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A general called Tariq took his army across the Straits of Gibraltar and landed in Spain in 711. He gave his name to the mountain on which they landed, Jabal-i-Tariq, now Gibraltar. Until by 756, all but a few pockets of the northwest Iberian Peninsula were under Islamic rule. (Hewer, 2006, pp. 66). Muslims called the area of the Iberian Peninsula they occupied "Al-Andalus” or “Andalusia.” (Beig)
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A new capital was established at Cordoba and the Great Mosque of Cordoba begun in 786. This developed into a center of learning and considered one of the greatest in the Islamic world, boasting a library of some 400,000 works. (Hewer, 206, pp. 66).
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c. 850 Algebra was developed by Muhammad Abu Musa al-Khwarizmi to deal with the complexities of Islamic laws of inheritance. (Hewer, 2006, pp. 67).
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Under the reign of Abd al Rahman III, Spanish Islam reached its greatest power. This was also the cultural peak of Islamic civilization in Spain. (BBC, 2009)
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During his lifetime, Abu’l-Wafa al-Busajami refined Trigonometry and utilized it to ensure that the buildings of Muslim architects would stand. (Hewer, 2006, pp. 67)
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As a result of the tolerance displayed by Islam, the incredibly rich language of the Muslims (Arabic) became the official language of literature and scholarship in Spain for all by the year 1000. (Beig)
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Arab scholars produced encyclopedias on medicine, astronomy, astrology, psychology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc., which Christian scholars acquired and translated. Toledo thrived because of its Muslim rule and became the "cradle of learning," and the chief point of interaction between Muslims, Christians and Jews. Western scholars traveled to Spain and Sicily to learn Arabic and to make transcripts of texts in Latin. (Being)
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The collapse of Islamic rule in Spain was due not only to increasing aggression on the part of Christian states, but to divisions among the Muslim rulers. The first big Islamic center to fall to Christianity was Toledo in 1085. The Muslims replied with forces from Africa which under the general Yusuf bin Tashfin defeated the Christians resoundingly in 1086, and by 1102 had recaptured most of Andalusia. The general was able to reunite much of Muslim Spain. (BBC, 2009)
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Internal rebellions in 1144 and 1145 further shattered Islamic unity, and despite intermittent military successes, Islam's domination of Spain was ended for good. (BBC, 2009)
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Peter the Venerable and Archbishop of Toledo established a translation bureau at a Cluniac Monastery in Toledo Spain. Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars who knew Arabic worked with Christians who knew Latin to make translations and copies of the ancient wisdom available for distribution. This was the first time the Qur’an was translated into a European language. (Hewer, 2006, pp. 69).
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Almohades dynasty declined in 1269 which paved way for Christian forces to begin gaining control of much of the peninsula. Toledo and Cordoba were already in Christian control. (Beig)
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The Muslims finally lost all power in Spain in 1492. (BBC, 2009) Andalus was finally taken by the Christian troops under Ferdinand and Isabella. (Beig)
