Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula as well as Septimania under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed through a series of conquests that Western historiography has traditionally characterised as the Reconquista, eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

thumb|Depiction of Muslim army in Iberia, from Cantigas de Santa Maria|The Cantigas de Santa Maria The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate primarily the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages.

thumb|right|The troubadour Perdigon playing his fiddle

fortified palace-city in Córdoba, Spain