When the Berbers Crossed the Mediterranean

With the expansion of Islam across North Africa came the advent of piracy and plunder as a regular occurrence along the Christian shores to the north. Large swaths of Mediterranean shoreline became uninhabitable due to raids by Barbary Pirates in search of treasure and slaves.

In response, Christian kings built coastal forts in order to protect the local population. These local defenses were effective in fighting off the Berbers. In most places, the Berbers had to be quick to avoid the local law enforcement.

However, the coast of south Spain proved itself especially vulnerable to the pirates. The Visigoths that ruled the area were not numerous enough to provide effective protection. Nor were they popular enough among the locals to organize popular resistance.

When raids occurred, the locals fled to the hills, letting the Visigoths deal with the invaders.

When the Berbers managed to defeat the Visigoth king Roderic at the banks of Guadelete River in 711, what had been little more than a regular pirate raid turned into an invasion. The Berbers, with the help of their Arab overlords, quickly expanded into the Iberian Peninsula.

By 714, the entire region that had once formed the original Visigoth kingdom in Iberia had fallen to the Muslim invaders. This expansion took no more than 3 years to complete.

By Sugaar at English Wikipedia 

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The Visigoths were unpopular with the locals who gladly took the side of the invaders. The resistance to the Muslim invasion in Visigoth territory was light and halfhearted.

However, the heartlands of what had once been the Suebi Kingdom proved far less open for invasion. The Kingdoms of Leon and Castile remained defiant. The rugged terrain made these kingdoms hard to invade, and the local support for their kings were stronger.

Relative to the Visigoths, the invading Berbers proved to be more reasonable. In exchange for a small tax, the local population were free to continue their affairs in peace. The tax guaranteed protection, and freed the payer from any obligation to partake in military activities. This was apparently enough to placate those living under Visigoth rule, but not enough to convince the people in Suebi territories that they too should lay down their arms.

The tax for protection must have been perceived as very generous, even by some of the invading Berbers who found themselves increasingly sidelined by their Arab overlords. Since the tax deal was only available to Christians and Jews, many Berbers decided to convert to Christianity as a way to escape the draft.

When battles became increasingly bloody, it made increasing sense to be a Dhimmi. While Muslims had to risk their lives in bloody wars, the infidel could continue their affairs in peace. For Christians, the obvious choice was to remain a Christian. For many Berbers, the temptation to convert was so strong that they risked the penalty of death for apostasy, enshrined in holy Islamic doctrine, in order to obtain the advantages bestowed upon the Dhimmi.

However, during times of peace, the temptation to convert to Islam to avoid the Jizya tax became strong. At the end of the 11th century, during peace time, the Christian's living in Muslim Iberia started to convert en masse.

This in turn eroded the tax base. To keep the tax revenues at a steady level, the Jizya had to be increased on the remaining Christians. Those unwilling to convert to Islam were faced with evermore restrictions and oppression. Eventually, the only real choice for the so called Mozarabs was to convert to Islam or to move north, into Christian lands.

The kings in the north, soon realized the potential in allowing the Mozarabs into their land. They gave them tax incentives which further encouraged them to leave the south in favor of the north. This further eroded the tax base in Muslim Iberia. As a result, their military became woefully under-funded.

The religious conviction of those who had converted to Islam in order to avoid the Jizya was also lacking. There was little will to defend Muslim lands from Christian reconquest.

On the other hand, land conquered from the Muslims were sought returned to original owners. Those who left their homes were able to return to their homes as soon as the lands were freed from Muslim rule. The temptation to temporarily flee the Muslims in order to come back later to reclaim their land must have been strong among Christians living close to the border.

The Reconquista was in part made possible by the inherent weakness in Islamic doctrine, in which the populous is divided into tax paying Dhimmis and tax exempt believers. It all works well for a while. However, eventually the system breaks down with everyone being a tax-exempt warrior. With no funding for equipment to actually wage a war, a huge army of believers is of little use.

Nevertheless, considering that the Muslim presence in Iberia lasted from 711 to 1492, it did prove to be one of the most successful and long lasting regimes to ever have established itself on Iberia. It is only rivaled by Leon and Castile which can plausibly claim continuity of rule from the establishment of the Suebi Kingdom in 409 until and including the establishment of present day Portugal and Spain.

Furthermore, while the conquest of Visigoth lands by Muslims took a mere 3 years to complete, the Reconquista took more than 750 years. The Muslim Era is therefore also one of the most resilient in post-Roman times. Once the Muslims had established a foot hold in Iberia, they were only expelled with great difficulty over a very long period of time.