Moorish Architecture in Spain

Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania.[4] As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711--750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750--929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929--1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms. Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.