The Opening of Andalus

Tariq ibn Ziyad crosses the strait that will bear his name, and Iberia enters eight centuries of Islamic civilization.

With a largely Amazigh force, Tariq ibn Ziyad landed at the rock later called Jabal Tariq, Gibraltar, and defeated the Visigothic kingdom. Within a few years most of Iberia was under Muslim rule as al Andalus, a land where Muslims, Christians and Jews would build a shared and brilliant culture.