Reconquista Timeline

Abd al-Rahman III crushed internal rebellions, proclaimed himself caliph in 929, and made Córdoba one of the largest and most cultured cities in Europe. His military campaigns checked Christian advances from the north.

Image source: Abd al-Rahman III

The powerful vizier Almanzor led dozens of successful raids against León, Castile, Navarre, and Barcelona, including the sack of Santiago de Compostela in 997. His death in 1002 after the Battle of Calatañazor heralded the fragmentation of Córdoba.

Image source: Almanzor

A devastating civil war shattered the Caliphate of Córdoba, which formally abolished itself in 1031. Al-Andalus fragmented into numerous taifa kingdoms, giving the Christian north a decisive strategic advantage.

Image source: Fitna of al-Andalus

Ferdinand I conquered León in 1037, uniting it with Castile, and forced several taifa kingdoms to pay tribute. He styled himself 'Emperor of Spain,' marking a new phase of Christian assertiveness.

Image source: Ferdinand I of León

Alfonso VI took the ancient Visigothic capital of Toledo with minimal resistance, thanks to collaboration from its Mozarabic inhabitants. The conquest was a landmark of the Reconquista, opening central Spain to Christian settlement.

Image source: Siege of Toledo (1085)

Invited by threatened taifa rulers, the Almoravids from North Africa crossed into Iberia and defeated Alfonso VI of Castile at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086. They subsequently absorbed the taifas, reunifying Muslim Iberia and halting Christian expansion.

Image source: Almoravid dynasty

The Castilian knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid, captured Valencia and ruled it until his death in 1099. His exploits became legendary through the epic poem Cantar de Mio Cid as a symbol of the Reconquista.

Image source: El Cid

The Council of Burgos extended the ecclesiastical Peace and Truce of God to the Iberian kingdoms, channeling aristocratic violence toward the warfront against al-Andalus and framing frontier warfare in religious terms.

Image source: Peace and Truce of God

Known as 'the Battler,' Alfonso I captured Zaragoza, the great taifa capital of the Ebro valley. The conquest pushed Aragonese power deep into former Muslim territory and attracted crusaders from across Europe.

Image source: Alfonso V of Aragon

The Almohads from Morocco replaced the declining Almoravids and took control of al-Andalus by 1172. Their rigorous regime temporarily revived Muslim fortunes and posed a grave threat to the Christian kingdoms.

Image source: Almohad Caliphate

Papal bull Manifestis Probatum recognized Afonso Henriques as king, confirming Portugal's independence from León. Portugal had been carved out largely through Reconquista warfare against the Muslims of the western peninsula.

Image source: History of Portugal

A coalition of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal crushed the Almohad army of Muhammad al-Nasir. Often called the most important battle of the Reconquista, it broke Almohad power and opened Andalusia to Christian conquest.

Image source: Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

Jaime I launched a naval expedition that seized the Balearic island of Majorca from Muslim rule, followed by Ibiza and Formentera. This opened the western Mediterranean to Catalan-Aragonese trade and expansion.

Image source: Conquest of Majorca

Castile's King Ferdinand III, later canonized, captured Córdoba, the former capital of the caliphate. The city's Great Mosque was converted into a cathedral, symbolizing the Christian reconquest of al-Andalus's heartland.

Image source: Ferdinand III of Castile

Jaime I 'the Conqueror' captured the city of Valencia in 1238 after years of campaigning, creating a new Christian kingdom on the Mediterranean. He went on to conquer Murcia's hinterland in cooperation with Castile.

Image source: James I of Aragon

After a prolonged siege involving a Castilian fleet, Ferdinand III took Seville, the greatest city of al-Andalus. With its fall, only the Nasrid Emirate of Granada remained under Muslim control.

Image source: Siege of Seville

By the Treaty of Jaén, Muhammad I founded the Nasrid Emirate of Granada as a tributary vassal of Castile, securing over two centuries of survival for the last Muslim state in Iberia.

Image source: Muhammad I of Granada

A combined Castilian-Portuguese army under Alfonso XI decisively defeated the Marinids of Morocco and their Granadan allies near Tarifa. The victory ended large-scale African intervention in Iberia for good.

Image source: Battle of Río Salado

The bubonic plague devastated both Christian kingdoms and Granada, killing perhaps a third of the population. It stalled the Reconquista for decades and disrupted settlement and economic life across the peninsula.

Image source: Black Death in Spain

The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, having unified their crowns and completed internal pacification, began a ten-year campaign against the Emirate of Granada, using artillery and systematic sieges to take Muslim strongholds one by one.

Image source: Granada War

After a brutal siege, Ferdinand and Isabella captured Málaga, Granada's principal port. Its fall cut off the emirate from reinforcement and resupply by sea and demonstrated the effectiveness of the new royal artillery.

Image source: Siege of Málaga (1487)

Boabdil, the last Nasrid sultan, surrendered the city of Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella, ending nearly eight centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia. Later that year, the Alhambra Decree ordered the expulsion of Jews, and Columbus sailed west, inaugurating a new era for unified Christian Spain.