Its territory comprised most of the Iberian Peninsula (known to Muslims as al-Andalus), the Balearic Islands, and parts of North Africa, with its capital in Córdoba (at the time Qurṭubah).

[6] In 756, Abd al-Rahman I, a prince of the deposed Umayyad royal family, refused to recognize the authority of the Abbasid Caliphate and became an independent emir of Córdoba.

[14] Abd al-Rahman III ascended to the throne in 912, and faced the Fatimid Caliphate, a rival North African Shiʿite Islamic empire based in Tunis.

[15][16] Internally, the Spanish Umayyads considered themselves as closer to Muhammad and more legitimate than the Abbasids, even though the Caliphate of Córdoba's legitimacy was not accepted outside of al-Andalus and its North African affiliates.

Almanzor isolated Hisham in Córdoba, eradicated opposition, and allowed Berbers from Africa to migrate to al-Andalus to increase his base of support.

[36] To try to counteract them, the Castilians created the role of "villain knights" by ennobling those free men who were willing to keep a horse to increase the mounted units through the Fuero de Castrojeriz of 974.

[36] For similar reasons, the Barcelonan count Borrell II created the figure of the homes of paratge who obtained privileged military status by fighting against the Córdobans armed on horseback – after losing their capital in the fall of 985.

[48][21] In contrast to the role the navy played under Abd al-Rahman III,[56] under Almanzor, it served as a means of transporting ground troops,[57] such as between the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula.

[67][additional citation(s) needed] During the Catalan campaign, Gausfred I, Count of Empurias and Roussillon tried to raise an army to help but several flotillas of Berber pirates threatened their coasts, forcing them to stay to defend their lands.

[48][75] Messengers were bought in and specially trained to handle Almanzor's messages and to transmit the official reports that his foreign ministries wrote about the annual campaigns.

[76] Almanzor's reforms also divided the population into two unequal groups: a large mass of civilian taxpayers and a small professional military caste, generally from outside the peninsula and not particularally loyal to the polity.

[84] Spanish historian Manuel Colmeiro y Penido [es] estimated that in a pre-industrial society, for every million inhabitants, ten thousand soldiers could be mustered.

[91] According to Thomas Glick, "Despite the withdrawal of substantial numbers during the drought and famine of the 750s, fresh Berber migration from North Africa was a constant feature of Andalusi history, increasing in tempo in the tenth century.

The northern limit of Muslim settlement generally extended along a frontier that ran to the north of the Tagus River in the west, around the Cordillera Central in the center, and before the foothills of the Pyrenees in the east.

[98] To the northeast, the Upper March, centered around Zaragoza and the Ebro River valley, contained more cities and a more diverse population, including Arabs, Berbers, and Muwallads.

While Jews were persecuted under the Visigoths, Jewish communities benefited from Umayyad rule by obtaining more freedom, affluence and a higher social standing.

[110][111] Historical sources provide little data on which to estimate the rate of conversion, but a study by Richard Bulliet has put forward a possible model of this process.

[113]: 242 [114]: 231  Historical sources attest that slaves were commonly employed in wealthy households and especially at the royal court, but little is known of what role they may have played in industries such as agriculture and mining.

The latter were an integral part of Umayyad palace society and played an important role in courtly politics, including in the matter of dynastic succession, where they often allied with the women whose sons were potential candidates for the throne.

Slave girls that were considered particularly prized or gifted were usually given an extensive education in arts and literature, as was also common in the court of the Abbasid caliphs.

In addition to exporting crafted goods (primarily silk cloth), it provided raw materials to North Africa and the Middle East, regions that were poorer in natural resources than al-Andalus.

[115] One historical source reports that the state's total revenues at the end of Abd al-Rahman III's reign amounted to six and a half million dinars – though it's unclear what this figure means precisely in terms of purchasing power.

The emir Abd al-Rahman II sent emissaries to the Abbasid and Byzantine courts to bring back books on subjects such as Islamic religious scholarship, Arabic grammar, poetry, astrology, medicine, and other sciences.

[133] Christians and Jews contributed to the intellectual and cultural spheres of al-Andalus, although this required that they publicly respect the higher status of the Arabic language and of the Islamic religion.

[134] In the 9th century, Abd al-Rahman II established a workshop that produced official embroidered textiles known as tiraz, a custom that also existed in the east.

One of the western gates of the mosque, known as Bab al-Wuzara' (today known as Puerta de San Esteban), dates from the 9th century expansion and is often noted as an important prototype of later Moorish architectural forms and motifs.

[158] Abd al-Rahman III marked his political ascendancy with the creation of a vast and lavish palace-city called Madinat al-Zahra (also spelled and pronounced today as "Medina Azahara"), located just outside Córdoba.

The new city included ceremonial reception halls, a congregational mosque, administrative and government offices, aristocratic residences, gardens, a mint, workshops, barracks, service quarters, and baths.

He endowed it with some of its most significant architectural flourishes and innovations, which included interlacing multifoil arches, decorative ribbed domes, and a richly-ornamented mihrab (niche symbolizing the direction of prayer) with Byzantine-influenced gold mosaics.

[169][166] A much smaller but historically notable work from the late caliphate period is the Bab al-Mardum Mosque (later known as the Church of San Cristo de la Luz) in Toledo, which features a variety of ribbed domes resting on horseshoe arches and an exterior façade with Arabic inscriptions carved in brick.