Al-Andalus-Historia

Al-Andalus was the name given by the Muslims during the Middle Ages to the Iberian Peninsula. At its greatest geographical extent, its territory occupied most of the peninsula and a part of present-day southern France, Septimania (8th century), and for nearly a century (9th-10th centuries) extended its control from Fraxinet over the Alpine passes which connect Italy to Western Europe. The name more specifically describes the different Arab or Berber states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492, though the boundaries changed constantly as the Christian Reconquista progressed, eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the vassalage of the Emirate of Granada. Following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, al-Andalus, then at its greatest extent, was divided into five administrative units, corresponding roughly to modern Andalusia; Portugal and Galicia; Castile and León; Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia; and the Languedoc-Roussillon area of Occitanie. 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 (c. 750-929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Christians and Jews were subject to a special tax called jizya, to the state, which in return provided internal autonomy in practicing their religion and offered the same level of protections by the Muslim rulers. The jizya was not only a tax, however, but also a symbolic expression of subordination. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba, the largest in Europe, 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 (Geber), astronomy (Arzachel), surgery (Abulcasis Al Zahrawi), pharmacology (Avenzoar), and agronomy (Ibn Bassal and AbÅ« l-Khayr al-IshbÄ«lÄ«). Al-Andalus became a major educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for cultural and scientific exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds. 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 minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI. The Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes, and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, both based in Marrakesh. Ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power. With the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, leaving Granada as the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, on January 2, 1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula.

Al-Ándalus es el nombre que en la Edad Media dieron los musulmanes a la península ibérica. Algunos autores restringen el término al territorio peninsular \"e inicialmente de la Septimania\" bajo poder musulmán entre los años 711 y 1492. Para los autores árabes medievales, el término de al-Ándalus designa la totalidad de las zonas conquistadas por tropas árabe-musulmanas en territorios actualmente pertenecientes a España, Portugal, Francia, Andorra y el territorio británico de ultramar de Gibraltar. Tras la conquista musulmana de la península ibérica, al-Ándalus se integró inicialmente en la provincia norteafricana del Califato Omeya. En el año 756 se convirtió en el Emirato de Córdoba y posteriormente en el año 929 en el Califato de Córdoba, independiente del Califato Abasí. Con la disolución del Califato de Córdoba en 1031, el territorio se dividió en los primeros reinos de taifas, periodo al que sucedió la etapa de los almorávides, los segundos reinos de taifas, la etapa de los almohades y los terceros reinos de taifas. Con el avance de la Reconquista iniciada por los cristianos de las montañas del norte peninsular, el nombre de al-Ándalus se fue adecuando al menguante territorio bajo dominación musulmana, cuyas fronteras fueron progresivamente empujadas hacia el sur, hasta la toma de Granada por los Reyes Católicos en 1492, que puso fin al poder islámico en la península ibérica, aunque la mayor parte de la población musulmana quedó en la península, unos convirtiéndose al catolicismo y otros, con creencias más arraigadas, marcharon a las cumbres de Sierra Nevada (véase La Alpujarra) hasta su definitiva expulsión.