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Muhammad was born in Mecca, which was a large city with a population of more than 10 000. He was the new prophet chosen by Allah, this god wanted Muhammad to create a new monotheistic religion called Islam. -
Muhammad fled to the city of Medina, because the authorities persecuted him. This event marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. -
Many Arab tribes converted to Islam from 630 onwards and were united under the authority of Medina.
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They were chosen by Muhammad's family members, this created a divide between the Muslims:
- Shia: Must be a direct descendent of Muhammad.
- Sunnis: They should be chosen by the most devout
believers. -
Muhammad died, and most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. -
They made Damascus the capital. They led a great expansion, conquering lots of regions including the Iberian Peninsula.
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In 711, an army of Berbers led by an Arab minority, defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Guadalete, in which the king Roderic died. And created Al-Andalus. -
The powerfull Muslim Empire conquered the Berber tribes in North Africa. And the Visigoths that could scape of the Arab tribes took refuge in the Cantabrian mountains. -
After the conquest, Al-Andalus became a emirate, that was dependent on the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus. The capital was Cordoba.
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The Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula now called Al-Andalus tried to conquist Asturia, but the Muslims were defeated.
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The Muslims attacked Franks, but the Muslims were defeated.
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They took the Caliphate, moving the capital to Baghdad. During this period, some provinces separated themselves from the central power.
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Abd al-Rahman I fled to Al-Andalus and created the independent Emirate, it was independent in everything, it had the same power than Arabia.
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They expanded towards Nubia and ocuppied Palermo.
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They invaded southern and central Italy.
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It was founded by Abd al-Rahman III. But the Emirate of Cordoba had many problems, so Abd al-Rahman decided to proclaim himself caliph and stablished the Caliphate of Cordoba.
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From 1008, the Caliphate began to break up. Then it was separated into more than 25 independent kingdoms called taifas. But because of the political fragmentation it was military weaker. To stop the Christian advance, new Muslims camed to Al-Andalus, the Christian advance stopped temporaly, but finally the Christians conquist most of the taifas.
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It was the only territory that survived the Christian attacs was the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. But in 1492 they were defeated by the Catholic Monarchs.
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The Turks took the Islamic Empire and they conquered Constantinople.