How did Abd al-Rahman I found the emirate of Córdoba?
Abd al-Rahman I founds the emirate of Córdoba
Abd al-Rahman I funda el emirato de Córdoba
14 May 756. When the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus in 750 and hunted down the family, one grandson of a caliph escaped.
Where: Spain, Córdoba
What happened
When the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus in 750 and hunted down the family, one grandson of a caliph escaped. Abd al-Rahman fled across North Africa, where his mother's Berber people sheltered him, landed at Almuñécar in 755 and rallied Syrian soldiers loyal to the Umayyad name. On 14 May 756 he defeated the governor of al-Andalus outside Córdoba and made himself emir, independent of the caliph in Baghdad: the first breakaway state in Islamic history. He beat off an Abbasid invasion, brought his son out of Syria, and near the end of his life began the Great Mosque of Córdoba. His dynasty ruled al-Andalus from Córdoba until 1031.
Say it
Abd al-Rahman I escapó de Siria y fundó un nuevo reino en Córdoba.
Abd al-Rahman I escaped from Syria and founded a new kingdom in Córdoba.
Why it matters
An independent, Umayyad al-Andalus is why Córdoba, not Damascus or Baghdad, became the centre of Islamic culture in the West, and why Arabic shaped Spanish so deeply.
Read about it
Connected
- The Muslim conquest (711)
- The Great Mosque of Córdoba is begun (c. 780s)
- The Great Mosque of Córdoba is begun (c. 780s)
- The Caliphate of Córdoba (16 January 929)
- The Caliphate of Córdoba (16 January 929)
- Before: Pelayo at Covadonga
- After: The Great Mosque of Córdoba is begun
Sources
- Abd al-Rahman I — World History Encyclopedia
- The history — Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba (Cabildo Catedral)