📜 711–722 | The Reconquista | Part I What you’re seeing:
The collapse of the Visigothic kingdom of Hispania. In 711, there was no Spain. The Goths ruled from Toledo, but their kings were chosen rather than inherited. When Duke Roderick seized the crown, powerful rivals refused to accept him. What was across the strait?
After Muhammad’s death in 632, his successors, known as caliphs, rapidly expanded the new Muslim state across the Middle East and North Africa. By 711, the Umayyad Caliphate ruled from Damascus and had reached the Strait of Gibraltar. That spring, around 7,000 Berbers crossed into Iberia under Tariq ibn Ziyad. They landed near the mountain that still bears his name: Jabal Tariq, Gibraltar. What happened at Guadalete?
Roderick marched south with the Gothic army. In July, the two forces met near the Guadalete River. Roderick’s rivals commanded parts of his army and abandoned the field during the battle. The Gothic line collapsed, and Roderick disappeared. What happene...