Emirate of Córdoba

The Emirate of Cordoba was the Muslim state that ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula, then known as al-Andalus, from Cordoba. It was founded by Abd al-Rahman I, a prince of the Umayyad dynasty who escaped the massacre of his family after the Abbasids overthrew the caliphate in Damascus. He crossed North Africa to Spain, defeated the governor, and set up an independent emirate. Cordoba grew into one of the largest and most cultured cities in Europe, with the Great Mosque begun under Abd al-Rahman I. The emirate faced rebellions from Arab and Muslim families and from the Christian north, and in the tenth century Abd al-Rahman III declared himself caliph.

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