Umayyad conquest of Hispania

Issue of the Emirate of Cordova, 807

Al-Andalus under the Umayyads

The Caliphate of Cordova c. 1000 at its peak, under Al-Mansur

The Umayyad conquest of Hispania was the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania, from 711 to 788.

The conquest destroyed the Visigothic Kingdom and set up the Emirate of Cordova under Abd ar-Rahman I. This completed al-Andalus, the unification of Muslim-ruled Iberia (756–788). The conquest was the westernmost expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate and Muslim rule into Europe. Charles Martel defeated them in the Battle of Tours, so they did not conquer France.

The conquering army was made up mainly of Berbers (north-western Africa). They had only recently come under Muslim influence. They arrived in early 711 at Gibraltar.

The Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus was overthrown around 750 AD, but continued in al-Andalus until 1031.

The period from 710 to the fall of the last Islamic state in the Battle of Granada in 1492 is called the Reconquista.