Arab caliph probably born in Cordoba, Muslim Spain, founder of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba (929-961), independent of the caliphate of Baghdad, and a skilled strategist who managed to bring all of Muslim Spain to his power, as well as stop the advance of the kingdoms. Christians.
Muslim Spain was an independent province since the establishment of Abbasid power. When the Abbasids captured Damascus, one of the Umayyad princes, Abd al-Rahman I, escaped and made a long journey to Spain, where he founded an Umayyad kingdom. With the help of the Berbers and Syrian Arabs, he seized Cordoba (756) and dominated most of the country, thus beginning the golden age of Islam in Spain.
Cordoba was founded as the capital and soon became the largest city not only because of its population but also from the point of view of culture and intellectual life. The Umayyads reigned for more than two centuries until, weakened, they were replaced by local rulers. After succeeding his grandfather, Emir Abd Allah, by his will, in the position of Emir of Córdoba, at just 21 years old, the III received a kingdom fragmented into provinces with a high degree of autonomy.
The emirate was also threatened by the powerful Christian kingdoms, especially that of Leo, and by the expansionism of the Fatimid Egyptian caliphate. At the beginning of his reign (912), he took an audacious initiative. He demanded absolute submission from all subjects, in exchange for pardon for those who abide by his sovereignty, and threatened the rebels with severe punishments. In a few years, he managed to dominate almost the entire territory of the Andalusian emirate, Muslim Spain, although they have Resistance outbreaks persisted in some provinces, such as the one led by Omar ibn Hafsun in Granada and Jaén. Ibn Hafsun died (917), but his stronghold of Bobastro still remained independent for over ten years.
He conquered Pamplona (924) and proclaimed himself caliph (929), successor to the prophet and prince of believers, which it supposed the religious independence of al-Andalus, that is, a title that allied political authority with religious. During the following years the conquests followed: Badajoz (930), Ceuta (931) and Toledo (933). The conquest of Toledo consolidated Córdoba's power (933). During his reign, the caliphate gained extraordinary political and military power, comparable to that of the Germanic and Byzantine empires.
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The strength of the caliphate was little affected by the defeat suffered at Simancas (939), for Ramiro II de Leão. Cordoba lived its period of greatest splendor and prevailed over the Christian kingdoms.. The city was embellished with the enlargement of the mosque and the construction of the fortress, and construction began on the palace city of Medinat al-Zahara, northwest of Cordoba (936). It protected textile production, invested in agriculture and sought to open new markets. He created the oldest medical school in Europe and favored the study of mathematical astronomy.
When he died, he left Muslim Spain as a legacy of a prosperous economy, intense cultural activity and a fraternal community, in which Moors, Jews and Christians coexisted.
In the evolution of al-Andalus, the Arab name of Muslim Spain, it is possible to distinguish three periods: the emirate dependent (714-756), in which the territory was converted into a province of Islam under the sovereignty of the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus; the independent emirate (756-929), formed when Abd al-Rahman I, a member of the dethroned Umayyad dynasty, came to power and failed to obey Baghdad and the Abbasid caliphate; and, finally, the Umayyad caliphate, started when the then emir proclaimed himself caliph (929), which represented the religious independence of al-Andalus.
Later, differences between ethnic groups caused the fragmentation of this domain into numerous taifa kingdoms in the mid-eleventh century.
Source: Biographies - Academic Unit of Civil Engineering / UFCG
Order R - Biography - Brazil School
