Editing Al-Andalus

{{Short description|Muslim-ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula (711–1492)}}
{{About|the Muslim-ruled Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2022}}

{{Multiple image
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 | image1 = Al-Andalus732.svg
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 | caption1 = [[Umayyad]] Hispania at its greatest extent in 719 AD
 | image2 = Califato de Córdoba - 1000-en.svg
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 | caption2 = [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] {{circa}} 1000 AD, at the apogee of [[Almanzor]]
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{{History of al-Andalus}}

'''Al-Andalus''' ({{Langx|ar|الأَنْدَلُس|al-ʾAndalus}}){{efn|Other translations:
* {{langx|an|al-Andalus}};
* {{langx|ast|al-Ándalus}};
* {{langx|eu|al-Andalus}};
* {{langx|ber|ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ|label=[[Berber languages|Berber]]|translit=Andalus}};
* {{langx|ca|al-Àndalus}};
* {{langx|gl|al-Andalus}};
* {{langx|oc|Al Andalús}};
* {{langx|pt|al-Ândalus}};
* {{langx|es|al-Ándalus}}.
Also known in English, perhaps in a slightly dated or quaint sense, as '''Moorish Spain'''.}} was the [[Muslims|Muslim]]-ruled area of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. The name refers to the different Muslim<ref name="árabesmedievales" /><ref name="Ruano(Spain)2002" /> states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula<ref name="IrvinSunquist2002">{{cite book |last1=Irvin |first1=Dale T. |last2=Sunquist |first2=Scott |title=History of the World Christian Movement: Volume 1: Earliest Christianity To 1453 |date=2002 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-08866-6 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2akvQfa-QMC&pg=PA30 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="FrydeReitz2009">{{cite book|author= Luis Corral, Fernando|editor1=Natalie Fryde|editor2=Dirk Reitz|title=Walls, Ramparts, and Lines of Demarcation: Selected Studies from Antiquity to Modern Times|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9_moud2DyQC&pg=PA67|year=2009|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-9478-8|page=67|chapter=The Christian Frontier against al-Andalus (Muslim Spain): concept and politics during the reigns of King Fernando I of Castile and Leon and his successors until 1230}}</ref><ref name="García-Fitz2010">{{cite book |last1=García Fitz |first1=Francisco |editor1-last=Rogers |editor1-first=Clifford J. |editor2-last=Caferro |editor2-first=William |editor3-last=Reid |editor3-first=Shelley |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533403-6 |pages=325–326 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&pg=RA1-PA325 |language=en |quote=Barely eight years after the initial crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar, the Muslims had come to dominate almost the entire Peninsula with the exception of a few northern mountainous regions along Cantabrian and Pyrenean ranges. In these areas, indigenous populations, including the Asturians, Cantabrians, and Basques, who had been brought under Visigothic control, were able to escape Islamic domination.}}</ref> as well as [[Septimania]] under [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad]] rule. These boundaries changed through a series of conquests Western [[historiography]] has traditionally characterized as the ''[[Reconquista]]'',<ref name=árabesmedievales>"Para los autores árabes medievales, el término Al-Andalus designa la totalidad de las zonas conquistadas&nbsp;– siquiera temporalmente&nbsp;– por tropas arabo-musulmanas en territorios actualmente pertenecientes a Portugal, España y Francia" ("For medieval Arab authors, Al-Andalus designated all the conquered areas&nbsp;– even temporarily&nbsp;– by Arab-Muslim troops in territories now belonging to Spain, Portugal and France"), [[:es:José Ángel García de Cortázar|García de Cortázar, José Ángel]]. ''V Semana de Estudios Medievales: Nájera, 1 al 5 de agosto de 1994'', Gobierno de La Rioja, Instituto de Estudios Riojanos, 1995, p. 52.</ref><ref name="Ruano(Spain)2002">{{cite book |author= Benito Ruano, Eloy|title=Tópicos y realidades de la Edad Media |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xX35wGGJaaIC |year=2002 |publisher=Real Academia de la Historia |isbn=978-84-95983-06-0 |page=79 |quote=Los arabes y musulmanes de la Edad Media aplicaron el nombre de Al-Andalus a todas aquellas tierras que habian formado parte del reino visigodo: la Peninsula Ibérica y la Septimania ultrapirenaica. ("The Arabs and Muslims from the Middle Ages used the name of al-Andalus for all those lands that were formerly part of the Visigothic kingdom: the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania")|author-link=:es:Eloy Benito Ruano }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ríos Saloma |first=Martín Federico |title=La Reconquista: una construcción historiográfica (siglos XVI-XIX) |date=2011 |publisher=Universidad nacional autónoma de México, Instituto de inversigaciones históricas M. Pons |isbn=978-84-92820-47-4 |series=Marcial Pons Historia |location=México Madrid}}</ref><ref name="García Sanjuán2003">{{Cite journal |last=García Sanjuán |first=Alejandro |date=2020 |title=Weaponizing Historical Knowledge: the Notion of Reconquista in Spanish Nationalism |url=https://repositori.udl.cat/server/api/core/bitstreams/511f9f1e-1c78-4f30-b55b-deb674484119/content |journal=Imago Temporis: Medium Aevum |volume=XIV |doi=10.21001/itma.2020.14.04 |issn=1888-3931 |s2cid=226491379 |quote=The notion of Reconquista is the product of 19th-century Spanish Nationalist thinking. Although developed as an academic concept, it played, at the same time, a crucial political and ideological role, thus holding a very powerful and potentially toxic ideological burden, chiefly consisting of the idea that Spain is a nation shaped against Islam. Its dual academic and ideological nature makes it a highly problematic concept that greatly contributed to produce a largely biased and distorted vision of the Iberian medieval past, aimed at delegitimizing the Islamic presence (al-Andalus) and therefore at legitimizing the Christian conquest of the Muslim territory. Over the last years and in the framework of the Clash of Civilizations doctrine, conservative and far-right scholarly and political outlets reignited the most ideological version of the Reconquista, thus raising a major challenge for academic historians. |hdl-access=free |hdl=10272/19498}}</ref><ref name=Oxford>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|author=Esposito, John L.|isbn=0195125584|location=New York|oclc=50280143|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001|title-link=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam}}</ref> eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the [[Emirate of Granada]].

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]] ({{Circa|750}}–929); the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] (929–1031); the first ''[[taifa]]'' kingdoms (1009–1110); the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid Empire]] (1085–1145); the second ''taifa'' period (1140–1203); the [[Almohad Caliphate]] (1147–1238); the third ''taifa'' period (1232–1287); and ultimately the [[Emirate of Granada|Nasrid Emirate of Granada]] (1238–1492). Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] 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 ([[Jabir ibn Aflah]]), astronomy ([[al-Zarqali]]), surgery ([[al-Zahrawi]]), pharmacology ([[Ibn Zuhr]]),<ref name="rediscScience">{{Cite journal|last=Covington|first=Richard|year=2007|editor-last=Arndt|editor-first=Robert|title=Rediscovering Arabic Science|url=http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm|journal=Saudi Aramco World|publisher=Aramco Services Company|volume=58|issue=3|pages=2–16}}</ref> and [[Arab Agricultural Revolution|agronomy]] ([[Ibn Bassal]] and [[Abu ʾl-Khayr al-Ishbīlī|Abu'l-Khayr al-Ishbili]]). Al-Andalus became a conduit for cultural and scientific exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds.<ref name="rediscScience"/>

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 ''taifa'' states and principalities, some of which (such as the [[Taifa of Toledo]], the [[Taifa of Zaragoza]], the [[Taifa of Seville]] and the [[Taifa of Badajoz]]) reached considerable territorial extent. After the Christian capture of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] in 1085, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled attacks on the region, then brought al-Andalus under direct Almoravid rule. For the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Muslim empires of the Almoravids and their successors, the [[Almohads]], both based in [[Marrakesh]].

Ultimately, the northern Christian kingdoms overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In the 13th century, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule, with [[Gharb al-Andalus]], the [[Baetic Depression|Guadalquivir Valley]] and [[Sharq al-Andalus|Eastern al-Andalus]] falling to Portuguese, Castilian, and Aragonese conquests. This left the [[Emirate of Granada]], that was to become a tributary state of the Crown of Castile, as the remaining Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula, and was surrendered in 1492 to the [[Catholic Monarchs]].

==Etymology==
{{Main|Name of Andalusia}}

The toponym ''al-Andalus'' is first attested by inscriptions on coins minted in 716 by the new Muslim government of Iberia.<ref name="PanzramCallegarin2018">{{cite book|author1=Panzram, Sabine |author2=Laurent Callegarin|title=Entre civitas y madina: El mundo de las ciudades en la península ibérica y en el norte de África (siglos IV-IX)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HsZ6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145|date=22 November 2018|publisher=Casa de Velázquez|isbn=978-84-9096-227-5|page=145}}</ref> These coins, called ''[[dinars]]'', were inscribed in both [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]].<ref name="MMOA">{{cite book |author= L. Bates, Michael |title=Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87099-636-8 |editor=[[Jerrilynn D. Dodds]] |page=384 |chapter=The Islamic Coinage of Spain |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLAryx8bC8UC&pg=PA384}}</ref><ref name="Glick2005">{{cite book |author=Glick, Thomas F.|title=Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cWqmebvcjj0C&pg=PR21 |year=2005 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-14771-3 |page=21}}</ref> The etymology of the name ''al-Andalus'' has traditionally been derived from the name of the [[Vandals]] (''vándalos'' in Spanish, ''vândalos'' in Portuguese).

Since the 1980s, several alternative etymologies have challenged this tradition.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://verne.elpais.com/verne/2016/09/09/articulo/1473434604_706233.html |title=De dónde vienen los nombres de las Comunidades Autónomas españolas |first=Pablo |last=Cantó |date=9 September 2016 |access-date=15 April 2019 |newspaper=[[El País]] |publisher=[[Prisa]] |language=es}}</ref> In 1986, Joaquín Vallvé proposed that ''al-Andalus'' was a corruption of the name ''[[Atlantis]]''.<ref name="Vallvé1986">{{cite book |author= Vallvé, Joaquín|title=La división territorial de la España musulmana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9p0cAAAAMAAJ |year=1986 |publisher=Instituto de Filología |isbn=978-84-00-06295-8 |pages=55–59}}</ref> Heinz Halm in 1989 derived the name from a Gothic term, ''*landahlauts'',<ref name="Halm1989">{{cite journal |last=Halm |first=Heinz |title=Al-Andalus und Gothica Sors |journal=Der Islam |year=1989 |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=252–263 |doi=10.1515/islm.1989.66.2.252 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/islm.1989.66.2.252/html|s2cid=161971416 }}</ref> and in 2002, Georg Bossong suggested its derivation from a pre-Roman substrate.<ref name="Bossong2002">{{cite journal |last=Bossong |first=Georg |title=Der Name al-Andalus: neue Überlegungen zu einem alten Problem |journal=Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs |year=2002 |volume=141 |series=Sounds and systems: studies in structure and change. |page=149 |url=http://www.rose.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:ffffffff-c23e-37d9-0000-00001d0776dd/boss_bask_120.pdf |editor1-first=David |editor1-last=Restle |editor2-first=Dietmar |editor2-last=Zaefferer |trans-title=The Name al-Andalus: Revisiting an Old Problem |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |location=Berlin |language=de |issn=1861-4302 |isbn=978-3-11-089465-3 |quote=Only a few years after the Islamic conquest of Spain, ''Al-Andalus'' appears in coin inscriptions as the Arabic equivalent of ''Hispania''. The traditionally held view that the etymology of this name has to do with the Vandals is shown to have no serious foundation. The phonetic, morphosyntactic, and historical problems connected with this etymology are too numerous. Moreover, the existence of this name in various parts of central and northern Spain proves that ''Al-Andalus'' cannot be derived from this [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe]]. It was the original name of the Punta Marroquí cape near Tarifa; very soon, it became generalized to designate the whole Peninsula. Undoubtedly, the name is of Pre-Indo-European origin. The parts of this compound (''anda'' and ''luz'') are frequent in the indigenous toponymy of the Iberian Peninsula. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627064440/http://www.rose.unizh.ch/seminar/personen/bossong/boss_bask_120.pdf |archive-date=June 27, 2008 }}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula}}

===Province of the Umayyad Caliphate===
{{main|Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula}}
[[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|Expansion of the Caliphate {{legend|#a1584e|[[Muhammad]], 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|[[Rashidun Caliphate]], 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|[[Umayyad Caliphate]], 661–750}}]]

During the caliphate of the Umayyad Caliph [[Al-Walid I]], the commander [[Tariq ibn-Ziyad]] led an army of 7,000 that landed at [[Gibraltar]] on April 30, 711, ostensibly to intervene in a [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] civil war. After a decisive victory over King [[Roderic]] at the [[Battle of Guadalete]] on July 19, 711, Tariq, accompanied by his ''[[mawla]]'', governor [[Musa ibn Nusayr]] of [[Ifriqiya]], brought most of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] under Muslim rule in a seven-year campaign. They crossed the [[Pyrenees]] and occupied Visigothic [[Septimania]] in southern France.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding [[Umayyad|Umayyad Empire]], under the name of ''al-Andalus''. It was organized as a province subordinate to [[Ifriqiya]], so, for the first few decades, the [[List of Umayyad Governors of Al-Andalus|governors of al-Andalus]] were appointed by the emir of [[Kairouan]], rather than the Caliph in [[Damascus]]. The regional capital was set at [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], and the first influx of Muslim settlers was widely distributed.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Following the Muslim conquest of Spain, al-Andalus, then at its greatest extent, was divided into five administrative units, corresponding very roughly to: modern [[Andalusia]]; [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]] and [[Kingdom of León|León]]; [[Navarre]], [[Aragon]], and [[Catalonia]]; [[Portugal]] and [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]; and the [[Languedoc-Roussillon]] area of [[Occitania (administrative region)|Occitania]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Callaghan |first=Joseph F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yA3p6v3UxyIC&pg=PA142 |title=A History of Medieval Spain |date=1983-10-31 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0801468728 |location=Ithaca |page=142 |oclc=907117391}}</ref>

The small army Tariq led in the initial conquest consisted mostly of Berbers, while Musa's largely Arab force of over 12,000 soldiers was accompanied by a group of ''mawālī'' (Arabic, موالي), that is, non-Arab Muslims, who were clients of the Arabs. The Berber soldiers accompanying Tariq were garrisoned in the centre and the north of the peninsula, as well as in the Pyrenees,<ref name="Collins2012">{{cite book|author=Roger Collins|title=Caliphs and Kings: Spain, 796–1031|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVBzo8Vak7sC&pg=PA12|date=7 May 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-631-18184-2|pages=8–9}}</ref> while the [[Berber people|Berber]] colonists who followed settled in all parts of the country{{Snd}} north, east, south and west.<ref name="Ṭāha2016">{{cite book|author='Abdulwāhid Dḥanūn Ṭāha|title=Routledge Library Editions: Muslim Spain|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCglDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|date=July 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-98576-0|pages=166–177|chapter=Early Muslim Settlement in Spain: The Berber Tribes in Al-Andalus}}</ref> Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs (notably, in Murcia, Galicia, and the Ebro valley). Resistant Visigoths took refuge in the [[Cantabrian Mountains|Cantabrian]] highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the [[Kingdom of Asturias]].

[[File:Map Iberian Peninsula 750-en.svg|thumb|left|The province of al-Andalus in 750]]

In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several ''sa'ifa'' raids into [[Aquitaine]] but were decisively defeated by Duke [[Odo the Great]] of Aquitaine at the [[Battle of Toulouse (721)]]. However, after crushing Odo's Berber ally [[Uthman ibn Naissa]] on the eastern Pyrenees, [[Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi]] led an expedition north across the western Pyrenees and defeated the Aquitanian duke, who in turn appealed to the [[Franks|Frankish]] leader [[Charles Martel]] for assistance, offering to place himself under Carolingian sovereignty. At the [[Battle of Tours|Battle of Poitiers]] in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel and Al Ghafiqi was killed.<ref name="Pérès2007">{{cite encyclopaedia |last1=Pérès |first1=Henri |editor1-last=Bearman |editor1-first=P. |editor2-last=Th. Bianquis |editor2-first=Th. |editor3-last=C.E. Bosworth |editor3-first=C.E. |editor4-last=van Donzel |editor4-first=E. |editor5-last=Heinrichs |editor5-first=W.P. |title=Balāṭ al-S̲h̲uhadāʾ |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition |date=2007 |pages=988–989 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1135 |quote=Balāṭ al-S̲h̲uhadāʾ: an expression used by the Arab historians for the Battle of Poitiers, which was fought between Charles Martel, at the head of the Christian Frankish armies, and the governor of Muslim Spain ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ghāfiḳī in Ramaḍān 114/October 732.}}</ref> In 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing [[Avignon]] and [[Arles]] and overran much of [[Provence]]. In 737, they traveled up the [[Rhône]] valley, reaching as far north as [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]]. Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of [[Liutprand, King of the Lombards|Liutprand]] of the [[Lombards]], invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739.

In 740, a [[Berber Revolt]] erupted in the [[Maghreb]] (North Africa). To put down the rebellion, the Umayyad Caliph [[Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik|Hisham]] dispatched a large Arab army, composed of regiments (''[[Jund]]s'') of [[Bilad Ash-Sham]],<ref>Specifically, 27,000 Arab troops were composed of 6,000 men from each of the four main ''junds'' of [[Jund Dimashq|Jund Dimashq (Damascus)]], [[Jund Hims|Jund Hims (Homs)]], [[Jund al-Urdunn|Jund al-Urdunn (Jordan)]], and [[Jund Filastin|Jund Filastin (Filastin)]], plus 3,000 from [[Jund Qinnasrin]]. An additional 3,000 were picked up in [[Egypt]]. See R. Dozy (1913) ''Spanish Islam: A History of the Muslims in Spain'' (translated by Francis Griffin Stokes from Dozy's original (1861) French ''Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne'', with consultation of the 1874 German version and the 1877 Spanish version) Chatto & Windus, London, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AtQ7yAftTdQC&pg=PA133 page 133]</ref> to North Africa. But the great Umayyad army was crushed by the Berber rebels at the [[Battle of Bagdoura]] (in Morocco). Heartened by the victories of their North African brethren, the Berbers of al-Andalus quickly raised their own revolt. Berber garrisons in the north of the Iberian Peninsula mutinied, deposed their Arab commanders, and organized a large rebel army to march against the strongholds of Toledo, Córdoba, and Algeciras.

In 741, Balj b. Bishr led a detachment of some 10,000 Arab troops across the [[Strait of Gibraltar|straits]].<ref name="Collins201212">{{cite book|author=Roger Collins|title=Caliphs and Kings: Spain, 796–1031|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVBzo8Vak7sC&pg=PA12|date=7 May 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-631-18184-2|page=12}}</ref> The Arab governor of al-Andalus, joined by this force, crushed the Berber rebels in a series of ferocious battles in 742. However, a quarrel immediately erupted between the Syrian commanders and the Andalusi, the so-called "original Arabs" of the earlier contingents. The Syrians defeated them at the hard-fought Battle of Aqua Portora in August 742 but were too few to impose themselves on the province.

The quarrel was settled in 743 when [[Abu l-Hattar al Husam ibn Darar al-Kalbi|Abū l-Khaṭṭār al-Ḥusām]], the new governor of al-Andalus, assigned the Syrians to regimental fiefs across al-Andalus<ref name="Makki1992">{{cite book|author=Mahmoud Makki|editor=Salma Khadra Jayyusi |editor2=Manuela Marín|title=The Legacy of Muslim Spain|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbfORLWv1HkC&pg=PA12|year=1992|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-09599-3|pages=12–13|chapter=The Political History of Al-Andalus}}</ref>{{Snd}} the Damascus jund was established in Elvira ([[Granada]]), the Jordan jund in Rayyu ([[Málaga]] and [[Archidona]]), the Jund Filastin in [[Medina-Sidonia]] and [[Jerez]], the Emesa (Hims) jund in [[Seville]] and [[Niebla, Spain|Niebla]], and the Qinnasrin jund in [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]]. The Egypt jund was divided between [[Beja (Portugal)|Beja]] ([[Alentejo]]) in the west and Tudmir ([[Murcia]]) in the east.<ref>Levi-Provençal, (1950: p. 48); Kennedy (1996: p. 45).</ref> The arrival of the Syrians substantially increased the Arab element in the Iberian peninsula and helped strengthen the Muslim hold on the south. However, at the same time, unwilling to be governed, the Syrian ''junds'' carried on an existence of autonomous feudal anarchy, severely destabilizing the authority of the governor of al-Andalus.

A second significant consequence of the revolt was the expansion of the [[Kingdom of the Asturias]], hitherto confined to enclaves in the Cantabrian highlands. After the rebellious Berber garrisons evacuated the northern frontier fortresses, the Christian king [[Alfonso I of Asturias]] set about immediately seizing the empty forts for himself, quickly adding the northwestern provinces of [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] and [[León (province)|León]] to his fledgling kingdom. The Asturians evacuated the Christian populations from the towns and villages of the Galician-Leonese lowlands, creating an empty buffer zone in the [[Douro River]] valley (the "[[Desert of the Duero]]"). This newly emptied frontier remained roughly in place for the next few centuries as the boundary between the Christian north and the Islamic south. Between this frontier and its heartland in the south, the al-Andalus state had three large [[March (territory)|march territories]] (''thughur''): the [[Lower March]] (capital initially at [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]], later [[Badajoz]]), the [[Central March|Middle March]] (centred at Toledo), and the [[Upper March]] (centred at [[Zaragoza]]).

These disturbances and disorder also allowed the Franks, now under the leadership of [[Pepin the Short]], to invade the strategic strip of [[Septimania]] in 752, hoping to deprive al-Andalus of an easy launching pad for raids into [[Francia]]. After a lengthy siege, the last Arab stronghold, the citadel of [[Narbonne]], finally [[Siege of Narbonne (752–759)|fell to the Franks in 759]]. Al-Andalus was sealed off at the Pyrenees.<ref>[[Franco Cardini|Cardini, Franco]]. ''Europe and Islam'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, p. 9.</ref>

The third consequence of the Berber revolt was the collapse of the authority of the [[Damascus]] Caliphate over the western provinces. With the Umayyad Caliphs distracted by the challenge of the [[Abbasid]]s in the east, the western provinces of the Maghreb and al-Andalus spun out of their control. From around 745, the [[Fihrids]], an illustrious local Arab clan descended from [[Uqba ibn Nafi|Oqba ibn Nafi al-Fihri]], seized power in the western provinces and ruled them almost as a private family empire of their own{{Snd}} [[Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri]] in Ifriqiya and [[Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri|Yūsuf al-Fihri]] in al-Andalus. The Fihrids welcomed the fall of the Umayyads in the east, in 750, and sought to reach an understanding with the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasids]], hoping they might be allowed to continue their autonomous existence. But when the Abbasids rejected the offer and demanded submission, the Fihrids declared independence and, probably out of spite, invited the deposed remnants of the Umayyad clan to take refuge in their dominions. It was a fateful decision that they soon regretted, for the Umayyads, the sons and grandsons of caliphs, had a more legitimate claim to rule than the Fihrids themselves. Rebellious-minded local lords, disenchanted with the autocratic rule of the Fihrids, conspired with the arriving Umayyad exiles.

=== Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba ===
{{Main|Emirate of Córdoba}}

==== Establishment ====
[[File:Abd al-Rahman I, Crónica general de España.jpg|thumb|19th-century portrait of [[Abd al-Rahman I]], from ''[[Estoria de España]]''.]]
In 755, the exiled Umayyad prince [[Abd al-Rahman I]] (also called ''al-Dākhil'', the 'Immigrant') arrived on the coast of Spain.<ref name="Safran2013">{{cite book |last1=Safran |first1=Janina M. |title=Defining Boundaries in al-Andalus: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Islamic Iberia |year=2013 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-6801-8 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V45HDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42}}</ref> He had fled the Abbasids, who had overthrown the Umayyads in Damascus and were slaughtering members of that family, and then he spent four years in exile in North Africa, assessing the political situation in al-Andalus across the Straits of Gibraltar, before he landed at [[Almuñécar]].<ref name="Flood2018">{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Timothy M. |title=Rulers and Realms in Medieval Iberia, 711–1492 |date=2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-7471-1 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Duh3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24}}</ref>

News of his arrival spread across al-Andalus, and when word reached its governor, [[Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri|Yūsuf al-Fihri]], he was not pleased. During this time, Abd al-Rahman and his supporters quickly conquered [[Málaga]] and then [[Seville]], finally besieging the capital of al-Andalus, [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]]. Abd al-Rahman's army was exhausted after their conquest, meanwhile Governor Yūsuf al-Fihri had returned from quashing another rebellion with his army. The siege of Córdoba began, and noticing the starving state of Abd al-Rahman's army, al-Fihri began throwing lavish feasts every day as the siege went on, to tempt Abd al Rahman's supporters to defect to his side. However, Abd al-Rahman persisted, even rejecting a truce that would have allowed Abd al-Rahman to marry al-Fihri's daughter. After decisively defeating Yūsuf al-Fihri's army, Abd al-Rahman was able to conquer Córdoba, where he proclaimed himself emir in 756.<ref name="Kennedy201431">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Hugh |title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87041-8 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31}}</ref> The rest of Iberia was easily conquered, and Abd al-Rahman soon had control of all of Iberia.<ref name="WHistEnc2020">{{Cite web|title=Abd al-Rahman I|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Abd_al-Rahman_I/|access-date=2020-10-14|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>

==== Rule ====
Abd al Rahman's rule was stable in the years after his conquest – he built major public works, most famously the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba|Mosque of Córdoba]], and helped urbanize the emirate while defending it from invaders, including the quashing of numerous rebellions, and decisively repelling the invasion by [[Charlemagne]] (which would later inspire the epic, [[Chanson de Roland]]). By far the most important of these invasions was the attempted reconquest by the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. In 763 Caliph [[Al-Mansur]] of the Abbasids installed [[Al-Ala ibn Mughith al-Judhami|al-Ala ibn-Mugith]] as governor of Africa (whose title gave him dominion over the province of al-Andalus). He planned to invade and destroy the Emirate of Córdoba, so in response Abd al Rahman fortified himself within the fortress of [[Carmona, Spain|Carmona]] with a tenth as many soldiers as al-Ala ibn-Mugith. After a long siege, it appeared that Abd al Rahman would be defeated, but in a last stand Abd al Rahman with his outnumbered forces opened the gates of the fortress and charged at the resting Abbasid army, and decisively defeated them. After being sent the embalmed head of al-Ala ibn-Mugith, it is said Al Mansur exclaimed "Praise be to God who has put the sea between me and this devil!"<ref name="WHistEnc2020" /><ref name="Kennedy2014">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Hugh |title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87041-8 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35}}</ref>

[[File:Colonnes de la Mezquita (8281472877).jpg|thumb|Interior of the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba]], the former Great Mosque built by Abd ar-Rahman I in 785, later expanded by his successors<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Barrucand |first1=Marianne |url=https://archive.org/details/moorisharchitect00mari/mode/2up |title=Moorish architecture in Andalusia |last2=Bednorz |first2=Achim |publisher=Taschen |year=1992 |isbn=3822896322 |location= |pages=40 (and after) |language=en}}</ref>]]
Abd al Rahman I died in 788 after a lengthy and prosperous reign. He was succeeded by his son, [[Hisham I of Córdoba|Hisham I]], who secured power by exiling his brother who had tried to rebel against him. Hisham enjoyed a stable reign of eight years and was succeeded by his son [[Al-Hakam I]]. The next few decades were relatively uneventful, with only occasional minor rebellions, and saw the rise of the emirate. In 822 Al Hakam died and was succeeded by [[Abd al-Rahman II]], the first great emir of Córdoba. He rose to power with no opposition and sought to reform the emirate. He quickly reorganized the bureaucracy to be more efficient and built many mosques across the emirate. During his reign science and art flourished, as many scholars fled the Abbasid caliphate due to the disastrous [[Fourth Fitna]]. The scholar [[Abbas ibn Firnas]] made an attempt to fly, though accounts vary on his success. In 852 Abd al Rahman II died, leaving behind him a powerful and well-established state that had become one of the most powerful in the Mediterranean.<ref name="Kennedy201459">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Hugh |title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87041-8 |pages=59–60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=newsthelinks|title=Abbas Ibn Firnas: the first human to fly {{!}} The Links News|date=29 May 2020|url=https://thelinksnews.com/2020/05/29/abbas-ibn-firnas-the-first-human-to-fly/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123140113/https://thelinksnews.com/2020/05/29/abbas-ibn-firnas-the-first-human-to-fly/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=January 23, 2021|access-date=2020-10-14|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=TheBiography.us|last2=TheBiography.us|title=Biography of Emir de al-Andalus Abd al-Rahman o Abderramán II (792–852)|url=http://thebiography.us/en/abd-al-rahman-ii|access-date=2020-10-14|website=thebiography.us|language=en|archive-date=September 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921054301/https://thebiography.us/en/abd-al-rahman-ii|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Abd al Rahman was succeeded by [[Muhammad I of Córdoba]], who according to legend had to wear women's clothing to sneak into the imperial palace and be crowned, since he was not the heir apparent. His reign marked a decline in the emirate, which was ended by [[Abd al-Rahman III]]. His reign was marked by multiple rebellions, which were dealt with poorly and weakened the emirate, most disastrously following the rebellion of [[Umar ibn Hafsun]]. When Muhammad died, he was succeeded by emir [[Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi]] whose power barely reached outside of the city of Córdoba. As Ibn Hafsun ravaged the south, Abdullah did almost nothing, and slowly became more and more isolated, barely speaking to anyone. Abdullah purged his administration of his brothers, which lessened the bureaucracy's loyalty towards him. Around this time several local Arab lords began to revolt, including one Kurayb ibn Khaldun, who was able to conquer Seville. Some loyalists tried to quell the rebellion, but without proper material support, their efforts were in vain.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Barton|first=S|date=1999-04-01|title=Shorter notices. Medieval Iberia. Readings from Christian, Muslim and Jewish sources. OR Constable [ed]|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ehr/114.456.403|journal=The English Historical Review|volume=114|issue=456|pages=403–404|doi=10.1093/ehr/114.456.403|issn=0013-8266}}</ref>

He declared that the next emir would be his grandson [[Abd al-Rahman III]], ignoring the claims of his four living children. Abdullah died in 912, and the throne passed to Abd al Rahman III. Through force of arms and diplomacy, he put down the rebellions that had disrupted his grandfather's reign, obliterating Ibn Hafsun and hunting down his sons. After this he led several sieges against the Christians, sacking the city of [[Pamplona]], and restoring some prestige to the emirate. Meanwhile, across the sea the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]] had risen up in force, ousted the Abbasid government in North Africa, and declared themselves a caliphate. Inspired by this action, Abd al Rahman joined the rebellion and declared himself caliph in 929.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=García-Arenal|first=Mercedes|date=July 2004|title=The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. María Rosa Menocal|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0038713400090308|journal=Speculum|volume=79|issue=3|pages=801–804|doi=10.1017/s0038713400090308|issn=0038-7134}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Caputo|first=Nina|date=2019-12-01|title=Brian A. Catlos. Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz1187|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=124|issue=5|pages=1823–1825|doi=10.1093/ahr/rhz1187|issn=0002-8762}}</ref>

For nearly 100 years under the Córdoban Umayyad period, from the 9th century to the 10th, al-Andalus also extended its presence from [[Fraxinetum]] into the Alps with a series of organized raids.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Versteegh |first=Kees |date=1990-01-01 |title=The Arab Presence in France and Switzerland in the 10th Century |journal=Arabica |language=en |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=359–388 |doi=10.1163/157005890X00041 |issn=1570-0585 |jstor=4057147}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wenner |first=Manfred W. |date=August 1980 |title=The Arab/Muslim Presence in Medieval Central Europe |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=59–79 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800027136 |issn=1471-6380 |jstor=163627 |s2cid=162537404}}</ref><ref>Some authors mention bands penetrating as far north as Sankt Gallen, where they sacked the monastery in 939. Cf. Ekkehard, Casus S. Galli, IV, 15 (pp. 137f); Lévi-Provençal (1950:60); Reinaud (1964:149f).</ref>

=== Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba ===
{{Main|Caliphate of Córdoba}}
[[File:La civilització del califat de Còrdova en temps d'Abd-al-Rahman III.jpg|thumb|[[Abd al-Rahman III]] receiving ambassador [[John of Gorze]] of [[Otto the Great|Otto I the Great]] at the [[Medina Azahara]], by [[Dionisio Baixeras Verdaguer]], 1885.]] 
The period of the [[Caliphate]] is seen as the [[Islamic Golden Age|golden age]] of al-Andalus. Córdoba under the Caliphate, with a population of more than half a million, eventually overtook [[Constantinople]] as the largest and most prosperous city in Europe.<ref name="Chandler1987">Chandler, Tertius. ''Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census'' (1987), St. David's University Press ([http://www.etext.org/Politics/World.Systems/datasets/citypop/civilizations/citypops_2000BC-1988AD etext.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211233018/http://www.etext.org/Politics/World.Systems/datasets/citypop/civilizations/citypops_2000BC-1988AD |date=2008-02-11 }}). {{ISBN|0-88946-207-0}}.</ref> Al-Andalus became a centre for the arts, medicine, science, music, literature and philosophy. The work of its most important philosophers and scientists, such as [[Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi|Abulcasis]] and [[Averroes]], had a major influence on the intellectual life of medieval Europe. Muslims and non-Muslims often came from abroad to study at the libraries and universities of al-Andalus, and after the reconquest of Toledo, several translation institutions such as the [[Toledo School of Translators]] were established for translating books and texts from Arabic into Latin. The most noted figures in this being [[Gerard of Cremona]] and [[Michael Scot]], who took these works to Italy. The transmission of ideas significantly affected the formation of the European [[Renaissance]].<ref name="MP">Perry, Marvin; Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA261&lpg=PA261 ''Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society''] (2008), 903 pages, pp. 261–262.</ref>

The Caliphate of Córdoba also had extensive trade with other parts of the Mediterranean, including Christian parts. Trade goods included luxury items (silk, ceramics, gold), essential foodstuffs (grain, olive oil, wine), and containers (such as ceramics for storing perishables). In the tenth century, [[Duchy of Amalfi|Amalfitans]] were already trading [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] silks in Córdoba.<ref name="Metcalfe2013">{{Cite journal|last1=Metcalfe|first1=Alex|last2=Rosser-Owen|first2=Mariam|date=2013-04-01|title=Forgotten Connections? Medieval Material Culture and Exchange in the Central and Western Mediterranean|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236145160|journal=Al-Masaq|volume=25|pages=1–8|doi=10.1080/09503110.2013.767010|s2cid=161283814 |doi-access=}}</ref> Later references to Amalfitan merchants were sometimes used to emphasize the previous golden age of Córdoba.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Skinner|first=Patricia|date=2012-08-01|title=Amalfitans in the Caliphate of Cordoba{{Snd}} Or Not?|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263375006|journal=Al Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean|volume=24|issue=2|pages=125–138|doi=10.1080/09503110.2012.684742|s2cid=162395730}}</ref> Fatimid Egypt was a supplier of many luxury goods, including elephant tusks, and raw or carved crystals. The Fatimids were traditionally thought to be the only supplier of such goods, and control over these trade routes would be a cause for conflict between the Umayyads and Fatimids.<ref name="Metcalfe2013" />

===''Taifas'' period===
{{Main|Taifa}}
[[File:Taifas2.gif|thumb|The taifas (green) in 1031 AD|alt=]]
The [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] effectively collapsed during a [[Fitna of al-Andalus|ruinous civil war]] between 1009 and 1013, although it was not finally abolished until 1031 when ''al-Andalus'' broke up into a number of mostly independent mini-states and principalities called ''[[taifa]]s''. In 1013, [[Sacks of Córdoba (1009–13)|invading Berbers sacked Córdoba]], massacring its inhabitants, pillaging the city, and burning the palace complex to the ground.<ref>{{Cite book |title= Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience|last=Gerber|first=Jane S.|date=1994|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780029115749|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jewsofspainhisto0000gerb/page/54 54]|language=en|url=https://archive.org/details/jewsofspainhisto0000gerb/page/54}}</ref> The largest of the taifas to emerge were [[Taifa of Badajoz|Badajoz]] (''Batalyaws''), [[Taifa of Toledo|Toledo]] (''Ṭulayṭulah''), [[Taifa of Zaragoza|Zaragoza]] (''Saraqusta''), and [[Taifa of Granada|Granada]] (''Ġarnāṭah''). After 1031, the ''taifas'' were generally too weak to defend themselves against repeated raids and demands for tribute from the Christian states to the north and west, which were known to the Muslims as "the Galician nations",<ref>Khaldun. The Muqaddimah</ref> and which had spread from their initial strongholds in [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], [[Kingdom of Asturias|Asturias]], [[Cantabria]], the Basque country, and the [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian]] ''[[Marca Hispanica]]'' to become the Kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]], [[Kingdom of León|León]], [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] and [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], and the [[County of Barcelona]]. During the eleventh century several centres of power existed among the taifas, and the political situation shifted rapidly. Before the rise of the [[Almoravids]] from Africa or the Christians from the north, the [[Abbadid dynasty|Abbadid]]-ruled [[Taifa of Seville]] succeeded in conquering a dozen lesser kingdoms, becoming the most powerful and renowned of the taifas, such that it could have laid claim to be the true heir to the Caliphate of Córdoba. The taifas were vulnerable and divided but had immense wealth.<ref>{{Cite book |title= The New Cambridge Medieval History.|editor-last=McKitterick|editor-first = Rosamond|year=1995|isbn=978-1-139-05571-0|pages=157|oclc=921054517}}</ref> During its prominence the Taifa of Seville produced technically complex [[lusterware]] and exerted significant influence on ceramic production across al-Andalus.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Barceló|first1= Carmen|last2=Heidenreich|first2=Anja|date=2014-10-19|title=Lusterware Made in the Abbadid Taifa of Seville (Eleventh Century) and Its Early Production in the Mediterranean Region |journal=Muqarnas Online|language=en|volume=31|issue=1|pages=245–276|doi=10.1163/22118993-00311P10|issn=0732-2992}}</ref>

In the 1080s, the ''taifa'' kingdoms began to face an existential threat from the Christian kingdoms to the north, as [[Alfonso VI of León and Castile|Alfonso VI]] of Castile escalated attacks against them.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=|pp=152–153}} In 1083, he led a punitive expedition against Seville that reached all the way to [[Tarifa]] at the southern tip of al-Andalus.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=161}} In 1085, he [[Siege of Toledo (1085)|annexed Toledo]], a turning point which galvanized the remaining ''taifa'' leaders into seeking outside help.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=153}}

===Almoravids and Almohads===
{{Further|Almoravid dynasty|Almohad Caliphate}}[[File:Empire almoravide.PNG|thumb|upright|Map showing the extent of the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid empire]]]]After the fall of Toledo, most of the major ''taifa'' rulers agreed to request the intervention of the Almoravids, a Berber empire based in [[Marrakesh]] that had conquered much of northwest Africa. The Almoravid leader, [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin|Yusuf Ibn Tashfin]], led several campaigns into al-Andalus, initially in defense of the ''taifa'' kingdoms. At the [[Battle of Sagrajas]] (or Battle of Zallaqa in Arabic), a Muslim army led by the Almoravids soundly defeated Alfonso VI.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=|pp=159–162}} By 1090, however, Yusuf ibn Tashfin was disillusioned with the disunity of the ''taifa'' leaders and he returned on a campaign to conquer al-Andalus instead. Most of the ''taifas'', except for Zaragoza, were annexed by 1094.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=|pp=164–166}} Valencia, which had come under the control of [[El Cid]] at the end of [[Taifa of Valencia|its taifa period]], was eventually occupied in 1102, after El Cid's death.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=166}} Zaragoza was annexed in 1110.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=|pp=173–174}}

Modern scholarship has sometimes admitted originality in North African architecture, but according to Yasser Tabbaa, historian of Islamic art and architecture, the Iberocentric viewpoint is anachronistic when considering the political and cultural environment during the rule of the Almoravid dynasty.<ref name="Neci̇poğluBailey2008">{{cite book|author=Yasser Tabbaa|editor1=Gülru Neci̇poğlu|editor2=Julia Bailey|title=Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Celebration of Oleg Grabar's Eightieth Birthday; the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Thirtieth Anniversary Special Volume|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8stDgJSiJ4C&pg=PA133|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17327-9|pages=133–134|chapter=Andalusian Roots And Abbasid Homage In The Qubbat Al-Barudiyyin In Marrakech|quote=Whereas this Hispanocentric perspective might apply for Moroccan architecture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—when many Andalusian artisans are known to have resettled in Morocco—it seems anachronistic in dealing with periods when Andalusia itself was ruled by dynasties from Morocco, in particular the Almoravids (1061–1147) and the Almohads (1130–1260).}}</ref>{{Relevance inline|date=September 2023|reason=This statement seems out of place for a summary of historical events, it probably belongs in another section or another article.}} The rise and fall of the Almoravids is sometimes seen as an expression of [[Ibn Khaldun]]'s [[asabiyyah]] paradigm.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Messier|first=Ronald|date=2001-01-01|title=Re-thinking the Almoravids, re-thinking Ibn Khaldun|journal=The Journal of North African Studies|volume=6|issue=1|pages=59–80|doi=10.1080/13629380108718421|s2cid=145567635|issn=1362-9387}}</ref>{{Relevance inline|date=September 2023|reason=This statement seems out of place for a summary of historical events, it probably belongs in another section or another article.}}
[[File:Almohad Expansion.png|thumb|upright|Expansion of the Almohad state in the 12th century]]By 1147, the Almoravids were overthrown in North Africa by the [[Almohad]]s, another Berber dynasty, under the leadership of [[Abd al-Mu'min]]. As Almoravid rule collapsed, another brief period of ''taifa'' kingdoms followed in al-Andalus, during which the Christian kingdoms expanded southward again.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=|pp=74–75}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=202}} From 1146 onward, the Almohads intervened and took control of al-Andalus.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=|pp=74–78, 341}} One of Abd al-Mu'min's successors, [[Ya’qub al-Mansur|Ya'qub al-Mansur]], won a major victory over the Castilian [[Alfonso VIII of Castile|Alfonso VIII]] at the [[Battle of Alarcos]] in 1195.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=108}}

In 1212, a coalition of Christian kings under the leadership of Alfonso VIII defeated the Almohads at the [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]]. Almohad rule was diminished in prestige and in 1228 the Almohad caliph [[Idris al-Ma'mun|al-Ma'mun]] withdrew from al-Andalus altogether.{{Sfn|Boloix-Gallardo|2021|p=122}} In this political vacuum, a new wave of ''taifa'' kingdoms emerged, which were progressively conquered by Portugal, Castile, and Aragon. Córdoba was [[Siege of Córdoba (1236)|conquered in 1236]] and Seville was [[Siege of Seville|conquered in 1248]].{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|pp=266–272}} Some Muslim city-states, such as [[Taifa of Murcia|Murcia]] and [[Taifa of Niebla|Niebla]], survived as vassal kingdoms of Castile until the 1260s.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=271}} Only the region of Granada remained unconquered.

===Emirate of Granada, its fall, and aftermath===
{{Main|Emirate of Granada}}
[[File:Nasrid Dynasty Textile Fragment.jpg|thumb|right|A silk textile fragment from the last Muslim dynasty of Al-Andalus, the [[Nasrid dynasty|Nasrid Dynasty]] (1232–1492), with the epigraphic inscription "glory to our lord the Sultan".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/447048|title=Textile Fragment|website=www.metmuseum.org|access-date=2018-12-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art|last=Ekhtiar|first=Maryam|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=2011|pages=82}}</ref>]]
From the mid 13th to the late 15th century, the only remaining domain of al-Andalus was the [[Emirate of Granada]], the last Muslim stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula. The emirate was established by [[Muhammad I of Granada|Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar]] in 1230 and was ruled by the [[Nasrid dynasty]], the longest reigning dynasty in the history of al-Andalus. Although surrounded by Castilian lands, the emirate was wealthy through being tightly integrated in Mediterranean trade networks and enjoyed a period of considerable cultural and economic prosperity.<ref name="Page 120">{{cite book|last=Arrighi|first=Giovanni|title=The Long Twentieth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/longtwentiethcen00arri_968|url-access=limited|year=2010|publisher=Verso|isbn=978-1-84467-304-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/longtwentiethcen00arri_968/page/n135 120]}}</ref>

[[File:Alhambra Löwenhof mit Löwenbrunnen 2014.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Court of the Lions]] in the [[Alhambra]], the palace of [[Nasrid dynasty|Nasrid]] Granada]]
Despite internal conflicts, the Nasrids of Granada were able to survive in part by playing the Christian kingdoms of the north against each other, while at other times soliciting aid from the [[Marinids]], a new Berber dynasty ruling in North Africa from their capital in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]].{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|pp=280–300}} For much of its existence, Granada paid tribute to the Castilian kings. Along with this political status, its favorable geographic location, with the [[Sierra Nevada (Spain)|Sierra Nevada]] as a natural barrier, helped to prolong Nasrid rule.{{Sfn|Catlos|2018|p=337}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=|pp=277–278}}

Granada also accommodated a large number of Muslim refugees fleeing the ''[[Reconquista]]'' or expelled from Christian-controlled territories, which grew the city and the emirate's population.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=277}}{{Sfn|Harvey|1990|pp=14–15}} The city even became one of the largest in Europe throughout the 15th century in terms of population.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC|title=Urban World History: An Economic and Geographical Perspective|date=2009|publisher=Presses de l'Universite du Quebec|isbn=9782760522091|page=260|author=Tellier, L.N.}}</ref><ref name="google152">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195112283|url-access=registration|title=The Oxford History of Mexico|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press, US|isbn=978-0-19-511228-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195112283/page/31 31]|author1=Meyer, M. C.|author2=Beezley, W. H.}}</ref> The most visible legacy of the Nasrids is the [[Alhambra]], their fortified palace complex, partly preserved today.{{Sfn|Catlos|2018|p=354}} The independent Nasrid kingdom was also a trade hub between the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and was frequented especially by [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] merchants.<ref name="Metcalfe2013" />

The Marinids intervened in the south of the Iberian Peninsula multiple times up until their defeat at the [[Battle of Río Salado]] in 1340. After this, they ceased to play a major role.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|pp=278–289}} The subsequent internal turmoil within Castile, however, helped Nasrid Granada to enjoy a period of relative external peace and internal prosperity until the end of the 14th century, under the reigns of [[Yusuf I of Granada|Yusuf I]] ({{Reign|1333|1354}}) and [[Muhammad V of Granada|Muhammad V]] ({{Reign|1354|1359|1362|1391}}).{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|pp=288–292}} Important cultural figures, such as [[Ibn al-Khatib]], [[Ibn Zamrak]], and [[Ibn Khaldun]] all served in the Nasrid court during this period.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=291}}{{Sfn|Catlos|2018|pp=357–359}}

In 1468, [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella]], the only child of [[Henry IV of Castile]], married [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand]], the son of [[John II of Aragon]], and by 1479 they were rulers of a united Castile and Aragon.{{Sfn|Catlos|2018|p=377}} This development meant that Granada could no longer exploit divisions between the two kingdoms and the new royal couple, also known as the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic Monarchs]], were united in their intention to conquer it.{{Sfn|Harvey|1990|p=268}} The final [[Granada War|war to conquer Granada]] began in earnest in 1482.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=300}} Year by year, the Christian advance captured new cities and fortresses{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=|pp=300–303}} until the last Nasrid ruler, [[Muhammad XII of Granada|Muhammad XII]] (known as Boabdil to the Christians), formally [[Treaty of Granada (1491)|surrendered Granada]] to the Catholic Monarchs on 2 January 1492.{{Sfn|Harvey|1990|pp=308–323}}

[[File:Salida de la familia de Boabdil de la Alhambra.jpg|thumb|[[Manuel Gómez-Moreno González|Manuel Gómez-Moreno González's]] 19th-century depiction of [[Muhammad XII of Granada|Muhammad XII's]] family in the Alhambra moments after the [[Granada War|fall of Granada]].]]

By this time Muslims in Castile numbered half a million. After the fall, "100,000 had died or been enslaved, 200,000 emigrated, and 200,000 remained as the residual population. Many of the Muslim elite, including Muhammad XII, who had been given the area of the [[Alpujarras]] mountains as a principality, found life under Christian rule intolerable and passed over into North Africa."<ref>{{cite book |first=Henry |last=Kamen |title=Spain 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict |publisher=Pearson |edition=Third |year=2005 |isbn= 9780582784642|pages=37–38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j7Acr02a9KUC&pg=PA37 }}</ref> Under the conditions of the Capitulations of 1492, the Muslims in Granada were to be allowed to continue to practice their religion.

Mass [[Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain|forced conversions]] of Muslims in 1499 led to a [[Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501)|revolt]] that spread to Alpujarras and the mountains of [[Ronda]]; after this uprising the capitulations were revoked.<ref name="Mediano2013">{{cite book|author=Fernando Rodríguez Mediano|title=The Orient in Spain: Converted Muslims, the Forged Lead Books of Granada, and the Rise of Orientalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYSQWmuaLLgC&pg=PA41|date=19 April 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25029-1|page=42}}</ref> In 1502 the Catholic Monarchs decreed the forced conversion of all Muslims living under the rule of the Crown of Castile,<ref name="Majid2004">{{cite book|author=Anouar Majid|title=Freedom and Orthodoxy: Islam and Difference in the Post-Andalusian Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xk0RyYpWz-kC&pg=PA25|year=2004|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-4981-7|page=25}}</ref> although in the kingdoms of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[Valencia]] (both now part of Spain) the open practice of Islam was allowed until 1526.<ref name="Grieve2009">{{cite book|author=Patricia E. Grieve|title=The Eve of Spain: Myths of Origins in the History of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcI0iI1TiD4C&pg=PA6|date=19 March 2009|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-9036-9|page=6}}</ref> Descendants of the Muslims were subject to expulsions from Spain between 1609 and 1614 (see [[Expulsion of the Moriscos]]).<ref>Harvey, L. P. ''Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614''. University of Chicago Press, 2008, {{ISBN|9780226319650}}, p. 1 ({{Google books|U-kQJr-D_ikC|excerpt|page=1}})</ref> The last mass prosecution against [[Morisco]]s for [[crypto-Islam]]ic practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most of those convicted receiving relatively light sentences. The Morisco community including these final convicts kept their identity alive at least through the late eighteenth century.<ref>[http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4040221 ''Vínculos Historia'': ''The moriscos who remained. The permanence of Islamic origin population in Early Modern Spain: Kingdom of Granada, XVII–XVIII centuries''] (In Spanish)</ref>

== Science ==
There was much scientific activity in Al-Andalus, especially in the fields of [[medicine]], [[astronomy]], [[mathematics]], and [[agronomy]]. At the same time, Andalusi scholars were also highly active in [[philosophy]] (see below), especially in the field of [[logic]].<ref name=":0522">{{Cite book |last=Forcada |first=Miquel |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2022 |isbn=9789004161658 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |language=en |chapter=al-Andalus, religious and rational sciences |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}}</ref> The earliest evidence of such activities in al-Andalus dates to the reign of [[Abd ar-Rahman II]] ({{Reign|822|852}}), when developments were spurred by exposure to older works translated from, Greek, Persian and other languages.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Samsó |first1=Julio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8fADwAAQBAJ&pg=PR37 |title=The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 2: Language, Religion, Culture and the Sciences |last2=Fierro |first2=Maribel |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-351-88958-2 |pages=xxxvii |language=en}}</ref> Scientific studies continued to be pursued in the following centuries, though certain fields and subjects thrived more depending on the period.<ref name=":0522" /> Scholars often worked in many different and overlapping subjects, so it is difficult to place those discussed here into a single scientific field each.<ref name="Bakar2006">{{Cite journal|last=Bakar|first=Osman|date=2006|title=The Golden Age of Andalusian Science|journal=Islamica Magazine|issue=18|pages=106–112|via=ProQuest}}</ref>

=== Medicine ===
[[File:Albucasis blistering a patient in the hospital at Cordova. Wellcome L0015000.jpg|thumb|The Andalusian physician [[Al-Zahrawi|Abu'l Qasim Al-Zahrawi]], who performed the first modern surgery, determined how to remove kidney stones, was known as the father of surgery, and developed many inventions and instruments.]]
There were many notable surgeons, physicians, and medical scholars from al-Andalus including [[Ibn al-Baitar|Ibn al-Baytar]] (d. 1248), [[Al-Zahrawi|Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi]] (Albucasis; d. 1013), Muhammad al-Shafrah (d. 1360), Abu Marwan 'Abd al-Malik ibn Habib (d. 853), and [[Ibn Zuhr|Abu Marwan ibn Zuhr]] (Avenzoar; d. 1162).<ref name="Pormann2007a">{{Cite book|title=Medieval Islamic medicine|last=Pormann, Peter E.|date=2007|publisher=Georgetown University Press|others=[[Savage-Smith, Emilie]].|isbn=9781589011601|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=71581787}}</ref> And of particular note is al-Zahrawi, who is considered by many to be "probably the greatest physician in the entire history of Western Islam."<ref name="Ashgate1998b">{{Cite book|title=The formation of al-Andalus|date=1998|publisher=Ashgate|author1=Marín, Manuela |author2=Samsó, Julio |author3=Fierro, Ma. Isabel |isbn=0-86078-708-7|location=Aldershot|pages=xlvi|oclc=38890783}}</ref> Around the year 1000 C.E, he wrote a book with a title that roughly translates to ''The Arrangement of Medical Knowledge for One Who is Not Able to Compile a Book for Himself'' (''Kitab al-tasrif li-man 'ajiza 'an al-ta'alif'')—a comprehensive medical encyclopedia with the goal of summarizing all existing medical knowledge and eliminating the need for students and practitioners to rely on multiple medical texts.<ref name="Ashgate1998b" /> The book is renowned for its chapter on surgery which included important illustrations of surgical instruments, as well as sections "on [[cauterization]], on incisions, [[Venipuncture|venesection]] and wounds, and on bone-setting."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medieval Islamic medicine|last=Pormann, Peter E.|date=2007|publisher=Georgetown University Press|others=Savage-Smith, Emilie.|isbn=978-1-58901-160-1|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=61–62|oclc=71581787}}</ref> For hundreds of years after its publication it was one of the most widely used medical texts for students and medical practitioners and was translated into Hebrew, Latin, and Castilian.<ref name="Bakar2006" /><ref name="Pormann2007b">{{Cite book|title=Medieval Islamic medicine|last=Pormann, Peter E.|date=2007|publisher=Georgetown University Press|others=Savage-Smith, Emilie.|isbn=978-1-58901-160-1|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=117|oclc=71581787}}</ref> This encyclopedia is also significant for its inclusion of al-Zahrawi's personal experiences as a surgeon, which provided important case studies for aspiring surgeons. This distinguishes it from other strictly factual medical works of the time, most notably Ibn Sina's ''[[The Canon of Medicine|Canon of Medicine]]''.<ref name="Pormann2007b" />

Other important medical texts include al-Baytar's ''Comprehensive Book on Simple Drugs and Foodstuffs''—an encyclopedia with descriptions of the medical uses of over 1400 plants and other types of medicine—and ibn Habib's ''Book of the Medicine of the Arabs'' (''Kitab tibb al-'arab'')—a historical summary of Arabic medicine until the 9th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medieval Islamic medicine|last=Pormann, Peter E.|date=2007|publisher=Georgetown University Press|others=Savage-Smith, Emilie.|isbn=978-1-58901-160-1|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=53–54|oclc=71581787}}</ref> Ibn Habib's work is significant because it is one of the oldest known writings in the field of [[prophetic medicine]], which uses [[hadith]]s to create Islamic-based medicinal guidelines. His book is also significant because it uses principles of [[Galenic medicine]], such as [[humorism]] and the theory of [[four temperaments]], as the basis of its medical recommendations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The formation of al-Andalus|date=1998|publisher=Ashgate|author1=Marín, Manuela |author2=Samsó, Julio |author3=Fierro, Ma. Isabel |isbn=0-86078-708-7|location=Aldershot|pages=393–394|oclc=38890783}}</ref>

The ibn Zuhr family played a very important role in the production of Andalusi medical knowledge, as they produced five generations of medical experts, particularly in the fields of dietary sciences and [[Medication|medicaments]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medieval Islamic medicine|last=Pormann, Peter E.|date=2007|publisher=Georgetown University Press|others=Savage-Smith, Emilie.|isbn=978-1-58901-160-1|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=82; 119|oclc=71581787}}</ref> Abu Marwan ibn Zuhr (d. 1162) is particularly notable, as he wrote the ''Book of Moderation'' (''Kitab al-Iqtisad'')—a treatise on general therapy; the ''Book of Foods'' (''Kitab al-Aghdhiya'')—a manual on foods and regimen which contains guidelines for a healthy life; and the ''Kitab al-Taysir''—a book written to act as a compendium to [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd's]] [[Colliget]]. In ''Kitab al-Taysir'' he provides one of the earliest clinical descriptions of the [[scabies]] mite.

=== Astronomy ===
Three of the most notable Andalusi astronomers were [[Ibn Tufail]] (d. 1185), [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd]] (Averroes; d. 1198), and [[Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji]] (Alpetragius; d. 1204). All lived around the same time and focused their astronomical works on critiquing and revising [[Geocentric model|Ptolemaic astronomy]] and the problem of the [[equant]] in his astronomical model.<ref name="Saliba1994">{{Cite book|title=A history of Arabic astronomy : planetary theories during the golden age of Islam|last=Saliba, George.|date=1994|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=0-8147-8023-7|location=New York|pages=62–63|oclc=35666761}}</ref> Instead, they accepted [[Aristotle]]'s model and promoted the theory of homocentric spheres.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A history of optical telescopes in astronomy|last=Wall, Wilson|isbn=978-3-319-99088-0|location=Cham, Switzerland|publisher=Springer|pages=9–10|oclc=1060593202|date = October 2018}}</ref>

Al-Bitruji is believed to have studied under Ibn Tufail and Bitruji's ''Book on Cosmology'' (''Kitab fi al-hay'a'') built on Ibn Tufail's work, as well as that of Ibn Rushd, Ibn Bajja, and Maimonides. The book's goal was "to overcome the physical difficulties inherent in the geometrical models of [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Almagest]]'' and to describe the cosmos in agreement with Aristotelian or Neoplatonic physics," which it succeeded in doing to an extent.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Samsó|first=Julio|title=Biṭrūjī: Nūr al-Dīn Abū Isḥāq &#91;Abū Jaҁfar&#93;Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf al-Biṭrūjī|chapter=Biṭrūjī: Nūr al-Dīn Abū Isḥāq [Abū Jaҁfar]Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf al-Biṭrūjī|date=2007|encyclopedia=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers|pages=133–134|editor-last=Hockey|editor-first=Thomas|publisher=Springer New York|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_164|isbn=978-0-387-30400-7|editor2-last=Trimble|editor2-first=Virginia|editor3-last=Williams|editor3-first=Thomas R.|editor4-last=Bracher|editor4-first=Katherine}}</ref> Bitruji's book set a precedent of criticizing the ''Almagest'' in future works in the field of astronomy.<ref name="Saliba1994" />

Although Ibn Rushd originally trained and practiced as a jurist, he was exposed to astronomy—possibly through Ibn Tufail—and became a renowned scientist in the field.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Islamic philosophy|author1=Nasr, Seyyed Hossein |author2=Leaman, Oliver |isbn=978-0-203-82459-7|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=330–343|oclc=1081429768}}</ref> His most popular work was his ''Summary of the Almagest'', but he also published shorter works discussing Aristotle's planetary theories.<ref>{{Citation|last=Forcada|first=Miquel|title=Ibn Rushd: Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Rushd al-Ḥafīd |date=2007|encyclopedia=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers|pages=564–565|editor-last=Hockey|editor-first=Thomas|publisher=Springer New York|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_687|isbn=978-0-387-30400-7|editor2-last=Trimble|editor2-first=Virginia|editor3-last=Williams|editor3-first=Thomas R.|editor4-last=Bracher|editor4-first=Katherine}}</ref> Ibn Rushd published writings on philosophy, theology, and medicine throughout his life too, including commentaries on the works of Ibn Sina.<ref name="Bakar2006" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tbakhi Abdelghani|last2=Amr Samir S.|date=2008-03-01|title=Ibn Rushd (Averroës): Prince of Science|journal=Annals of Saudi Medicine|volume=28|issue=2|pages=145–147|doi=10.5144/0256-4947.2008.145|pmc=6074522|pmid=18398288}}</ref>

In addition to writing the important ''Book of the Medicine of the Arabs'', Ibn Habib also wrote the ''Book on Stars'' (''Kirab fi l-nujim''). This book included important "teachings on the lunar mansions, the signs of the zodiac, [and] the division of the seasons."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The formation of al-Andalus|date=1998|publisher=Ashgate|author1=Marín, Manuela |author2=Samsó, Julio |author3=Fierro, Ma. Isabel |isbn=0-86078-708-7|location=Aldershot|pages=277|oclc=38890783}}</ref> In these teachings, Ibn-Habib calculated the phases of the moon and dates of the annual solstices and equinoxes with relative accuracy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The formation of al-Andalus|date=1998|publisher=Ashgate|author1=Marín, Manuela |author2=Samsó, Julio |author3=Fierro, Ma. Isabel |isbn=0-86078-708-7|location=Aldershot|pages=277–281|oclc=38890783}}</ref>

Another important astronomer from al-Andalus was [[Maslama al-Majriti]] (d. 1007), who played a role in translating and writing about Ptolemy's ''[[Planisphaerium]]'' and ''Almagest''. He built on the work of older astronomers, like [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi]], whose astronomical tables he wrote a discussion on and subsequently improved.

[[Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī|Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Zarqali]] (d. 1087) had many influential astronomical successes, as shown by [[Copernicus]]'s recognition of him in his ''[[De revolutionibus orbium coelestium|On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres]]'' five centuries later. Along with other astronomers, he undertook extensive work to edit the [[Toledan Tables|Toledan Zij]] astronomical tables. He also accurately calculated the motion of the solar apogee to be 12.04 seconds per year, which is relatively close to today's calculation of 11.8 seconds per year.<ref name="Bakar2006" />

=== Agronomy ===
Other important scientific advances in al-Andalus occurred in the field of [[agronomy]]. These advances were in part facilitated by technological innovations in irrigation systems. State organized, large-scale irrigation projects provided water to city baths, mosques, gardens, residential homes, and governing palaces, such as the [[Alhambra|al-Hambra]] and its gardens in Granada. Collective, peasant-built irrigation infrastructure also played an important role, especially in agriculture. Many of these irrigation techniques, especially those utilized by peasants, were brought to al-Andalus by migrating [[Berbers|Berber]] and Arab tribes. Although some irrigation projects built on existing [[Roman Empire|Roman]] infrastructure, most of al-Andalus's irrigation systems were new projects built separate from old Roman aqueducts. However, there is some debate about this among scholars.<ref name="Abate2018">{{Cite book|title=Convivencia and Medieval Spain: Convivencia and Medieval Spain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_d5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 |isbn=978-3-319-96481-2|location=Cham|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|pages=66–83|oclc=1066115111|last1 = Abate|first1 = Mark T.|date = 2018-11-14}}</ref>

One notable [[Agriculturist|agriculturalist]] was [[Ibn al-'Awwam]], who wrote the ''Book of Agriculture''. This book contains 34 chapters about various aspects of agriculture and animal husbandry, including discussions of over 580 different types of plants and how to treat plant diseases.<ref name="Bakar2006" />

Other agronomic innovations in al-Andalus include the cultivation of the pomegranate from Syria, which has since become the namesake and ubiquitous symbol of the city of Granada, as well as the first attempt to create a botanical garden near Córdoba by '[[Abd al-Rahman I]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The formation of al-Andalus|date=1998|publisher=Ashgate |author1=Marín, Manuela |author2=Samsó, Julio |author3=Fierro, Ma. Isabel |isbn=0-86078-708-7|location=Aldershot|pages=xxxviii|oclc=38890783}}</ref>

==Culture==

=== Society ===
[[File:Geschichte_des_Kostüms_(1905)_(14784104832).jpg|thumb|Clothing of al-Andalus in the 15th century, during the [[Emirate of Granada]].]]{{See also|Social and cultural exchange in al-Andalus|La Convivencia|Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Mozarabs}}
The society of al-Andalus was made up of three main religious groups: Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The Muslims, although united on the religious level, had several ethnic divisions, the main being the distinction between the Arabs and the [[Berbers]]. The Arab elite regarded non-Arab Muslims as second-class citizens; and they were particularly scornful of the Berbers.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fletcher |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrMG-LfuU7oC |title=Moorish Spain |last2=Fletcher |first2=Richard A. |date=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520248403 |page=27 |language=en}}</ref>

The ethnic structure of al-Andalus consisted of Arabs at the top of the social scale followed by, in descending order, Berbers, [[Muladí|Muladies]], [[Mozarabes]], and Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ruiz |first=Ana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5pseHOJuX_8C |title=Medina Mayrit: The Origins of Madrid |date=2012 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=9780875869261 |page=57 |language=en}}</ref> Each of these communities inhabited distinct neighborhoods in the cities. In the 10th century a massive conversion of Christians took place, and ''muladies'' (Muslims of native [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] origin), formed the majority of Muslims.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} The Muwalladun had spoken in the local [[Romance languages|Romance]] dialects of Latin collectively called [[Andalusi Romance]] or [[Mozarabic language|''Mozarabic'']] while increasingly adopting the Arabic language, which eventually evolved into the [[Andalusi Arabic]] in which Muslims, Jews, and Christians became monolingual in the last surviving Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula, the Emirate of Granada (1230–1492). Eventually, the Muladies, and later the Berber tribes, adopted an Arabic identity like the majority of subject people in [[Egypt]], the [[Levant]], [[Mesopotamia]], and [[North Africa]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Muladies, together with other Muslims, comprised eighty per cent of the population of al-Andalus by 1100.{{sfn|Glick|1999|loc=Chapter 5: Ethnic Relations}}<ref>"The rate of conversion is slow until the tenth century (less than one-quarter of the eventual total number of converts had been converted); the explosive period coincides closely with the reign of 'Abd al-Rahmdn III (912–961); the process is completed (eighty per cent converted) by around 1100. The curve, moreover, makes possible a reasonable estimate of the religious distribution of the population. Assuming that there were seven million Hispano-Romans in the peninsula in 711 and that the numbers of this segment of the population remained level through the eleventh century (with population growth balancing out Christian migration to the north), then by 912 there would have been approximately 2.8 million indigenous Muslims (muwalladûn) plus Arabs and Berbers. At this point Christians still vastly outnumbered Muslims. By 1100, however, the number of indigenous Muslims would have risen to a majority of 5.6 million.", (Glick 1999, Chapter 1: At the crossroads of civilization)</ref> [[Mozarab]]s were Christians who had long lived under Muslim and Arab rule, adopting many Arab customs, [[Mozarabic art and architecture|art and architecture]], and words, while still maintaining their Christian and [[Mozarabic Rite|Latin rituals]] and their own [[Mozarab language|Romance languages]].{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=166}}

The Jewish population worked mainly as tax collectors, in [[trade]], or as doctors or ambassadors. At the end of the 15th century there were about 50,000 [[Jews]] in Granada and roughly 100,000 in the whole of Islamic Iberia.<ref>Wasserstein, 1995, p. 101.</ref>[[File:ChristianAndMuslimPlayingChess-cropped2.jpg|left|thumb|A Christian and a Muslim play chess in 13th-century al-Andalus.]]
Non-Muslims were given the status of ''[[Dhimmi|ahl al-dhimma]]'' (people under protection), with adult men paying a "[[Jizya]]" tax equal to one dinar per year with exemptions for the elderly and the disabled. Those who were neither Christians nor Jews, such as pagans, were given the status of ''[[Majus]]''.<ref>Jayyusi. ''The legacy of Muslim Spain''.</ref> The treatment of non-Muslims in the Caliphate has been a subject of considerable debate among scholars and commentators, especially those interested in drawing parallels to the co-existence of Muslims and non-Muslims in the modern world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Mark R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgbib5exskUC|title=Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1994|isbn=9780691010823|access-date=24 November 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Andalus cantor.JPG|thumb|Image of a Jewish [[Hazzan|cantor]] reading the [[Passover]] story in al-Andalus, from a 14th-century Spanish [[Haggadah]]]]
[[History of the Jews in Spain|Jews]] constituted more than five per cent of the population.<ref>{{Citation|title=Spain&nbsp;– Al Andalus|url=http://countrystudies.us/spain/5.htm|website = Country Studies US }}</ref> Al-Andalus was a key centre of Jewish life during the early [[Middle Ages]], produced important scholars and was one of the most stable and wealthy Jewish communities.

The longest period of relative tolerance began after 912, with the reign of [[Abd-ar-Rahman III]] and his son, [[Al-Hakam II]], and the Jews of al-Andalus prospered by devoting themselves to the service of the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]], the study of the sciences, and to commerce and industry, especially by trading in [[silk]] and [[slavery|slaves]], which thus promoted the prosperity of the country. Southern Iberia became an asylum for the oppressed Jews of other countries.<ref>Stavans, 2003, p. 10.</ref><ref>Kraemer, 2005, pp. 10–13.</ref>

Under the [[Almoravids]] and the [[Almohads]], there may have been intermittent persecution of Jews,<ref>O'Callaghan, 1975, p. 286.</ref> but sources are extremely scarce and do not give a clear picture though the situation appears to have deteriorated after 1160.<ref>Roth, 1994, pp. 113–116.</ref> Muslim [[pogroms]] against Jews in al-Andalus occurred in Córdoba (1011) and [[1066 Granada massacre|in Granada]] (1066).<ref name="Schweitzer267-268">Schweitzer, Frederick M.; Marvin Perry. ''Anti-Semitism: myth and hate from antiquity to the present'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, {{ISBN|0-312-16561-7}}, pp. 267–268.</ref><ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=412&letter=G&search=Granada Granada] by Richard Gottheil, Meyer Kayserling, ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''. 1906 ed.</ref><ref>Harzig, Hoerder and Shubert, 2003, p. 42.</ref> However, massacres of ''[[dhimmis]]'' are believed to be rare in [[Islamic history]].<ref name="BL45">{{Citation|last=Lewis|first=Bernard|title=The Jews of Islam|pages=44–45|year=1987|orig-year=1984|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton, N.J.]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=978-0-691-00807-3|lccn=84042575|oclc=17588445|author-link=Bernard Lewis}}</ref>

The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids' Maghribi and Andalusi territories by 1147,<ref name="islamicworldeb">[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-26925 "Islamic world". (2007). ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.] ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''. Retrieved September 2, 2007.</ref> far surpassed the [[Almoravides]] in fundamentalist outlook, and treated the non-Muslims harshly. Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, many Jews and Christians emigrated.<ref name="frank">Frank and Leaman, 2003, pp. 137–138.</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=The Almohads|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Medieval/IntergroupTO/JewishMuslim/Almohads.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213223723/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Medieval/IntergroupTO/JewishMuslim/Almohads.htm|archive-date=2009-02-13|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some, such as the family of [[Maimonides]], fled east to more tolerant Muslim lands.<ref name="frank" />

Many ethnicities and religions co-existed in al-Andalus, each of which contributed to its intellectual prosperity. Literacy in Islamic Iberia was far more widespread than in many other nations in the West of the time.<ref>Previte-Orton (1971), vol. 1, p. 377.</ref>

In the 11th century, the [[Arabic numeral system|Hindu-Arabic numeral system]] (base 10) had reached Europe via Al-Andalus through Spanish Muslims, together with knowledge of astronomy and instruments like the [[astrolabe]], which was first imported by [[Pope Sylvester II|Gerbert of Aurillac]]. For that reason, the numerals came to be known in Europe as [[Arabic numerals]] despite their origins in India.

From the earliest days, the Umayyads wanted to be seen as intellectual rivals to the Abbasids and for Córdoba to have libraries and educational institutions to that of their rival, [[Baghdad]]. Although there was a clear rivalry between the two powers, there was freedom to travel between the two caliphates,{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} which helped spread new ideas and innovations over time.

===Language===
[[Multilingualism]], [[language contact]], and [[code-switching]] were important features of the shifting linguistic landscape in al-Andalus, which included [[Arabic]], in vernacular [[Andalusi Arabic]] and formal [[Classical Arabic]] registers, vernacular [[Andalusi Romance]] and formal [[Latin]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and {{Transliteration|ar|al-lisān al-gharbī}} or [[Berber languages|Berber]].<ref name=":103">{{Cite book |last1=López-Morillas |first1=Consuelo |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/819159086 |title=The literature of Al-Andalus |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-17787-0 |editor-last=Menocal |editor-first=María Rosa |chapter=Language |oclc=819159086 |editor-last2=Scheindlin |editor-first2=Raymond P. |editor-last3=Sells |editor-first3=Michael}}</ref> Multilingual households were an attested phenomenon.<ref name=":103"/>

Initially, most of the population spoke [[Romance languages|Romance dialects]]. The [[Western Romance languages|dialects of Iberian Romance]] that were spoken in al-Andalus are collectively referred to as [[Andalusi Romance]] or Mozarabic.<ref name=":103"/> What is hypothesized about these dialects is based on [[Andalusi Romance#Archival record|sparse evidence]], including Romance topographical and personal names and the ''[[kharja]]s'' of some [[Muwashshah|''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|muwaššaḥ}}'']] poetry.<ref name=":103"/>

Arabic arrived with the [[Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula|Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] in 711 and [[Arabization|spread]] gradually over the following centuries, primarily through [[conversion to Islam]].<ref name=":103"/> Arabic in al-Andalus became the language of administration and of literature<ref name=":052222">{{Cite book |last=García Sanjuán |first=Alejandro |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2017 |isbn=9789004161658 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |language=en |chapter=al- Andalus, political history |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}}</ref> and a "vehicle for a higher culture, a literate and literary civilization."<ref name=":103"/> It was widely adopted by the end of the 9th century, even among Andalusi Christians{{Sfn|Catlos|2018|p=104}} and Jews, who wrote Arabic in Hebrew but did not have a distinct dialect.<ref name=":103"/> The [[vernacular]] varieties of Arabic spoken in al-Andalus, referred to as [[Andalusi Arabic]], were [[Maghrebi Arabic]] dialects influenced by their contact with Romance, just as [[Arabic language influence on the Spanish language|Arabic influenced Spanish]].<ref name=":103"/> By about 1260, following the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad]] period, most Christians had migrated to the north and Muslim territories in Iberia were reduced to the [[Emirate of Granada]], in which more than 90% of the population had converted to Islam and Arabic-Romance bilingualism seems to have largely disappeared.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Bulliet |first=Richard W. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674732810 |title=Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period |date=1979-12-31 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-0-674-73280-3 |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674732810}} ''Cited in'' {{Citation |last=Morillas |first=Consuelo López |title=Language |date=2000-08-31 |work=The Literature of Al-Andalus |pages=31–59 |editor-last=Menocal |editor-first=María Rosa |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781139177870A009/type/book_part |access-date=2023-02-17 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521471596.004 |isbn=978-0-521-47159-6 |editor2-last=Scheindlin |editor2-first=Raymond P. |editor3-last=Sells |editor3-first=Michael}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |year=2009 |title=Cyrille; Mayte PENELAS y Philippe ROISSE (eds.) (Madrid, 2008), ¿Existe una identidad mozárabe? Historia, lengua y cultura de los cristianos de al-Andalus (siglos IX-XII) |url=https://gredos.usal.es/bitstream/handle/10366/100529/%C2%AB%C2%BFExiste_una_identidad_mozarabe%3F_Histori.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=Studia Histórica. Historia Nedieval |publisher=[[University of Salamanca|Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca]] |volume=27}}</ref>

The literary traditions of Hebrew—which was used for prayer and ceremonial writings, but not for oral communication—experienced a revolution through contact with Arabic and its literary traditions. Consuelo López Morillas writes that Jews in al-Andalus "wrote Hebrew poetry using Arabic prosodic models and adopted nearly the entire range of Arabic poetic genres and stylistic devices in Hebrew," looking to [[Biblical Hebrew]] as a source for literary expression as Muslims looked to Quranic Arabic.<ref name=":103"/>

[[Berber languages]], referred to in contemporary sources as {{Transliteration|ar|[[Lisan al-Gharbi|al-lisān al-gharbī]]}} ({{Lang|ar|اللسان الغربي}}, Arabic for 'the western tongue'), were especially present in periods of Berber rule, particularly under the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]]<ref name=":0" /> and [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]].<ref name=":032">{{Citation |last1=Jones |first1=Linda G. |title=The Preaching of the Almohads: Loyalty and Resistance across the Strait of Gibraltar |date=2013-01-01 |work=Spanning the Strait |pages=71–101 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004256644_004 |access-date=2023-02-13 |publisher=BRILL |doi=10.1163/9789004256644_004 |isbn=9789004256644}}</ref><ref name=":103"/> Under Almohad rule, it was compulsory to deliver the [[Khutbah|''khuṭba'']] (sermon) at [[Friday prayer]] in Arabic and {{Transliteration|ar|al-lisān al-gharbī}}.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Linda G. |url= |title=Spanning the Strait: Studies in Unity in the Western Mediterranean |publisher=Brill |year=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25664-4 |editor-last=Liang |editor-first=Yuen-Gen |pages=76–80 |language=en |chapter=The Preaching of the Almohads: Loyalty and Resistance across the Strait of Gibraltar |editor-last2=Balbale |editor-first2=Abigail |editor-last3=Devereux |editor-first3=Andrew |editor-last4=Gómez-Rivas |editor-first4=Camilo |chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004256644/B9789004256644_004.xml}}</ref>

===Literature and poetry===
{{Main|Literature of al-Andalus}}In al-Andalus, there are 11,831 known scholars who were active and 13,730 known works that were written or transmitted from the eighth to fifteenth centuries.<ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Fierro |first=Maribel |title=The "Bestsellers" of al-Andalus |date=2021 |work=Artistic and Cultural Dialogues in the Late Medieval Mediterranean |pages=31–56 |editor-last=Marcos Cobaleda |editor-first=María |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-53366-3_2 |access-date=2025-01-11 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-53366-3_2 |isbn=978-3-030-53366-3}}</ref> Of these scholars, those who are well known and remembered in the West, such as [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd]], [[Ibn Hazm]], or [[Ibn Arabi]], are not necessarily the same scholars that are remembered in Islamic culture, such as [[Ibn 'Abd al-Barr|Abū ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-Barr]], [[Abu al-Walid al-Baji|Abū l-Walīd al-Bājī]], [[Ibn 'Atiyya|Ibn ʿAtịyya]], [[Ibn al-Arif|Ibn al-ʿArīf]], or [[Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi|Abū Isḥāq aš-Šāṭibī]].<ref name=":2" />

Poetry was considered the prime literary genre in Arabic.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last1=Menocal |first1=María Rosa |title=The literature of al-Andalus |last2=Scheindlin |first2=Raymond P. |last3=Sells |first3=Micheal |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-17787-0 |oclc=819159086}}</ref> Traditional [[Arabic prosody|forms]] of [[Arabic poetry]] from the [[Mashriq]], or Muslim East, especially the [[monometer]], [[monorhyme]] ''[[Qasida|qaṣīda]]'' and the [[Prosimetrum|prosimetric]] [[Maqama|''maqāma'']], were adopted in al-Andalus.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=Reynolds |first=Dwight F. |title=Rhyme in Arabic Oral Poetry |date=2022 |work=Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language, and Song |volume=14 |pages=47–62 |editor-last=Sykäri |editor-first=Venla |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40.5 |access-date=2025-01-11 |publisher=Finnish Literature Society |isbn=978-951-858-587-2 |editor2-last=Fabb |editor2-first=Nigel}}</ref> The major Andalusi innovation in poetry was the '[[rhyme revolution]]' embodied in the 10th-11th century [[Strophic form|strophic]] song form called the ''[[Muwashshah|muwaššaḥ]]'' ('girdled'; pl. ''muwaššaḥāt'').<ref name=":4" /> The ''muwaššaḥ'' features a complex rhyme scheme usually containing five ''aghsān'' ('branches'; sing. ''ghusn''), with uniform rhyme within each strophe, interspersed with ''asmāṭ'' ('threads for stringing pearls'; sing. ''simṭ'') with common rhyme throughout the song, as well as a terminal ''[[kharja]]'', the song's final ''simṭ'', which could be in a different language.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Rosen |first=Tova |title=The muwashshah |date=2000-08-31 |work=The Literature of Al-Andalus |pages=163–189 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521471596.010 |access-date=2021-06-16 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521471596.010 |isbn=978-0-521-47159-6}}</ref> Andalusi ''[[zajal]]'' was strophic poetry in [[Andalusi Arabic|Andalusi vernacular Arabic]], usually associated with [[Ibn Quzman]].<ref name=":10" /> Andalusi strophic poetry had an impact on poetic expression in Western Europe, especially the [[Occitan literature|Old Occitan/Provençal]] [[Lyric poetry|lyric]] of the [[troubadour]]s,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Menocal |first=María Rosa |date=1981 |title=Close Encounters in Medieval Provence: Spain's Role in the Birth of Troubadour Poetry |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/472655 |journal=Hispanic Review |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=43–64 |doi=10.2307/472655 |issn=0018-2176}}</ref> and in the wider Muslim world.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zqUuxgEc9G0C&q=978-90-04-13822-3 |title=Muwaššah, Zajal, Kharja: Bibliography of Eleven Centuries of Strophic Poetry and Music from Al-Andalus and Their Influence on East and West |date=January 2004 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-13822-3}}</ref>[[File:Hadith Bayad wa Riyad.jpg|thumb|Lute song in a garden for a noble lady. 13th century manuscript from Andalusi ''[[Hadith Bayad wa Riyad]]''.]]''[[Rithā' al-Andalus]]'' is considered the most significant of a series of poems that were written in the classical tradition of ''[[rithā']]'' (which denotes both lamentation and a literary genre in itself<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bosworth |first1=Clifford Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPsUAAAAIAAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=BRILL |year=1989 |isbn=9004090827 |volume=6 |page=603}}</ref>) by Andalusi poets who had taken inspiration from the fall of Andalusi cities and territories.<ref name="EI 606">{{cite book |last1=Bosworth |first1=Clifford Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPsUAAAAIAAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=BRILL |year=1989 |isbn=9004090827 |volume=6 |page=606}}</ref> [[Jewish poetry from Al-Andalus]] also developed, mostly but not exclusively in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], with significant consonance with Arabic poetry in both theme and form.<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Beeston, A. F. L. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/929473299 |title=The Cambridge history of Arabic literature. the literature of Al-Andalus |author2=Ashtiany, Julia |author3=Badawi, M. M. |author4=Menocal, María Rosa |author5=Scheindlin, Raymond P. |author6=Sells ,Michael |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-24015-8 |chapter=The Languages of al-Andalus Between the Arrival of the Muslims and the Reconquista: Jews |oclc=929473299}}</ref><ref>Sarah Stroumsa, ''Andalus and Sefarad'', 2019, page 86.</ref>

One specialist of Al-Andalus' intellectual history, Maria Luisa Avila, says that "[[Biographical dictionary|biographical dictionaries]] have recorded information about thousands of distinguished people in every period from al-Andalus, who were “cultivators of knowledge”'','' particularly in the legal-religious sciences as well as authors", and that "the exact number of scholars which appears in the biographical sources has not been established yet, but it surely exceeds six thousand."<ref>Maria Luisa Avila, "Women in Andalusi Biographical Sources" in Randi Deguilhem/Manuela Marin (ed.), ''Writing the Feminine: Women in Arab Sources'', I.B.Tauris (2002), p. 152.</ref> It has been estimated that in the 10th century between 70,000 and 80,000 manuscripts were copied on a yearly basis in Córdoba alone.<ref>Roman, Stephan (1990). ''The development of Islamic library collections in Western Europe and North America'', Mansell Publishing, p. x.</ref>

=== Music ===
{{Main|Andalusi classical music}}

The [[Andalusi music|music of al-Andalus]] is part of an influential musical tradition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saudi Aramco World : Listening for Al-Andalus |url=https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/201104/listening.for.al-andalus.htm |access-date=2020-08-14 |website=archive.aramcoworld.com}}</ref> [[Ziryab]], a poet and musician, who came from the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] Caliphate and arrived in Córdoba in 822, played a role in Andalusi music as well as other aspects of Andalusi culture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lebbady, H. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/951516389 |title=Feminist traditions in andalusi-moroccan oral narratives. |date=2014 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-349-38217-0 |oclc=951516389}}</ref> Poetic forms such as the ''[[muwashshah]]'', the ''[[kharja]]'', the [[Andalusi nubah|''nawba'']], and the ''[[zajal]]'' are prominent in Andalusi music.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glasser |first=Jonathan |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/912872749 |title=The lost paradise : Andalusi music in urban North Africa |date=8 April 2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-32706-8 |oclc=912872749}}</ref>

===Philosophy===
====Al-Andalus philosophy====
{{See also|Early Islamic philosophy|Sufism in al-Andalus}}

The historian [[Said al-Andalusi|Said al-Andalus]] wrote that Caliph [[Abd-ar-Rahman III]] had collected libraries of books and granted patronage to scholars of [[medicine]] and "ancient sciences". Later, ''al-Mustansir'' ([[Al-Hakam II]]) went yet further, building a university and libraries in Córdoba.<ref name="Hamerly2017">{{cite book |last1=Hamerly |first1=Don |title=Libraries - Traditions and Innovations: Papers from the Library History Seminar XIII |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-11-045084-2 |editor1-last=Kimball |editor1-first=Melanie A. |chapter=The Córdovan Library of Caliph al-Hakam II |editor2-last=Wisser |editor2-first=Katherine M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J2vNDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4}}</ref> Córdoba became one of the world's leading centres of medicine and philosophical debate.
[[File:Averroes (3701015945).jpg|upright=.7|thumb|[[Averroes]], founder of the [[Averroism]] school of philosophy, was influential in the rise of [[Secularism|secular thought]] in [[Western Europe]]. Statue of Averroes in Córdoba.]]
When Al-Hakam's son [[Hisham II]] took over, real power was ceded to the ''hajib'', [[al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir]]. Al-Mansur was a distinctly religious man and disapproved of the sciences of astronomy, [[logic]], and especially of [[astrology]], so much so that many books on these subjects, which had been preserved and collected at great expense by [[Al-Hakam II]], were [[Book burning|burned publicly]]. With Al-Mansur's death in 1002, interest in philosophy revived. Numerous scholars emerged, including Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun, whose masterwork was the philosophical treatise "Tree of Wisdom". [[Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti]] (died 1008) was an outstanding scholar in astronomy and astrology; he was an intrepid traveller who journeyed all over the Islamic world and beyond and kept in touch with the [[Brethren of Purity]]. He is said to have brought the 51 "[[Epistles of the Brethren of Purity]]" to ''al-Andalus'' and added the compendium to this work, although it is quite possible that it was added later by another scholar with the name al-Majriti. Another book attributed to al-Majriti is the ''[[Picatrix|Ghayat al-Hakim]]'', "The Aim of the Sage", which explored a synthesis of [[Platonism]] with [[Hermes Trismegistus|Hermetic philosophy]]. Its use of incantations led the book to be widely dismissed in later years, although the [[Sufi]] communities continued to study it.

A prominent follower of al-Majriti was the philosopher and geometer [[Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani]] who was followed, in turn, by Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sayigh, usually known in the Arab world as [[Ibn Bajjah]], "[[Avempace]]".

The al-Andalus philosopher [[Averroes]] (1126–1198) was the founder of the [[Averroism]] school of philosophy, and his works and commentaries influenced medieval thought in Western Europe.<ref name="Hasse">{{cite web |last1=Hasse |first1=Dag Nikolaus |date=2021 |title=Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on the Latin West |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> Another influential al-Andalus philosopher was [[Ibn Tufail]].

====Jewish philosophy and culture====
{{Main|Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain}}
[[File:Maimonides Memorial-Córdoba.jpg|thumb|Memorial to [[Maimonides]] in Córdoba]]
As [[History of the Jews in Iraq#Babylonia as the centre of Judaism|Jewish thought in Babylonia]] declined, the tolerance of ''al-Andalus'' made it the new centre of Jewish intellectual endeavours. Poets and commentators like [[Judah Halevi]] (1086–1145) and [[Dunash ben Labrat]] (920–990) contributed to the cultural life of ''al-Andalus'', but the area was even more important to the development of Jewish philosophy. A stream of Jewish philosophers, cross-fertilizing with Muslim philosophers (see [[joint Jewish and Islamic philosophies]]), culminated with the widely celebrated Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, [[Maimonides]] (1135–1205), though he did not actually do any of his work in ''al-Andalus'', his family having fled persecution by the [[Almohad dynasty|Almohads]] around 1159.<ref name="Hurvitz2020">{{cite book |last1=Hurvitz |first1=Nimrod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RQMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA215 |title=Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook |date=2020 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-96910-0 |page=215 |quote=He and his family had left their native town of Córdoba around 554/1159 to escape persecution by the Almohads, who had recently conquered al-Andalus and replaced the ruling Almoravid dynasty. After fleeing Córdoba, Maimonides settled in Fez but fled persecution again in 560/1165, moving first to Palestine and finally to Fusṭāṭ, near Cairo, where he would remain.}}</ref>

=== Art and architecture ===
{{Main|Moorish architecture|Mudéjar art}}
[[File:Great Mosque of Córdoba (Spain).jpg|thumb|A section of the hypostyle hall in the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba]], begun in 785]]
In Córdoba, [[Abd al-Rahman I|Abd ar-Rahman I]] built the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba|Great Mosque of Córdoba]] in 785. It was expanded multiple times up until the 10th century, and after the Reconquista it was converted into a Catholic cathedral. Its key features include a [[hypostyle]] hall with marble columns supporting [[two-tiered arch]]es, a [[Horseshoe arch|horseshoe-arch]] [[mihrab]], ribbed domes, a courtyard (''[[sahn]]'') with gardens, and a [[minaret]] (later converted into a [[bell tower]]).<ref name="Bloom2020">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&dq=Architecture+of+the+Islamic+West%3A+North+Africa+and+the+Iberian+Peninsula%2C+700-1800&pg=PP1 |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780300218701 |location= |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=17–21, 61–79}}<ref name="Ruggles2011">{{Cite book |last=Ruggles |first=D. Fairchild |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=848k_veh0IkC&q=generalife&pg=PA155 |title=Islamic Gardens and Landscapes |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780812207286 |location= |pages=90–93}}</ref> Abd ar-Rahman III, at the height of his power, began construction of [[Madinat al-Zahra]], a luxurious palace-city to serve as a new capital.<ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|pages=51–58}} The Umayyads also reconstructed the [[Roman bridge of Córdoba|Roman-era bridge]] over the Guadalquivir River in Córdoba, while the Almohads later added the [[Calahorra Tower]] to the bridge.<ref name="Barrucand1992" />{{Rp|pages=39, 45, 101, 137}} The [[Mosque of Cristo de la Luz|Bab al-Mardum Mosque]] (later converted to a church) in Toledo is a well-preserved example of a small neighbourhood mosque built at the end of the Caliphate period.<ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|page=79}}
[[File:Spagna, cordoba, pisside col nome di al-mughina, avorio, X sec. 04.JPG|left|upright=.7|thumb|The [[Pyxis of al-Mughira]], a carved ivory casket made at [[Madinat al-Zahra]], dated to 968]]
The official workshops of the Caliphate, such as those at [[Madinat al-Zahra]], produced luxury goods for use at court or as gifts for guests, allies, and diplomats, which stimulated artistic production. Many objects produced in the caliph's workshops later made their way into the collections of museums and Christian cathedrals in Europe.{{Sfn|Catlos|2018|pp=139–141}} Among the most famous objects of this period are ivory boxes which are carved with vegetal, [[Figurative art|figurative]], and epigraphic motifs. Notable surviving examples include the [[Pyxis of al-Mughira]], the [[Pyxis of Zamora]], and the [[Leyre Casket]].<ref name="BloomBlair2009">{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=RA1-PA332 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan M. |location= |page=332 |chapter=Córdoba |editor-last2=Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}}</ref><ref name="Met1992">{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Al_Andalus_The_Art_of_Islamic_Spain |title=Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=1992 |isbn=0870996371 |editor-last=Dodds |editor-first=Jerrilynn D. |location=New York}}</ref>

During the Taifas period, art and culture continued to flourish despite the political fragmentation of Al-Andalus. The [[Aljafería|Aljaferia Palace]] of Zaragoza is the most significant palace preserved from this period, featuring complex ornamental [[Arcade (architecture)|arcades]] and [[stucco]] decoration. In other cities, a number of important palaces or fortresses were begun or expanded by local dynasties such as the [[Alcazaba of Málaga]] and the [[Alcazaba of Almería]]. Other examples of architecture from around this period include the [[El Bañuelo|Bañuelo]] of Granada, an [[Hammam|Islamic bathhouse]].<ref name="Barrucand1992">{{Cite book |last1=Barrucand |first1=Marianne |title=Moorish architecture in Andalusia |last2=Bednorz |first2=Achim |publisher=Taschen |year=1992 |isbn=3822876348}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=116–128}}[[File:La Giralda, Seville, Spain - Sep 2009.jpg|thumb|The [[Giralda]] of Seville, originally built by the Almohads, is a prime example of Andalusi architecture.]]In Seville, Almohad rulers built the Great Mosque of Seville (later transformed into the [[Seville Cathedral|Cathedral of Seville]]), which consisted of a hypostyle prayer hall, a courtyard (now known as the ''Patio de los Naranjos'' or Court of Oranges), and a massive minaret tower now known as the [[Giralda]]. The minaret was later expanded after being converted into a bell tower for the current cathedral.<ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|pages=130–133}} Almohad architecture promoted new forms and decorative designs such as the [[multifoil arch]] and the [[sebka]] motif, probably influenced by the Caliphate-period architecture of Córdoba.<ref name="Marçais1954">{{Cite book |last=Marçais |first=Georges |title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident |publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques |year=1954 |location=Paris |language=fr}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=232–234, 257–258}}
[[File:Granada's sunset.jpg|thumb|The [[Alhambra]], begun by the first Nasrid emir [[Muhammad I of Granada|Ibn al-Ahmar]] in the 13th century|left]]
Artists and intellectuals took refuge at Granada after the Christian kingdoms expanded significantly in the 13th century. The palaces of the [[Alhambra]] and the [[Generalife]] in Granada reflect the culture and art of the last centuries of Muslim rule of Al-Andalus.<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Alhambra, The |volume=1|pages=656–658}}</ref> The complex was begun by Ibn al-Ahmar, the first Nasrid emir, and the last major additions were made during the reigns of [[Yusuf I of Granada|Yusuf I]] (1333–1353) and [[Muhammad V of Granada|Muhammad V]] (1353–1391).<ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|page=152}} It integrates buildings and gardens with the natural qualities of the site and is a testament to Andalusi culture and to the skills of the Muslim artisans, craftsmen, and builders of their era. Nasrid architecture continued the earlier traditions of Andalusi architecture while also synthesizing them into its own distinctive style, which had many similarities with contemporary Marinid architecture in North Africa.<ref name="Arnold2017">{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Felix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXjXDQAAQBAJ&dq=Islamic+Palace+Architecture+in+the+Western+Mediterranean&pg=PP1 |title=Islamic Palace Architecture in the Western Mediterranean: A History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780190624552 |location= |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=219, 224}}<ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|pages=149–168}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Irwin |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M64VYn8Qq-QC&dq=robert+irwin+alhambra&pg=PP1 |title=The Alhambra |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780674063600 |location= |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=78–82}} It is characterized by the use of the [[courtyard]] as a central space and basic unit around which other halls and rooms were organized. Courtyards typically had water features at their centre, such as a [[Reflecting pool|reflective pool]] or a fountain. Decoration was focused on the inside of buildings and was executed primarily with [[Zellij|tile mosaics]] on lower walls and carved stucco on the upper walls. [[Islamic geometric patterns|Geometric patterns]], [[Arabesque|vegetal motifs]], and [[Islamic calligraphy|calligraphy]] were the main types of decorative motifs. Additionally, "stalactite"-like sculpting, known as [[muqarnas]], was used for three-dimensional features like [[Vault (architecture)|vaulted]] ceilings, particularly during the reign of Muhammad V and after.<ref name="BermúdezLópez2011">{{Cite book |last=Bermúdez López |first=Jesús |title=The Alhambra and the Generalife: Official Guide |publisher=TF Editores |year=2011 |isbn=9788492441129 |location= |pages= |chapter=}}</ref><ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|page=|pages=164–167}}

Even after Muslim territories were conquered by the Christian kingdoms, Andalusi art and architecture continued to appear for many centuries as a prestigious style under new Christian patrons employing Muslim craftsmen, originating the [[Mozarabic art and architecture|Mozarabic art]] in the [[Kingdom of León|Kingdom of Leon]] during the 10th century and becoming what is known as the [[Mudéjar art|Mudéjar style]] (named after the [[Mudéjar]]s or Muslims under Christian rule). Numerous examples are found in the early churches of Toledo (e.g. the [[Church of San Román, Toledo|Church of San Román]], 13th century) and in the cities of Aragon such as Zaragoza and [[Teruel]].<ref name="Marçais1954" />{{Rp|pages=361–368}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Borrás Gualís |first1=Gonzalo M. |title=Mudéjar Art: Islamic Aesthetics in Christian Art (Islamic Art in the Mediterranean) |last2=Lavado Paradinas |first2=Pedro |last3=Pleguezuelo Hernández |first3=Alfonso |last4=Pérez Higuera |first4=María Teresa |last5=Mogollón Cano-Cortés |first5=María Pilar |last6=Morales |first6=Alfredo J. |last7=López Guzman |first7=Rafael |last8=Sorroche Cuerva |first8=Miguel Ángel |last9=Stuyck Fernández Arche |first9=Sandra |publisher=Museum Ohne Grenzen (Museum With No Frontiers) |year=2018 |isbn=9783902782144}}</ref> Among the most famous examples is the [[Alcázar of Seville]], the former Abbadid and Almohad palace redeveloped by Christian rulers such as Peter of Castile, who in 1364 started adding new Moorish-style sections with the help of Muslim craftsmen from Granada and Toledo.<ref name="Bloom2020" />{{Rp|page=171}} Some surviving 13th and 14th-century [[Jews|Jewish]] [[synagogue]]s were also built (or rebuilt) in Mudéjar style under Christian rule, such as the [[Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca|Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca]] in Toledo (rebuilt in its current form circa 1250),<ref name="Qantara2020a">{{Cite web |title=Qantara – Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca |url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=1349&lang=en |access-date=2020-11-21 |website=www.qantara-med.org}}</ref> the [[Córdoba Synagogue|Synagogue of Córdoba]] (1315),<ref name="Qantara2020b">{{Cite web |title=Qantara – Synagogue de Cordoue |url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=177 |access-date=2020-11-21 |website=www.qantara-med.org}}</ref> and the [[Synagogue of El Tránsito]] (1355–1357).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visit Sefardí Museum, El Tránsito Synagogue {{!}} TCLM |url=http://en.www.turismocastillalamancha.es/patrimonio/museo-sefardi-sinagoga-del-transito-2264/descripcion/ |access-date=2020-11-22 |website=en.www.turismocastillalamancha.es |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="El Transito" Synagogue in Toledo, Spain |url=https://www.bh.org.il/el-transito-synagogue-in-toledo-spain/ |access-date=2020-11-22 |website=Beit Hatfutsot |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Food and agriculture ===
[[File:Spread sugarcane.JPG|thumb|The cultivation of sugarcane had reached the south of the Iberian Peninsula by the 16th century AD due to Arab conquest and administration of the region.]]{{Main|Arab Agricultural Revolution|Mediterranean cuisine|Qanat}}
[[File:Bananas Muslim world.JPG|thumb|Diffusion of bananas from India to the Iberian peninsula during Islamic rule.]]
Crops produced using irrigation, along with food imported from the Middle East, provided areas around ''Andalusī'' cities with an agricultural economic sector that was the most advanced in Europe by far, sparking the [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]].<ref name="Squatriti">{{cite journal |author=Squatriti, Paolo |title=Of Seeds, Seasons, and Seas: Andrew Watson's Medieval Agrarian Revolution Forty Years Later |journal=The Journal of Economic History |date=2014 |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=1205–1220 |doi=10.1017/S0022050714000904|doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |s2cid=154969169 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ruggles |first=D. Fairchild |author-link=D. Fairchild Ruggles |title=Islamic Gardens and Landscapes |url=https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg |url-access=registration |date=2008 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812240252 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg/page/15 15–36]}}</ref> A variety of foodstuffs, spices and crops were introduced to Spain and [[Emirate of Sicily|Sicily]] during Arab rule, via the commercial networks of the Islamic world. These include sugarcane,<ref name="spanish-food.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.spanish-food.org/spanish-food-history-arab-influence.html|title=Arab Influence {{!}} Spanish-food.org|website=www.spanish-food.org|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref> rice,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crist|first=Raymond E.|date=1957|title=Rice Culture in Spain|journal=The Scientific Monthly|volume=84|issue=2|pages=66–74|issn=0096-3771|jstor=21775|bibcode=1957SciMo..84...66C}}</ref> cotton, alfalfa, oranges,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ft.lk/ft-lite/the-story-of-andalusian-oranges-in-spain/6-579841|title=The story of Andalusian Oranges in Spain|website=www.ft.lk|language=en|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref> lemons,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fruits/lemon-types.asp|title=The Nibble: Lemon History|website=www.thenibble.com|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref> apricots,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/14/481932829/moon-of-the-faith-a-history-of-the-apricot-and-its-many-pleasures|title='Moon Of The Faith:' A History Of The Apricot And Its Many Pleasures|website=NPR.org|date=June 14, 2016|language=en|access-date=2019-07-07|last1=Denker|first1=Joel}}</ref> spinach,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://underwoodgardens.com/history-spinach/|title=History of Spinach {{!}} Terroir Seeds|last=Scott|first=Stephen|date=2014-02-28|website=Terroir Seeds {{!}} Underwood Gardens|language=en|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref> eggplants,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Marie-Christine Daunay and Jules Janick|date=2007|title=History and Iconography of Eggplant|url=https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/chronicaeggplant.pdf|journal=Chronica Horticulturae|volume=47|pages=16–22}}</ref> carrots,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html|title=History of Carrots{{Snd}} A brief summary and timeline|website=www.carrotmuseum.co.uk|access-date=2019-07-07|archive-date=July 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728070445/http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[saffron]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cyrussaffron.com/the-history-of-saffron/|title=The history of saffron|date=2018-10-04|website=Saffron|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-07|archive-date=July 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707215152/https://cyrussaffron.com/the-history-of-saffron/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and bananas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=1560989661&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true|title=Bananas: an American History|website=www.worldcat.org|access-date=2020-04-06}}</ref> The Arabs also continued extensive cultivation and production of olive oil (the Spanish words for 'oil' and 'olive'—''aceite'' and ''aceituna'', respectively—are derived from the Arabic ''al-zait'', meaning 'olive juice'),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thespruceeats.com/grades-of-spanish-olive-oil-3082923|title=Learn All About Spanish Olive Oil|website=The Spruce Eats|language=en|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref> and pomegranates (the heraldic symbol of Granada) from classical [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]] times.

Arabic influence still lingers on in Spanish cuisine through these fruits, vegetables, spices and cooking and agricultural techniques.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thefoodieslarder.com/food/moorish-influence-on-andalusian-cuisine/|title=History of Spanish Food{{Snd}} The Moorish Influence on Andalusian Cuisine|date=2013-06-12|website=The Foodies Larder|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref><ref name="spanish-food.org"/> One of the largest palm groves in the world, called the [[Palmeral of Elche]], was established by the Arabs between the 7th–10th centuries to facilitate fruit (including pomegranate and date crops) and vegetable growth underneath the cool shade of palm trees and irrigation channels, and is cited by [[UNESCO]] as an example of the transfer of agricultural practices from one continent (North Africa) to another (Iberian Peninsula of Europe).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/es/list/930|title=Centro del Patrimonio Mundial -|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=es|access-date=2020-04-06}}</ref>

The period of Arab rule also involved the extension of Roman irrigation channels as well as the introduction of novel irrigation techniques from the [[Persianate society|Persianate]] world, such as the ''[[acequia]]'' (deriving from the classical Arabic ''as-sāqiya'') – subterranean channels used to transport water from highland aquifers to lowland fields in arid environments –first originating in either the Arabian Peninsula or the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] (referred to as ''qanat'' or ''karez'' in the Middle East). These structures are still found in Andalusia province, particularly in Granada.<ref name="McKenzie2017">{{cite web |author1=Clinton McKenzie |title=Acequias: Irrigation for a Growing Community |url=https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=0dde16704b1f4a7e8f329782729d6eda |website=www.arcgis.com |publisher=Bexar County Information Technology |access-date=28 March 2020 |date=30 October 2017}}</ref>

The confection ''[[alfajor]]'' (supposedly from {{lang|ar|الفاخر}}) has its origins in al-Andalus.<ref name="Krondl2011">{{cite book|author=Michael Krondl|title=Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dt0RErSFvE8C|date=1 October 2011|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-56976-954-6|page=129}}</ref>

===Homosexuality and pederasty===
The ''[[Encyclopedia of Homosexuality]]'' states that "Al-Andalus had many links to Hellenistic culture, and except for the Almoravid and Almohadic periods (1086–1212), it was hedonistic and tolerant of homosexuality, indeed one of the times in world history in which sensuality of all sorts has been most openly enjoyed. Important rulers such as Abd al-Rahman III, al-Hakam II, Hisham II, and al-Mu-tamid openly chose boys as sexual partners, and kept [[catamites]]. Homosexual prostitution was widespread, and its customers came from higher levels of society than those of heterosexual prostitutes." The verses of [[Ibn Quzman]] describe an openly bisexual lifestyle.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Spanish Writers on Gay and Lesbian Themes|year=1999|editor-first =David William|editor-last = Foster|publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn = 9780313303326}}</ref> Andalusi anthologies of poetry such as the ''[[Rāyāt al-mubarrizīn wa-ghāyāt al-mumayyazīn]]'' are known in part for their homoerotic and "abundant pederastic poetry". Such themes were also found in the Sephardic Jewish poetry of the time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dynes |first1=Wayne R. |title=Encyclopedia of Homosexuality |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317368120 |pages=1237 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7TOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT487 |access-date=10 May 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

In the book ''Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia'', Daniel Eisenberg describes [[homosexuality]] as "a key symbolic issue throughout the Middle Ages in Iberia", stating that "in al-Andalus homosexual pleasures were much indulged in by the intellectual and political elite. Evidence includes the behaviour of rulers, such as Abd al-Rahmn III, Al-Hakam II, Hisham II, and Al Mu'tamid, who openly kept male harems; the memoirs of [[Abdallah ibn Buluggin]], last Zirid king of Granada, makes references to male prostitutes, who charged higher fees and had a higher class of clientele than did their female counterparts: the repeated criticisms of Christians; and especially the abundant poetry. Both [[pederasty]] and love between adult males are found. Although homosexual practices were never officially condoned, prohibitions against them were rarely enforced, and usually there was not even a pretense of doing so." Male homosexual relations allowed nonprocreative sexual practices and were not seen as a form of identity. Very little is known about the homosexual behaviour of women.<ref name="GerliArmistead2003">{{cite book|author=Eisenberg, Daniel |editor1=E. Michael Gerli |editor2=Samuel G. Armistead|title=Medieval Iberia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ra9BtjLRNMsC&pg=PA398|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-93918-8|page=398|chapter=Homosexuality}}</ref>

===Slavery===
{{Main|Slavery in Al-Andalus}}
Slavery existed in Muslim al-Andalus as well as in the Christian kingdoms, and both sides of the religious border followed the custom of not enslaving people of their own religion. Consequently, Muslims were enslaved in Christian lands, while Christians and other non-Muslims were enslaved in al-Andalus.<ref name="Phillips2014">{{cite book|author=William D. Phillips|title=Slavery in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KbboAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA58|year=2014|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-4491-5|pages=58–59}}</ref>

The Moors imported white Christian slaves from the 8th century until the end of the [[Reconquista]] in the late 15th century. The slaves were exported from the Christian section of Spain, as well as Eastern Europe (''[[Saqaliba]]''). Saqaliba slavery in al-Andalus was especially prominent in the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] where white slaves constituted most of the administrative personnel in the courts and palaces.<ref>Fernandez-Morera 2016 pp. 163–164</ref>

The slaves of the Caliph were often European [[saqaliba]] slaves trafficked from Northern or Eastern Europe. While male saqaliba could be given work in a number of tasks, such as offices in the kitchen, falconry, mint, textile workshops, the administration or the royal guard (in the case of [[harem]] guards, they were castrated), female saqaliba were placed in the harem.<ref name="Scales1993">{{cite book|author=Peter C. Scales|title=The Fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba: Berbers and Andalusis in Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-Wvg__iHPAC&pg=PA134|date=31 December 1993|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-09868-2|page=134}}</ref>

The harem could contain thousands of slave concubines; the harem of [[Abd al-Rahman I]] consisted of 6,300 women.<ref name="Man1999">{{cite book|author=Man, John |title=Atlas of the Year 1000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-CgtWP38nsC&pg=PA72|year=1999|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-54187-0|page=72}}</ref> They were appreciated for their light skin.<ref name="Ruiz2007">{{cite book|author=Ruiz, Ana |title=Vibrant Andalusia: The Spice of Life in Southern Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMBlwWbxq3kC&pg=PA35|year=2007|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-541-6|page=35}}</ref> The concubines ([[jawaris]]) were educated in accomplishments to please their master, and many became known and respected for their knowledge in a variety of subjects from music to medicine.<ref name="Ruiz2007" /> Jawaris concubines who gave birth to a child attained the status of an ''[[umm walad]]'', which meant that they could no longer be sold and were to be set free after the death of her master.

== Legacy ==
{{see also|Islamic Golden Age|Moorish architecture|Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe}}As Andalusi cities were conquered by Leon, Castile, and other Christian Spanish kingdoms, Christian monarchs such as [[Alfonso X of Castile]] started translating the mountainous libraries of al-Andalus into Latin. These libraries contained translations of Ancient Greek texts, as well as new ones made by Muslims in the [[Islamic Golden Age]]. That, combined with the interaction with Muslims during the [[Crusades]], and the [[Fall of Constantinople]] introducing Greek scholars to the west, helped launch the [[Renaissance]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Scientists and philosophers such as [[Averroes]] and [[Al-Zahrawi]] (fathers of rationalism and surgery, respectively) heavily inspired the Renaissance, and their ideas are still world renowned to this day.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Al Andalus has also left art and architecture and has some of the best preserved [[Islamic Golden Age]] architecture in the world, with examples including the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba|Cathedral of Córdoba]], the [[Alhambra]], the [[Giralda]] and many more.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Andalus: the Legacy|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008w6v|website=BBC Radio}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Menocal|first=Maria|title=The Ornament of the World|isbn=0316168718}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=York|first=University of|title=The Legacy of al-Andalus: Craftsmanship and architectural fragments from Islamic Spain|url=https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/public-lectures/spring-2020/legacy-al-andalus/|access-date=2020-09-17|website=University of York|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Moorish Influence On Renaiss|url=https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/Don%20Quixote/moorish_influence_on_renaiss.htm|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.webpages.uidaho.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Andalus {{!}} Facts, History, & Maps|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Andalus|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

As a result of the Reconquista and fall of many important Andalusi cities, substantial numbers of Andalusi migrated to the Maghreb where they found place at the courts of Maghrebi rulers. Many of the elite Andalusi immigrants were Arabs. For a variety of reasons, "Andalusi" came to be almost synonymous with "Arab" in the Maghreb.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rouighi |first=Ramzi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap67DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |title=Inventing the Berbers: History and Ideology in the Maghrib |date=2019-08-02 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-5130-2 |pages=67 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Gharb Al-Andalus]]
* [[Arab diaspora]]
* [[La Convivencia]]
* [[History of Islam]]
* [[History of the Jews under Muslim rule]]
* [[Hispanic and Latino American Muslims|Hispanic and Latino Muslims]]
* [[Islam and antisemitism#Iberian Peninsula|Islam and anti-Semitism in Iberia]]
* [[Islam in Spain]]
* [[Islam in Portugal]]
* [[List of Moroccan writers#List of Moorish writers|List of Andalusi and Moroccan writers]]
* [[Moorish Gibraltar]]
* [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]]
* [[Kemal Reis]]
* [[Social and cultural exchange in Al-Andalus]]
* [[Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula]]
{{div col end}}

===History===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{{History of Spain}}
{{col-break}}
{{History of Portugal}}
{{col-break}}
{{History of Gibraltar}}
{{col-end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Alfonso, Esperanza, 2007. ''Islamic Culture Through Jewish Eyes: al-Andalus from the Tenth to Twelfth Century''. NY: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-43732-5}}
* Al-Djazairi, Salah Eddine 2005. ''The Hidden Debt to Islamic Civilisation''. Manchester: Bayt Al-Hikma Press. {{ISBN|0-9551156-1-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780748646821 |location= |pages= |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Boloix-Gallardo |first=Bárbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBhREAAAQBAJ |title=A Companion to Islamic Granada |publisher=Brill |year=2021 |isbn=978-90-04-42581-1 |editor-last=Boloix-Gallardo |editor-first=Bárbara |pages=122–163 |language=en |chapter=Granada, Capital of al-Andalus and Core of the Nasrid Kingdom (7th–9th/13th–15th Centuries)}}
* Bossong, Georg. 2002. "Der Name ''Al-Andalus'': Neue Überlegungen zu einem alten Problem", ''Sounds and Systems: Studies in Structure and Change. A Festschrift for Theo Vennemann'', eds. David Restle & Dietmar Zaefferer. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.&nbsp;149–164. (In German) Also available [https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110894653.149/html online]
* Calderwood, Eric. 2018. ''Colonial al-Andalus : Spain and the making of modern Moroccan culture''. Harvard University Press
* {{Cite book |last=Catlos |first=Brian A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKBfDwAAQBAJ |title=Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain |publisher=Basic Books |year=2018 |isbn=978-0465055876 |location=New York}}
* Cohen, Mark. 1994. ''Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-01082-X}}
* Collins, Roger. 1989. ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797'', Oxford: Blackwell. {{ISBN|0-631-19405-3}}
* {{cite book | author=Dodds, Jerrilynn D. | title=Al-Andalus: the art of Islamic Spain |url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/45966/rec/1 | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1992 | isbn=9780870996368 }}
* Fernandez-Morera, Dario. 2016. ''The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain''. NY: [[Intercollegiate Studies Institute]]. {{ISBN|978-1610170956}}
* Frank, Daniel H. & Leaman, Oliver. 2003. ''The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-65574-9}}
* Gerli, E. Michael, ed., 2003. ''Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia''. NY: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-93918-6}}
* {{cite web|last=Glick|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas F. Glick|title=Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages|url=http://libro.uca.edu/ics/emspain.htm|year=1999|access-date=23 October 2011}}
* Halm, Heinz. 1989. "Al-Andalus und Gothica Sors", ''[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/islm.1989.66.2.252/html]'' 66:252–263.
* Hamilton, Michelle M., Sarah J. Portnoy, and David A. Wacks, eds. 2004. ''Wine, Women, and Song: Hebrew and Arabic Literature in Medieval Iberia''. Newark, Del.: Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs.
*{{Cite book |last=Harvey |first=Leonard Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWyXAwAAQBAJ |title=Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500 |publisher=University of Chigaco Press |year=1990 |isbn=0226319628}}
* Harzig, Christiane, Dirk Hoerder, and Adrian Shubert. 2003. ''The Historical Practice in Diversity''. Berghahn Books. {{ISBN|1-57181-377-2}}
* Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. 1992. ''The Legacy of Muslim Spain'', 2 vols. Leiden–NY–Cologne: Brill [chief consultant to the editor, Manuela Marín].
* {{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Hugh |title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: a political history of al-Andalus |date=1996 |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow |isbn=0-582-49515-6}}
* Kraemer, Joel. 1997. "Comparing Crescent and Cross (book review)", ''The Journal of Religion'' 77, no. 3 (1997): 449–454.
* Kraemer, Joel. 2005. "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait", ''The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides'', ed. Kenneth Seeskin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-81974-1}}
* Kraemer, Joel. 2008. ''Maimonides: the Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds''. NY: Doubleday. {{ISBN|0-385-51199-X}}
* Lafuente y Alcántara, Emilio, trans. 1867. ''[[Akhbār majmūʿa|Ajbar Machmua (colección de tradiciones): crónica anónima del siglo XI, dada a luz por primera vez, traducida y anotada]]''. Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia y Geografía. In Spanish and Arabic. Also available in the public domain online, see External Links.
* Luscombe, David and Jonathan Riley-Smith, eds. 2004. ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 4, c. 1024{{Snd}} c. 1198, Part 1''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-41411-3}}
* Marcus, Ivan G., "Beyond the Sephardic mystique", ''Orim'', vol. 1 (1985): 35–53.
* Marín, Manuela, ed. 1998. ''The Formation of Al-Andalus'', vol. 1: ''History and Society''. Aldershot: Ashgate. {{ISBN|0-86078-708-7}}
* Menocal, Maria Rosa. 2002. ''Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company; London: Back Bay Books. {{ISBN|0-316-16871-8}}
* Monroe, James T. 1970. ''Islam and the Arabs in Spanish scholarship: (Sixteenth century to the present)''. Leiden: Brill.
* Monroe, James T. 1974. ''Hispano-Arabic Poetry: A Student Anthology''. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press.
* Netanyahu, Benzion. 1995. ''The Origins Of The Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain''. NY: Random House {{ISBN|0-679-41065-1}}
* O'Callaghan, Joseph F. 1975. ''A History of Medieval Spain''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-9264-5}}
* [[Rageh Omaar|Omaar, Rageh]]. 2005. ''[https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/islamic-history-europe.shtml An Islamic History of Europe]''. video documentary, [[BBC]] 4, August 2005.
* Reilly, Bernard F. 1993. ''The Medieval Spains''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-39741-3}}
* Roth, Norman. 1994. ''Jews, Visigoths and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict''. Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|90-04-06131-2}}
* [[Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz y Menduiña|Sanchez-Albornoz, Claudio]]. 1974. ''El Islam de España y el Occidente''. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. Colección Austral; 1560. [Originally published in 1965 in the conference proceedings, ''L'occidente e l'islam nell'alto medioevo: 2–8 aprile 1964'', 2 vols. Spoleto: Centro Italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo. Series: Settimane di studio del Centro Italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo; 12. Vol. 1:149–308.]
* Schorsch, Ismar, 1989. "The myth of Sephardic supremacy", ''The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook'' 34 (1989): 47–66.
* Stavans, Ilan. 2003. ''The Scroll and the Cross: 1,000 Years of Jewish-Hispanic Literature''. London: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-92930-X}}
* {{cite book | title=The Art of medieval Spain, A.D. 500–1200 | location=New York |url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/45966/rec/1 | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1993 | isbn=0870996851}}
* Wasserstein, David J. 1995. "Jewish élites in Al-Andalus", ''The Jews of Medieval Islam: Community, Society and Identity'', ed. Daniel Frank. Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|90-04-10404-6}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929144046/http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/bibliotecavirtualandalucia/consulta/resultados_autores.cmd?campo=idautor&idValor=5772&forma=ficha&posicion=1 Photocopy of the Ajbar Machmu'a, translated by Lafuente 1867]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051211030956/http://www.unesco.org/culture/al-andalus/html_eng/article.shtml The routes of al-Andalus] (from the [[UNESCO]] web site)
* [http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne2.htm The Library of Iberian Resources Online]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070512082946/http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Spain_History/Al-Andalus_Chronology.htm Al-Andalus Chronology and Photos]
* [http://libro.uca.edu/martyrs/martyrs.htm Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain] by Kenneth Baxter Wolf
* [http://www.islamicspain.tv "Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain"] (documentary film)
* [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Al_Andalus_The_Art_of_Islamic_Spain Al-Andalus: the art of Islamic Spain], Scholarly essays and exhibition catalog from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF or on Google Books)
* Patricia, Countess Jellicoe, 1992, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110708141619/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199205/the.art.of.islamic.spain.htm The Art of Islamic Spain], ''Saudi Aramco World''
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/41035 History of the Spanish Muslims], by [[Reinhart Dozy]], in French
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091014132337/http://www.afropop.org/Alandalus/Alandalus.html The Musical Legacy of Al-Andalus]&nbsp;– historical maps, photos, and music showing the Great Mosque of Córdoba and related movements of people and culture
{{Coord|37|-4|region:ES_type:country_scale:5000000|display=title}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Al-Andalus| ]]
[[Category:Former countries on the Iberian Peninsula]]
[[Category:Former Islamic monarchies in Europe]]
[[Category:Former Arab states]]
[[Category:History of Andalusia]]
[[Category:History of Portugal by polity]]
[[Category:Invasions of Europe]]
[[Category:Islam in Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Islam in Portugal]]
[[Category:Islam in Spain]]
[[Category:Medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Portugal]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Spain]]
[[Category:Former Islamic monarchies]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1492]]
[[Category:1490s disestablishments in Spain]]
[[Category:1492 disestablishments in Europe]]
[[Category:1st millennium in Spain]]
[[Category:2nd millennium in Spain]]
[[Category:Subdivisions of the Umayyad Caliphate]]