ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION IN
THE WEST
Feb. 3, 2016
7 TH -CENTURY EXPANSION
WESTWARDS
MUSLIMS IN CONTINENTAL
EUROPE
Tariq ibn Ziyad
crosses Gibraltar in
711
Visigoths of Spain
720: Muslim
conquest of
Narbonne
732: battle of Tours
and Poitiers
739-42: Berber
revolts
MUSLIM CONQUEST OF SICILY
(8 TH AND 9 TH C.)
Sustained pressure
from North Africa
(660s-740s)
Arab conquest of
Sicily
 Battle of Mazara (827)
Capital: Palermo
Transplantation of
crops
THE CORDOBA UMAYYADS (756-1031)
Est. by `Abd alRahman (756-88)
Cordoba as capital
Old-school Arabs
vs. newcomers?
THE FRONTIER ZONE IN
SPAIN
Muslim = south
Christian= north
Christian
Principalities
The Marches
 Upper (Zaragoza)
 Middle (Toledo)
 Lower (Merida)
UMAYYAD SPAIN AT ITS HEIGHT (912976)
`Abd al-Rahman III
Use of mercenaries
(saqaliba)
Military expansion over
Marches
Assumes title of caliph
JEWS, MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS IN
SPAIN
Division along socioeconomic lines?
Convivencia
Rise of Jews in
Cordoba
 Emergence of the
mozarab (musta`ribun)
CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE
CORDOBA UMAYYADS
Religious and legal
sciences
Ibn Hazm (d. 1064)
The Ring of the Dove
(1022)
Literature
Art and architecture
 Great mosque of Cordoba
(784 -976)
 Madina al-zahra (936)
THE PARTY KINGS (10091061)
 Collapse of the
Umayyads
 Rise of local
governors in
Marches
 30 separate states
(ta ’ ifas)
 Berbers, Saqaliba,
Andalusians
 Reconquista
 Led by King Alfsonso
VI
 El Cid = Christian