88 ISLAM AT WAR
the new religion came in on the standards of the invading warlords. Mus-
lim princes, powers, and dynasties rose and fell like all others, but in the
entire world except Spain, Islam survived independent of local politics.
Only in Iberia did Christian princes permanently turn back the spread of
the Arabian religion. Their success may have had an astonishing impact
on world history. Consider that when Muslim Spain was extinguished in
1492, Columbus was only months away from his discovery of the New
World. Western Christians, not Muslims, would discover North and South
America and the great ocean routes that bind the world. There would never
be a caliphate of New York. Had it not been for theReconquistain the
only nation ever lost to Islam, who can say what might have been?
CHRONOLOGY
681 Muslim armies reach Ceuta across from Gibraltar.
711 Battle of Merida, the beginning of the Islamic conquest of
Spain
718 Occupation of central Spain complete.
718–32 Muslim raids into France finally checked in 732 at Tours.
800s Competing Moorish cities in Spain
928 Caliph Abd-er-Rahman consolidates power in Cordoba.
950s (date approximate) Abd-er-Rahman makes war on surviving
Christian states.
1000 (date approximate) Reign of Almansur, who expanded Cor-
doban authority.
1050s (date approximate) Ummayad dynasty splinters.
1100 Almoravids from North Africa control Cordoba.
1085 Alfonso VI of Castile captures Toledo but is defeated at the
Battle of Zalaca by the Almoravids.
1094 El Cid wins a battle at Cuarte, the first Almoravid defeat.
1100s Almoravids increasingly dominant in Spain, as Spanish Chris-
tian resistance flares up.
1147 Almohads from North Africa replace the Almoravids as the
ruling group in Muslim Spain.
1195 Muslim victory at Alarcos alarms Spanish Christians and con-
vinces them to unite.