. It was founded by the Nasrid dynastymonarch Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada in 1349
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Spain#Rule
I understand they didn't rule all of spain but parts of it from time to time.
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From what i understand they occupied basically the entire country for hundreds of years apart from a small Spanish christian area near Basque (border of France).
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Yes, that is pretty much accurate. They couldn't take Pais Basque, Asturias and some other regions in the North. Actually, Asturians have a saying that is "Spain is Asturias and the rest is conquered land" meaning that Asturias is one of the places from where the reconquest started. You can see that they took almost all the Iberian Peninsula here:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califato_Omeya#/media/File:Map_of_expansion_of_Caliphate.svg
They took it with almost no resistance due to the political organisation of the Visigote Kingdom, which was not properly united. Basically speaking, the king was not that a strong figure as opposed to the noblemen. As for what LurkerJ said:
"For a time, the area that is today Spain and Portugal was one of the great Muslim civilizations, reaching its summit with the Umayyad Caliphate in the 10th century"
Yes, it was true. I have blurry memories on all the facts because I studied history long ago, but the Muslims brought some important innovations in architecture and agriculture which were good for Spain because we have traditionally been a dry country. Al-Andalus was also house for some important progress in science:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus
A number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from Al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry (Geber), astronomy (Arzachel), surgery (Abulcasis), pharmacology (Avenzoar), 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 culture and science between the Islamic and Christian worlds.
Oh, and while we are at it, they were far, far more tolerant with other people's religions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozarabs
Christians and Jews were designated dhimmi under Sharia (Islamic law). Dhimmi were allowed to live within Muslim society, but were legally required to pay the jizyah, a personal tax, and abide with a number of religious, social, and economic restrictions that came with their status. Despite their restrictions, the dhimmi were fully protected by the Muslim rulers and did not have to fight in case of war, because they paid the jizyah.
Yes, you had to pay heavy taxes, but you could have your own religion. The Christians were not that tolerant when they reconquered the Iberian Peninsula. Actually, the city of Toledo has hosted under the same roof the three main monotheistic religions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Spain#Culture
Toledo was famed for religious tolerance and had large communities of Muslims and Jews until they were expelled from Spain in 1492 (Jews) and 1502 (Mudejars). Today's city contains the religious monuments the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca, the Synagogue of El Transito, Mosque of Cristo de la Luz and the church of San Sebastián dating from before the expulsion, still maintained in good condition. Among Ladino-speaking Sephardi Jews, in their various diasporas, the family name Toledano is still prevalent—indicating an ancestry traced back to this city (the name is also attested among non-Jews in various Spanish-speaking countries).
No, nothing like ISIS. You weren't killed for not being muslim or choosing the "wrong" branch of Islam. Muslim occupation has had an important cultural legacy in modern Spain (although modern Spain has a more Catholic heritage). While it was an invasion, those Muslims were nothing like the horde of violent brutes that ISIS are. That makes their claim for Al-Andalus all that much stupid and insulting. They are not worthy of their ancestors' heritage.
ISIS pretending to be a reboot of the original Umayyad Caliphate shows what a bunch of wishful thinkers they are. They have a map, but they don't know half the story. I honestly hope these barbarians get crushed before they kill more people. They already have killed too many with the EU ignoring the situation. They are killing without a second thought if you refuse to embrace their branch of Islam, that is genocide. What are they waiting for? To have them at the gates of Europe?
