Just a tiny span of water separates the northernmost part of Morocco from the southernmost part of Spain. In 711 AD on this day in history, a mighty general named Tariq ibn Ziyad led an army of 300 Arabs and 10,000 Berbers across that span to invade Spain and establish am Islamic empire that ruled for 1200 years.

The Iberian Peninsula, a chunk of land in southern Europe that is divided between Spain and Portugal, had been controlled by barbarian tribes ever since they sacked Rome 410, accelerating the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Although the barbarians – and their kingdoms – became Christians over time, all that was about to change.

It all began when North Africa, which was still under the Byzantine domination got conquered by the governor of Egypt Abdullah Sa’ad, whose raids have been documented as the most formidable against the North Africa.

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