# @itsaihistory on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcoK52WJVAb
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69749452-itsaihistory-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/c1d781c07f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-29T14:40:17.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Parker Gordon (@itsaihistory) — https://gondola.cc/itsaihistory

## Caption

📜 722–1249 | The Reconquista | Part II

What you’re seeing:
After Covadonga, small Christian kingdoms survived in the north while Muslim al-Andalus ruled most of Iberia. Over the next five centuries, the balance of power slowly changed.

What was Córdoba?
By the 900s, Córdoba was the capital of an independent Umayyad caliphate and the largest city in Western Europe. In 1031, the caliphate collapsed into rival Muslim kingdoms.

What was Castile?
Castile was a growing Christian kingdom on Iberia’s central plateau. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, the old Visigothic capital. The Muslim rulers then called on the Berbers of North Africa for help.

Who were the Berbers?
Berbers are indigenous peoples of North Africa. The Almoravids, a Berber Muslim empire, crossed into Iberia, defeated Castile in 1086, and absorbed the divided Muslim kingdoms. They were later replaced by another Berber Muslim power, the Almohads.

How did Portugal emerge?
Portugal became a Christian kingdom on the Atlantic coast. In 1147, Afonso I joined a crusader fleet to capture Lisbon.

Why does Las Navas de Tolosa matter?
After Alfonso VIII was defeated at Alarcos in 1195, the Almohads raised a new army. Pope Innocent III proclaimed a crusade. On July 16, 1212, Castile, Aragon and Navarre joined forces and defeated them at Las Navas de Tolosa. Almohad power in Iberia never recovered.

What happened next?
Christian kingdoms kept advancing. Portugal completed its conquest in 1249. In the far south, one Muslim kingdom remained… Granada.

Sources:
Stanley Lane-Poole, The Moors in Spain (1886)
Henry Edward Watts, The Christian Recovery of Spain (1894)
H. Morse Stephens, The Story of Portugal (1891)
Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Maqqari, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, trans. Pascual de Gayangos, Vols. I–II

🎥 All visuals are original AI-assisted recreations produced by @itsaihistory for educational and documentary purposes.

#itsaihistory #history #spain #portugal #reels

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history, itsaihistory, spain, reels, portugal

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