Muslims conquer all of Iberia
- Thread starter Tetsu
- Start date
tetsu-katana said:
Well, strictly speaking, the Muslims did conquer all of those places. They just couldn't _hold_ them.
What happened, IIRC, was that Asturias revolted on its own (they'd been revolting against the Visigothic rulers before them, too). Aragon was actually formed by Charlemagne, who captured part of Spain (the Spanish marches) and which gave a kick-start to the reconquest. So I'd say you're looking at two possible PODs:
1. The Moors win the battle/skirmish of Covadonga, and consolidate their hold on Austurias. This settles part of it, but doesn't get rid of Aragon etc, which Charlemagne is still going to form later.
2. Charlemagne somehow fails in the Spanish Marches (unlikely), or gets bogged down elsewhere. This leaves you Atsurias, but not Aragon. Now, how the Reconquista proceeds with only Asturias... that would be an interesting story in itself.
If they didn't manage to hold spain against any attempt at reconquest, how would it affect european expansion? What the british and other northern europeans be the first to discover america, or would we see a muslim version of colombus.
One interesting scenario could be that history follows a relatively similar path, but spain and portugal are muslim, making latin america into arab america. Now that is an interesting thought. If history went the same, how would the US react to hoards of muslims coming in from Mexico to steal our jobs? Would it be more of an oppurtunity for terrorists or an example of how christians and muslims can co-exist?
One interesting scenario could be that history follows a relatively similar path, but spain and portugal are muslim, making latin america into arab america. Now that is an interesting thought. If history went the same, how would the US react to hoards of muslims coming in from Mexico to steal our jobs? Would it be more of an oppurtunity for terrorists or an example of how christians and muslims can co-exist?
Kaiser is right, they did conquer all those territories. Asturias paid taxes to the Caliph and according to the legend they rebelled when the sister of Don Pelayo was taken to the Caliph's Harem.
Even if you had the Covadonga skirmish to be a muslim victory, or you prevent Charlemagne to support the Pyrenaic christians, you would have to face the decomposition of the caliphate in several independent states with a muslim ruling class and a majority of christian population (Even the caliphate of Cordoba did not have a majority of muslims until the X century). You would have rebeling berbers in Galicia (marching south in search of better lands), Umar Ibn-Hafsun in Zaragoza, the ambiguous Lords of Pamplona...
Even if you had the Covadonga skirmish to be a muslim victory, or you prevent Charlemagne to support the Pyrenaic christians, you would have to face the decomposition of the caliphate in several independent states with a muslim ruling class and a majority of christian population (Even the caliphate of Cordoba did not have a majority of muslims until the X century). You would have rebeling berbers in Galicia (marching south in search of better lands), Umar Ibn-Hafsun in Zaragoza, the ambiguous Lords of Pamplona...