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In 711 Muslim forces invaded and in seven years conquered the Iberian peninsula, passing through what is now considered the Strait of Gibraltar before landing in Spain
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Muslims conquered most of Spain and Portugal with little difficulty, and by 720 Spain was largely under Muslim control
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Stability in Muslim Spain came with the establishment of the Andalusian Umayyad dynasty, which lasted from 756 to 1031. Libraries, colleges, and public baths were established, while literature, poetry, and architecture flourished. Religious Tolerance
Islamic Spain is sometimes referred to as a golden age of religious and ethnic tolerance and interfaith harmony between Muslims, Christians, and Jews -
Known as al-Andulus in Arabic was a time of great advances in many areas of scholarship including Aristotelian philosophy, Neoplatonic thought, Medicine, Mathematics, and Astronomy.
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United Islamic Empire began to break up followed by four centuries of gradual decline as the Christian reconquista took Spain for the Christian nobility, The collapse of Islamic rule in Spain was due not only to increasing agression on the part of the Christian states, but to divisions among the Muslim rulers. The single Islamic Caliphate had broken down into smaller kingdoms. The first big Islamic centre to fall to Christiantity was Toledo in 1085.
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Those individuals who had converted only outwardly were tortured and killed in an effort to make the conversions inwardly applicable as well.
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Completion of Christian reconquista of Spain for the Christian nobility, during which there were forced conversions of Spanish Jews and Muslims to Christianity to escape expulsion or death.
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Many Jews and Muslims, estimated at 350,000, were forced to leave Spain.
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Cordoba was established as the capital of Umayyad, Spain and was unrivaled in both the East and West for its wealth and civilization. Islamic Spain was a multicultural mix of the people of three great monotheistic religions: Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
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The Great Mosque of Cordoba was one glory of Islamic architecture in Spain, which developed into a center of learning, considered one of the greatest in the world.
