Umayyad conquest of Hispania

A small force, mostly Berber

In approximately April or May 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad took a small force across the Strait from North Africa to southern Iberia. It was probably no larger than 7,000 men, predominantly Berber, with Arabs forming only a small minority.

This was not the first Muslim landing in Iberia — Tarif had led a reconnaissance and raiding expedition the previous year, and its success encouraged the larger crossing. Hugh Kennedy also argues that Tariq needed conquest and booty to reward and retain newly recruited Berber troops.

A bridgehead with a way back

Tariq’s men secured the “Green Island” at modern Algeciras as a base that also preserved a route of retreat to North Africa. He did not push inland.

Roderic, the Visigothic king, began moving south after learning of the landing, while Tariq stayed near his coastal base and requested reinforcements before the decisive summer battle.

The date, and the legends

The exact landing day is not securely recoverable. A traditional Muslim chronology places Tariq’s arrival and encampment in the Calpe/Gibraltar area on 5 Rajab 92 AH, which one modern reference converts to 28 April 711; other accounts give 26 or 27 April, and the conversion depends on assumptions about the historical lunar calendar.

The Cambridge History of Islam is more cautious still, dating the encampment at Calpe and the capture of nearby Carteia only to Rajab 92 AH, or spring 711.

The detailed Arabic narratives were written well after the conquest, and the near-contemporary Chronicle of 754 supplies only a sparse outline. Kennedy states that neither Count Julian’s existence nor the story attached to him can be verified.