The Islamic World to 1600
The Umayyads
The Abbasid Revolution in 750 destroyed Umayyad power in almost the entire Islamic world, but not quite everywhere. During the Revolution, when most of the members of the Umayyad ruling house were killed, the grandson of one of the former caliphs escaped to Spain. Abd al-Rahman set up his own caliphate there in the Umayyad name, and the rejuvenated dynasty maintained control of Spain for 300 years, until the Berber Almoravids from North Africa took power in the 11th century. This independent Umayyad house called itself an emirate, rather than caliphate, since its rulers did not believe there could be more than one caliph. This was the first instance of regional separation from the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad. The Abbasids made several attempts to oust the Umayyads and regain control of Spain, but they were never able to do so. Spain remained under the rule of regional dynasties until the completion of the Christian reconquest in the late 15th century.
Umayyad rule in Spain also did not go unchallenged by the local population. The territory was a blend of Christians, Jews, and Muslims of various ethnicities, particularly Arabs and Berbers, and each challenged Umayyad rule at some point. Despite the internal strife, the Umayyads left a strong impression on Spanish culture - a legacy in art, architecture, language, and traditions that remains today. Abd al-Rahman strengthened Cordoba's role as one of the most important cities in both Europe and the Islamic world. The Great Mosque he built in the city in 785 is one of the most striking examples of the Islamic legacy in Spain.
Great Mosque at Cordoba |
The one major external threat to Umayyad rule in Spain came from the Christians, who still occupied the northern coast of the Iberian peninsula. The Christian reconquest was a slow process, by which small parcels of territory were recovered from the Muslims over centuries. By the early 9th century, Christians had reconquered Barcelona and Pamplona, as well as several other cities in northeastern Spain. Further conquests would follow.
The Aghlabids
Aghlabid aqueduct system in Kairouan Courtesy of LexicOrient http://i-cias.com/tore.htm |
Meanwhile in the Maghrib, a separate dynasty known as the Aghlabids had ruled from their base at Fez, in present-day Morocco, since about 800. The independence of the Maghrib was granted by the Abbasid rulers in Baghdad, and from that point on the Abbasids never ruled west of Egypt. The major feat of the Aghlabids was the conquest of Sicily from the Byzantines between about 827 and 878. By 846, in fact, Aghlabid armies had advanced up the Italian coast and had raided Rome, but they were soon pushed back to Sicily. The island remained under Muslim control after the Aghlabids lost power, and the Christians did not reconquer it until 1091. The Aghlabids in the Maghrib were overthrown in 909 by an expanding Shi'ite empire, the Fatimids, who eventually migrated to Egypt and abandoned their Maghrib territories. More information about the Fatimids will come later in this chapter. Spain, meanwhile, was still under Umayyad control, but by the late 11th century, the ties that had been growing from a trade relationship between Spain and the Maghrib turned more permanent, when the Almoravids conquered both territories.
The Almoravids
The Almoravids originated as a Berber nomadic confederacy in the Maghrib and took their name from an Arabic word for "men defending Islam." By the 1050s they had become a military force in the region, controlling a number of important trading posts, and by about 1100 they occupied all of Morocco, western Algeria, and the Muslim parts of Spain. The Almoravid empire lasted 100 years, in which time they significantly affected the culture of both Spain and the Maghrib. No longer a distant outpost of the caliphate in Baghdad, the region formed its own administration and system of government based on Berber needs, not Arab ones. Also, because Spain and the Maghrib were unified as an empire separate from the Abbasids in Baghdad or the Fatimids in Cairo, their north-south trade, both in goods and culture, increased. The Berbers of the Maghrib were affected culturally by the Christian-influenced Muslims in Spain, while in Spain the Muslims were influenced by the Saharan culture of the southern Maghrib. By the mid-12th century, the Almoravids had lost control to the Almohads, a group that arose in the Atlas Mountains.
The Almohads
By 1160, the Almohads had increased their territory east to include Kairouan and Tripoli, but they had lost more territory in Spain to the Christian reconquest, which weakened their position. Like their Almoravid predecessors, the Almohads did not rule for long; by 1250 their power was declining in the region. However, the two centuries of Almoravid and Almohad rule in Spain and in the Maghrib had been instrumental in several ways. In particular, trade was rejuvenated as the Almohads opened the Mediterranean to both Christian and Muslim vessels.
The Christian Reconquest of Spain
By the middle of the 13th century, all that was left of Muslim Spain was the Kingdom of Granada on the southern coast of the Iberian peninsula. The Christians had reconquered Cordoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248, and although it looked as though the whole peninsula would soon be Christian again, Granada kept the Christians at bay for another 250 years. The turning point came in the late 15th century with the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and León, which united Spain and strengthened the Christian forces. In 1492, the Christians were finally able to defeat the Muslims permanently. The 700-year occupation of Iberia by the Muslims left its mark, however, as Spanish culture has retained much of its early Islamic influences. Evidence of the Islamic legacy in Spain can be seen today in the architecture, language, and traditions of Spain.
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Names of Arabic Origin in Spain, Portugal, and the Americas |
While the Christian reconquest of Spain was progressing, between the fall of the Almohads about 1250 and the fall of Granada in 1492, the Maghrib was under the control of a series of disunited Berber dynasties. The longest lasting of these were the Merinids, a dynasty that originated in Morocco near the end of the 11th century and ruled the Maghrib until 1465.
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