Task 3. From the Caliphate of Córdoba to the end of Al Andalus

Abd-al -Rahman III inherited the throne in 912. he tried to restore the central control over the country : He had to fight against Christian kingdoms a rebel koras .

In 929 Abd al-Rahman III took the decision of self-crowning as a Caliph and getting the religious independence from Baghdad . He created a strong centralised state when he defeated both the muslims rebels and Christian kingdoms.

Abd-al Rahman III , the first Caliph of Al-Andalus governed with the hayib , or prime minister, and visirs or minister. Koras were controlled by walis or governors.

He decided to built a new capital in Madinat al Zahra in 936. It was an outstanding city that  impressed the world at the 10th century.

Al Hakam II (961-976) succeeded his father and and kept the power and greatness of Caliphate . However the next Caliph Hisham II (976-1009) as he was only eleven years old, the general Al- Mansur became as the Hayib and tried to replace the Caliph . Al -Mansur carried out many raids against the Christian kingdoms and plundered cities as Barcelona or Santiago de Compostela. He  promoted the religious fanaticism and took several measures as enlarged the main mosque of Cordova and burnt the Al Hakam II´s library since he considered it contained dangerous books

After Al Mansur death, his sons Abd al Malik and Abd al-Rahman Sanyul succeeded their father and a new civil war started because several provinces (koras) wanted to be independent . These fights led the disappearance of the Caliphate in 1031.

In 1031 , the Caliphate was divided into taifas  or small and weak kingdoms. Only the kingdoms of Zaragoza, Badajoz, Toledo and Sevilla were large andpowerful kingdoms .

Most kingdom fought against each other to conquer territories and had to pay taxes (parias) to Christian kingdoms in order to get their help or neutrality.

The rising power of Christian kingdoms ended with the conquest of the one of the most important Taifa kingdom: the Toledo kingdom was conquered by Alfonso .   For this reason other Taifa kingdoms asked for help from the Almoravids , Berber fanatic warriors from Northern Africa.

Almoravids were born among the Berber tribes in the North of Africa and tried to restore the Islamic purity and severity . They were religious fanatics .  In 1086 defeated Alfonso VI , king of Castilla ,  and afterwards conquered the other Taifa kingdoms thus they restored the I centralised islamic dominion over most of Iberian peninsula.

As Almoravids were very strict on religious matters so they banned other religions in Al Andalus ( Christianity and Judaism ) and persecuted everything they considered not allowed for the Islam : art, Philosophy or literature.

Almoravids were expelled from Al-Andalus in 1145 and the second Taifa kingdoms were created.

Almohads were another Islamic movement that was born in northern Africa at the early 12th century. They conquered the Almoravid Empire in the North of Africa and  crossed the strait of Gibraltar in 1146 and conquered many all Al-Andalus. Their new capital in Al-Andalus was settled in Seville. o The Almohads defeated the Christian kings of Navarre, Castile and Leon which meant that Muslims re-conquered the basin of the river Guadiana. There was a definitive fight between the Almohad emir and the Christian kings in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) and Christians could conquerer Andalusia to the Muslims.

It was the last muslim kingdom on the Iberian peninsula. It was created by the Nasr family which conquered the current provinces of Málaga, Almería and Granada.

It was a weak kingdom and was a vassal of the king of Castilla a had to pay tributes  to them. Even Nasrid kings helped to Castilian kings in time of war.

Finally, the Catholic Monarchs, Ferndinand and Isabel declared the war on Nasrid kingdom in 1485 and definitely the kingdom was conquered in 1492 by Castilian forces.

It was a political weak kingdom but it had a very intense cultural activity . The legacy of the Nasrid kingdom is the Alhambra palace in Granada.